6 years in the making. It went *fast*.

No Spoilers before *Battle Ground* hits - in September.

Battle Ground has hit. With a big *thump*.
No SPOILERS!

I’m going to have to pace myself to not finish it by tomorrow.

I've been trying to hold out till Battle Ground comes out to just read thru both, one after the other.
Should I bother waiting or just get it now?

Well, that book lasted more than 24 hours, but less than 48. Preordered the next one of course

Definitely less than 48 hours. Redoing the series again before Battle Ground drops. Think I might whet my appetite reading the chapters he has up his page.

I read it and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Changes and Dead Beat are probably my two favorite Dresden books and it's not on par with either of them IMHO.

I bought it thinking it was a whole book, it's not. I'm sure everyone in the world knew that but me, so yeah it's on me but, I'm not sure if I'll read anymore of his Dresden books over this.

I'm more than a little pissed at having to pay full price for half a book.

I'm sorry he got divorced and his dog died I really am, it sucks. Been there, done that, got the scars.

What I don't understand is why that means I get half a book for full price.

Him and his publishers are acting like they're doing everyone this big favor with TWO DRESDEN BOOKS IN ONE YEAR! ISN'T THAT GREAT! YEAH! WE'RE DOING THIS FOR THE FANS! Well it would be if we actually got two books for our money.

I'm not sure if it was him and his publisher, or just the publisher that decided to bilk his fans for extra money because he sat on his ass for the better part of 6 years.

Thank God I'm not a fan of Rothfuss or Martin, those books are never coming out.

The appeal of Dresden is that he was mostly a normal guy (with some powers), that dips his toes into a supernatural world that’s a lot bigger than him and could crush him easily, but with a lot of luck and a little cleverness he manages to live through it. He’s a wizard, but doesn’t really fit into the wizarding world and really relates to normal people better (though he doesn’t really fit in there either).

That’s a fun story, but there’s only so much you can do with it before it gets hokey and repetitive. Dresden hit the nerve of the nerd community, got Butcher some popularity, and became a cash cow he could milk. Butcher’s writing improved over time (watching his skills improve notably from book to book in the early years was great), but it’s hard to avoid the traps that come with a long episodic story like the Dresden books became.

There are great high points, but a continuous string of “woe is me, I hurt everyone around me”, emo mopefests wears thin after a while. Continuously escalating power In your main character is another trap (let’s just call it “Anita Blake syndrome“), which leads to continuously escalating antagonist powers, which eventually becomes ridiculous.

Butcher has some tremendous moments, but he also has his weak streaks too. He created some really interesting sub-characters, but doesn’t always know what to do with them, and he’s done about all he can do with his main character without getting absurd. I fear that (maybe) Dresden has become Butcher’s avatar for his own midlife doldrums.

My opinion (worth what you paid for it) is that Dresden should have been put out to pasture about 6-8 books ago. Some spinoff books about other characters (Molly Carpenter’s short dive off the cliffs of emo doesn’t count) would have been cool.  Unfortunately (with the exception of Bitters), it looks like every time those interesting characters try to go off and do something interesting on their own, they crash and burn because they’ve all become physically, emotionally, and from a narrative POV, utterly dependent on Dresden (the biggest trap Butcher has fallen into).

Good urban fantasy has to start with a great idea with unique spin. Butcher nailed it. It needs an interesting worldscape and characters. Again, Butcher did a great job. I think he made some mistakes and fell into a few pits along the way, but it’s been a great series. I just think it’s time to let Harry fade away.

Yeah I'd have to agree. Changes was the high point for me and I haven't been excited about any of them since.

Unfortunately he's committed to 21 books plus a 3 book apocalyptic trilogy and, because he's tried to drag the series out to reach that goal, plenty of people are tired of Harry NEVER asking questions about the things that keep getting brought up, family, Black Council, being a Star Born, etc. etc. etc.

Overall I've loved the series but yeah, I think it could have ended with changes.

Well, the second half of the book came out today...

Has anyone finished both books yet? Did "Peace Talks" in less than 24 clock hours, now approaching 3 weeks to do "Battle Ground." Is the duo-ology sucking the life out? The splitting of what had been one book when turned in? Maybe I'll get it done by the next weekend.

It’s a quick read, and has a frenetic pace.  Took me about 6 hours to finish it. I stretched peace talks out a little more, just because.

Overall, it’s ok, but not great.  Butcher doesn’t really do massive scale very well. It read like a series of “just in time, character X arrives to save the day”, moments.  Body count was absurdly low for what happened.  The body count we did get (no spoiler) seemed overly convenient Butcher-ex-machina to set up a new plotline.

There were small moments where it was very good, but it’s fairly generic Dresden at this point, overall.

Exposed a gaping plot hole (again, no spoilers) involving the faerie courts, if you pay attention.

I don’t like the “split one story and make it two books”, idea. For me, that’s a cheap ploy to sell more downloads.

Yeah on all those points.

Was more implying that with Peace Talks I at least was more anxious and waiting for and plowed right in to it whereas with Battle Ground it was almost burnout or the let down that one book became a two-fer. Since I had a library copy that dictated that I had a limited amount of time to read it and still put it off.

Hoping the following and series ending can do better.

I'll have to save that comment for a few months until spoiler alert is not needed.