Grave Peril by Jim Butcher: Book Review

My Grave Peril Book Review

My Rating: 3/5

Grave Peril Book Review – Spoiler Free

Grave Peril felt like a step towards something bigger. I’ve been burning through these books in Jim Butcher‘s The Dresden Files quite quickly – 3 this week – but I do feel like I have to right now.

If I stop or pause for a break with another book/series, I might never come back, and I don’t want to miss out on what people have been promising – the books get better after book 4, Summer Knight (or 6, Blood Rites – depends who you ask!).

This is not to say that these first three books were bad. Not at all! They were solid urban fantasy books.

The plots are fast-paced, Harry Dresden is our loveable chauvinistic wizard, and there are monsters around every corner. I’m enjoying these books – I just want to love them! So, I’m really hoping these next few books make me see the light.

Okay, onto this entry

I don’t think I’ve mentioned before how gory these books can be… I suppose I should have done with Fool Moon, but in this one I noticed it a lot more. It’s not overly exaggerated, but it’s graphic enough to make me feel a little sick – perfect!

Harry is really growing on me

He has a couple of moments in Grave Peril where I was either very excited for him using magic and being awesome, or he thought something that made me really begin to see him as a hero.

I got to a rocky start with Harry Dresden, so I hope his character only continues to develop like this.

We don’t see much of Murphy, which is a shame

I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews in this series that I think her character is seriously underutilised. I understand why she’s not in Grave Peril much, but it’s still a shame.

The magical side of the world is being developed and I’m loving it

This is more like my kind of fantasy, and I think it suits the books more too. Yes, we’ve had a rogue wizard and four types of werewolves before, but in this book, we get a glimpse into how the supernatural underworld operates.

It was a fantastic introduction to that and I’m excited to see more.

The final chapter of this book essentially forced me to start reading the fourth one, so I won’t be stopping this reading binge for a while yet!