Book Three - 3 (The Dresden Files series) - The Dresden Files

I was assured that the series would pick up by the third book. While some slight improvements have been made (allies are no longer the main hindrance, Harry is facing some of his many character flaws) the story isn't much better. Still too much reliance on weak premises for conflict (how many times is he going to drop his staff and wand?) , deus ex machina, and flat characters. I really want to like these book but I just don't. The premise is fantastic then is wasted on poorly conceived foes (the ghost of a demon?) and inconsistencies (magic is ordered and predictable then isn't ) . It really seems as though the story was made up as it was written. Very little foreshadowing and a lot of just-in-time solutions (oh by the way, ghosts are allergic to water) that seemed to have no basis.
This will be my last Dresden book as I cannot justify spending $10 on each book that, so far, have proven to be short on content and entertainment.

This is more of a 3.75 stars. The story drew me in and kept me reading, but I didn't necessarily enjoy the sort of demons Harry went up against in this one as much as the different paranormal monsters he fights in later books. Not my favorite in the series, but was good enough that it made me want to read further. (And I'm glad I did.)

Butcher writes as well as always, and that Harry was involved more with S.I. is awesome. In the first two books, Harry and S.I. work mainly on cases together, but this time cops are victims in the investigation. Its great! I recommend to anyone interested - just read Fool Moon and Storm Front first!

This is a short comment for the first three Dresden books books together.

I couldn't stop reading them -- the books are well-crafted pageturners.

Unfortunately, they frequently also feel ridiculous.

The amount of gratuitous violence Harry Dresden endures in every other chapter is described totally out of proportion. And yet every time he wakes up from it, he would still run on, almost as if nothing has happened. Same goes for most of other characters on the good side.

The amount of flak he is getting from other people is also surprising: Dresden's city is surely peopled with irrational, grumbling, nearly of out control policemen and wives of friends, who can't put two and two together and give a shadow of understanding. They sound like angry teenagers much more than reasonable, self-possessed human beings, capable of at least certain amount of empathy.

Harry Dresden himself also seems like much too guilt-ridden/insecure man. This might quite well be the author's intention and it certainly would provide place for the character to grow, but every now and then it gives one a raised eyebrow: really, how much more self-sacrifice/noble sh*t are we going to have to read?

In pace, the books go from climax(read: fight) to a higher climax to an even higher climax until at last Harry gets "really angry"(tm) and blows everything up.

A noire Harry Potter burger for a bit more adult audience.

Due to the quality of writing though, it feels that the story and the characters have the potential to grow into something more valuable than a mere hardboiled fantasy. I will read at least 1 more book, to see if it does.

This book was okay, not the best and not the worst I've ever read. It tended to drag in some places, so much so that I began to care less and less about the main character. I am taking a break from this series in the hopes that I come back to book 4 with renewed interest.

This story was filled with confusing occurrences that did not seem to make sense in the beginning but if you continue to read it will be easier to comprehend. I really enjoyed the friendship that all the characters had for one another no matter what happened.

The plot and character development were very good, but the story was overly padded, which detracted from my enjoyment of the novel. This is the second Dresden novel I've read. I found Storm Front to be a much more tightly written story.

Interesting premise, loved the good vampire character, but Butcher needs a Latin tutor. It's Lavat, not Lava, quod est sordium, You need the imperative. Latin101, and I am not sure about sordium, either. Wash what is soiled, indeed.

This is the third Dresden Files book that I read back to back in the past week or so. The book is a fast-ish paced, swift read with a couple of twists but my main problem is the author's incapability of much improvement in writing in the three trials he had so far. He just keeps repeating some information over and over at each book, each time. That causes me to basically skip one thirds of a page each time in the beginnings..

Be done with wizards and electronics already! No need to repeat the same thing again and again and again at each book! Or repetitive descriptions of Murphy.. This is not a standalone book, it's meant as the THIRD book of a series. Do you see Tolkien describe Hobbits each time over and over again at each of his books?? Jeez.

Dresden is the John McClane of wizzards. Every book he gets the crud kicked out of him and just manages to win. I hope this downward spiral doesn't continue though. No it in quality, like I said, I enjoyed the book. But every book he's a little worse off than he was. Guess I'll have to keep reading to find out.

Audio book.

I had a lot of trouble with this one. Not my favorite, but I already bought the next one so I’m gonna give the series another chance.

The narrator was awesome. No trouble with that.

For some reason I feel like I struggled through this one. There is ghosts and vampires, but there was I feel no good plot. Took me a while, where the second book in this series was a fast read. On to the next book.

Great dresden book and pissed off ghosts...

You gotta like Harry.. he is nice, tries to do the best he can and always messes up the thing he is trying to "right."

Bob the skull and his cat round out the entertainment...

I read the first two Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher, and liked them.
I didn't finish this book. Others may like it, but I thought it was a little scattered
and inconsistent, and I didn't like the content. The content isn't meant to be
pleasant, being a book about the supernatural, but I think it didn't please me as
the reader as much as the first two books - and the second Dresden book is
a gory tale about werewolves that I DID like a lot. I like Jim Butcher's style and
the expectations he sets up for the reader, but Grave Peril just wasn't the book
for me. I did move ahead to the next Harry Dresden book - book four - and will likely
try more.

I picked up and enjoyed the first book in this series, so bought the second and third together expecting more like STORM FRONT. Unfortunately Butcher fell into the same trap so many authors have done. The reviewers compare this series to that of Laurell Hamilton, and it does do the same pattern only faster. It only took three books for Butcher to change what was a good urban fantasy/mystery about a private investigator/wizard into an attempt at a modern fantasy epic in which the main character is the pivotal element in a worldwide war between wizards and vampires.
I don't understand why so many of the fantasy writers seem determined that any character they create has to become Frodo. I was looking for a nice urban fantasy/mystery like Mercedes Lackey or Tanya Huff do so well.
Buy the first book, skip the rest.

good exciting fast paced story. A little variety would add to the story though - currently everything is the biggest challenge yet of Harry's life... He should really not make it through, but he does. (again, and again)

Frankly, I had a recommendation for this on television, and so I bought three of them. One is a comic book and I hate it so much I can't read it. Unfortunately, I would give it away, but it's on my Kindle. If anyone knows how to transfer that out, I will be happy to give it to you!

The first book was ok - took a little getting used to. The second book revealed a pattern. This book confirmed it. It looks to me like a formula - Harry gets involved, Harry has lots of trouble, Harry finds a way to win the day. Sadly, the formula, characters, and situations are not interesting enough to justify buying another book in the series.

I cannot believe this book got such good ratings. It was poorly written, with such a scatterbrained plot that I could barely follow the story...in fact, I even skimmed over pages that got too windy, just to keep the story flowing. And for the love of God, we are in the third book already, I think we all know that Dresden is a GREAT wizard, more powerful than most...blah, blah, blah...I don't need to keep reading his self-centered rambling every other page on how good of a wizard he is. We get it, he is the poo...move on and stop stalling the story with his mental ego-stroking every chapter. Oh, and teach the man some other catch phrase than "Hells-bells" already. Jesus, he says it like 20 times in the book, sometimes in consecutive sentences! He sounds like a 5 year old that just learned a new "bad" word. And finally, the climax of the novel to the end of the story is less than the last 1/4 of the book. It needed to be a little more developed than just bringing the story to a crashing end in as few pages as possible. Maybe if Harry had not been so caught up in telling us over and over how great he is, there would have been more room for a properly paced progression from the climax. Maybe.

Now before someone comes in and tries to tell me that I am just hating and all...I loved the first book in this series, the second was not bad either...but this, the third one, sucked. I thought I would try ordering #4 and #5 since they had good reviews, but then I saw the reviews for this one and have decided to punt. There is too much other good fiction out there to waste time on a chance like this.

And what really kills me, is I loved the show on Sci-Fi, and they cancelled it. I wanted to love this series, but I am afraid that this series and character needs more refinement. Maybe that is why it is not offered in hardcover or trade paperback.

About halfway into this book, having read the first two, I began to grow concerned regarding the heavy Christian themes. The further I read, the worse it got, until I finally I had to put the book down.

After a bit of research into the following books, I found that this wasn't a theme that was likely to change.

Until I got sick of it, this was the best book in the series. It's too bad the religious pinnings ruined it.

A solid build up on the previous volumes in the series.
This is a great combination of noir detective stories and fantasy. I won't repeat what has been said already, but focus on setting expectations.

Expect a tale told in classic jaded, hard-boiled style. This novel deals with the undead (mostly vampires). These have been mentioned in previous novels, and Dresden gets to explore their working further in this novel. Expect the usual bloody plot twists, with some extra surprises thrown in. This will keep you turning pages.
Dresden's love life also comes into greater focus, as his love interest ends up embroiled in the vampiric machinations of the day.

Be aware that while it's not strictly necessary to read the books in order, it certainly helps. Dresden's chivalry can come off as misogynistic at times, and while Butcher works on breaking the vampire cliche and still keep the horror (no sparkles, thankfully), there are tropes of the genre present.

--
Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: Togas, Daggers, and Magic (Felix the Fox Book 1)Murder In Absentia: Togas, Daggers, and Magic (Felix the Fox Book 1) - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

I am an avid reader and this series is one of the worst I have ever read. I ordered the first three books together and will not be ordering any more of the series. The story is choppy and slow and boring. Not a series I would recommend which is disappointing because I have read other works by this author and could not put them down, unfortunately this series is not one of them.

Not kindle unlimited, roommate has these various ways, working thru them, various formats but many on kindle, some also on audio for first few so will do review on those separately as well {taking a bit because having to do review on the store, goodreads, audible at least while that lasts}

In all his years of supernatural sleuthing, Harry Dresden has never faced anything like this: the spirit world's gone postal. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone-or something-is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? If Harry doesn't figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself.

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) (Apr 1, 2000)
Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) (Jan 1, 2001)
Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, Book 3) (Nov 4, 2008)
Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4) (Sep 3, 2002)
Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5) (Aug 5, 2003)
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, Book 6) (Mar 2, 2010)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, Book 7) (May 2, 2006)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, Book 8) (Feb 6, 2007)
White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) (Feb 5, 2008)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10) (Mar 3, 2009)
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11) (Apr 7, 2009)
Changes (The Dresden Files, Book 12) (Apr 6, 2010)
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files, Book 13) (Jul 26, 2011)
Cold Days (The Dresden Files, Book 14) (Nov 27, 2012)
Skin Game (Dresden Files Book 15) (May 27, 2014)

Brief Cases (Dresden Files)
Side Jobs (Dresden Files)
Working for Bigfoot
Dresden Files Roleplaying Game: Vol 1: Your Story (The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game)
Dresden Files Roleplaying Game: Vol 2: Our World (The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game)
Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron (Dresden Files)

also various sets/combos, comic/graphic novels, collections, ebook paperback hardback audio, Spanish French, German, Chinese, etc

Grave Peril is the third book in the excellent The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. In this third book Chicago wizard Harry Dresden and his friends face off against ghosts and vampires.

The suspense and action are a constant of the series and Harry continues to balance on the edge while taking risks that would kill or damn any mere mortal. But Harry is special, not only is he a very powerful wizard but he is extremely stubborn and never gives up regardless of the odds, the risk to his friends and loved ones or his own pain.

His willpower and desire to do what he sees as right regardless of the risk is what makes this series so enjoyable. Some of the best moments in this book are between Harry and his girlfriend. He is a very emotionally reserved man (most of us are) yet he admits his love for his girlfriend and very much wants her to avoid attending a very dangerous vampire ball. Of course she doesn't listen and goes anyway and Harry must protect her in a house full of vampires that want nothing more than to kill them both.

I give this book four stars out of five because Harry is a great character and his relationships with his friends and enemies are always enjoyable to read. The vampire scene was excellent yet some parts of the book were not as memorable. The series should continue to get more interesting based on where this book ended and I look forward to reading more of it.

GRAVE PERIL is book three in the Dresden Files and well, these books just seem to be getting better. After trying out the audio with the last book, I thought I’d return to just reading and I find that I like just reading them better for me. It allows me to put my own spin on things but I do know that a lot of people really love the audiobooks as well. I guess it’s just personal preference.

This book doesn’t waste time getting into the action. A lot of mythology is thrown into this book and it’s stuff that I don’t normally see a lot of even in Urban Fantasy. The things Jim Butcher comes up with are truly one of a kind and I think that’s really why this series is so good. His imagination can’t be beat.

But another reason why I love this series is because of the writing. There’s no other way to say it- it’s just good! The pacing is perfection, the humor doesn’t feel out of place or come across as corny and despite all that’s happening in the book, Harry is still the main focus of each book. This balance is what makes a good book spectacular and I think Butcher has really nailed it with this series. I’m so glad I’m finally getting to read them all.

Listened to this on audiobook, and I think James Marsters is perfect for this series, and his readings only get better as we go along.

I really enjoyed Michael's character a lot, and I thought the whole plot was very interesting. A lot of great new characters introduced in this one that I am sure will be playing a part down the line. I was also kind of happy that Murphy wasn't in this one too much, as I continue to not love her character. Her apparent lack of trust in Harry, and her inability to talk 5 seconds to actually listen to what Harry is saying or hear him out continues to piss me off.

Really curious to see what happens with Susan, and the White Council, and the Vampires, and...well, everything. I've heard from a few different people that book three is where things really start to come together and get interesting, and I believe it! A lot happened in this one, and it was all very compelling.

Though, is it just me, or did some characters/plot points come out of nowhere? I haven't been reading these books in super close succession, so maybe I've forgotten some things, but Michael and Leah both were big characters in this one, and I honestly couldn't remember them at all from previous books. Maybe they were casually mentioned previously, but from the narrative, it seemed almost like the readers should know exactly who these people are, and it actually had me wondering if I had accidentally skipped a book...

I also find Harry's insistence on blaming himself for every single problem that is even tangentially related to him a little tiresome. I get having guilt, but he takes it to such an insane level that it becomes a little tedious.

I do not know why it took me so long to find this series. Granted the spooky world is not my usual go to, yet I find myself transfixed each time I pick up these books. To be fair, I am not sure that it is the ghoul factor that keeps me coming back, but I do know that if Jim Butcher ever removed the humor, I would not enjoy them as much as I do.

Since Harry Dresden is the only Wizard in the phonebook, he receives call for the strange things happening in the Windy City, yet when Harry and his friend Michael are called to the hospital to battle a ghost that is terrorizing babies in the maternity ward, how can they say no. What they did not know at the time was that the veil between this world and the “nevernever” is thinning thus allowing all sorts of creepy things through.

Harry and Michael seem to be the targets of a gang of demons. Being what demons are, they do not play fair and when they go after those closest to Harry and Michael, all rules are thrown to the side and using whatever is at their disposal, this team of two, plus a couple of vampires are ready to take on those that are bent to destroy our world.

Hearts are broken, souls are shattered, yet Harry, Michael, and Bob will continue to protect those that they love and those that are completely unaware of what is going on around them. Jim Butcher packs this volume with many memorable characters and I, as the reader, hope to see a few of them again.

Grave Peril, the third in the Dresden Files was a highly entertaining book.  Harry Dresden takes on the vampires of the Red Court and causes all sorts of mischief. 

I enjoyed this book more than the second.  It had more interaction with characters other than Harry.  I find I like the way Jim Butcher builds relationships between his characters.  Harry Dresden is a cool character, but I like it more when he is working with others, instead of going solo so much.

I’ve now read three books in a row.  Some aspects of these books are predictable, while others still hold enough surprise to keep me very interested in the series.

Again, great characters, great story-line, great action and a very impressive world built by a very talented author.

Highly recommend.

4.75 of 5 Stars (rounds to 5)

The story just gets better and better as it moves along. Though each book is basically a standalone, the story is advanced every time because we always know what has happened before. They are also always at least a year or two after. Every book introduces new characters who Harry gets to interact with and maybe become friends with. The world that they live in is our world with the only twist being that the fantastic exists, and who wouldn't want that.

The barrier between reality and the never-never is thinning. Ghosts are coming through and causing a lot of trouble in Chicago and people still do not believe. Harry has been invited to attend Bianca's elevation in rank within the Red Court of Vampires. While Harry did not consider going the invitation was issued while he was with Susan and she is one tenacious reporter who does not get the real danger involved. There is always more going on than meets the eye and Harry is blaming himself for a lot of things.

I loved the book the first time I read it and for the second time I listened and got even more out of it. James Marsters does the narration and he is Harry for me at this point. He does a great job not only with Harry but with every other character and brings them to life to wonderfully. I loved him as Spike on Buffy, and can hear him with some characters, and could and do listen to him for hours as he takes me away to Chicago and my favorite wizard detective. This is Urban Fantasy at its best!

Every once in a while the right combination of things come together perfectly. This audiobook fits that description. I enjoyed this book the first time I read it years ago but listening to James Marsters perform this story really takes it to a whole new level. The series seems to really be taking off at this point and the story was very well done. I completely enjoyed every moment that I spent listening to this book during my re-read.

Harry Dresden's life is anything but boring. This book starts with a bang and really doesn't slow down until the end. I love how many different things can come together to make sense in Harry's world. In this book, there are ghosts, demons, and vampires all mixed together and it flows smoothly. The mystery was pretty complex in this one with a lot of things happening that will be brought up again as the series moves forward. I had a hard time setting this one aside.

I am so in love with the characters. Harry is awesome in his own way. He is funny and able to think on his feet. He makes decisions based not only on what is best for him but what will be best for others. He risks himself to helps other people quite often. Michael played a large role in this book and I really enjoyed his character. It was really fun to go back and see some of my favorite characters early in the series. Karin, Bob, Susan and everyone else really all added important pieces to the story as well.

