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.

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

From the Publisher: HARRY DRESDEN IS BACK AND READY FOR ACTION, in the new entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.

When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago—and all he holds dear?

Harry Dresden is back in the 16th book in Jim Butcher's urban fantasy series, and the first full-length novel since 2014's Skin Game. This far into the series, fans likely know what to expect: explosive action, snarky humor, lovable secondary characters (a great many of whom appear in this book), and ever-increasing stakes. 

Readers new to the Dresden Files series might prefer to start with the first book, Storm Front, also available for checkout at GPL. You also might want to stop reading here, to avoid spoilers for other books in the series.

The big thing thing to know about Peace Talks is that it's an incomplete story - the manuscript was large enough that the publisher split the book in two. As a result, many plot threads begin in Peace Talks that won't be resolved until the next book, which leaves the story feeling incomplete. Thankfully, Battle Ground, the next book, comes out on September 29th so it's not too long of a wait.

Peace Talks begins with Harry, Chicago's only practicing wizard/private detective, balancing his duties as a Warden of the White Council, as Knight of the Winter Court, and as a father raising both a human child and a spiritual one. The peaceful, domestic bliss is short-lived though, as several big events hit at once:

• Harry's vampire brother Thomas informs Harry that he's expecting a child
• The White Council of wizards is holding in inquest whether to revoke Harry's status as a member of the Council, even as...
• Queen Mab of the Winter Court is holding a peace talks summit between signatories of her Accords, which will bring important members of the supernatural community from all over the world to Chicago. As both a Warden of the White Council and the Winter Knight, Harry will have to represent both groups at the event and put his divided loyalties to the test.
• The Accords are disrupted even before they begin by an assassination attempt made against the king of the Svartalves, and the assassin turns out to be someone very close to Harry.

With all of this going on, things are even crazier for Harry than ever before. The peace talks bring all sorts of characters from previous books and short stories back to Chicago, which is a fun treat for readers. Harry's trademark sarcastic wit is still very much on display, but Butcher has also done a great job developing our favorite wizard/detective into a wiser, more mature Harry with a family to protect. 

However, because the story was split into two books, many of the plot threads set up in Peace Talks are left unresolved until the next one. While hardcore fans will be eager to devour this new entry into the series, more casual fans might prefer to wait until they can read the whole story at once.

Peace Talks is available for checkout from Galesburg Public Library in hardcover format, and through the library's ebook collections using the Libby and Axis360 apps.

How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

From the publisher: Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.

Spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story "The City Born Great," a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis's soul.

My book club has moved on-line in wake of the COVID pandemic, and we've switched gears in our selection. Realizing that many of us are having trouble finishing full length books, we chose the short story anthology How Long 'Til Black Future Month by N. K. Jemisin to follow up our discussion of Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. I do love a good anthology, and it's been close to a year since I've read one. And this was a fantastic book to jump back in with.

Published in 2018, HLTBHM is a collection of 22 stories covering the range from speculative fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, and dystopia. According to other reviewers, some are set in the same worlds as Jemisin's novels. I haven't read any of her previous works, and followed the stories in question with no issue. The majority of the main characters are black, and at least half of them are women. Overall, I found this to be a great collection. 'The City Born Great' absolutely deserved its 2017 Hugo nomination (the same year that N. K. Jemisin won Best Novel for the second year in a row). Other stand outs include 'Red Dirt Witch', the Jim Crow era fey story mentioned by the publisher, 'The Effluent Engine' set in a steampunk New Orleans that I would love to see more of, and 'Valedictorian', where the top student in each high school class is taken away, never to be seen again. There are a number of stories that didn't really grab me, and 'The Evaluators' suffered from formatting in that it told its story through dated emails and other transmissions that didn't scan very easily. In writing this review, it has also become very noticeable that the story title is not at the top of the page, making it difficult to flip back through. Overall, however, this is a wonderful anthology, and definitely worth your time.

How Long 'Til Black Future Month is available for curbside checkout from Galesburg Public Library in both regular and large print versions, as well as through the Libby app.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Publisher Description: College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job and a rocky relationship with Zane, her only friend when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his fellow monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a silly and entertaining tale of cocktails that give one the power to fight demons.

The fighting demons with cocktails conceit wore a little thin, but the robust plot kept me going as a reader. There was one shockingly out of place incident that won't make dog lovers happy, but otherwise the violence is of the over-the-top demon fighting kind. Overall, I’d rate this book a little gimmicky but amusing and fun. It definitely does not take itself seriously. (The demons are called tremens - a group of them? A delirium.) It also has a diverse cast of characters, always welcome.

