White Night: The Dresden Files, Book 9

White Night, being the 9th book in The Dresden Files, is the first Jim Butcher book I ever bought new when it came out. I was introduced to the series via the short lived Sci-fi channel adaptation, and White Night was the first book to come out after being introduced to the world. I quickly bought and read all the other novels after enjoying the show so much, so that by the time White Night was released in April of 2007, my anticipation was at a real peak. To my surprise, White Night, exceeded all anticipation and expectations.The basic plot revolves around Harry trying to uncover the mystery behind several super-natural murders. All the victims are women who seem to have been minor practitioners of the Art, but not powerful enough to be considered for the Council or really defend themselves against mystical predators. It also seems that someone out there wants Harry to know about these murders, as several of them have a message only a Wizard could see. The message: Exodus 22:18: "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live."While the identity of the murderer(s) is unknown, clues left behind indicate in most cases the women were last seen with man in a Grey Cloak (a Warden's cloak maybe?) or a Too Pretty dark-haired man (sound like anyone Harry knows?). Thus, Harry is immediately confronted with two very unsettling possibilities: the villain could be a fellow Warden, or worse yet, his own brother.Some of the better supporting characters make a return for White Night, including mob boss "Gentleman" John Marcone and Harry's ex Elaine Mallory. Thomas, Ramirez, Murphy, Mouse, Molly and Lasciel also return with feature supporting roles. Thomas' story in this book is as good as he has been since Blood Rites, and Mouse continues to be a scene stealer. Lasciel's (or Lash's?) character has truly grown into one of my favorites in the series, and her role in White Night is really one that elevates the book and the series as a whole. Murphy is still in a transitional phase after the fallout from Proven Guilty, but is actually becoming more interesting the less we deal with her as part of the CPD. Molly is definitely better in this book, and the interaction between her and Harry is really well done. The Master and Apprentice relationship they have is a real boon to the series. Other quality characters from Blood Rites, Dead Beat and Proven Guilty return, but to say who is giving away too much, suffice to say they make welcome returns.Marcone has been largely absent (aside from a brief Cameo in Dead Beat) since Harry teamed up with him to fight the Denarians in Death Masks. Elaine made her debut, physically, in Summer Knight and has not been seen since. Both are strong supporters who bring a lot to the saga whenever they are around, and Marcone, especially, is one of the best foils for Harry in the series. While he is a villain, he is also the "enemy we know" as Harry puts it, and falls into more of a Grey area than other "bad guys" in the saga. We learn that Marcone has not been idle since we saw him last, and, as we saw in Dead Beat, has been making inroads in establishing a power-base in the Mystical community. Elaine returns more clearly on the side of good than the last time she was in Chicago, and Harry discovers that she has been operating out in Los Angeles since Summer Knight. While Elaine had been lost and making bad choices the last time we saw her, it is clear in White Night that she has modeled herself largely after Harry and has finally chosen to use her talents as he does: to help people.One of the better aspects of The Dresden Files is Harry's growth as a Wizard. I cannot specify how many Fantasy series I have read where I wanted the main character to accumulate knowledge and power over the course of the series, but they largely remained static. It was also a pet-peeve of mine in the Harry Potter series the way that Potter was surrounded constantly by Magic, and always being threatened by one bogey man or another, that Potter never seemed to really grow that much as a Wizard. He would pick-up spells here and there, but it was really Hermione who actually threw herself into Magic and endeavored to learn more. Wizard's are supposed to be Magi, The Wise, and ideally they should never stop learning, nor wish to stop. I know it was part of the allure of the books that he was a normal kid at Wizarding school, but after your parents are murdered and you are nearly killed several times, wouldn't you want to learn as much as you can about Magic? In the end, it was very Deus ex Machina when he finally did have a show down with Voldemort, and it had to be, we already knew Potter could not even get a single spell past Snape, so what chance would he have in a straight fight with Voldemort?Harry Dresden, on the other hand, does learn more and accumulate more power with each passing year (or book). He was brewing potions and crafting kinetic energy rings in Storm Front and Fool Moon, he is beefing up the protection spells on his Duster and his home in Grave Peril, picking up a magic coin (and sword) in Death Masks, utilizing a power recharge belt he had created in Blood Rites, throwing around Necromantic Magics without violating Council Law in Dead Beat, or creating a miniature model of Chicago in Proven Guilty. White Night is no different, as Harry has had to train his apprentice, Molly Carpenter, for the better part of the past year, and teaching helps him learn things from a different perspective. Also, there is a War on, and it just makes good sense for Harry to be doing everything he can to be prepared for the next battle. It is this drive and constant improvement in his Magic and Knowledge, that makes the reader believe when it all hits the fan, that Harry will be both capable and powerful enough to stand against the Major Threats he has to face, not rely on some Wand gimmickry.Overall, White Night is really excellent, and though I still have to re-read Turn Coat and read Changes, I do not know that either of them can be better, though perhaps as good. In particular, I think that the final fight in White Night is the best in the series. Throw in Harry's inner struggle with Lasciel and his need to defend his brother, and you really has as much emotional impact as in any other book in the series as well. Also, something that seems to separate it from Proven Guilty for me, and put it more on the same footing as Dead Beat, is that the action starts right away and the pace is frenetic and thrilling the whole time. The book accomplishes all you want from a Dresden Files book: the action is superb, the moral and ethical dilemmas are deep, and the book grows the Mystery and Lore of the series appreciably. So that by the end, you feel as if you know a little more about the Larger Game and are still left wanting to know more, but still feel as if this part of the saga is fitfully complete.404 HC Pages. 5 out of 5 stars

