What better way to celebrate my 600th blog posting than to review a book that has to one of the most exciting, heart-breaking, powerful, energy-filled, suspenseful, and outright FANTASTIC books that I have read in a while. As I told a friend recently, reading this book was like watching the second half of the Avengers: Endgame movie. When the blurb on the back of the book says that by the end of this novel, Harry, Chicago, and the whole world will be changed forever - it definitely means it! I mean, quite literally, the only three words I can think to describe this book as I was reading it are: OH MY GOD!
Battle Ground is the seventeenth novel of the Dresden Files, the series that stars Harry Dresden, a down-to-earth, every-day man who happens to be a wizard who lives in Chicago and puts his life on the line time and time again to save his family, his friends, and his city. Jim Butcher went several years without a new Dresden Files novel, and book 16 (Peace Talks) and this book came out pretty much one right after another - and considering how interwoven they are, I can see why. While Peace Talks was the set up and the warning of what was to come (much as Infinity War was for the Avengers), Battle Ground is, from page one, non-stop action. Literally. Picking up exactly where the previous book left off, Dresden, Murphy, Lara, and Freydis have left the island where Dresden buried his brother to protect (and hopefully one day save) him and are heading back to Chicago to prepare for the coming war with the Titan, Ethniu. And, as with everything else in Dresden's life, even that short trip across the lake can't be easy...
Amidst all of the fighting, though, Dresden begins to discover things about himself, as well as about the White Council. There are still secrets, and Dresden does not like the idea that the Council is keeping things from him - particularly when it seems they are bound and determined to undermine his new role as the White Knight for Mab. But Dresden does what Dresden always does - he looks out for his family and friends, and the for the city around him that cannot defend itself from the nightmare about to be unleashed by a destructive Titan, and the Council and their rules be damned. Of course, Dresden has been gradually building up his own army who will stand with him no matter what - Murphy, who may be human, but she is one heck of a fighter; the werewolves, who call anytime they are needed; Butters, who now wields the Sword of Faith; Toot-Toot and his guard of little folk, who can be quite formidable when they need to be; and Michael Carpenter, who still believes in his friend and will stand by him to the very end. But this Titan is something more powerful than any of them have ever faced, and with its coming comes change #2 - the city of Chicago is more than half demolished, as the Titan destroys building after building, reducing the city skyline with a mere thought!
One thing I definitely have to mention here - from the very beginning of the series, Dresden has had a little Volkswagon Beetle that he referred to as "Blue Beetle," which I always assumed was because it was painted blue. I mean, let's face it - a big-time author like this could not be referring to the old Charlton/DC comic book hero, could he? Well, in this book, Butcher answers that question once and for all. When Murphy shows up to rescue a wounded Dresden, he climbs onto the back of her motorcycle and says, "This is Valkyrie. I've got Booster Gold" (p. 207). A simple, throw-away line, and yet those seven words (eight, if you count "I've" as "I have") answer everything! Because as any DC Comics fan knows, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are BFFs that were the comic relief of the Justice League for many years, and even today, they are the Laurel and Hardy of DC Comics. So, for Butcher to finally acknowledge this comic book reference - well, it made the geek in me totally geek out and cheer when I read the line!
But the joy doesn't last long, as the battle gets more intense, more fierce, and more deadly - and one of Dresden's closest allies is taken out. And when I say taken out, I don't mean knocked out, injured severely, or maimed. I mean TAKEN OUT. Someone dies. Someone close to Dresden, someone I thought Butcher would never, ever write out of the series. It's a meaningful death, as it very nearly breaks Dresden and opens him to the full fury of the Winter Knight burning with him. But it's also a tragic death, as it is not a nightmarish creature of the Never-Never that kills this person. No, it's another human that has become so unhinged by everything happening in Chicago right now that he can't make sense of anything and ends up shooting this person without warning. So, yes, it is the villainous Titan and her group of baddies that cause the death, but the tool is a simply human being who is brought to madness by the sight of everything that is happening. Which makes the death more real, more sad, and more devastating to Dresden and to the reader. This is most definitely, without a doubt, one of the biggest changes in the series (we'll call it Change #3 with a capital "c").
Oh, but it doesn't end there. The battle is huge, and the members of the Accord have a plan to stop the Titan before she can obliterate Chicago and move on to the world. And wouldn't you know it, Harry Dresden is smack dab in the middle of that plan - in fact, the most important part of the plan. Because he is the only one who can actually trap the Titan. Because you can't actually kill the Titan (none of them have that kind of power, even combined), but the Titan can be contained. And by the end of the battle, there are a number of revelations that come to light that basically show us change #4 as it relates to "Gentleman" John Marcone, change #5 as it pertains to the White Council's decision about Dresden after everything is over, and change #6 as it concerns Dresden's marital status (yeah, you don't really think I'm going to spoil THAT one, do you?).
There is so much that happens in this book, there is no possible way I could go into all of it. I will say it was well worth the read and well worth the wait. Now comes the impossible task of waiting for book 18 (tentatively titled Twelve Months) and book 19 (set to be called Mirror, Mirror). Here's hoping there's not as much a delay here as there was between books 15 and 16!
EXTRA - this book also contained a short story at the end titled "Christmas Eve," which is clearly set after the events of this book. It's a touching little story that reminds readers of exactly what, and who, Dresden is fighting for in his battle against the supernatural baddies!
RATING: 10 unassembled bicycles out of 10 for giving readers the payoff they deserve with this climactic battle that is unparalleled in scope and suspense!
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