I loved the Chicago setting and details. The cover says the writer lives in L.A., but I have to believe from the accurate Chicago vocabulary that he was a Chicagoan at one time. Some lines made me laugh out loud (off to fight demons and the bad guy, the main character’s hair was “styled to weather both Chicago winds and possibly the end of the world.” p. 327 of the advance reader copy).

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge really feels like a “new adult” novel (although I do hate that label). (“She’d spent so much of the past two months running from her old self, but for the first time she felt maybe she didn’t have to. … What mattered was the future, and she still had plenty of that left.” (p. 276) This from a recent college graduate.)

Recommended for lovers of urban fantasy like Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files and for “new adult” Chicagoans who like quirky fantasy. In fact, if you are a Chicagoan or ex-Chicagoan of any age and the book’s description intrigues you, give it a shot. The opening of the author’s Acknowledgments give you an idea of what to expect: 

The hardest part about writing the acknowledgments for a book I wrote is finding a way to stretch the words “Great job, Paul!” See, that’s the thing about this book: I wrote it all by myself. If there’s anyone to acknowledge, it’s definitely just me and me alone. Well, me and Mira. I will definitely thank her. She’s my roommate’s cat, and she spent most of the draft process lying quietly in a nearby sunbeam. It was the single most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen. (p. 280 of the ARC)

 I read an advance reader copy of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge. It will be published on June 7 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library as a print book and an ebook.

Cold Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Series: Jessica McClain #3
Genres: Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Adult

Release Date: October 8th, 2013
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Library

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Jessica arrives back in town to find her best friend missing and the most powerful witch in the country is blaming her for it. But before they can move to save her, the group is attacked.

On the run, Jessica and Rourke head to the mountains. Several surprises await them, but in order to save her father they are forced to leave for New Orleans early. Arriving on the Vampire Queen's doorstep unexpectedly, and bringing trouble on their heels, the Sects are thrown into an all out war. The vicious skirmish ends up forcing the vamps and Jessica to fight on the same team.

The Vamp Queen ends up owing Jessica, but what Jessica doesn't realize is just how soon she'll have to cash it in... 

When I first dived into this book, I only expected to find the book to be pleasant, like its predecessors, yet  a small part of me still hoped it would be better, that there would be something more to it and I managed to hit the jackpot. This book was amazing!

We finally have Jessica and Rourke reunited and to see them function as a couple was definitely fun. Both of them have come so far from the beginning of the series and it’s nice to just see these independent and stubborn characters function in a relationship and be supportive of one another.

Jessica, as we’ve already come to know, is a strong female lead. She doesn’t back down easily and will do whatever she can to protect the ones she loves. The thing about her was that I never really connected with her until this book. I admired her and even liked her but there was just something missing. Perhaps it’s because we’ve finally gotten to a point where we aren’t so confused about her and all the information that has been thrown at us in the previous books is starting to settle in.

Rourke was amazing. Ah how I love him. He is swoonworthy and it’s nice to finally have him around! In book 1, we were barely introduced to him. In book 2, he wasn’t even there. In book 3, we finally get to meet Rourke and get to know him a whole lot better; which was amazing because otherwise I wouldn’t be shipping the two as much as I did!

The secondary characters are as fabulous as ever and Ray is losing some of his hard-headedness so for those of you who were never fans of him in the first place, it’s all good. He’s never going to stop being stubborn but he wasn’t as much of a jerk this time around. The sad thing about this instalment was that the secondary characters didn’t shine out as much as they had in the previous books because Jessica and Rourke finally have the spotlight.

I wasn’t actually all that unhappy about that fact since I know a lot of us have been waiting for the two to finally get together and if you haven’t already figured that out, the romance doesn’t disappoint. It was worth the wait. But you’ll have to read the book yourself to find out how great it was.

Moving on, this book was fast paced. There was a lot of stake and things kept on happening one after the other but the transitions were well done so the book didn’t feel ‘off’. It was just fun. The plot was well developed and incredibly entertaining and it just reminds me why I love Urban Fantasy so much. Urban Fantasy makes the best brain candy.

The book, on the whole was a fantastic addition to the series and if I may say so, the best yet. I can just imagine how much better things are going to get with Red Blooded.