James Marsters is the perfect voice of Harry Dresden. I absolutely love how this book was narrated. He didn't just read the story - he performed it. I could totally hear every one of Harry's emotions in the performance. I was really impressed that even the perfectly placed breath seem to add to the delivery. He performed all of the different characters flawlessly. I can't wait to listen to more books narrated by James Marsters.

I would highly recommend this series to fans of urban fiction. This is a series that you will want to read in order since there are some story arc that carry over from previous books. I am looking forward to listening to book four in the series very soon.

Book 3 of the Dresden Files finds Harry Dresden, Chicago Wizard Extraordinaire, fighting alongside Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, to keep the cities restful undead from crashing through a diminishing barrier between the Nevermore and the real world. Author, Jim Butcher, does an amazing job blending an enormous amount of creatures when doing his world building, and many of them show up in each of his books. I could quickly see that he had put in plenty of research time in this one, and found myself sneaking glances at Google just to find out more the setup for some of his characters.
The story is brisk, and you quickly bounce between several different frying pans and fires. The buildup occurs throughout the entire book, but the climax was pretty blatantly foreshadowed, deadening the excitement some. Butcher is one of my favorite reads for the big twist at the end, but this one fell short of his usual, which is still enough to keep him ahead of the average writer.
Harry’s development to be central to the series storyline. He is apparently getting stronger in each book, but other than the sheer repetition of the spells, I am missing where the increase in powers is coming from. His mentor/sidekick/Encyclopedia of Magic hidden in a skull with glowing eyes Bob, shares important information and develops potions with Harry, but I think the hints at Harry’s ever increasing power must be foreshadowing for later books where it is explained in more detail.
I would recommend this for all the now adult Potter fans that are looking for the magic to continue without all the teenage angst. I would also put an age warning on the story, some of the scenes get steamy, and may not be something that you would recommend for younger readers, send them to the aforementioned Potter series. There are 15 books in the series, and I am sadly only on number 4, but would still safely mention this to anyone looking for a great urban fantasy story, to add a bit of magic to their dreary days, and aren’t afraid of the monsters lurking in their Nightmares.

Note: Even though this is Book 3 in the series, it works fine as a stand alone.

Harry Dresden, Chicago-dwelling PI and wizard, is about to go head to head with a very powerful foe. But first he has to subdue the ghost in the baby ward of Cook County General hospital. Luckily, he has brought along his pious friend, Michael Carpenter. Something has been stirring up the ghosts in Chicago and the two have been quite busy of late putting these angry shades back to bed.

This is the book where the series starts to get serious. Significant things happen in this book that ripple throughout the rest of the series. There’s a fairy godmother, the Red Court vampires, these irritated ghosts, not to mention things getting a bit more serious between Harry and Arcane news reporter Susan Rodriguez. Then there’s Michael with his solid faith and Lt. Karrin Murphy of the Chicago PD. Meaningful things happen to all these characters and not all of them are good things.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would like Michael because I wasn’t sure how preachy (or not) he would be. It turns out that Michael isn’t preachy so much as he is sure that his path is one of virtue. His mild reminders to Harry of the so called right path are given from a place of love, respect, and friendship. Quite frankly, it’s part of his personality and he wouldn’t be Michael if he didn’t periodically remind his good friends of the Christian way. With that said, he’s a badass in a fight. Harry is lucky to have him around.

I found Harry’s fairy godmother, the Leanansidhe, to be a very intriguing character. There is definitely history between these two. I have never seen Harry so scared of any one person! Bianca of the Red Court vampires makes another appearance and she’s still holding a grudge over what happened in Book 1 (Storm Front). If these two ladies aren’t enough, there’s another bad guy or two waiting in the shadows, secretly causing Harry grief.

The mystery behind what is stirring up the ghosts was pretty chilling. It had ties to more than one bad guy so this made it harder for Harry to nail down and solve. Unfortunately, some of Harry’s friends get hit by the bad guys and there are lasting ramifications from this. I really felt for those affected, and for Harry who feels he should have been able to protect them, but I also applaud the author for having such consequences – it makes the story that much more interesting and intense.

Susan is ever on the hunt for a good story. While Harry is her boyfriend, she’s not above hanging out with him to get a great interview or a few awesome pics of something supernatural. She keeps pushing the envelope, thinking she is safe from these supernatural critters, and it blows back on her. She’s not an idiot but she can be one when it comes to running down a story. She’s too blithe about what can hurt her and that doesn’t work out for her. While I wasn’t particularly glad that happened, it was almost inevitable and I am glad the author kept the cause and effect logic going for her storyline.

We also have our first appearance of Thomas Raith and his lover Justine, which introduces the White Court of vampires, which are essentially succubi. Thomas is glamorous and likes to play the fool. His manner towards Harry is almost playful and it’s definitely hard to tell what side, if any, Thomas is on.

All around, this is another great addition to the series. I really liked that the take-me-seriously bad guy level was raised. It made the whole story much more intense and, hence, more enjoyable.

The Narration: James Marsters continues on as the voice of Harry Dresden, and still does a spiffy job of it. His playboy voice for Thomas Raith is also great. Marsters also got to show off his spooky voices with this one – from the lullaby-singing ghost in the opening scenes to Mavra (a seriously creepy vampire) to the thing that is behind the riled up ghosts – all were done very well.

Harry Dresden, wizard PI, and his faithful friend and comrade, Michael Carpenter, have been spending a lot of time together lately, attempting to clean up the supernatural problem in Chicago. Called to the maternity ward of a large Chicago hospital, Harry and Michael find themselves up against a vicious ghost with infanticidal tendencies. In order to save the babies, they must go into the Nevernever, despite Harry's misgivings. There they not only encounter the vicious Agatha Hagglethorn on her own turf, but also Lea, Harry's faerie godmother. Their encounters never end well.

The next day, a young girl approaches Harry, just as he's leaving his office for the day, and tells him if she doesn't get his help, she won't live through the night. How can a wizard resist? Sometimes, maybe he should, as he's about to open a whole can of worms he'd really rather not deal with.

Something wicked is going down in Chicago, and only Harry Dresden can really see it for what it is

The third book in the Dresden File series is just as good as the others, fast-paced and exciting, and filled with all sorts of things that go bump in the night. In this book, we meet Michael, who is somewhat Harry's opposite. He's a very spiritual man. In fact, he's got a direct pipeline to God. And his faith is very strong. Together, he and Harry fight the forces of evil, even if not for the same reasons. Michael's wife, Charity, doesn't really care for Harry. She thinks he's a bad influence on Michael. Harry does have a way of getting Michael into trouble, that is undoubtedly true. It doesn't look good for one of God's chosen to spend time in jail.

In this volume, we see growth in Harry's relationship with Susan Rodriguez, reporter for a sleazy tabloid. Beautiful and gusty, Susan's quite the match for Harry, and she's certainly no shrinking violet who does what she's told. When Harry inadvertently admits something important about his feelings for her to Michael, Michael presses him to tell Susan, but that doesn't seem to be on Harry's agenda. When he receives an invitation (read: command performance) to attend Bianca's Vampire Ball from two of Biance's minions--nasty siblings with bad attitudes who think to get over on Harry-- naturally Susan wants to go with. That ain't gonna happen, according to Harry.

Oh yeah?

In Grave Peril, we learn more about Harry's background, and come up against his beautiful but evil godmother, Lea, see more of Bianca and her court, and meet a very fascinating vampire named Thomas, whom I hope to see more of in future volumes.

Whatever else the Dresden Files might be, they're never dull. Another great read from Jim Butcher.

This is the third book of the Dresden Files. With each one, Jim Butcher continues to get better. That’s to be expected with every author.

What I had to love the most about this book was Harry’s friend, Michael. Michael is a righteous man and is the Fist of God. He’s able to wield one of only three swords created from the nails taken from Christ’s body at the crucifixion. He has pure faith, something many can only dream about and strive for, but not Michael. He believes and that’s all that matters. As such, he’s given the power to help wipe out ghosts and other evil nasties in the name of the Lord. He keeps trying to convert Harry, which I found amusing.

Harry, of course, is one of the main targets of this bad guy. Unfortunately, his girlfriend, Susan, is also caught in the crossfire. Along with having to battle ghosts, he has to face down his godmother, and some nasty vampires. It pays to be careful in an environment like this.

All in all, this was probably my favorite of all the books in the Dresden Files series I’ve read. I’m sure my admiration of Jim Butcher would continue to grow if I had access to more of the books. It’s always wonderful fun to watch how an author grows in his or her writing career across a series like this. I can definitely see why he has such a large fan base.

I had read Dresden Files 1,2 and 4, and in my opinion Grave Peril is the best so far. More is revealed of Harry's motivation as a noble wizard who uses magic for constructive purposes, to protect rather than destroy. He goes into battles with the odds seriously against him, willing to die for justice and for love of the innocent. There are non-stop action, unforeseeable plot twists, and a great new Catholic warrior character, Michael, who wields the sword Amoracchius and has Harry's back. I think of these books as the Hardy Boys for adults, thoroughly entertaining and addictive. I haven't seen any of the movies but will be looking them up: it is clear that these plots would make fast-paced, riveting movies with opportunities for special effects. While it is not necessary to read the series in order and each book can stand alone, there are some mysterious past facts and events that I assume will be revealed as the series progresses, so I intend to keep to the order...most of the time.

4 stars

This was a very good addition to the Dresden files series. When the story begins, Harry (with the help of a holy knight named Michael) is dealing with an influx of nasty ghosts. What Harry (and Michael) don't know is that the issues that they're dealing with, are actually tied to a deeper conspiracy against them. By the time all is figured out, Harry has to take some desperate measures to end the conflict as well as possible considering. Unfortunately, the whole things escalates until the wizard's white council and the vampire council are on the brink of war....so it leaves things hanging a bit at the end and we'll have to read book #4 to find out how things go (I was already intending to read the next book so this isn't an issue for me). Overall, I'm really enjoying this series and would recommend it. :)

* note - I listened to the audio version of this story and James Marsters did a great job with the narration.

Someone's attacking people in their nightmares and Harry Dresden, Chicago's wizard detective, is on the case. This time he's joined by Michael, my favorite secondary character of the series. Michael's a Knight of the Cross, wielding a holy sword with which to battle evil in God's name. Harry and Michael play off each other really well and I appreciate their aimless banter more than any other in the series because of how different yet same they are.

That said, the action in this book is much better than the first two books, though the pacing is strange and I felt that relying on Kravos case that wasn't given much time in the book kind of threw some of the tension off. The first chapter starts in the middle of some action, back tracks to a few hours before, then goes back to the action so fast that I wonder why Butcher didn't put the chapters in chronological order instead, just to save pacing issues.

Kravos himself is a meh bad guy, much like many of the bad guys early in the series, though the book isn't so much about him as the vampires and what happens during a party being held by Red Court royalty Bianca. This is an interesting set up for pretty much the entire series thus far and it provides some tense and emotional moments. One of Butcher's greatest assets is his ability to make a series about magic and other ridiculous things so very human.

This is, for me, the true start of the series.

Series Ranking:
1. Grave Peril
2. Storm Front
3. Fool Moon

The third book of the phenomena that is the Dresden Files gets off to a flying start. Literally. The first two chapters are spent ghost busting in the local hospital’s paediatric ward where a paranormal serial killer of children keeps returning in her deluded attempt to protect them all from her violent and abusive (but also deceased) husband. The trouble is, by saving the babies from the potential (and non existent) threat of her husband, she is actually killing them. This time around, Dresden has a new ally, in the form of Holy Knight Michael, who comes complete with white cloak, medieval sword and complete and utter faith in his beloved Christ and the Power of Good.

Chapter two ends of a pseudo cliff hanger - which is probably some kind of record in the history of popular fiction, as who puts a cliff hanger right at the start of a book? Jim Butcher does. And the world is (or it bloody well should be) forever grateful.

The reader gets a chance to take a breath, relax and take a look out of the train window for a few moments as the pace of the story drops back to normal. This is where Harry meets his latest client - a stunningly beautiful young woman (complete with matching figure) called Lydia who convinces him that she is suffering from “Cassandra’s Tears” and therefore without our hero’s protection, she won’t survive the night. And we all know how much resistance a certain wizard has when it comes to beautiful women....

This is easily the best Dresden book so far. The plot sizzles along at a break neck pace, the jokes are back, it is relatively spooky and as I have already mentioned, it comes pre-packed with a plethora of cliffhangers. The thing is simply unputdownablly FUN to read. All books should be like this. Well, actually, all books SHOULD not be like this, but certainly books aimed at this particular genre should have at least one book like this in a given set.

Moving on.... So what is missing from the e-ink of my kindle screen? Well by the time you reach the ten percent mark, there is no mention of the FBI, or Lt. Murphy, the local members of the Chicago Police Department. Have I said how good this book is? Have I said which characters are yet to make an appearance? Have I said how good this book is? I think I see a connection there...

There is only a small mention of Harry’s part time love interest, Susan Rodriguez, famous (and syndicated) reporter for the Chicago Arcane Newspaper. She enters from stage left, briefly, in three, and soon departs in order for the story’s for the main characters to entertain you. No doubt she will return, when the time is right. And when Mr Butcher writes her back into the story.

I love this novel. Book one was a great introduction to the concept of a Private Detective with Wizard-type Powers setting out to save the world from the bad guys and bad demons. Book two fell over itself somewhat when it tried to take itself too seriously. This is easily the best of the first three books and naturally I have to award it full marks. I demand it. Logic demands it. And so do my funny bones. And yours will, too.

BFN Greggoio!

Grave Peril is, really, where the Dresden Files started to find their footing.

This isn't to say the previous volumes were bad but much of the series' trademarks start appearing here. We get the introduction to a number of important characters, the layout for the series' overarching plot, the beginning of a major plotline which will occupy the books for many volumes, and plenty of information on the series' mythology. There are also several shake-ups with the existing cast and status quo.

The premise of Grave Peril is Harry Dresden and his longtime associate, Michael Carpenter, successfully hunt down a ghost before becoming involved in a plot involving a much-more powerful creature stalking a young seer. They receive help from a White Court vampire, basically an incubus, named Thomas who is unusually friendly to the duo. Harry's on-again, off-again girlfriend Susan Rodriguez also comes to the town. This, before all of the above converge at a party thrown by a group of murderous vampires out to destroy Harry.

If this sounds like a convoluted plot, it is. This is not a book with a single coherent narrative but multiple ones which all reach a climax. This is both a strength and weakness of the book because it's hard to keep track of everything which is going on. Later books would have a stronger central narrative while not sacrificing the mystery which is inherent to the series' appeal. While everything does tie together, it does so in such a loose manner that I doubt Jim Butcher would have done this book the same way if he'd had the chance to rewrite it.

The real appeal is that it move Harry Dresden away from the "case of the week" format which, while appealing, was nothing really special in the Urban Fantasy genre. After this point, there's a central guiding narrative which, while mysterious, drives the plot forward. The Red Court, previously just a background element of the series, moves to prominence as enemies of the White Council and Harry in particular.

The new characters introduced in this book are also ones which start fleshing out Harry's world. Michael Carpenter, the Knight of the Cross, is a rare case of a positive Christian warrior in urban fantasy fiction. The majority of individuals with strong religious convictions are often depicted as fanatics or lunatics in these sorts of books, so it's nice to have one who is motivated by his faith to do good.

The fact Harry remains agnostic or, at least, irreligious means the two of them have some interesting conversations while maintaining a level of respect. Thomas the "Good" Incubus is a character who doesn't get fleshed out too much here but the very fact he's helping monster hunters for, seemingly, benevolent reasons makes the world more complex. If monsters can be good people then the world has gotten a lot more grey.

I also loved the characters of Charity Carpenter, Lea, and Susan Rodriguez in this book. The previous bookw had a heavy noir tone which restricted women to somewhat questionable gender roles despite the subversion from Murphy. Introducing a larger and more varied role for women in the books (as well as making the central villain here one) helps make this a better book overall. Later fans of the series may note that a lot of the series' future plot twists are set up here and fans will often find themselves re-reading this one for clues.

There's a lot of hilarious moments in this book like Harry Dresden going as a cheap Dracula knock-off to a vampire Halloween party, Lea's attempts to "protect" Harry by turning him into a dog, and poor Harry realizing that it is NOT wise to bait a dragon. The drama is strong, too, with several events happening which change the status quo forever. Bianca and Kravos aren't very well fleshed-out villains but serve their purpose amiably in the story.

In conclusion, Grave Peril is the first really good Dresden Files book. I am tempted to encourage fans to start there if they really want to get a sense of what the book is leading up to. This is where the series began and it only gets better from here.

9/10

I have never been a huge Harry Dresden. The first two books didn't really bring into his world. However, after listening to the audiobook, I'm now totally hooked. James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has to be THE best narrator that I have ever heard. He voice completely captured Harry Dresden. He captured the humor, fear, pain and love that ran throughout the book.

I think Grace Peril brought more of Harry to the equation. In the previous books, I felt that I really didn't know who he was. Now, I feel Harry has more depth. He is a character that I want to know more about. I'm beginning to care what happens to him. He is the knight in shining armor who wears a black duster and carries a blasting rod. He is flawed but will do what's right in the end. He is turning into a really great character.

We are introduced to some new characters in this book. Michael and Charity bring a nice balance to Harry. Michael is devout and faithful; who is always trying to get Harry to see the light. He doesn't give up. We, also, learn more about Susan and her relationship with Harry. As we will see, nothing is easy for Harry.

I love Bob and especially when he is vocalized my James Marsters. The British accent reminded me a bit of Spike. I love Bob's one track mind but, at the same time, comes to Harry's aid.

I'm now officially hooked on the Dresden Files. However, only if can listen to the audiobook where I can listen and savor it. Now it's on to Summer Knight.

