First up is Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Death Masks is book 5 in the Harry Dresden series. I finished it a couple weeks ago, but haven't had a chance to review it until now. (Read: Lazy) When I finished book 4, I really thought the series was getting stronger, but this one took me MONTHS to finish so perhaps not? I did like it, I just felt no need to return to it every time I took a break. Because I read so many books at once (at least 4, usually), breaks are often long.
I didn't think that this installment did very much to advance the characters. There was very little having to do with any of my favorites from previous books and way too much to do with Susan. Michael had a nice, if brief, role. I much prefer it when Harry has his gang around him. In this episode, Harry is looking for the Shroud of Turin, which has been stolen and brought to Chicago. There is a flimsy little reason why it's the Shroud of Turin and NOT just say, a rock. The plot line doesn't really do much beyond be exciting. In spite of this, I have already moved book 6 to my bedside table.
The other book I want to mention is Goodnight Bush: A Parody. This is one of the books from my Hachette Books Group books. It's a short book, as anyone who is familiar with Goodnight Moon could probably tell you. The illustrations are similar to the original, with both color pages and black and white. I'm not a big fan of Bush (I voted for change), but even so I really disliked this book. It's mean and unfunny (is that a word?) and exactly the kind of humor I hate. I wouldn't even mention it here, except that I feel some obligation to say if I read the books I won or not. I have already passed it along to someone who appreciates it more than I. There is a website, if you want to know more.
Bermudaonion has posted a guest review of Goodnight Bush that is much MUCH better than my review. Check it out!
I posted a review of Goodnight Bush that was written by one of my son's friends, and he couldn't find a lot of good things to say about it either.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember seeing that, I'll come over and look.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, the events in Death Masks don't do much to advance the characters, but it did advance the stories in some way. I loved the actions in this one - the duel :) Go Harry!! and I enjoyed seeing Thomas again and meeting Ivy and Kincaid... but yes, I could have done without Susan...
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy Blood Rites :) Big secret revealed in it :)
I don't like Susan at all, even Before. The duel was cool, as was the little girl in charge (can't remember what she was called.)
ReplyDeleteLisa, I agree with your statement about *Goodnight Bush.* There's a difference between being funny/satirical and being mean-spirited!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember much about Death Masks but I feel the same way about Susan (Murphy FTW!), and about it being better when the whole gang are together. =)
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