Book 27: Grave Peril

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

I was a little bit disappointed with this novel, if only because I was expecting something slightly different from the blurb on the back: "the spirit world has gone postal . . . these ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone - or something - is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc." And while overall, this is an accurate description, I was a little bit disappointed with the motivation behind it all when it was revealed - I was just hoping for something bigger, or something that would involve more and larger revelations about Harry's past than are given in this novel.

Also, based on that, I was expecting to see Harry battling a bunch of different ghosts, and while the novel tells us he has been doing this for the past two weeks, at the point where the novel begins, he is dealing with one creature in particular. It's been happening in all the novels, but especially in this one, I just couldn't believe how much and how often Harry gets the crap beaten out of him - can't there be one novel that involves action and adventure with only a few punches and beatings rather than one insane, crushing pummeling after another?

The novel introduces a few new characters, Michael, a knight, and Lea, Harry's faerie godmother, which is not a good thing. Additionally, Bianca, a vampire that Harry pissed off quite a bit in the first novel is back, and having a party to celebrate her recent promotion. Since in this novel, Harry is working on his own, Karrin Murphy doesn't make too much of an appearance. Susan and Harry's relationship is also getting more serious though his unexpected work schedule is beginning to get to her a little bit.

The ending leaves quite a few things to be taken care of in the next novel so it should be interesting. Butcher hasn't been overdoing the amount of characters he introduces in each novel but this novel felt oddly crowded, for some reason. Maybe it was the godmother in addition to everything else going on. I'm not really sure.