Jim Butcher’s Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, Book 3) confused me a little at first. Harry is running around town dealing with ghosts with the help of Michael, who uses faith (and a really big sword!) as his weapons. He and Michael have the feel of having been fighting together for some time, yet I don’t remember Michael showing up in either of the previous novels. For a little while I thought I’d gotten the order of the books wrong and accidentally missed an installment; I was surprised to find out I hadn’t. Still, despite the feeling of displacement, I didn’t feel lost or confused within the context of the book. Things were explained well without resorting to infodumps.

I love the characters in the Dresden Files books. Harry is just fantastic as the powerful-yet-beleaguered wizard. Susan as his girlfriend (and also a tabloid reporter who mines Harry for stories) works well with him. They’re an unusual pairing but they have chemistry. Michael is great as a man of God whose faith is so strong that it can bend reality in its own ways. There are some interesting new side characters in this installment, including Thomas the vampire, a possible ally who can’t be trusted. Harry’s ‘godmother’ is quite something herself, and she and Harry go several rounds in which she tries to collect on a bargain and he tries to weasel out of it. Faerie bargainings are something to behold. We see more of the vampires, ghosts, wizardry, name-based magics, and so forth.

The Dresden Files books have a lot of humor and whimsicality in them, but that in no way means that they’re fluff. Very dark things happen, and Butcher isn’t afraid to bring the hammer down on interesting characters. He’s perfectly comfortable stirring things up and changing the face of his world, which means you never quite know how things will go down. There’s plenty of tension, some horror, great pacing, and wonderful humor.

I don’t know how I managed to go so long without reading these, but I’m slowly making up for it now!

I was informed by many a reader that this series found its legs in book 3, and there was even an intro from Jim Butcher to that effect. It's true! I loved this one to pieces! Many of the secondary characters came out of the woodwork in a big way, and a few new ones were added to the cast as well. I enjoyed the humour a lot more this time around, the multiple plot threads kept me engaged, and the main story arc is just getting started. Harry really defined himself as a protagonist in this installment by making some tough calls, demonstrating that he can throw down in a pinch, and his relationship with Susan takes several unexpected turns. James Marster's narration has been steadily improving with each novel, and I look forward to tagging along with him, Butcher & Dresden for SUMMER KNIGHT.

Third in the Dresden Files urban fantasy/horror series revolving around Harry Dresden, the only self-advertised wizard in Chicago. It’s been a year since Fool Moon , 2.

My Take
Butcher introduces a few new series characters to us in this one, and I love how complex these relationships are with Harry. I also love how much show Butcher provides. He makes me feel as though I’m right there in Harry’s basement apartment with all that stone around me, the fireplace and candles, the chill of the shower. The fear and horror of Bianca’s place. The cheap and tacky feel of Mortimer’s “spooky” house, lol. I can appreciate Morty’s perspective on his current career. People do want closure, and how will they ever know otherwise?

This story is amazing in its terrifying complexities with so many side issues, most of which tie in with the central plot. It’s a good way to provide series interest let alone interest in this story on its own. The tricky ins and outs at Bianca’s ball had me on my toes while the Nightmare’s machinations had my heart rate cranking overtime.

Hmmm, the ghost issues in this are terrifying and a unique twist. I do like how Butcher uses magic tropes and twists them to fit with how the average man-on-the-street would interpret it. He makes it seem…so reasonable. And I love that Harry tries to play fair and help anyone out, even though he’s been burned so many times before.

What is it with characters who can’t or won’t tell a private investigator everything? If you’re willing pay someone for their time to help you, wouldn’t it make sense to tell them as much as possible?

Okay, bad pun, but I did enjoy Harry’s response to Michael’s chastisement about the swearing…”Holy ****, heckhounds.” Then there’s that costume Harry wears to the party. Omigod, ROFLMAO.

Ahh, the women in Harry’s life… I gotta confess, Lea is not my idea of a godmother, let alone a fairy godmother. Then there’s Susan. Ouch. And she has an excellent point about wishing she were as important to Harry as what he does. Harry gains firsthand experience of what a vampire’s spittle will do to a man. And I thought Butcher’s description of the true form of a vampire was scary; it’s got nothing on the reaction to vampire spit.

More scary thoughts: “walls around cemeteries keep things in” as well as out.

We start to learn about Harry’s underage bargain with Lea, and Butcher provides a great explanation of how a threshold works. Since then, we’ve gotten the impression that Harry knows a lot, but I gotta wonder why it is that he keeps getting into so much trouble, especially in terms of his having enough power available. Shouldn’t he have a better grasp of how much he can do by now?

It’s gross how Harry gets his power back, and it’s sad how Harry manages to free Susan, but at least he said those critical words.

Now, see, that’s what I like in a character. One smart enough to get out of her boyfriend’s line of fire. Although, Charity’s actions seem out of character. She hates Harry. Why would she go off with him? And poor Michael is having his own crises. As for Harry whining about how he should have protected Susan…it is within character for him to believe he should protect her, however Susan is the one who put herself into this situation, and Harry has done everything he could think of to keep her safe.

I feel bad, in the abstract, for what happens to Susan. Yeah, that means I don’t feel that bad. She should’a done her homework, and she should’a listened to Harry. And Harry should’a honored his promises. It might have made a difference.

Harry does keep a few tricks up his sleeve.

The Story
The spirit world is going postal and Harry and Michael are running ragged trying to protect Chicago. It only gets worse when they find that the ghosts are being tortured, and Bianca wants Harry to come to a party.

A party Susan finds out about and badgers Harry about taking her, a human. To a vampire party.

Internal Affairs is coming down on Karrin and the torturing is expanding onto others.

It simply gets worse when Harry realizes who is doing the torturing and why…

The Characters
Harry Dresden is a powerful wizard, a private investigator when he’s not working as a consultant for the Chicago PD, and reminded that he’s the local representative of the White Council. He also can’t resist a lady in distress. The Blue Beetle is his mismatched VW that groans at anything over 60 miles per hour. Bob is a spirit entity hiding out in a human skull. He’s the equivalent of a magical computer database with thousands and thousands of potion recipes in his, um, head. I’m not sure how it finds room in there with all the pornography Bob has swirling through his brain. Susan Rodriguez, Harry’s girlfriend, is a reporter for the Arcane and syndicated in “publications of questionable reputation all over the world”. Mister is his humongous cat.

Michael Carpenter is his best friend, a righteous man, and a Knight of the Cross, carrying Amoracchius , one of three swords given by God to mankind. Charity is his pregnant, very unhappy wife. Father Forthill is at St. Mary of the Angels by Wicker Park, and he’s a great friend of Michael’s.

Special Investigations, Chicago PD
Detective Rudolph and Detective Sergeant John Stallings work for Lieutenant Karrin Murphy. Mickey Malone was Murphy’s old partner before he had to retire on a disability. His wife, Sonia, teaches in an elementary school.

The Nightmare is stirring things up and torturing ghosts, people, anyone he has a grudge against. Agatha Hagglethorn was married to Benson over a hundred years ago, and she was terrified for herself and her baby daughter. And I think Agatha’s been reading about Lizzie Borden! Lydia is a practitioner of the art suffering from Cassandra’s tears, and in trouble.

Mortimer Lindquist is a professional con artist---he’s really slid downhill since his days as an ectomancer. Mike is the mechanic who keeps the Blue Beetle running. Leanansidhe “Lea” is Harry’s angry godmother. Seems Harry hasn’t always been so fair. Justin was Harry’s mentor.

The White Council of Wizards is the governing body of the wizards, well, most of the supernaturals, and they don’t like people knowing about their secrets.

The Velvet Room and the Red Court
The Red Court vampires don’t cross completely over until they’ve killed someone they’re feeding from. The Velvet Room is the name of Bianca’s bordello. Kyle Hamilton, his sister, Kelly, and Don Paolo Ortega are vampire associates of Madame Bianca St. Claire. Seems Bianca is “irked” at Harry for Rachel’s death (see Storm Front , 1). Mr. Ferro, a.k.a., Ferrovax, a dragon, is one of the guests.

The White Court of Vampires
The White Court uses seduction, lust, fear, and hatred---the emotions---to pull their prey in. The beauteous Thomas of House Raith is accompanied to the party by his lover, Justine. His father, Lord Raith, is the highest vampire of the White Court, but Thomas is the lowest and least regarded son.

The Black Court of Vampires
Mavra has it in for Harry and Michael and has teamed up with some bad guys.

Leonid Kravos was a really bad sorcerer whom Harry helped Murphy take down. It wasn’t pretty.

His mother’s silver pentacle is the symbol of Harry’s magic. The Nevernever is the land of Faerie, and Harry cannot be caught there. A soulgaze penetrates deep inside you, into “all of your dark secrets and hidden fears”. The Sight is being able to see “the energies of life stirring and moving, running like blood through the sky, between water and fire”, able to see things and beasties as they really are.

Harry’s strength is in thaumaturgy; he needs to use artificial foci, his blasting rod or another of his doodads, to have any kind of control over evocations.

The Cover
The cover is tone-on-tone browns as Harry walks, staff in hand, through a misty cemetery, tombstones rising up everywhere.

The title is laughingly appropriate as this is the installment in which Harry receives the gift of his tombstone, and he’s in Grave Peril throughout this story.

I read the first in the Dresden File series, Storm Front. I love the premise of a hard-boiled wizard detective though I felt the first book was a little uneven—vacillating in tone between noir and ribald.

There is no such unevenness in the third book Grave Peril. The author has hit his stride, and all the narrative elements come together. I actually skipped the second book and moved straight to the third book because my interest is ghost fiction (there are ghosts in Grave Peril), and I had no trouble jumping in at this point.

Grave Peril opens on a dramatic note as Harry Dresden, Chicago wizard-detective-in-residence, finds himself facing down ghost Agatha Hagglethorn in a hospital nursery. At his side is broad-sword wielding, modern-day knight Michael. Together they must confront a confused ghost before she unwittingly harms sleeping infants. The problem is that Agatha and, later, other ghosts have been enhanced by an unknown malevolent force.

I read this as a ghost novel. However, if you are the ghost fiction aficionado that I am, you should know ghosts are few and far between in this book. A Dresden Files fan informed me that Butcher takes a scattershot approach to supernatural writing. He does not fence himself in with particular genres or creatures. One book may feature werewolves, another may focus on vampires. While Grave Peril does contain ghosts, those ghosts are minor elements. In fact, the ghosts merely showcase the evil powers of the Neverworld and the twisted antics of vampires. I have to say, vampires are not my thing. They leave me feeling a little enervated.

The book flows well and rachets up tension. I have one complaint though. The narrator (or by extension, the author?) is—there’s no other way to say this—obsessed with breasts. Breasts are variously described as round, luscious, curved, and—my personal favorite—straining against silky gowns. On and on and more and more of the same. Enough about mammary glands, I say!

That quibble aside, if you fancy vampire-human conflicts and the fight of good vs. evil, you will enjoy this novel. I also recommend Grave Peril to those of you who like to mix a little Christian allegory with your supernatural reads as co-star Michael (significant name, yes?) wields the sword of righteousness to great effect and even remonstrates with Harry about his profanity.

The Dresden Files is officially one of my favorite series. If books one and two would not have hooked me (which they did), this one definitely would did the job. What I love about Harry is that he just thinks he's this average guy, er...wizard. But, truthfully, there is nothing average about him. Harry is the kind of guy you want on your side no matter what, whether going up against humans or ghosts or vampires or...anything. He is just a nice guy, and he always does the right thing.

I love the world building Butcher created in this series. It is so utterly complex, with every mystical, magical creature having their own community, their own set of rules. This book deals mostly with ghosts and vampires. In the beginning Harry is chasing ghosts, only to find they've been tied to the vampires somehow. Of course, it all comes back to Bianca, who you will remember if you've read the first to in the books in the series.

How this book ended...wow. I really did not see it coming. I cannot say too much without giving anything away, but we get to see more of the softer side of Harry that was hinted at in the last book. These books will never be labeled as romance, but the way Butcher was able to pen in the little bit of Harry and Susan is pretty special.

I listened to the audio of Grave Peril. I think I've said it before, but here it is again: James Marsters makes an amazingly wonderful Harry. I really wish he would have read all the books in this series.

Well I really liked this book but I don't have much of a reason than I just did. I have become quite a fan of the Dresden Files and recently finished reading the Graphic Novel Welcome to the Jungle. So let me do my best to lay out a few of the points that I liked in this particular book.

First of all, I listened to the audio book and at the beginning Jim Butcher speaks about all the people he needs to thank. Along with that he mentioned that a lot of fans felt the series really began here. He agrees and I can sort of see what he means. I really liked the first two books but this one just felt different. I was pulled in very early on and I couldn't wait to start reading again as soon as I could.

One of the things I liked about this book is the addition of Michael. He is like the anit-Dresden and the two characters played very well off each other. Because of this addition I felt that it gave more of an emotional aspect. Michael has a family of his own and has concerns when he is out with Harry. He would really like to come home to his wife and children. Even Dresden's interaction with his family was entertaining to read.

We also get to see a different side to Dresden. In this book he has pissed off something that is not only coming after him, but his friends as well. Because of this we get to read a more emotional and almost softer side of the character which really gave him depth. It was a nice change from the snarky wise cracking wizard.

Basically I really liked this book and I am glad I decided to give this series a try. I look forward to what lies ahead for Dresden, and hope the Michael is there along side him in future books.

3.5 Stars ~ Each book is getting better for me and picking up. The world is amazing.

Harry and his friend Michael, who happens to be the Hand of God as well, have been chasing ghosts around Chicago for two weeks. Now, they are heading to the hospital for another, dangerous one. The spirit world has gone ballistic. Michael brings up Susan's and Harry's relationship with Harry, asking if he loves her and getting him to admit it. Then tells Harry he needs more human interaction. Then we back up to the beginning of the day, leading up to this point. The day starts with a young female practitioner asking for his protection at closing time. Protection from a ghost killing her like in her vision, and Harry's at the center of all going on with the ghost she sees. The same night something nightmarish deadly comes through from the Nevernever one of Murphy's men goes mad. Harry crosses to the Nevernever to fight the bad spirit, having a run-in with his fairy Godmother.

There is more mention of people in Harry's life, his evil sidhe Godmother. Interesting. And to see a touch of his life as to where she had become a part of it. Harry had some troubles when he was younger. But every time he ventures into the Nevernever - which is fairly never - she is hot on his trail to find him and keep him.

We start right in with ghost action then fall back to earlier that day when it ends the day at the office with the young girl looking for protection.

This story read better for me, flowed as a story from beginning to end. There are connections to the previous books but I think you could pick up with this book and start the series here. The connections between the characters seemed to fit better in this book for me. The books are getting better for me. I've heard the fourth is where they start to get real good, so I'm looking forward to it. I think the world and troubles might start to grow on me now.

Harry is one that many could 'relate' to. He is what many would call 'human' as a character. He's powerful in magic, yes, but he wears like any other person. He gets tired. His guard falls down and others can get to him when he's not ready. Human. Harry is always beat up by the big showdown of the book, even before hand, but finds a way to come through.

Oh, I had to laugh when Harry showed up at the ball! That was such a play on characters. The humor here is relaxing. There are quick comments that fit perfectly with the scene.

This book ends with me wondering on what will happen with Harry...with the White Council, the vampires, Susan, and more. This story in this book is complete, but the characters feel bigger and live on, leaving us looking to the next book.

4 stars.

The series is off the 'dropping series' bubble for me.

As soon as I opened the first page I was sucked into the story. Ghosts are one of my top 5 favorite paranormal entity. And JB really got me invested in what was making all these ghosts manifest stronger and come about more often over the last couple weeks/months.

Butcher kept the story flowing well, as the story continued the baddies got badder and higher up and I got more worried about Harry.

The various characters in this book (and series) are great, I love that Bianca was upset and set on revenge for the death of Rachel (?) in a previous book. It's nice to see actions have consequences and have characters who will come back for revenge when Harry had done them wrong or they think Harry has done them wrong. It makes me excited to read the future installments because anything that Harry does could come back in a future book and cause Harry trouble.

I feel so bad for Harry when Susan shows up at the vampire party. Of course it had to be a bad thing because in the Dresden Files world there are rules that must be followed at certain functions. Unfortunately for Susan this was one of them. Because she came uninvited to the party she wasn't afforded any protection from the vampire court. She was fair game.

I almost forgot to mention Lea, Harry's godmother. She was a very interesting character and she's not above playing with Harry or the people in Harry's life to get what she wants out of Harry. I look forward to seeing more of her in the future.

Overall this was a great book in the series and Jim Butcher and Harry Dresden really start clicking here and getting the tone and pacing right. Can't wait to read the next one.

I downloaded the first book for free from a recommendation of Bookbub. Totally loved it (why are there no Wizards listed in the Philadelphia yellow pages?) and went on and bought the second book. Story continues nicely, so I bought books 3 (this one) and four.
In this book someone named Michael, who the book says is one of the Swords of God, is Harry's sidekick for this books adventures. Where did he come from?? Who is he really? Why is there no explanation about how Harry came to know him? And who is Kravos and how did this story unwind? Was there a book I missed? There seems to be a whole backstory to Harry and Michael that I missed completely, and where do I find it??
I agree with the reviewer that said poor Harry Dresden seems to hop, run, slide from one dire peril to the next with no time for recovery in between. It's like Alexander and Isabella from the Seven Isles books by David Wells. Or Richard and Kahlan from the Sword of Truth books.
Still - good books and I will undoubtedly read them all. I direly need something to fill my time until Brandon Sanderson releases the next book in the Stormlight Archives. Stormlord only knows when that will be...........

