Book 7, Dead Beat: The Dresden Files

This is my favorite dresden files book thus far. It has a bit of everything and is packed up with non-stop action. The dinosaur was priceless, not forgetting the new characters... Ramirez is hysterical! Love it

Fantastic audio recording, James Marsters does a fantasic job performing
all the parts in the novel. Each character has a distintive, real voice, with emotion, not just an actor droning on and on. I absolutly recomend this audio
series for anyone who enjoys the Dresden Files. Excellent way to spend spare
time sitting in traffic, or for listening while working.

I enjoyed this one, Harry is still Harry and doing detective stuff. The later books make me think of anime like DBZ, where we just wait to see what new power up Harry gets this time and are starting to loose me.

While the first couple of Dresden books were very light, I was intrigued by the end of the third book (Grave Peril), where the ending was not tidy like the previous two books, and quite hooked by the end of the fifth (Death Masks). Harry's life gets more complicated in Dead Beat as Jim Butcher continues to explore the effects of power on Harry. Add to that some inventive and very cool plot twists (I actually exclaimed 'cool' aloud at one point), well-drawn new characters and the usual nail-biting finish, and this becomes a great addition to the series. I'm looking forward to the next ones!

As with the previous Dresden Files novel, this one has not been edited very well. The story itself is engaging. I enjoy the Dresden Files books; I just wish that with a ten dollar price tag, the editing was a little more professional.

One of the things I appreciate most about Mr. Butcher's work is the character development throughout the series. Harry Dresden has changed through the series consistent with his experiences. It makes for an enjoyable read when you begin to see not only the layers of the overall plot emerge, but the changing identity of the protagonist.

Now I just need the next installment!

Synopsis: Dead Beat is the seventh novel in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series of urban fantasy novels. It was originally released in 2005 and takes place about a year after the events of the last novel, Blood Rites.

Halloween is just around the corner and wizard and somewhat detective Harry Dresden agrees to meet Mavra, head of the vampire Black Court. She threatens to use evidence that would get Murphy imprisoned or worse in order to blackmail Harry to get something called The Word of Kemmler to her in 3 days. Her other condition is that he must not seek help from anyone and should tell no one of the blackmail threat against Murphy, who is actually on vacation together with the assassin Kincaid.

The book turns out to be a fabled manuscript created by the necromancer Kemmler, who had been defeated by the White Council many years before. It has been believed that Kemmler and all of his disciples had been killed and that all copies of his texts had also been destroyed. But the fact that Mavra was looking for it to leads Dresden to suspect that it's real. And given the fact that there are actually several groups of Kemmler's followers active in the city looking for the book, there's a heck f a lot of danger for Harry to face alone.

What I Liked: The whole discussion related to the role of necromancy in this world and how gravely the White Council deals with such threats was an interesting angle to take in this story. It's not just as simple as dark wizards using skeletons and zombies to fight Harry. Like the other disciplines of magic covered in the books, it turns out that necromancy has different approaches and applications and each of the followers of Kemmler has a different aspect of the magical art that they prefer to use.

What was most striking to me was a brief scene involving Mab, Queen of the Winter Court. We last really got to see her in action in Summer Knight with a story that ended with her offering Harry the role of Knight of the Winter Court. As much as he didn't take the deal, it's clear that Mab maintains an interest in him and Harry just continues to prove why he's worthy of Winter as well.

Oh, and the book also nicely tackles the Wardens beyond our ever judgmental friend Morgan. That was a nice little development.

What Could Have Been Better: The bit with Murphy and Kincaid felt rather left field, especially given how Murphy had initially reacted to his life as a contract killer. Sure, they fought the vampires of the Black Court side-by-side and there's some respect between the two. But for them to go on a seemingly romantic out of town getaway was strange. I know it's the sort of plot twist meant to upset readers and make them decide whether or not they root for a future relationship between Harry and Murphy, but that's really just a minor subpoint.

The book's core mystery had a lot of moving parts but it didn't all come together in a meaningful or least significant manner. They even found a way to somewhat bring in the Chicago crime underground into the mix of things but overall impact felt like more a weird need to shift characters in order to fulfill plot requirements. This happens all the time but it felt a little more blatant in this book in particular.

TL;DR: Dead Beat is a great continuation of the series and it features a lot of great fights that really test the limits of magical creativity. It has Harry going through some major character changes as well that are sure to have a significant impact on him in the grand scheme of things.

I've read every Dresden book, novella, short, etc.. and this continues to be one of my favorites. Harry ends up severely out gunned and still manages to look cool doing it. Highly recommend the whole series to ANYONE.

Jim Butcher is a master of the urban fantasy genre and the reason I got hooked reading it. I have yet to read a Dresden File book I did not like. I suggest reading them in order because new characters come and go.

I thoroughly enjoy the sense of humor, vulnerabily, courage, and resoursefulness of Dresden! Each story is unique and yet ties into previous and future stories. The reader cannot help but be enthralled, entertained, and rewarded with satisfaction with each novel.

Couldn't stop reading. Love the character Butters, dinosaur, and Lucio. I look forward to seeing what he does next and the knowledge her picks up. But got goodness sake, I'm tired of Fozare. Please for they love of Pete add new words of magic!!

"Dead Beat" was great, I mean all the Dresden novels are great but "Dead Beat" is the best novel in the series since "Summer Knight." As usual for a Dresden novel, I couldn't put it down and finished it within a week. But I don't think I have to sell this novel, If you like Harry Dresden you have probably already read it.