Jim Butcher has done it again. While most series have escalated to ridiculous levels by now. Harry always seems to get taken down a notch at the end, leaving him stronger than before, yet still vulnerable enough to have reasonable stakes in the next installment.

I read this book in less than one day -- it was definitely an easy read. I find most of Jim Butcher's books to be like that (all the Dresden Files ones I've read before, as well as Codex Alera). I've found myself turning to Dresden Files books increasingly often between longer and/or more difficult books. They're quick, they're fun, and they don't require a whole lot of thinking to get through.I feel like I repeat myself in nearly every one of these reviews lately, but this is NOT a good place to start the series. Not only will you miss out on some of the fun of previous volumes (I still think the final battle in Dead Beat was one of my favorite moments in the series), but there are simply too many references to past events and established characters to be able to follow this if you haven't read the other books.Like the other books, this one has a mystery that actually gets resolved by the end of the book, but it also ties in to the overall series arc (war between vampires and wizards, plus more on the possible emergence of a master manipulator working from behind the scenes -- this idea was floated as early as book 2 or 3). Unlike some of the other books, the mystery ends up tying directly into the series arc. A little side plot involving Thomas, which was introduced in a previous volume, is also resolved. Clues are dropped pretty early in the book but the resolution was still unexpected (and funny).At the beginning of the book, the body of a woman has been found -- an apparent suicide. She's a low-to-mid-level practitioner of magic. Come to find out, there have been other, similar murders. Naturally, Harry Dresden is asked to figure out what happened. During the course of his investigation, he becomes aware of the fact that others (both practitioners of magic and his normal/mundane friends and colleagues) are afraid of him. Some have taken note of his gray Warden's cloak and are nervous having an authority figure of that nature around. He used to be one of them, but the cloak puts him in a new category. Others have observed that he's been displaying increasing amounts of anger of late (and this is not new in this book; Billy the Werewolf makes the same observation a few books back). Still others believe Harry is hiding something (and he is -- in fact, hiding different things from different groups of people). So he's distrusted, nearly as much as -- if not more than -- he was in the very beginning of the series. As you might expect, outwardly he denies that anything is wrong. But he makes a choice near the end that surprised me a little -- and I think it will restore some of his friends' faith in his character, in future volumes. It's a fair amount of character development for the 9th book in a series written in a first-person POV, and I appreciate that.We don't see the typical introduction of a new magical element in this book (like past books have focused on necromancy, the Summer and Winter courts of the Fae, Red Court vampires, White Court vampires, etc.). However, new information is dropped, in bits and pieces. It fits with the mystery investigation but expands our view of the world Butcher has created, as well. We learn, for example, about how magic is usually passed down in families. We learn that there are a lot more people with low levels of magical ability than we previously thought. We delve a bit into Mouse's origin and powers. We learn a few details of White Court politics, and that there are ways to build shields and charge magical weapons that Harry hadn't previously considered. One thing I particularly like is that Harry isn't too proud to admit that someone else can do a particular thing better than he can -- even if that someone is his own apprentice. He observes what others do and, in some cases, adapts it for his own use.I think this book does a good job of going back to the mystery/detective roots of this series. As with traditional mysteries, we have multiple potential suspects. Some of them seem SO OBVIOUS that we ought to know it's too good to be true. Perhaps the investigative tools are different, but the mystery aspect is done well in this one.The characteristic humor of the series is evident here, both as snappy comebacks and as situational humor. (There were perhaps a few errors in the Kindle formatting, including Ramirez being referred to as "Rodriguez" in one scene. But mostly the formatting was acceptable.) The setting is mostly the same (Chicago, again, including a particular location that appeared in a previous book), although we actually see a few scenes that took place months before, in a desert in the American southwest, where Harry was helping to train new Wardens. This flashback was relevant to the events at hand and Harry's growth as a character, though.The pace and action were appropriate. The entire second half of the book was tense, with several major confrontations. The last battle was pretty spectacular (and large in scope/scale). There were some sex references and jokes and a LOT of violence (both supernatural and conventional), but nothing unexpected if you've read the previous books (which you really should do!).Overall, I think this was another solid volume in this series. I enjoyed it quite a bit and I look forward to the next one.