I am really enjoying this series! I liked the tv show and a few months ago my wife discovered that the tv show was based on these novels. These are very well written stories with lots of compelling characters. Unlike other series I enjoy the ending's are still satisfying while not being all rainbows and unicorns. Even though this series is definitely part of the fantasy genre there is a gritty realism about them which I truly enjoy. I do not really read a lot of fantasy so I am not sure how to quantify this novel compared to others in the same genre but I can tell you that I really enjoy it!

This novel was a pretty quick read for its length; however, it is probably not the kind of book which I would suggest to someone who is looking for a quick summer read by the pool, campfire, at the beach or whatever. It is probably a little too dark for that for most folks.

It you do not mind a bit of a dark story with some good fantasy content this is a great book for you!

I love a good mystery, and jim Butcher can hold his own in the genre. What makes him different is his take on the trope: Harry Dresden (for those not familiar with the books) is a "consulting wizard" - a practioner of magic who solves problems when things go awry for supernatual reasons. The third book in The Dresden Files Collection 1-6 (Penguin Classics) felt to me like I had missed the first few chapters of the story, Dresden working with a new sidekick, Michael Carpenter, both fighting ghosts that have been crossing over in disturbing numbers and generally wreaking havoc wherever they go.

As with most detective mysteries, one problem (ghosts) quickly escalates intomore and larger problems (vampires, demons and fairy grandmothers). The pace of the book begins rather slowly, but the tension is gradually ramped up, much like the frog in the proverbial pot, the last 50 pages excalating the action to heart-thumping levels with a very clever and brilliantly executed conclusion.

Its not often, after finishing a book, that I say "wow." I did so here. The Dresden Files are an entertaining collection, Butcher a talented story-teller. While I'm only three books into the series, _Grave Peril_ is his strongest work so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZikvWB48LCQ
Please people with the money, if you buy a new book, include a used one in your shopping cart. That will help the store enormously in their storage, and it can help you too. At some places the price can’t lower to lesser a penny. Take a used book for a 0.01$ anywhere.
It has many usage including, “Cash4Books.net”
Recycle it or Burn it for survival heat. Use two books as spacers to raise your monitor because it’s always better to view at eye leveled to the center of your screen. Even better, send it to donation, any library would take it, or the third world too.
Do not fear a book because it has no teeth!!
When you open your used book, wear gloves if you have to, then you’ll realize, “This book ain’t that bad after all.”
Good read and peace!!
- Ricky

Harry Dresden, Chicago-based wizard for hire, finds himself drawn into a new case. A plea from a helpless young woman sets him on a course that will lead to a cataclysmic showdown with an old enemy, and may cost Dresden that which he cares about the most...

Grave Peril is the third novel in the Dresden Files series of urban fantasies and an important turning-point in the series. The first two novels, Storm Front and Fool Moon, were entertaining but little more than enjoyable fluff. Grave Peril is a considerably darker and more personal book, with Butcher's writing much more confident and assured as he puts Dresden through the emotional wringer. Whilst reading the book I was in put in mind of those 'gamechanger' episodes of Buffy and Angel when Joss Whedon would rip up the status quo by doing something to the characters that hurt them badly and established a new paradigm he would have fun setting up and exploring.

Grave Peril expands the cast of the Dresden Files with Michael Carpenter, a Christian knight armed with a magical sword, joining Dresden in his battle with the forces of evil. We also get a greater depth of worldbuilding, with both the vampire and Sidhe inhabitants of Dresden's world being fleshed out in a lot of detail. Whilst Butcher's approach does not stray too far from standard fantasy/horror depictions of these creatures, he succeeds in making them feel fresh and interesting, a near-impossible task given how ubiquitous these forces have become in recent supernatural fiction.

Butcher's writing is fun and enjoyable, with more of Dresden's attitude, character and humour bleeding through the first-person prose. His writing has definitely stepped up in quality from the first two books in the series and he effectively conveys the horror of several disturbing scenes in the book. He's become better at conveying emotion since the opening volumes of the series and several scenes are real gut-punches. There's also a more epic feeling to events, with ramifications from this book likely to extend over several books to come, opening up the story to something larger and more interesting in scale.

Some complaints remain. As with Fool Moon, Dresden is injured several times in the book and Butcher goes a bit overboard in his descriptions of how tired, hurt and helpless Dresden feels due to these injuries. There is the feeling that with each successive volume, Dresden's powers and abilities with magic are growing (along with those of his allies) and this requires Butcher to go to some lengths to 'nerf' Dresden's abilities to simply stop him using a hand-wave of magic to solve all of his problems. However, this is a minor issue, and Butcher's impressive improvement in the areas of prose and characterisation overcome it quite handily.

Grave Peril (****) is where The Dresden Files comes of age, and it does so with aplomb. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Harry faces off something new in this book that he's never seen. Something in the Nevernever is getting stirred up, and ghosts are feeling the effects. Whatever this thing is, it's also getting to Harry and his friends. Harry is going to have to figure out not only what this thing is, but how to stop it before it kills someone that he loves and cares about.

There's some really awesome things that happen in this book that I didn't see in the previous two, and that's more world building. We get to see more of Harry, and more of the people that he works with, and around. We meet someone in this book that I don't think we've met before, and his name is Michael. Michael works for god, and is kind of a Knight Templar. We see a lot of him in this book, as he and Harry work closely together on this case.

Karrin Murphy, aka Murph, is kind of left out of this book, but that's not really a bad thing. Since she was put in the background, we get to see some more of the other characters that we've never really met before.

Harry really has to make some tough choices in this book, and it's great to see more of who he is as a character, and what really makes him up. The tragedy he faces at the end was almost unbearable, and I'm hoping it all turns out for the best.

This really is a great book, and so far a great series. I can't wait to move forward with it!

I had a lot of trouble assigning a number to this review. If I could, I would give it a 4.5 because in many ways, it is better than the first book, but in others, it lacks. So let me get the cons out of the way first. Throughout, this novel feels like you missed a book in between this one and the last, Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2). Michael, a completely new character to the series, is present from the start, and his relationship with Harry isn't very well flushed out. Yes, they work great together, and seem to know one another very well, but there is no real introduction or background for his presence. The same criticisms can be said for the introduction of Harry's 'godmother.' Finally, the relationship between Murphy and Dresden isn't really developed at all. She is really only in a few pages of the book.

With that out of the way, there is so much positive to be said about this book. It is non-stop action. His nemesis this time around is introduced pretty early on, and is constantly after Harry and his friends; it doesn't wait until he seeks it out this time. Interesting concepts with the genesis of ghosts, and more lore of the magical world is woven in very well. Since it is a page turner, you would think that development would take a back seat. You would be wrong. The relationship between Harry and Susan really starts to mean something to the reader and pulls some heartstrings along the way. You really do feel for the two of them.

'Peril' is a great edition to the Dresden series and I look forward to the continuing saga. You should pick this one up.

This is book three in an ongoing series about Harry Dresden, a wizard detective in Chicago. Jim Butcher sets the standard for urban fantasy. His writing, characterization, plots and world-building are unparalleled. I have been a huge fan of his since early 2007 when my then high-school-age son introduced me to this series.

This review is primarily about the audio CD. The sound quality is excellent and it is unabridged. It is narrated by actor James Marsters, best known for playing the character Spike, a platinum-blond, British vampire in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series Angel, between 1997 and 2004. Marsters does an outstanding job on every part of the reading, making listening in that regard a real pleasure. If he had not been a good reader, it would have been hard for me to sit through the full book--bad readers can destroy one's pleasure in even the most wonderful novel. I am extremely grateful for Mr. Marsters's reading talents not just for their own sake, but because experiencing this novel as an audiobook gave me the opportunity to admire Jim Butcher's writing even more than I did before--which I did not think was possible. In my experience of listening to audio versions of books, very few of them can stand up to the intense focus of being read aloud, which is much slower than reading silently to oneself. This relative snail's pace acts to draw attention to every problem of dialogue, pacing and plot.

I am happy to report that under that intense spotlight, I experienced not a single flaw in this book.

I am not a person who often reads a book more than once--too much to read and far too little time. But this book was definitely worth experiencing twice. And owning this recording means I may listen to it far more times than that in the future.

This is one of the best purchases I ever made.

I absolutely love the audible version of this book! James Marsters does a wonderfully enjoyable performance and I plan to get the rest of these over time! Because of other reviews, I started with this book since the consensus seems to be that Grave Peril is when this series takes off. Harry Dresden is a wizard and investigator and comes up against an interesting variety of foes while trying to get a better handle on his wizard magics.

I got introduced to Harry Dresden and Mr. Butcher thru the TV show The Dresden Files - The Complete First Season; found it had an interesting twist of fantasy, gothic (I want to call it horror but I think that's cheating if I do), and detective story. Since I found it interesting I started reading a few of his Dresden File books...

For me this was a weak 4 star book for me (prior to the 1/3rd mark I was leaning to 3 stars, but Mr. Butcher picked it up). While there was nominal character development of Harry, we do learn more about his background and friends in the latter half of the book. Michael was an interesting character, having a sort of fatalness feeling to him that makes one wonder if Mr. Butcher's developed him to be a throw away character. The plot was sort of up and down to me; part of this I believe was because Mr. Butcher chose to be a little more "cleaver" and "subtle" than he had in his earlier Dresden books. While I might have liked this, the unfolding of this subtleness doesn't seem to match the style of Harry Dresden; I mean yes I understand him being a little green (when compared with others who've been around for hundreds of years) but I expect Bob to impart good observations to Harry. There are some interesting twists (the relationship of the different Vampire Courts, Harry's godmother, and the workings of the Nevernever) that Mr. Butcher takes along the way, making the story become a good 4 star book.

After reading something as thought-provoking as Ian McDonald's The Dervish House, I was aware that I needed to tackle something lighter, something more fast-paced, for my next book. And Jim Butcher's Grave Peril, the third installment in the now insanely popular The Dresden Files sequence, appeared to fit the bill rather perfectly.

Though a bit formulaic and episodic in format, the misadventures of the wizard Harry Dresden have always made for fun-filled reads.

Here's the blurb:

Harry Dresden's faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. It comes with the territory when you're the only professional wizard in the Chicago area phone book.

But in all Harry's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: the spirit world's gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble -- and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone -- or something -- is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc.

But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn't figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself...

As was the case with its predecessors, Storm Front and Fool Moon, Grave Peril features the first-person narrative of the sympathetic, if frequently inept, sole wizard in Chicago. Although he may not always be the sharpest tool in the shed, I find it hard not like and root for Harry Dresden. Like James Bond, you know he'll pull through in the end. Hence, it's in the execution that you truly get to enjoy Jim Butcher's stories. And the witty tone of the narrative adds an extra layer to the overall reading experience.

The supporting cast is again comprised of Bianca St. Claire, Karrin Murphy, Susan Rodriguez, Bob the Skull, and the cat Mister. But new characters play an important role in this book, chief among them Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, Leanansidhe, Dresden's faerie Godmother, Thomas Raith, a White Court vampire, as well as Mavra, a Black Court vampire.

The addition of new characters provides yet more hints that this series echoes with more depth than meets the eye. The introduction of new concepts such as the various vampire Courts, the faeries, and the Knights of the Cross is yet more evidence in that regard. Hopefully, there will be more developments regarding these concepts in the next volume. For, as fun and entertaining as these novels are, I'm afraid that they will lose their appeal if they remain too formulaic and episodic in style and scope.

Once again a fast-paced urban fantasy plot, Grave Peril has more surprising twists and turns than the more linear first two volumes. Especially the fate of one of the main protagonists at the end, which sort of shocked me, for I never saw it coming. I'm glad to discover that it won't always be a case of all's well that ends well. . .

If you are looking for quality urban fantasy books featuring a flawed and endearing wizard trying to do the right thing, then I strongly urge you to pick up The Dresden Files books.

Are you a fan of Jim Butcher's series "The Dresden Files" , Can't help but love the annoying Wizard Harry Dresden and cringe at the amount of trouble he always seems to attract ? Reading my way through the series , it's very rare that Harry doesn't seem to get a job which finds him in real big trouble with either the police or the council of Nevernever world. In Grave Peril , we discover that something evil is going down and it's up to Harry and his friend Michael - who is a Knights Templer - one of God's Knights and a true God-fearing man to save the city of Chicago and those whom they love. It is known as Bob the Skull kindly cares to share with us as "The Nightmare" it's a spirit that can get into people and tear them to shreds inside , it's like having a barbed wire slice through your body and once it does this , it can posess a bit of that person and when Harry is caught by the Nightmare - it starts to imitate Harry hurting his closest and dearest friends. Can Harry and Michael work together to discover the source of the Nightmare and Kill it , or will it hit the pair close to home as it captures Detective Murph and Michael's wife Charity. We see the re-introduction and more focused in this novel - the Vampire Courts and Bianca , how are they working with the Nightmare, what deal has Bianca struck ? When Harry's kind-of Girlfriend reporter Susan finds herself stuck in the middle of things , Harry calls upon the help of his Fairy Godmother Lea and what will Susan have to lose to save herself and Harry ? Will it be worth it or has Harry lost Susan forever ?

After two good-but-not-great urban fantasies, the Dresden Files suddenly rockets into the "great" category with its third. "Grave Peril" sees Jim Butcher radically change his now-bestselling series into a far more complex and tragic affair, as well as introducing a slew of likable new characters and a long-ranging arc that promises to be very nasty for our wizardly hero.

Harry and Knight of the Cross Michael Carpenter (a sort of knight working directly for God and the angels, with a sacred sword) are working hard to exorcise a sudden surge of violent ghosts -- even taking a trip into the Nevernever, where an old enemy is waiting for Harry. They're being stirred up by a particularly evil spirit called the Nightmare, who is targeting people near Harry. Oh yeah, and he's been "invited" to a vampire ball and his amoral fairy godmother (no, really) wants an old debt repaid.

But the situation becomes far more grim when Harry discovers that it's not just one enemy but many that are conspiring against him -- evil ghosts, malevolent vampires, and the Leanansidhe. Cornered on every side and with a bunch of innocent people threatened (including Michael's newborn son), Harry is faced with a terrible choice that has no good outcomes. And he might lose the person he loves best in the process...

"Grave Peril" is the point when the entire Dresden Files series blossoms like a black rose. The relatively simple storylines of the first two books abruptly give way to a complex tangle of intertwined enemies, conspiracies and magical creatures (ranging from fae to vampires). And rather than a standalone mystery/fantasy, this book is the start of a massive arc that promises to span the entire Dresden Files series.

Butcher's writing has matured as well, becoming a more polished brand of hard-boiled fantasy noir with some nasty stark details (such as barbed wire on the soul. Lots of snappy dialogue ("Vampires on a diet?" "Yeah. Make hers a Blood Lite"), sudden plot twists and detailed explorations of a nighttime world. But no matter how dark and bleak the book becomes, Butcher still manages some funny quirky moments (such as Harry attending a vampire ball in a cheap vampire costume).

And having also introduced multiple kinds of werewolf, Butcher does the same for other supernaturals here. There's the undead Black Court vampires, the alluring incubi of the White Court, and one of the more powerful and frightening Fae.

And poor Harry has a pretty rough time in this novel: chased by a sociopathic faery and a vengeful ghost, vampires intent on taking him out, locked in a dungeon with a crazy woman, and he suffers a terrible loss that upturns his entire life. Even worse, the poor guy is obviously going to feel pretty guilty about what happens to people close to him.

Butcher also introduces a bunch of new characters -- the pious and righteous Knight Michael, who seems to be one of the few people to gain Harry's deep respect; the lovable and sexy White Court vampire Thomas Raith; and the kindly old Catholic priest Father Forthill ("I've never had anyone ask me to bless a five-gallon drum into holy water before, Mr. Dresden"). Not to mention Lea, who promises to cause more trouble in future.

"Grave Peril" is the point when Jim Butcher's considerable talents began to fully bloom, in an urban fantasy full of grimy horror, tragedy and wit. Definitely a must-read.

This is the third book in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

I really liked the short lived Dresden Files TV series - they should bring it back - and the first two books were very good. This third book was good, but it could have been better.

In this installment, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only resident wizard detective, fights an evil thing called the Nightmare. It takes a while for him to even figure out what the thing is, much less how to get rid of it. In many ways, this was a very clever plot device.

Murphy from the Chicago police plays only a small role in the story as the creature attacks her, and she is put out of commission for most of the story. Harry works mostly with a Knight of some type named Michael instead - as in Knight with a holy sword. Susan, Harry's girl friend has a big part, and there is some tragic consequence there that I think resurfaces in at least one much later book from what I have heard. Other important characters are Lydia - Dresden needs a damsel in distress, and she is ONE of them in this story. There are also the vampire Thomas and his human girlfriend Justine. Bianca the vampire is also heavily involved in the story - and unlike in the TV series, she REALLY hates Harry. Harry's godmother - who is actually a fairy - is also involved; I was confused about a wicked fairy godmother, but that is kind of how she is. Lots of others too play parts like the evil wizard Kravos.

Given all the characters, it is not surprising that the plot is fairly complex; this is just a very brief sketch. Something has stirred up the ghosts in the Never Never and all hell breaks loose. Harry finds out that this thing dubbed the Nightmare is the culprit, but he does not know exactly what this thing is. Keep in mind that the name is very appropriate. He and Michael work together to fight it. Before long, they end up at Bianca's vampire party and things turn really ugly. Eventually, Harry saves the day, but not before Susan gets in big trouble and stays in trouble in part, and he is left to figure out how to get her the rest of the way out as the book ends. Murphy is healed by the end though. The bad guys are vanquished, but it is not exactly a happy ending for Susan - at least for the time being anyway.

The plot being very complicated was kind of a drawback. There was so much action going on that it got almost exhausting at times - too much of a good thing you know. Maybe the author had so many good ideas that he just had to use, and the publisher would not let him have any more pages so he could space things out. Seems there was not much time for Harry to tell the reader things about his life and all that - kind of chat with the reader as he did in the earlier books which I liked.

