Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

And so I reach the end (for now) of my Harry Dresden marathon. Blood Rites is the sixth book of Jim Butcher’s Dresden files and the last to be published, so far. Another is on its way. One thing sticks out about the Harry Dresden books. They read like a tv series. I’m most reminded of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I think.

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Not only is there a similar dark humor, they also share the horror and fantasy elements too. But more fundamentally, Blood Rites reads like the latest adventure in an ongoing series. Characters come and go from book to book. Plot threads started two or three books back suddenly show their real importance. And most of all Harry’s myserious background gets more convoluted and mysterious with every book.

Now this is a great technique for locking in your readers and getting them to come back for more. But it also has some dangers. If the backstory hasn’t been very carefully plotted out then layer after layer of “revelations” may simply weigh the whole series down. There should be an end point to this where we finally find out what is going on and why.

Inevitably with a successful series the temptation has to be to string it out as long as possible. But if you’re going to borrow from the tv drama format, borrow this rule as well. Every season has an end point. And that end point clears the decks ready for future storylines.

But lets talk more specifically about this book. This is a high action story, Harry is involved in two separate cases, both of which require considerable physical efforts on his part. On top of that there are some major revelations about people close too him that should give him a significantly different world view.

But personally my favorite part of this book was his extensive interaction with Karrin Murphy. Finally we get to see the real potential of their relationship. Not only do we get to see Murphy away from her job, there are signs that maybe her view of the world is changing. Whether that change is a good or bad thing… well it looks like that could go either way.

Even better though, there are signs that Harry at least is starting to admit some of what he might feel for Murphy, even if she remains stubbornly blind to it. Ah, see what I mean about a tv drama series? At this pace it could be book 20 before we get to the real action!