So apart from all the shenanigans this typical Dresden book succeeded in doing a lot of other good things like addressing the sexist nature of the protagonist and making him grow out of it without apologizing about it instead constantly joking about it .Meanwhile just like in the Death mask book this book had a lot in terms of plot but unlike Death Mask this book dealt with them a lot better and unlike Death mask at no time does the excessing on-going plot feels excessive or cramped . Instead it all flows very smoothlyJim Butcher takes a lot of in-jokes in the book like the countless burned buildings that happen to be around Harry and with a new role as a teacher Harry's growth as a practitioner was very well handled and his abysmally mortally risky situations actually escalated , meanwhile Harry's Dark side is finally shown to be catching up but instead of awaiting a union with the next sith lord, Harry uses his Dark side to his advantage and that was just amazing to read .The involvement of Molly and Ramirez brings a breath of fresh air into the whole series . The exchanges between Ramirez and Harry especially were show-stoppers . The Final battle felt like a big budget blockbuster movie scene with the re-introduction of true heavyweights of the dark side coming to take Harry out of his own series.This finale was thoroughly enjoyable where we witnessed the Dark side , The intelligent side, the mortal side, the powerful side and the protector side of Harry all in one go .What I Didn't like :absolutely nothing to be honest , if i am nitpicking i'd say the writing has improved but it's still not Patrick Rothfus or George Martin or Tolkien . And although it was one of the best book of the series i still give Dead beat my vote for the best in the series that said the book doesn't feel dissapointing and maybe equally as good as Dead Beat.That said one Big issue for me was the long narration sometimes given to explain the emotions that led to the production of a magic spell , infact a case is point is Chapter 31 of the book which had a long few pages about the whole deal , it was a little annoying but at the same time informative of the magic system so kind of a double edged sword of sortsConclusions :What do you know i truly thought this review won't be long .The book is very good and another fine addition to the Dresden Book series and definitely one of the best addition . This book however is the first Dresden Book that links heavily with the previous books and one you can certainly not go ahead and read without reading the previous books not that it's a bad thing

Conforme à mes attentes.

The general consensus is that the Dresden Files books just get better and better. With this, I concur.

I Dresden files sono una garanzia.Ci troveremo ironia e azione, un caso sotto i riflettori che si inserirà nel contesto più grande della guerra tra il White Council e le Corti dei Vampiri, e in quello ancora più sfumato del misterioso Black Council, tante pose da duro e altrettanta fragilità psicologica ed emotiva.La guerra continua, e Harry nello spazio tra il libro precedente e questo è stato ferito, e molto.Le ferite si accumulano, vecchi nemici ritornano, Lasciel continua a insidiarlo per impossessarsi di lui.E accadono cose anche più strane. Come Thomas che sparisce dalla circolazione senza più rispondere al fratello, o la comunità magica che ha ancora più paura dei Warden e di Harry, ritenuti responsabili di molte sparizioni e morti.E ghouls, duelli, mosse politiche all'interno della Corte Bianca...Veloce, piacevole da leggere, pieno di azione e di spunti per il futuro. Con rivelazioni aggiuntive su Harry e sua madre, e una nuova, grande modifica nella vita di Harry.Resto sempre basito da come questa serie sia splendidamente ignorata dagli editori nostrani.

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