I have heard that the next books avoid some of the issues in this one, so I will keep reading. In any case, this book did have its good points; it just was not as good as the others I have read in the series. Read it and move to the next.

Yet another winning book in the Dresden Files series by Mr Butcher. I love his writing style and the humour he spreads through each story.

This book was a shocker in many ways, some of what was done with the characters, the magic and the results of this story's events.

The only thing I really don't like is how each of his books have numerous incorrect words (typos) and spelling errors that the publisher at Penguin Books missed. These a pretty glaring errors so that is getting me pretty ticked off with the publishing company. Maybe Mr. Butcher can have a word with them?? I have luckily borrowed them off a friend, but I would be taking these books back to the store with these errors if I was buying them. They're not acceptable as they're all through the book and each book in the series seems to have more that's missed. So Mr. Butcher, if you're reading this review, talk to your publisher because this is cheesing off your readers!!

Other than that I rate this another 4/5 stars. Great writing, keep it up!! :)

I liked it. It was fast-paced, and there were some very tense moments. I have some of the same problems I had the last time I read a book in this series, though. When something seems very, very obvious to me...I have to think that the trained wizard in the story ought to figure it out, and if not, then the spirit in a skull who advises him and has been around for centuries might catch it.

I like the mixing in of the Knight of the Sword, Michael. I do not like the standard "oh my God the protagonist might be happy with a girl - make him miserable, quick!" ending that keeps the already reeling Harry Dresden in much the same sort of predicament he's always in.

He gets beaten up a lot, and then, at the last minute, figures out what he should have known all along and saves himself (and everyone, usually) by some near miracle. You can't help but love Harry, and his companions are wonderful. As usual, A+ on characters and around a C+ on plot. There is no reason it should have taken Harry so long to figure out something I nailed in the beginning of the book. There is also no reason why the police would have withheld the one bit of info (nor his girlfriend, for that matter) that could have unlocked the whole mess, other than it would have unlocked the whole mess.

It's hard for me to understand the magic that causes me to skim right over all the things that bother me and enjoy the books. I am told that this book is the point where the series really starts to take off. I'm sure I'll find out, as I'll be making my way through the rest - and have set our Watch Instantly on Netflix to deliver me the first season of the TV series.

What can I say...I may be a literary snob most of the time, but other times...I'm easy.

Harry Dresden, Chicago's favorite wizard, battles ghosts and vampires in this third renewal of Jim Butcher's excellent noir fantasy series. Some of the best points of GRAVE PERIL include an action-packed plot that can be read independently from the previous books and a new engaging character in the person of Harry's devout Christian friend, Michael Carpenter.

Michael is Harry's friend and partner in battling an outbreak of ghosts that is terrorizing Chicago. Given what seems to happen to Harry's friends, it's a miracle he has one left. Micheal's a doughty man, strong in his Faith, who wields a sword that contains a nail from the True Cross. He keeps trying to reform Harry in between battles with unearthly agents of evil. He tends to raise ethical questions that Harry doesn't want to answer such as Harry's failure to carry out an old bargain he made with Lea, his faerie godmother.

Michael and the issues he raises aside, the story in this book is similar to FOOL MOON, except we have vampires and sexual shenanigans instead of nice clean werewolves. The parallels are striking: even the season of the year is the same: autumn. Other plot elements repeat in differing degrees: Harry's troubles with the Law and his magical exhaustion. Less visible blood and more ectoplasm, vampire spit and other types of goo, that's the difference here. Also, there are so many bad guys (and gals) out to get Harry it's hard for any tension to build. Personally, I think vampires are getting cliched, but I really liked the ending.

Paradoxically, the strong points of this book are also its weak points. The action-packed plot prevents exploration of Harry's inner soul and there's only so many times Harry can deal with a) a demon possessed ghost, b) another attack by twin vampires or c) another ambush by the evil faerie godmother. Harry isn't the only one to be burned out by too much magic. One wonders what would happen if an ethical issue was allowed to play out naturally. Hum, now I'm curious about the next book...Jim Butcher, you sly devil, you did it again.

Harry Dresden (wizard for hire) often refers to the Nevernever in the first books of the Dresden Files series, but in this book he pulls the reader straight into it. A realm of all sorts of spooks and even fairies, the Nevernever follows an esoteric sort of dream logic that might make some readers shy away. But this journey is one of hard, willful and fantastic magic, set in motion by a complicated twist of plotting that only immortal beings would have the patience for.

Readers are thrown right into the action, which at times can make them feel as if they are missing something (they are, as far as I can tell some of the events referred to aren't experienced by the reader except for as flashbacks and Dresden's nightmares.) Harry and his friend, a true Knight of the Cross, Michael, are in their fourth or fifth night of hunting down a series of powerful ghosts who are attacking the real world with a strength that seems unprecedented, even so close to Halloween. But fighting specters that are trying to punish people long dead, for deeds long lost to history, is only the beginning as Harry discovers a strange spell, woven into the very being of the ghosts, that appears to be manipulating them into their attacks.

What follows is an almost painful series of events with so many possible bad guys that one has to wonder how Harry has survived so long at all. An iron will and indomitable stubbornness are threaded into Harry as firmly as the barbed wire-shaped torture spells are threaded into the human and ghostly victims of this book's Big Bad. A book that revels in loose ends, it leaves more than a few set ups for further books but it also brings the Nevernever solidly into the Dresden world, giving reader's imaginations and Dresden more territory to play in.

I love the Dresden series so far. In "Grave Peril" there is a shift in the wall between the Ever After and the real world, so ghosts, demons, and more are having no trouble getting through and creating more havoc than usual. It is up to Wizard Harry Dresden and some choice friends to try to get to the root of why this is happening and fix it promptly before more people get hurt. This book was more intense, more surprising, and had more character depth than the previous two. I loved new character Michael Carpenter, the angel with a sword made with a nail from the holy cross, and his wife Charity. I was glad to see Harry's girlfriend, Susan have more to do too. There was even more Bob the skull than in the last couple of books, and I love some Bob scenes! This book involved ghosts, demons, vampires, dragons, and more. This ultimately ended up being the one thing that bothered me down to a four star instead of a five star review. This book felt like it could have been several books worth of material all wrapped into one. Why is that a bad thing? Because none of the pieces of this massive puzzle were explained or expanded on enough for complete satisfaction. I also felt like I had missed something with the introduction of Michael and the fact that they had been working together. Since when? Was there a novella or something I missed? On the positve side, Butcher (who has been accused of having a "Mary Jane" complex with his character Harry) proves that he can allow harm to some of his important characters to progress the series onward and I am always impressed by that. Too often with paranormal series you know nothing major or life-threatening will really happen to the main group of characters. Overall this was a strong novel and I can honestly say even if the first two weren't quite as good as you would have expected, try the third volume and you may end up quite pleased. I wholeheartedly look forward to Harry's next adventures.

This book crams in so much new world building and important character introductions (big parts of Harry's life that were always 'there') that you wonder if you missed a book. This is off-putting in the beginning, but just the way Dresden rolls. This is the last of 'intro-not-as-good-as-later-Dresden' books, and the plot developments and world-builing information mean you can't skip it. Not that it's bad, just that Butcher handles information pacing better later on.

Michael -- the Knight of the Cross (his intro... yeah, seemed like missing information), Vampires, calamities involving ghost torture, courts of fae, fairy godmother, and much more is crammed into this fast-paced actiony urban fantasy. It reminded me of the White Wolf role-playing setting, not sure if that was deliberate (thus the 'rolling' reference in the review title), but redone in Butcher's style.

Liked the book (makes more sense on the re-read), once I got past the pacing, and the next one is where the Dresden Files finally hit their stride. You like this one, you'll love Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4).

I've read many of Jim Butcher's short Dresden stories in anthologies. I loved them all. Who doesn't love a ironic, wise-cracking, wizard private detective? Ghost Story was the first full-length Dresden tale that I read. It's also the latest in the series. I loved it, and was wowed by it. So I decided to start the whole series. I have naturally been somewhat disappointed. In the first three, his writing about Dresden hasn't been as smooth and easy as it is in his later books and stories. As someone else said, it may be my least favorite Dresden book so far. Still, I have to read all of the books in a series. It helps later on, and satisfies my obsessive nature.

Some things seem to be an ongoing theme with the Dresden Files. Dresden getting the hell beaten out of him being the primary one. His old-fashioned sense of women being the another. Other things are new and innovative. Who would have thought one could do that (find out what) to ghosts?

So I suppose I would rate the individual book as a three and the series as a four. I'll keep reading.

This is the third installment of the Dresden Files, starring Chicago Wizard Harry Dresden. The book starts out with Harry and his friend Michael, a Fist of God Knight who assists Harry in ridding the world of all the nasty creatures who go around possessing and terrorizing humans.

In this book they are fighting off nasty ghosts who entangle their victims with really painful barbed wire. They feed off the nightmares to create very real fear, and death.

The objective is to locate the Nightmare and find out who is controlling it, and destroy the puppet master as well. .

Their quest takes them to the Red Court of the Vampires and mixes them up with evil fairies, undead black magic practitioners, fallen wizards and enough innocent people to cause alarm. Along the way we meet some characters that will show up in future books.

Michael's wife and infant son get caught up in the melee, and Harry knows Charity doesn't like him for putting Michael and her family at risk so many times. He has to deal with emotions in this book. Love, hate, fear, retribution, loyalty, and he even faces his own tombstone, a gift from the lovely Vampiress Bianca.

There are so many laws of magic and rules of the Vampires and High Council that must be maintained. Will Harry start a war between the High Council and the Red Court? Does he care? Can he save the innocents who are being devoured literally by the vampires?

And Michael has his own problems, He loses his Sword, Amoracchius, which he uses to do God's will and cast aside evil. Michael has his own doubts about his abilities. He, too, must face doubts and rely on his God to see him and Harry through this maze of terror.

In the end they have to meet the evil ones head on and fight to the end, but at what price? Susan, Harry's love interest, is a casualty of sorts. Lea, his fairy godmother, though, this is not your loving Fairy, is still out to conquer Harry and hold him to his promises. This is an evil godmother who torments Harry at every opportunity. She hopes to exact her revenge and has eons of time to do so.

Each time Harry saves Chicago from some evil creature, we wonder what is next in line for our reluctant hero. Harry just wants to do the best he can for all innocents, but fighting evil seems to be a full-time job. Harry only wishes the pay was better so he can manage to pay the rent on time.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Chicago's only professional Wizard of course. At this third novel of the DRESDEN FILES series opens Harry has joined forces with an unlikely, even for Harry, ally. Michael is one of the three righteous knights who wield swords containing nails from the true Cross on missions from God. The two have been dealing with the sudden increase in malevolent, and unusually powerful, ghosts that have recently been plaguing Chicago. As they battle a ghost for the lives of the newborns in Cook County General's nursery their conflict takes them into the Nevernever - that other realm that is home to the various supernatural beings that most humans mistakenly believe are the stuff of legends and fiction. While there Harry manages to further irritate his Godmother (who is of course a Fairy Queen). Unfortunately this just marks the beginning of Harry's latest round of troubles as he once again finds himself in conflict with vampires, and the Chicago police department. Even the recent improvements in Harry's personal life is not safe from the forces that seem determine to make him miserable.

This is an ongoing series featuring Harry Dresden, professional Wizard, that is set in modern day Chicago. Harry narrates his adventures in a matter of fact manner and a wry sense of humor that makes even the most fantastic aspects seem almost plausible. This series features a strong overall story arc about Harry's past. This arc is so pronounced that even those familiar with series from the tv series would do well to begin at the beginning and proceed in order.

Jim Butcher definitely raises the bar with "Grave Peril," the third installment of "The Dresden Files." I gave this one four stars as a comparison to books of the genre, not all books.
The basic premise has Harry running around Chicago trying to find out why so many ghosts and spooks have breached the barrier between our world and that of the 'Nevernever' where all kinds of creatures reside. The story ties in a previous case involving a sorceror, as well as an extended sequence at the vampire's masquerade ball. During the course of the adventure, those close to Harry are either possessed or attacked in some way by a spirit dubbed 'The Nightmare' and even Harry succumbs at one point.
What I like about this series is the mixture of horror, mystery and dark comedy. The plots have improved with each book, although they always seem to be personal involving Harry in some way. I like his descriptions of the various entities, and the rules that bind them. Harry gets a new ally in Michael Carpenter, a sort of holy knight with a special sword, although no explanation is given how these two got together. Harry's love interest, Susan, also has a strong role. Murphy has a couple key scenes, but she's out of the way much of the book. There are also various shadow characters such as Thomas the vampire, Lydia with Cassandra's Tears, Justine the victim, Lea the fairie 'sidhe' godmother of Harry, and enemies like the evil Kravos, and vampire siblings Kyle and Kelly. Bianca is both the sexiest and foulest vampire one will ever meet.
Since the narration is told from Harry's point of view, we never get a lot of development of the other characters, but their outward emotions are clear, even if one never quite knows what trick they might pull next. Harry, on the other hand, is developing into a balanced character, with admirable traits and flaws like anyone. He is full of emotion, and tries to do what's right, but he recognizes his own shadow side.
As usual, the sensual descriptions of magic are interesting, and the extended action at the vampire party is a page-turner. Butcher paints the characters into a corner time and again, and manages to let them figure interesting ways out of their predicaments. Harry not only uses magic, but also his brain and body.
In the end, their is both a sense of finality and continuity, as the plot is resolved, but the story of Harry and his friend's (and enemies) lives will figure into future tales.

"Grave Peril" by Jim Butcher is the third instalment in the absolutely enchanting Dresden Files, and it is another excellent read. Butcher has yet again created a compelling mix of horror, mystery, fantasy, romance and comedy, and these elements are expertly blended into one un-put-downable tale. Our hero, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, continues to evolve as a character, and his tongue-in-cheek narration is a delight. Harry is an immensely likable hero, and despite his haplessness, readers will really enjoy getting to know him.
"Grave Peril" begins with Harry and his friend Michael, a Knight of the Cross with a sword blessed by God, running all over Chicago trying to control an outbreak of malicious spirits. Indeed, the spirit world has gone postal, and countless rampaging ghosts have been attacking unsuspecting individuals. As the book opens, Harry and Michael must rush to the hospital in order to stop a dangerous ghost with an unhealthy affection for infants. Their attempt to destroy the ghost doesn't go as planned, and Harry and Michael are forced to follow her into the Nevernever. And though Harry eventually succeeds in destroying this particular spirit, his troubles are only just beginning. He discovers that these ghosts aren't going crazy of their own accord, that someone or something is placing a torture spell on them. And while Harry's trying to digest that disturbing bit of new information, he has a terrifying run-in with his faerie godmother. Harry made a deal with Lea, his godmother, when he was much younger and in a lot of trouble, and now she wants to collect her payment. The only thing is, it's Harry she wants to collect!
After managing to escape from the Nevernever and his godmother (for now) Harry sets about trying to discover who could be responsible for the horrifying torture spells being placed on Chicago's spirits. Evidence of a frighteningly powerful and vicious spirit has Harry feeling distinctly nervous, since this spirit has done things that just shouldn't be possible. And then Harry is accosted by two vampires representing madam Bianca; the vampire Harry made a mortal enemy of in "Storm Front". Bianca has been promoted in the ranks of the Vampire's Red Court, and as a member of the White Council of wizards, Harry is obliged to attend the celebration. Harry's girlfriend Susan, a reporter for a paper specializing in the supernatural, is desperate to attend for the story, but Harry knows just how much Bianca wants her revenge and that attending is out of the question. So Harry just won't go right? Wrong. A series of disasters and nasty encounters leaves Harry between a rock and a hard place. Whoever is doing these torture spells is now putting them on people as well, Harry's friends no less, and Harry needs to catch the culprit right away. After nearly getting killed several times and losing Michael's holy sword, making things even worse with his godmother, and letting a young and frightened girl who he agreed to protect fall into the hands of some very nasty people, Harry's last hope is to attend Bianca's party, where he's sure the person or thing causing all of this will be.
From this point on, "Grave Peril" takes readers on a thrilling and suspenseful adventure filled with unexpected twists and turns. Harry gets himself and those around him into deeper and deeper trouble as the story builds towards a gripping climax. "Grave Peril" kept me riveted the whole way through, and I couldn't wait to start the next in the series, "Summer Knight", when it came to a close. The secondary characters, such as Harry's friend Lieutenant Karrin Murphy and Bob, Harry's over-sexed air spirit assistant residing in a human skull, are wonderful and always amusing. Harry is a fabulous character, and his witty narrative makes "Grave Peril" just that much more enjoyable. So take my word for it, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is a series you don't want to miss. "Grave Peril" is a fun, exciting, and hugely entertaining mix of mystery and fantasy, so buy it today!

Harry Dresden takes on ghosts, vampires and faeries this time around. Ghosts have emerged from the Nevernever, wreaking havoc among humans. Harry has to find whatever is responsible for stirring the supernatural creatures and threatening the lives of his friends. To make matters worse, he has made a bargain with his Godmother -- a beautiful, yet sadistic faerie who wants him under her command. Also, vampire Bianca has sought out revenge against him for having angered her (in Storm Front) and an evil spirit is possessing souls by way of nightmares. Harry, with the help of Michael, a God-fearing Knight, and Thomas, a sneaky vampire, must put a stop to things while avoiding death. There are various twists throughout the novel.

