Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

From the publisher: THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS FOR HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, in the next entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.

Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.

But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.

Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

After I reviewed Peace Talks last month, I knew I had to review this 17th book featuring "the other wizard named Harry" as soon as possible. As I mentioned in the Peace Talks review, Battle Ground is the second half of that story, which was originally one book but was split in half by the publisher. While I think splitting into two books was probably the right decision, neither book feels quite complete on its own so I recommend reading the two back-to-back if at all possible.

For those unfamiliar with the series, I recommend starting with Storm Front, the first book, rather than jumping in here. The rest of this review may contain some spoilers for earlier books in the series, so please stop reading now if you don't want to know anything about the earlier books.

Since it was basically the first half of one story, Peace Talks left readers with a lot of unanswered questions:

• What happens when Harry Dresden's divided loyalties between the White Council of wizards and the Winter Court come into conflict?
• Why did Harry's brother Thomas try to assassinate the svartalf king?
• Can even the combined forces of the Accorded nations survive the onslaught of Ethniu and the Fomor?
• Even if they survive, can the world ever be the same after such a large-scale conflict happens out in the open?
• Do krakens have souls?

Okay, that last one isn't a lingering question from the last book, but readers are going to find out the answer anyway. 😁

One side effect of being the second half of a two-part story is that Battle Ground has a LOT of action. From start to finish, this book is practically one long sequence of action scenes and battles. The stakes here are higher than they've ever been before, with the fate of all of Chicago and possibly the entire world riding on Harry's success. But thanks to his tangled relationships and family, the personal stakes are still quite high as well. Harry still has family and loved ones to protect, even as some of them fight beside him and try to keep him safe as well. Thanks to the relentless pace of the story, I was totally sucked in and finished all 402 pages of this book in just one day.

All in all, Battle Ground has everything that was missing from the last book and more. It brings a true Dresden Files action climax with all the cool moments, sarcastic wit, and heart-wrenching drama that fans have come to expect from Jim Butcher over the first 16 books. Fans of the series will not be disappointed. The hardcover edition also contains a short story called "Christmas Eve," which was previously published online on the author's website.

Battle Ground is available to check out from Galesburg Public Library in hardcover format, and through the library's ebook collections using the Libby and Axis360 apps.