Grave Peril, the third installment of the Dresden Files, is somewhat different from the first two efforts. First of all, characters like Michael and Lea (faerie) are thrown into the story without so much as an introduction. The abruptness of the aforementioned characters' sudden appearances confused me at first. Also, the novel's execution is somewhat different from the first two offerings. The plot twists are downright over the top and overwhelming at times. Sci-fi/fantasy novels are full of action and twists, but this one has a little too much of those things. But I still enjoyed the novel. There are lots of witty passages and the dialogue is sharp and crisp. The characters are also great. Harry is still self-deprecating and that makes him all the more fun. I also liked Michael and his bantering with Harry. Bob was great, as usual. Lea was not developed enough. I hope I will read more on her in future novels. And I also hope that there will be more Murphy in the next installment. All in all, Grave Peril is another action-packed Harry Dresden novel and I look forward to reading Summer Knight.

Harry Dresden is the only wizard-for-hire in the city. His front door is littered with magic-how-to pamphlets, and most of the time, he barely ekes out a living helping people find lost things and working with the police when things get a little bit rough, supernaturally speaking.

Things are about to get a little bit rough. Spirits are going ballistic. Ghosts are showing up all over the place, wrapped in spiritual barbed wire, and understandably cranky about the situation. With a holy sidekick crusdaes-style knight in construction books and a weapon blessed by God on one side, and an eagre yellow-paper tabloid writer on the other, Harry has more than enough to juggle, let alone with spooks trying to nab him.

Which is when, of course, he's invited to a costume ball thrown by a vampire he truly offended in the first book, "Storm Front."

The 'Dresden Files' series grows up in this book. Though still light-hearted and a blast to read, with sarcasm and wit to satisfy even the most jaded of cynical readers, the story takes a turn for the darker, and though the novel is complete in and of itself, there is a definite sense that many of the plot-lines begun in this book will be carrying over into September's "Summer Knight." I for one, can't wait.

The characters are all very much alive in this book (even the dead ones), and Butcher has done a magnificent job of characterization. The mystery itself has just the right number of twists, and hey, if that isn't enough, there's Bob. You remember Bob, right? The oversexed air-spirit trapped in the form of a skull?

Seriously, snap up the whole series, starting with "Storm Front." The 'Dresden Files' are yours to be opened, and I promise you'll be re-reading them in anticipation of September's new release. Fans of Hamilton's Anita Blake, or Huff's Claire Hansen are doubly invited to meet Mr. Dresden. You'll be glad you did.

'Nathan

This is the third book in Jim Butcher's Dresden files, and I have yet to read the first two, but I did enjoy this urban-scape detective of the supernatural fantasy. Dresden's first person narrative keep this story full of dry humor and film noir feel.
Dresden is a PI/wizard who's middle name is trouble. This time his supernatural snafu is a ghostly being that is able to rouse other ghosts and harm Dresden's friends. It's up to the only wizard in town to discover who's behind it all.
This series has been pegged as similar to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, and on the surface, that's a fair comparison. Both deal with urban societies and parnormal baddies. Both have a tough edge, supernatural powers, and a penchant for violence. Both have a tough time in their love lives. That being said, Jim Butcher's novel has a distinctly male flavor to it. There is far less relationship time and sensitivity, more interest in action, gadgets and intrigue--this is not a bad thing, but the overall result is you care about the characters less (they're distanced) and you have more interest in the mechanics of the supernatural. Those who enjoy Butcher's books might want to try STALKING THE UNICORN by Mike Resnick, about a gumshoe who gets hired by goblin to find a kidnapped unicorn. For those who like both Hamilton and Butcher, I also reccomend Tanya Huff's Vampire series. There a tough lady PI teams up with a romance-writing vampire to hunt down some supernatural baddies.
I'm intrigued to see where Dresden's story is going. Perhaps my biggest gripe with the whole book was that at the end the hero appears to be in deeper problems than he was at the beginning and I want to know what happens. But, that's the curse of series books...guess I'll just have to wait for the next one.

I am really beginning to get into the series. I grew up around Chicago and I think his descriptions of the city are quite good. They may be what I enjoy most about the series. I've been through my share of scrapes and I am really beginning to wonder how Dresden stays alive. He takes a lot of punishment in these books. May just be the author working out some issues. (Grins)

Book Three of the Dresden Files begins a year after Fool Moon. Where Book Two was all in shades of wolf, the palette here is considerably more varied. Harry himself is back in full-color, wise-cracking form. The central themes are ghosts and vampires, but Butcher throws in a sprinkling of other paranormal phenomena as well, just to keep everybody on their toes.
An unknown agent has been raising ghosts all over Chicago, torturing them into murderous rampages. Tired of vanquishing a different ghost every night, Harry's determined to attack the problem at its source, especially after the same torture spell is used on a living victim.
An unidentified beastie, too powerful to be just another ghost, tries to tear apart a church where Harry stashed a young woman who came to him for protection. The attack fails, the woman disappears into the night, and the beastie is still around.
Vampire madam Bianca, celebrating a promotion within the vampires' Red Court, invites Harry to the bash. Diplomatic protocols between Court and White Council virtually require attendance, and girlfriend Susan is eagerly contemplating interview prospects, but Harry's sure that Bianca is looking to settle an old score with him.
Speaking of which, Harry's real-life faerie godmother is determined to collect on a deal he made with her as a teenager. Problem is, it's Harry she expects to collect.
These plot lines are all set up in the first hundred pages of Grave Peril. It takes the other three-quarters of the book for Harry to work out who's really doing what, and why. Along the way, he and several of his nearest and dearest fall prey to various bad guys; nobody gets away without some physical and psychological scarring.
Butcher writes like a master gamesman here. Things start happening with no apparent purpose or connection, and only gradually does an overall game plan begin to emerge. This being his third book, readers by now can guess that everything is going to come together eventually-short term events before the book's end and long term plots in future books-but that takes nothing away from the enjoyment of seeing how Butcher actually manages to make the pieces fit.
There are more minor plotting issues in Grave Peril than in the first two books, and it seems like a bit of a cheat to have two personal, apparently long-standing relationships suddenly pop up with no previous mention. Technical writing errors, fairly unobtrusive before, are more overt here as well (note: never flaunt tony words like "dais"-especially not 21 times-without confirming their proper spelling). Picky, picky; this is the most entertaining of the Dresden Files to date. All of the "things are not what they seem" plot twists once again call to mind Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos, as does the personal and political mess Harry creates over Susan; a habit of pensive lip-chewing would not seem at all out of place for Harry.

If there's any way to sum up the events of The Dresden Files, it's 'Harry Dresden can't catch a break'. In this installment of the urban fantasy series, much like in the previous ones, he is off to uncover another mystery behind the chain of unusual spiritual events in Chicago, and his days never cease to get progressively worse: fending off attempts on his life, trying to save friends and colleagues from the attack of a monster unlike anything he's ever seen, all while being played and manipulated from behind the scenes. The atmosphere in Grave Peril is noticeably darker than the previous parts, and even as Harry's witty humor and his own brand of sarcastic inner dialogue stay the same, a sense of looming tragedy and loss hangs above him at all times. But not all is lost: he may be staggering, but Harry Dresden, Wizard will always find his way.

Okay, I'm glad I stuck with it. This book was much better than the last, but it still is a bit frustrating at times. It's gotten me curious again to see where the series is headed, but the stories are still so formulaic that I get bored with them at times.

On the good side, I liked the side characters a lot better in this one. They drew me in, and I really hope we get to see more of them, though I'm afraid they might not fade into the background since they hadn't been featured at all in the previous books. They just popped up out of thin air. Dresden is pretty entertaining, too, so that helps.

On the downside, the stories remain formulaic, which drives me crazy. This book overcame that because I got invested in the non-formulaic stuff (which I didn't in the last book). Every story sees Dresden is going toe-to-toe with a monster that is difficult to beat on a good day for him, but then he most of his powers and is beaten up a lot. A whole lot. Like end up in the hospital but he still runs around, lot. He gets weakened down to the point where he has no hope of possibly surviving, then at the last minute something miraculous comes together and he kicks everyone's butts. It seems like every other chapter he comes across a new hurt or pain that is the worst thing he's ever felt (he says that a lot), and he always seems to be able to go days without sleeping. Like a ton. The guy hardly ever closes his eyes, even though he's being beaten to a pulp.

And then there's the ever-present heroin in distress that shows up at the very beginning of the book and has some deeper, darker role in the overall story, though he never sees it until the very end.

Like I said, there's a lot of formula to his stories. If Butcher could shake things up just a bit, then it'd be an awesome series. As is, I'm going to keep going and hope for something even better in the next one.

If you are a fan of the Dresden Files TV series and are considering checking into the print series, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. This book is third in the series, preceded by, in order:

Storm Front Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) and

Fool Moon Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2)

Also, the reality in the books is a little different than the TV series, and you won't enjoy the books if you get hung up on the TV canon. My advice is kick back and enjoy the ride, because (and I'm up to the ninth book so far) Jim Butcher so far has not failed to disappoint. Unlike many series authors, he has sustained the quality and appeal of the series throughout.

The Dresden Files are noir detective novels in the classic vein, with a loner, wiseass private eye narrator in this case based in Chicago. Harry Dresden has an edgy relationship with the police, and between his PI practice and police consulting, is barely able to make ends meet. The twist is that the detective is also a wizard capable of calling fire and, on a good day, repelling bullets.

The writer's challenge is to provide his detective with challenges that he can't solve with a wave of his wand. These tend to be ever-increasing supernatural foes, people problems, and vexing situations that combine the two.

"Grave Peril" is where author Jim Butcher really breaks away from the pack. Its predecessors were fun books, with witty narration and creative portrayal of magic in the real world. In this book, the stakes are higher for Harry. People he cares about are in trouble, because of his connection to them. Despite serial catastrophes, you don't feel like author Jim Butcher is throwing everything at you he's got. I just felt like Harry Dresden was confronted by a complex and challenging situation that his non-magical friends were underequipped to face.

Like traditional detective fiction, the Dresden Files is moralistic, with good triumphing over evil (of course, not without cost). There is character development, there is humor in many tasty flavors, and sustained enjoyment for the reader.

I recommend the entire series, so jump on at the beginning and just keep going with it.

This by far has got to be Harry Dresden's busiest adventure yet. Harry starts out battling ghosts with his friend Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross. Then Dresden, Michael, Susan and Lt. Murphy continue to fight off nightmare demons, ghosts of all sorts, vampires from the black, white and red courts and last but not least, Dresden's faerie godmother Leanansidhe who is quite a cranky pants to Dresden over a broken promise promise.. Dresden's main objective is to find out who is driving ghosts mad and who is weakening the barrier between the living and the dead. His quest leads him to all kinds of danger and ends at a promotion party for a red court vampire Harry has run afoul of in the past, Bianca. Every thing leads up to a fiery and explosive conclusion which showcases how powerful Dresden really is. Once again, I highly recommend this book to Harry Potter fans, sci fi/fantasy fans or horror fans. Hell, I recommend this series to readers in general.

As a whole, I've enjoyed all of the Dresden series I've read thus far. This one, however, has been my favorite up to this point in the series.

It's more adult than Harry Potter and it has some "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" pop-cult references and humor thrown in. The stories are told at a break-neck speed as Harry falls into one catastrophe after another. In Grave Peril he's haunted by what Harry calls "the Nightmare." A vampire from book one is highly ticked off with Harry, and if that isn't enough, his evil fairy godmother wants to claim him for her slave.

All in all, Harry is a sympathetic, long-suffering hero. Michael "The Fist of God" is a good foil as Harry's friend/sidekick who is more noble in purpose than Harry himself. I also enjoyed the introduction of the vampire Thomas into the series.

While Harry could have been quicker piecing together the mystery, I'll cut him a break since he's busy exorcizing ghosts, eluding hell beasts, fighting off a horde of vampires, and trying to work up the nerve to tell his girlfriend that he thinks he may love her.

If you enjoyed series like "Buffy" and "Angel" on TV, there's a good chance you can enjoy the adventures of Harry Dresden.

I am ready to admit something, Harry Dresden is a pervert. I didn’t realize how overly sexualized Butcher’s females are until this book, The way Dresden describes a women, well I can tell you that my nipples are not always straining through my shirt thank you very much, if they were I think there may be something wrong with them. Did this ruin the story for me absolutely not, it was an annoyance really. Because I listened by way of audio book, I was unable to really skim over these scenes, had I read the book I would have skipped most character descriptions. I don’t really care how smooth a characters skin is.

Also I think I may be way too good at figuring out what will happen and who the bad guy is, but honestly I don’t think Butcher was trying too hard at covering it up. I will admit that until this book Butcher didn’t have an overall story really flushed out, now I think we will have an arc with allied characters on Dresden’s side that will span multiple books and I am excited. This book didn’t have Murphy in it that much, and no mention of Mac, but it had a lot more of Bob whom I love. Plus they introduced a couple of characters that I can’t wait to read more about. They all seem really badass and fleshed out.

Now if only we can get Dresden’s mind out of the freaking gutter…

Grave Peril was awkward and odd.

When I started reading I thought I had missed a book in-between, but nope I didn’t. A year has gone by between book 2, Fool Moon, and book 3, Grave Peril. During this year Harry, Murphy, Michael, and the SL team took down a Bad Guy Sorcerer who was using a Demon and other stuff to wreak havoc in Chicago. So, Harry has patched things up with Murphy and the SL team, Michael (who is Michael and where did he come from?) is more or less a friend now and helping him out, and Susan and Harry are together (OMG No).

The vague reference to the takedown is the source for the plot in this book. We are soon pulled into vampire trouble, ghost trouble, and the Nevernever.

Harry has become an immensely engaging character, between his feats as a wizard and his chivalry. I like him even though in this installment he got on my nerves a little. Their are a few different plot threads that keep you engaged. One of those threads has to do with Harry’s Faerie Godmother, who is desperate to own him… (Why?? You’ll have to read to find out. Oh My!! What will Harry do to get out of that predicament?) Then we have what’s going on with the ghosts, Harry’s love life, and the vampires.

The secondary characters really come out in this installment and a few new ones are added to the cast. Bob, was a great source of humor and I liked having him along for the ride.

Last, we can’t forget Susan, yes the report, who I dislike and think Harry could do better. Susan, is her typical self and when Harry says NO to her request she goes behind his back and ends up in deep deep trouble. What happens to her, is her fault, and her actions brought what happen to her onto herself. All I’ll say is I don’t feel sorry for her and what happened. I do feel sorry for Harry; because we all know he’s going to take what happened to her onto himself and feel like it’s his fault and he has to fix it.

Grave Peril was a good read. It not my favorite and I had a few issues, but I’ll still be continuing on to see what happens next to Harry.

Rated: 3 Stars

Jim Butcher fans can tell you that anytime you read his work you just can't put it down. Harry really has his hands full with the ghosts going nuts and the vampires having a party. Michael, Harry's friend joins him in trying to bring things back to normal...Lol, normal, what's that in a Dresden book? I agree with a few of the other reviews that I've read, I think that this book has made a turn in his writing style and for the better. The emotions that play throughout show the fragility of the character. I especially liked the ending and was in tears. Harry's feelings for his friend especially touched me. I'm really looking forward to the next book. Another fantastic read in the Dresden Files.

If you've read the previous installments of the Harry Dresden series--and if you haven't, I'd start at the beginning, with Storm Front--you'll know that Harry Dresden, Chicago's cross between Sam Spade and Harry Potter, has a remarkable knack for attracting some very unpleasant adversaries. Indeed, he seems to have been at the vortex of a maelstrom of nastiness that has been growing since the first book. In Grave Peril, author Jim Butcher raises the stakes even higher, giving a shape to some of the peril in which Harry has found himself, and also edging the action closer and closer to HP Lovecraft-level horror.

Someone has been stirring up the ghosts of Chicago, weakening the barrier between the 'real' world and what Harry calls the Nevernever. Harry, with a most unlikely (for him) sidekick, Michael Carpenter, Knight Templar and Fist of God, has been running around, trying to send these apparitions back to their Nevernever home, but things keep getting worse. The bordello-running head of Chicago's vampires, Bianca (who hates Harry's guts), is about to be promoted, and wants Harry to attend her celebratory ball. And someone--or something--seems to be out to get all of Harry's closest associates: Lt. Murphy and her Special Investigations crew; Susan Rodriguez, Harry's girlfriend; and even Bob, the friendly (usually) spirit who lives in a skull in Harry's basement. Battling demons, ghosts, three different types of vampires, and a very mean faerie queen, Harry careens his way through one brush with disaster after another. Along the way, we learn a little more about his past, watch him finally get what Huey Lewis was talking about in "The Power of Love," discover that death isn't quite what it seems and see Harry pull some stunts that definitely shouldn't be tried at home.

I enjoyed the book enormously, though it isn't for the squeamish. I also appreciated the less-than-neat ending, which, while satisfactory, leaves room for further books and also maintains the Dashiell-Hammet-like moral ambiguity that has been at the core of this series from the beginning.
Oh, and by the way, regarding the complaint below, for a wizard who uses a 'flickum bicus' spell to light a room's candles to refer to himself as 'flicking on the lights' seems within the scope of the reasonable (though the books could use a good copyedit, I must say)....

Imagine Dick Tracy as a wizard. The protagonist of this novel and series is the unapologetically chivalrous yet lovelorn Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago Yellow Pages. Dresden, a supernatural gumshoe who lives in his rundown Chicago apartment makes for a fun protagonist. While the series is driven more by a blazing plot than by characters, the characters, too, are multifaceted individuals (for the most part) who learn (or not) from real mistakes. And seriously, who doesn't love a polka-playing Medical Examiner?

As the series progresses, this alternate world becomes more complex and intriguing and the series story arc becomes clearer. Very well done! Hats off to Jim Butcher.

And speaking of Butcher, his neo-noir style narration is spiced liberally with a warm humor that only enhances the non-stop thrills. He is one of my favorite writers.

Great fun. Outstanding writing. Paced for thrills with no slow spots. Darkly urban, contemporary setting. Magical, colorful characters. What's not to like?

The series is best enjoyed by starting with the first novel, Storm Front.
Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

Grave Peril isn't great literature, but it is a heck of a lot of fun. This entry really ups the fun factor. I wasn't as big of a fan of book 2 so I was really happy at how this turned out.

When I start a Dresden book I am only certain of one thing. That Dresden will live to fight another day. So what makes them fun is just how fun the side characters are and how well they interact with Harry. Grave Peril has the best side characters yet in the series. Michael the Knight is hands down my favorite character yet.

The plot can be hard to follow at times. This is because there is so much going on that some minor things become hard to keep track of. That is the only critique I can think of. It is minor.

I've borrowed a copy of this from the library. If I may say, this is the turning point of this series. The author has perfectly packed the right amount of action, humor, supernatural, and romance in this book. Plus, the author has created the characters that will grow on you. Also, the story focuses more of Harry's ability as a Warlock. In this book, he and his friends are battling with different supernaturals that are influenced by vampires. On the contrary, my heart aches for Harry and Susan. Just when the L word is out, their relationship is put in a brink. :(

After reading the first two books in this series, I was so intrigued to see where Dresden's story is going that I've ordered the Dresden Files TV series through Netflix. I am not much of a fantasy reader but this series is definitely an exception and this third book was very well done.

Grave Peril, the third installment in the Dresden Files, is a grittier, darker, scarier book than the first two. Once again, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only resident wizard detective, is called upon to fight an evil entity called the Nightmare, a ghostly being that is able to rouse up other ghostly apparitions and harm friends of Harry's. This time Harry is assisted by the stalwart Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross.

This was a wonderful read; the book has plenty of action, mystery, and likable characters. Highly recommended.

the store first insisted that I'd like the Harry Dresden books because I bought a Laurel Hamilton book. I really didn't like Hamilton's novel (sorry, fans, it just didn't grab me), and perhaps that's why I find Hamilton and Butcher's series less similar than others do. Instead, I think of the Dresden Files as closer to Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. (And, obviously, if you like Butcher's series, I think you'll also like Brust's.)

This is the best book in the Dresden Files, so far. I liked #1 and #2, obviously, enough to buy the third one in the series, but I thought the first two were "merely" good. Maybe it was just that I was in the right mood, but in this book the author really brought Harry's character to the forefront; he is dealing with himself as someone who feels compelled to do the right thing no matter what it costs him -- which is usually "everything" -- but is cynical enough to be a smartass about it.

As you've probably already figured out, the basic premise here is that someone is stirring up the ghosts all over Chicago, and Harry (and his friends) have to figure out why before all hell breaks loose (rather literally, come to think of it). There are several rather effective twists and turns in the plot, and one reason I particularly liked this book is that nearly every one of them surprised me.

Malevolent ghost activity is spiking. As the attacks begin to affect those close to Harry, he has to figure out what is going on. This is the third book in the Dresden Files series and it is full of action. Harry continues to be a very likeable character as he tries to protect his friends and loved ones when the ghost attacks become more dangerous and begin to form a frightening pattern. There are scary foes and cliffhangers that will keep you turning the pages. The story is not perfect. He sure had a lot of near-death experiences. It was a little hard to believe he would have survived, but overall this is a good addition to the series and I will read the next book. Recommended.

I found the first 2 1/2 books in the series consistently offputting and unsettling . Upon reflection it's due to the consistent sexism in the way women characters are treated and described. I found it repulsive to listen to the author's descriptions of the women, their nipples and the way their clothing cupped their bodies etc. I felt like I was watching him verbally masturbate to the images of these women . In fact I got the impression repeatedly that wish fulfillment drives a lot of his descriptions and that the main character substitutes for the author . Which is kind of sad and unfortunate since he's such a consistently incompetent and deficient character always on the edge of failure and collapse . The overall vibe of the world and the collective tone of the books are so gloomy and discouraging that I could only read it in small doses . I finally had to quit after the sexism and objectification of females became so overwhelming that I'm just repelled. I did give it two stars though because there are no typographical or serious grammar errors and the author does try to create an interesting world.

This third tale in a new occult mystery series has Harry Dresden, our intrepid wizard, running hard in place. He's so busy putting down some very angry and disturbed ghosts, he hasn't got time to figure out why they're appearing in so many numbers and so annoyed. Eventually he figures it out and puts (some of) them to rest, but not before confronting a local vampire and her minions. Along the way he battles giant scorpions (well, mostly he tries to avoid getting impaled and convincing them to kill each other and the bad guy who conjured them), teams up with another vampire on a rescue mission, and (sort of) loses his girlfriend, which is disheartening as he'd just discovered how much he loves her.
Harry is a typical wizard in that he's eccentric, lives a highly erratic lifestyle, and has strange cronies (a very big black cat and a spirit inhabiting a skull). Technological things don't work well around him: guns misfire, computers crash and lightbulbs explode, forcing him to live with candles and wood stoves in a big city.
Like many mystery series these days, the series has an ongoing storyline about Harry and his friends, and I'm hoping to see more of his history and his vindictive fairy godmother in future volumes. All the stories are fast-paced and well written. In a growing field of 'urban fantasy,' The Dresden Files are a welcome addition. I look forward to the next one.

Jim Butcher, Grave Peril (Roc, 2001)

Grave Peril, the third book in Butcher's Harry Dresden series, is the book where Jim Butcher finally seems to get it all to fall into place. There's always been something not quite right about the books; either the pacing was off in one section, or the characters hadn't quite come into their own, or the description didn't quite ring true, or any of a number of other things. But here, it all works. We're introduced to a foil for Harry (and, from what I've read in some book communities, he's a lasting one), we have a plot that actually seems to work, as well as one that draws together a few threads from the previous books, we have a lot more background on some of the big meanies, we have great setting and excellent characterization, we've got just about everything. And it's probably not coincidence that this is the book that reads most like a Spenser (of Robert B. Parker fame) novel, either.

As we open, Dresden and his friend Michael (is he that Michael? We don't know... yet) are battling a ghost in a nursery. Yes, in a nursery. Which seems like it's going to be a one-shot deal, after which Dresden can go home and get some much-needed sleep and Michael can go back to his sharp-tongued wife. Unfortunately, though, the ghost is symbolic of a larger problem-- the fraying of the barrier between our world and the nevernever. What's a wizard and his big, burly friend to do?

This one flew by much faster than the first two, both compulsively readable and very well put-together, with a greater command of plotting and the first glimmerings of real character depth. If the series continues to improve at this rate, I'll be able to see why it got optioned for TV eventually. ***

Last book werewolves, this book, ghosts.

Once again, Harry Dresden, professional wizard, leaps into the fray, not just to solve a crime, but to help the lady in need, or even anyone in need when the supernatural of "never-never" menaces those of us who cannot defend ourselves.

Oh, but wait, there's more. The vampires are making their move as well, and Harry could start a war between wizards and vampires if he is not careful. Which of course, he's not, but he does his best.

I really like the addition of Michael, the sword of God in this book. Here is a man of God, wielding one of the three "God-swords" (or whatever), who is working against the common evil with Dresden, even if he doesn't like Dresden's wizardry. I really like the part where a vampire touches Michael and her hand bursts into flame. "That's what happens." Michael says with a shrug.

Again, the very human seeming characters really bring the story alive. There are so many storylines mixing into this work that it can be hard at times to tell them apart, but the resolution works quite well.

It has been a tough two weeks on Harry Dresden, Chicago's only known wizard (check the phone book if you are a nonbeliever). It seems he and his good soul partner Michael Carpenter, a knight with a holy blade, have spent the previous fourteen evenings fighting terrifying ghosts that crossed the barrier between here and Nevernever land.

When Harry finds the same barbed wire on a human being's soul that he found inside a ghost, he knows he is fighting a dangerous enemy who breaks all the known rules of supernatural physics. This foe can enter homes without permission, wreck havoc on holy land, and tie mortal and spirit together with otherworldly barbed wire. While Harry gets ready for battle with this unknown superior creature, he also struggles to uncover who is destroying the barrier between earth and Nevernever and must deal with the Vampire Court whose leader has summoned him.

Book three of the Dresden Files, GRAVE PERIL, is a great supernatural who-done-it. The key to this tale and its predecessors (see STORM FRONT and FOOL MOON) is that every character and situation feels genuine. For instance, readers will feel what technology-machinery impaired Harry feels when he removes the barbed wire from the soul of a friend. Anyone who enjoys an offbeat but cleverly written urban fantasy will want to visit the Windy City's only advertising wizard because few horror, fantasy, or mystery tales get any better than this wonderful plot that smoothly combines all three genres into one novel.

Harriet Klausner

Grave Peril is a much darker book than either Storm Front or Fool Moon. This book has a sense of hopelessness to it that neither of the others contained, even in their darker moments. Read with caution, and read slowly. The bad guys are bigger, badder, and there are certainly more of them. The problems start even before page one, and never let up, or give room for breathing or for Harry's usual wisecracks.
Michael is a welcome character addition, especially when the only other returning male character, Carmichael, was killed in Fool Moon. Murphy is noticeable by her absence, but I guess there is only room for 1 woman in Harry Dresden's life, as Susan, the reporter for the Arcane and Harry's love interest is more prevalent in Grave Peril.
This is a good read, but I can't help hoping that the 4th book in the series gives Harry a little bit of a break from the nonstop terror and evil.

This series is becoming very interesting and the characters seem like they are real people. Imagine having a wizard in your town, except this town is Chacago and the poor ghosts are being tourtered and tied up with barb wire and made to hurt people,especially the people that Harry Dresden likes and also some that he really cares for. All these situations build up the local vampire called Bianca and her dominions, and the showdown to fantastic climax that leaves you wanting more. At the end of the story you hope that Susan, Harry's girlfriend can be saved from her torment and she can return home, and the other vampires Justine and Thomas can return to a normal,for them way of life, and finally Harry finding a cure for Susan, and for confronting the White Council a continuation for his next adventure. I am anxiouslly awaiting for Summer Knight his next adventure.......... I love these books.

Grave Peril is a worthy addition into the world that the author is creating. Grave peril basically expands the world from the first two books while introducing more characters from the main character's past. In the story Harry is beaten bloody and loses a lot but like any great action hero he is able to overcome and draw upon hidden power to defeat the big bad. Overall this is a good fun book that expands the world of Dresden

I have mixed feelings on this third edition in the Dresden Files. There were elements I really liked, and then there were elements that drove me crazy. I'm not going to recap the previous stories as there are numerous books in the series and that would get to be a book in itself.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. Not the kind that does cheap magic tricks, but an actual wizard who casts spells and performs other feats of magic, and he just so happens to be listed in the telephone book, but no parties please. He's protected Chicago from lots of evil and this time is no different. Ghosts are going crazy and attacking people outside of the Nevernever (the magical realm). This is causing a flux in the barrier between our world and theirs and is causing some real problems. Particularly when a demon is on the loose and seems to be after Harry and his friends in addition to these problematic ghosts.

If this wasn't enough, Harry and his friend Michael (a Fist of God with an impressive sword) after trying to fight these foes also have to take on some vampires. The lead of the Red Council is mad at Harry and wants to make his life miserable. Another woman who wants to make him miserable is his Fey Godmother. Harry should really learn to stay out of trouble, but unfortunately he needs to solve this mess and rescue the good guys before he finds himself killed. It just seems like he's up again insurmountable odds.

I have some characters I like in this book and some that I don't. Harry's an all around pretty cool character. But for some reason Butcher gives him a new "phrase" in this book and makes him act like someone who's heard a bad joke they like and wants to make sure everyone hears it. In this case, the phrase was "Hells Bells" and he uses it almost every page (and sometimes two a page) in the second half of the book. I may be exaggerating a little bit about the amount, but not much. Otherwise Butcher cuts down on describing every aspect of Harry's clothes and focuses more on the important details, which I think is better since Harry is the narrator and wouldn't be that focused on himself.

A new character in this novel, Michael, I'm not particularly fond of. When he's not talking, he's a pretty awesome guy. However, being the Fist of God, when he talks, it is very preachy. After awhile I got tired of him telling Harry not to curse in front of him. He's married to quite the dragon as well. The rest of the characters in the novel were pretty well done. I especially like the vampires from the White Court.

Butcher is pretty good at description. So much so that at times you feel you're reading the setting for a role playing game because its almost like the story is being set up for you to play. This description can get him in trouble though (at least in my opinion) because when it comes to describing girls in this novel, I don't think there's ever been an ugly or one or even one that's merely average. They're all gorgeous which just doesn't seem very realistic. He does do a good narration though from the point of Dresden, so I'll forgive his flaws.

This was a pretty good story, it was just some of the elements I can't stand. If he had focused more on the plot line then some of the repetitive elements of characters and descriptions, this could have been an excellent story. As it is, I still plan on continuing with the series.

Grave Peril
Copyright 2001
378 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2010

Harry Dresden, Jim Butcher's wise-cracking wizard gumshoe returns in this gripping adventure! This time Harry finds himself a reluctant ghostbuster who must discover who have stirred up the ghosts of the spirit world who are going on a terror spree in Chicago.Harry's adventures will take from escaping from seductive but manipulative fairy godmother who seeks to enslave him, to battle blood-thirsty vampires and finally to a terrifying ghost of a demon he has slain!Harry Dresden series is entertaining blend of magic mystery, mirth and mayhem as you watch Harry get himself into and of of trouble and who's sense of honor is written in stone.The characters again come alive in this series like Harry's friend,michael a real knight who juggles saving the world with his responsiblities of his family.
Bianca, the sinister head of the vampires in town and her equally menacing vampire hench people:Kyle and Kelly. Susan Rodriguez, Harry's on again off again reporter girlfriend. I love this series and you will to. So if you want excitement.Who you gonna call? Harry Dresden of course!

Third entry in the Dresden Files series. I cannot recommend highly enough listening to this series. James Marsters does an amazing job with the narration. I liked this book, definitely better than the previous one, Fool Moon. One thing I would warn people about, if they're reading these books in order, Michael is just sort of dumped into the story on the first page, with no explanation of who he is or where he came from or why he's running around with Harry. I haven't read the rest of the books yet, so I don't know if we get any of that later, but I quite a while on the store, and jim-butcher.com trying to figure out if I missed a book or a short story or something. I hadn't. He's just thrown in there.

Ghosts, demons, ghosts of demons, vampires, wizards, psychics - this book has a little bit of everything. I've been a little burned out on paranormal books recently, and this series is really helping me get over it. I couldn't stop listening to this. I listened to it in the car, at work, around the house, while working out... If I'd been reading it, I would have tried to stay up finishing it in one night, but since I was listening, I ended up getting it doled out in a few days. When I wasn't listening, I found myself trying to figure out when I could next squeeze it in. To be fair, that has as much to do with James Marsters' performance as the book itself.

Harry and Michael are trying to figure out what or who is tormenting ghosts, and why. As it usually does in Harry Dresden's Chicago, the answer to that question leads to more questions and everything spirals out of control quickly. From what I understand of the series, this book is where it really takes off, and after listening to it, I would agree with that. While the first 2 books in the series seemed more like world-building and setup than anything else, this book really gets us into Harry's head. I don't always like what I see there, and I think he makes a lot of bad decisions that result in harm to himself and those around him, but I'm hoping he ends up being the type of character who learns from it. His supporting cast is great - I love Bob. How do you not love a spirit who lives in a skull and is paid in romance novels?

I highly recommend this series. And even though the first 2 books are more setup than meat, I would still suggest starting at the beginning. A lot of what happens here is a direct result of some of what Harry does in the first 2 novels.

While I was perusing online for good scifi/fantasy books I couldn't go far without hearing mention of the Harry Dresden series. In need of some light reading I decided to give it a try. Many readers recommending skipping the first 2 books and beginning with Grave Peril so I did so and never had problems understanding the series.

What I found was a by the numbers fantasy/mystery. Harry Dresden is a good guy character with no qualities that make him particularly interesting but at the same time I wouldn't call him a bad character either, just so so. He makes wise crack jokes in the face of death constantly but none are that witty. He's really a pretty average guy when you look beyond his magic powers. Speaking of his magic powers. Harry doesn't really get to use them much. A few spells and he's so tired he runs out of magical energy. So his wizardry, his defining trait, isn't used often as you might like. Of course this those powers from being overused as well. I imagine it's a hard thing for the author to balance.

The book embraces the tropes of detective noir as well. Harry is a grizzled but kind detective. ALL the women are seductive and attractive. Harry fights multiple foes while piecing the mystery together. The final reveal isn't particularly clever but Harry's final solution to save the day was good.

The writing is just OK, I've read better description of action scenes but it's serviceable. The author overuses the phrase "Hell's Bells" to an embarrassing degree. Dresden shouts it out constantly. It's kind of a dorky phrase in my opinion. Something an old grand dad might say. Shouldn't a cool wizard have something better? It comes across as amateur writing and a good editor should have pointed this out.

I dwelt on the negatives but the book wasn't bad at all. Harry and the other characters were interesting enough to keep me reading. I'll probably try another book in the series to see if it improves. Three stars for an average book.

It was all right, but despite the foreward I don't believe Jim Butcher broke any new ground here. This story was very much like the previous two. My friends tell me to keep going with the series and it improves, so I'm trusting them. Right now I find the protagonist to be a fairly two dimensional hero that is always out to save the damsel in distress and the long string of bad guys that come through his life are handled in much the same manner. That said, there are things I quite like about it and they are easy to listen to on my drive in to work in the morning.

The reader isn't what I would have expected, having read the first two books on my kindle, but he does a good job with it.

There is a little bit of harsh language, no political statement, but various religions might take offense to some of the supernatural elements in the book. If you can't handle the life of a wizard and supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves, this book isn't for you.

I got this for free from my library and was not paid for the review.

I'm of two minds when it comes to the Dresden Files. On the one hand, the books are good...on the other hand, the books are just good...meaning they're not great. So far, I feel like the Dresden Files just isn't hooking me in the way that I'd like. I mean, I really liked Storm Front, but now I'm thinking I liked it cause it was new and shiny, but the novelty is starting to wear off just a teeny bit.

Starting with the good: I liked the creepy, steroid-ness of the ghosts, especially at the beginning since it was completely creepy. I loved learning more about the vampires because they're vicious and that's just the way I like my vampires. And after, the first half, Grave Peril started to get really action-packed. Oooh, and I liked Michael, too. In fact, him and Bob are the only characters I wasn't annoyed at, at one point or another, in this book.

The Not-So Good: Let me just get this out of the way: Nothing pisses me off more than a character that isn't properly introduced so that I'm left scrambling, wondering who the hell they are. Again, while Michael was one of the better things about Grave Peril, it seemed that Butcher just dumped him onto my lap. So much, that I had to double check on the store and make sure that the book I was reading was indeed the third installment. There's nothing more that I hate than starting a book already lost.

Another not good thing: For me, Grave Peril took a while to get going. I just didn't have any particular desire to pick it up once I put it down. I wonder if it's cause Harry's starting to get a teeny bit stagnant. I don't know, but I was hoping that this book would be a quick page-turner and it wasn't...at least not until half-way in.

So, overall, I liked Grave Peril, but I didn't love it. I liked it more than Full Moon, but not as much as I liked Storm Front. But people do say that these books get better as they go on, so I have high hopes for Summer Knight. While I'm not loving the Dresden Files, I am enjoying them, so I'm still going to continue.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I have mixed feelings about this one. Harry Dresden, wizard PI continues to fight against evil, but this time he has help. Michael is a holy warrior with a special sword and the book opens as the two of them fight off dangerous ghosts that are more active than ever in Chicago. This book re-explores the vampires in this version of Chicago and we get to see the results of Harry's earlier meddling as old enemies plot against him. And like the earlier volumes, Harry cannot figure out what is going on quite in time to avoid ending up in the middle of it.

I enjoyed Michael's character and the banter between him and Harry. Where I had some trouble with this book is in the continued battering that Harry takes. In a plot where sleep becomes dangerous he just seemed to always keep trudging on. There were several instances where he drew out more magical power with his will than he ever had before. But then he did it again (and somehow pulled out even MORE power). In one particularly spectacular conflict, Harry unleashes such a massive firestorm that he collapses and barely survives. I thought this was probably the end of the book because of the amount of effort that Harry had expended. But then he recovers and goes on to pull off similar feats a few more times. Also, if Harry uses the swear "Hell's bells!" one more time, I'm going to slap him. There are also hints at his backstory, but I feel like I should know more about that than I do by book 3.

Overall I still liked the book and will continue with the next volume. Fun and action filled, with freakish vampires, demons, ghosts, and faeries.

It should come as no surprise to the followers of Harry Dresden, freelance wizard and general dogooder, that Harry starts out the third volume of this series in every bit as much trouble as he ended the last. After all, Harry's natural state is jumping out of frying pans and into fires. Except when he is looking for another frying pan to fall out of. This time the book opens with Harry and a new friend, Michael (a Knight of the Sword and even a bigger dogooder than Harry) racing to stop Agatha the ghost, who has a bit too much affection for infants. Without fail, Harry fumbles the attack and Michael and he must pursue Agatha into the Nevernever. In the process of putting Agatha away Harry has a run in with his dysfunctional fairy godmother and barely manages to escape with all his body parts.
Michael and Harry have been chasing down disgruntled ghosts for weeks now, and finally Harry has come to believe that this isn't just a series of coincidences. Instead, someone is deliberately stirring the ectoplasm with evil intentions. But Harry barely has time to discover this when he is visited by two vampires, who go out of their way to irritate him while delivering a formal invitation to the elevation of Bianca St. Claire to the position of Margravine of the Vampire Court. You may remember Bianca from "Fool Moon." She was the vampiress Harry managed to make a deadly enemy of in the first 15 minutes of their meeting. Harry may be slow witted, but even he knows that Bianca's plans include making Dresden au gratin.
So he refuses the invitation, right? Well, not quite. A wild series of ghostly attacks, bespelled friends, and damsels in distress ensue. Harry, a class act as usual, manages to lose Michael's magic sword, fail the damsels, and barely keep his friend's alive. It is only a matter of time before the ever-widening swath of disasters leads Harry straight to Bianca's soiree and Harry-splatting party. And does Harry get splatted? You bet. It is characteristic of this story that the question Harry gets asked most often is "What happened to you?" And these are just the highlights of the quiet part of the novel.
Jim Butcher has once again concocted a unique mix of comedy and horror, In doing so he has created an entirely new genre, which I call 'noir vaudeville.' Bad things keep happening, and the life-span of one of Harry's friends seems to be about a week, but you can't help snickering and moaning. Perhaps because Harry generally deserves everything that happens to him. But you do have to feel sorry for Michael and his wife, Harry's girlfriend Susan, and most of the Chicago police force. And don't forget poor Bob the sex-fiend in a skull, who gets a serious workout this time and no fun. Butcher ends "Grave Peril" on a 'to be continued' note, which means we can look forward to even more misadventures from the career of the most hapless wizard in the Midwest. Let's hope Harry has good medical insurance.

This is the third novel by Jim Butcher and I noticed both good and bad things about it. Grave Peril was the first of the Dresden novels that I really found exciting. I am used to different styles of writing, and this was the first novel that I wasn't annoyed by his writing. Despite the excitement, I was somewhat disappointed by the plot. When I am reading a series, I want each novel in the series to have its own story, yet move the overall plot ahead as well. I finished this book and felt that there was a weak overall plot for the novel even though it moved the series ahead.

In this novel, some months have passed in Harry's life, and we have actually missed the battle that inspires the action. Harry took down a sorceror and Micheal took down a demon in between novels 2 and 3. When powerful spirits are killed, they have power to become ghosts and haunt things relating to their death. The haunting begins as Bianca seeks to exact her revenge on Harry. And what's the worst that could happen? A war between the White Council and Red Court? The series is really starting to heat up.

This book starts to bring together several worlds--ours, the world of the dead, and the fae realms. We get introduced to Harry's godmother and get a taste of the world of the fae. We also get a spooky ghost story. This is one of my favorites.

I liked the first one in the series. Butcher has an easygoing writing style and the plots are decent. But it was a little on the raw side in that the dialogue was a little amateurish. I thought he would get better in the subsequent books, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For example, it seems very silly to have this fairly powerful wizard, Dresden, say things like "My stars" and "Hell's bells." It reminds me of Samantha from Bewitched and comes across as trite. This kickass guy just isn't going to say that stuff. It doesn't seem authentic to me. Dresden also has a habit of describing himself in ways that are distracting. Like at one point, his duster gets wrapped around his long legs. I feel like I'm reading a Harlequin romance novel where I've got to constantly be reminded that the main character is slim, long-legged, pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way. It's not horrible; it's just not my style. And Dresden whines a lot about how everything is his fault. After the first death, you can understand that. But this guy sees a lot of death and he's smart enough to make a spell out of almost nothing (MacGuyver for the occult world) but he isn't sophisticated enough to get that some things happen because of some reason other than himself. (Or for NO reason.) It comes across, to me, as a self-centered perspective. And, through the third book at least, he's always exhausted, on empty. It gets old. Maybe he could face other challenges that pose a barrier to his goal besides getting beat up and not eating.

I also thought that having the champion, Michael, constantly reprimanding him for un-Christian behavior and trying to convert him did not ring true. I've hung out with a Roman Catholic priest (from the Vatican) and I'm not a Christian. He (and others) never tried to convert me or chastise me. Evangelists, now that's a different story. But it seemed lamely stereotypical of Christians. Again, it isn't awful, it just didn't resonate with me.

I'm sorry to give up on the series, because, as I said, it had promise. It's not a bad storyline; I just can't get past all the small flaws that get repeated and the way the author's skills don't evolve or get stronger. Having said that, it's possible he's not being edited well. In any case, it's not gripping enough to keep my interest.

In the third of the Dresden Files series, Chicago's only wizard PI Harry Dresden, is called to Cook County Hospital to investigate a ghost tormenting the maternity ward. What he discovers makes him realize that he and his friends are literally in grave peril. The ghost is under a torture spell and that spell is slowly effecting the people Harry cares about most.

If you enjoy fantasy or mysteries with a supernatural angle, you're going to like Dresden. I'd strongly recommend you begin reading at "Storm Front" and continue forward, but you don't have to do so. Each novel stands alone and they're all strong additions to both mystery and fantasy.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2008

I read a number of the books, but somehow skipped over this one until I got to Changes. Then I realized I had to go back to read this one, and it was well worth it. Butcher has constructed the Dresden Files almost like a tv series with a multi-year arc. Each novel (episode) provides closure, but it also adds pieces to an ongoing story arc which end in a season.

With Grave Peril, Butcher sets in motion the story about the War between the White Council and the Red Court, and he also puts a major complication in the way of Henry's love life.

If you skip this book, a lot of the later books won't nearly make as much sense.

On a different, emotional level, this book will also stay with you for quite a while.

Harry has this thing about going after paranormal critters, especially things that have relatively little body connection to the physical world. Unfortunately, while he does that, he does a lot of structural damage to the city.
This novel introduces some very interesting secondary characters that become involved with Harry's world - Michael and the Knights of the Sword, Vampires of the Red Court, Vampires of the Black Court, A certain Mister Q (he smokes when nothing is lit, Dragons do that), and most of the underground (or at least unseen) magical community of Chicago.
Harry has a keen ability to hack people off, I believe that is his true power, and he's just developing it with each novel.

Grave Peril (2001) is the third urban fantasy in the Dresden Files series, following Fool Moon. In the previous volume, the renegade FBI agents were all killed and the hexanwolf belts were burned by Harry and Murphy. Susan's film of the death of the loup-garou went on the morning news and was shown for two days afterward before it vanished.

Tera was badly injured, but recovered when she converted to human form. The Alphas suffered few injuries and were soon ready for Harry to lead them on another crusade. Nonetheless, the whole situation left Dresden wondering whether some wizard was working in the shadows to cause these problems.

In this novel, Michael Carpenter and Harry have been responding to visitations by some rather powerful ghosts during the past two weeks. Michael is a Knight of the Cross, a Fist of God, carrying the blessed sword Amorachius. Tonight they banish the ghost of Agatha Hagglethorn from the Cook County Hospital nursery and the babies breathe easily again.

After this banishment, the police arrest both Harry and Michael for disturbing the peace and trespress and they impound the Blue Beetle. After an hour or so, Harry and Michael are released on bail. Charity Carpenter is less than pleased with Harry for getting her husband in trouble, but Susan Rodriguez just wants to know about the story.

It has been a long night, but the vampires are waiting when Harry and Susan reach his basement abode. Luckily, Kyle and Kelly Hamilton are delivering an invitation for Harry and guest to attend a reception of the Red Court for Bianca St. John. As the local representative of the White Council, Harry would be find it difficult to follow his own inclinations and skip the vampire affair entirely.

Then Michael shows up just before dawn. The day before, Harry had sent a client calling herself Lydia to Father Forthill at Saint Mary of the Angels to protect her from a life threatening situation. During the night, a very strong spirit had appeared and demanded that the girl come out. When she remained inside, the spirit had torn up the roses outside the door and trashed the vehicles parked in the lot. Sometime during the night, however, Lydia had unlocked the back door and left the church.

Later, Harry finds the girl in a late model van parked in an abandoned storefront. Then Kyle and Kelly show up and Dresden calls fire upon the vampires, accidentally cutting the support beams and setting the building on fire. The vampires get away with the girl and Harry barely gets out before the whole front of the building collapses.

In this story, Harry attends the Red Court reception, taking Michael with him in full knightly regalia. The invitation didn't say that he had to bring a guest of the other sex. One of the vampire attendees admires Michael's costume and touches it; the resulting shock sends him into convulsions. Thereafter, the vampires look, but don't touch.

The other outsider invitees are an odd lot. One is a Black vampire, one is a White vampire, and another is a dragon. Unhappily, Susan is also there, having forged a copy of Harry's invitation. She learns more than she wants to know about Red vampires at the affair.

This story puts Harry in a bind. He has to let the Red Court hurt his friends or start a war between the vampires and the White Council. Of course, Dresden does it the hard way.

Harry finds out who has been agitating the wall between the real world and Nevernever, letting spirits slip over and cause trouble. He helps Murphy by removing a nasty spell from a disabled veteran of Special Investigations. He also meets a spirit who is posing as himself and discovers the true identity of Lydia. Some nights it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

As usual, Harry loses sleep, barely escapes death and worries about his friends. He chastises himself for not doing more, not being everywhere and other improbabilities. Dresden is really into self-blame.

Highly recommended for Butcher fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of powerful ghosts, vampire parties, and overworked wizards.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is the book that started to improve the Dresden files in a major way the first two installments of the series were fine but suffered from a kind of villain of the week feel, there was no overall plan or agenda to the series.

With the third installment of the series all of that begins to change. Harry gets into serious trouble that are still have ramifications on the current Dresden Files that are published. Also a number of secondary characters are introduced that are not meant at the time to register with the reader. Later on in the series the characters that are introduced in this book will be woven back into the narrative very skillfully.

This series is one that continues to get better. This times around, we learn about ghosts in the world of Harry Dresden, and the culprit has a tie-in with Book 1. The vampires also make an important appearance. We don't see so much of Karrin Murphy, but Harry's girlfriend, Susan, plays an important role. I definitely don't find their relationship believable, which is the one negative about this series. In fact, I don't even find Susan likeable. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed the character of Micheal and hope he makes more appearances later in the series; I'd like to read an entire book about him actually. He has a lot of depth that could be explored.

I've been more than pleased with the developing world of this series and am eager to begin Book 4. Jim Butcher's imagination is amazing, and Harry is lovable in that bumbling, geek kind of way.

Warning this review is long and contains spoilers.

The plot of Grave Peril has Chicago's resident wizard team up with Michael Carpenter, a holy Knight of the Cross to
investigate disturbances in the ghosts of the city. Powerful spirits are lashing out at unsuspecting mortals
and it's up to these two to find out what or whom is behind the restlessness of these specters.

While not as awful as Fool Moon, Grave Peril suffers from rampant plot holes, stupid story world mechanics,
2 dimensional villains, a rape themed plot, and once again a wholly unlikable protagonist.

Harry is first approached at his office by a girl who gives him the alias of Lydia asking for his help.
His encounter with Lydia is an amazing example some of the dumber aspects of Dresden's world and inconsistencies
in the series thus far. In Dresden's world if you give your real name to a magic user, that user can use it to gain power over you.
We saw Harry trading his names with Chauncy in Fool Moon.

While Harry from Fool Moon worries that Chauncy could trade his name to another wizard should he get all the
pieces, the Harry in Grave Peril contradicts the nature of this mechanic by saying,

"A wizard can get a person's name ONLY from their own lips, but if he doesn't use it fairly quickly, it's likely to get stale."

First this is a dumb mechanic altogether. How can a society of magical practicioners and magical beings function
if something as simple as an introduction could be used as a weapon? With regards to the contradiction,
why would Chauncy trade for something that is non-transferable and has a shelf-life?

The stupidity continues after Harry is given an invitation to a party hosted by Bianca to commemorate her rise
in the ranks of the Red Court.

Here we are introduced to the "Old Laws of Courtesy and Hospitality." These are laws designed to facilitate
cordial meetings between factions like the Red Court and White Council. Unfortunately Harry says the vampires
only honor the letter of the law not the spirit. This is first demonstrated when Harry allows Kyle to approach
him with his invitation but not Kyle's sister Kelly. Kyle is acting as a representative of the Red Court
requiring him to keep the peace, but those same rules do not apply to Kelly who is not.

Dresden further elaborates on how these laws relate to Bianca's party when he says,
"If I happened to get served a bad batch of mushrooms, or someone drove by and filled the whole place
with bullets and I was the only mortal there, they'd just say, 'Oh my, what a terrible shame."

This is another dumb mechanic as a world with this much duplicity would self destruct.
The whole point of "guest rights" is to ensure that two enemy factions could talk without fear of reprisal or
ambush, but Butcher instead uses it to illustrate the "deviousness" of his 2 dimensional villains and the
lengths they go to looking for loop holes in rules that are designed for their protection as well!

Harry is then attacked in his sleep by a spirit who manages to steal a large portion of his magical power. To
make matters worse Harry manages to lose Michael's holy sword Amoracchius to Lea. Losing the sword makes no
sense. Harry attempts to use the sword against Lea after breaking an agreement with her. This causes
the sword to turn against Harry and allow her to steal it. Yet during the party Michael agrees to trade himself
for the sword to which Lea replies, "Oh, oh my, dear Knight, no. For once the Redeemer's blade
was in your hands again, you would find the shattering of our pact a simple enough matter."
So a holy knight of God who is the embodiment of honor and truth can break his word but Harry can't?
That makes no sense and is never explained.

The party is actually my favorite part of the book. Harry introduces himself to a reveler named Ferrovax who
proceeds to use Harry's name to magically backhand him. After beating the reader over the head with don't ever,
ever, ever give your name to a magic practioner he does it to like the second person he meets! Susan Rodriguez
even mentions this while bargaining with Lea that she wouldn't bargain her name as then Lea would have power
over her. Susan has zero magical ability and is smarter than our wizard protagonist!

On the topic of Susan, she came to this masquerade dressed as Red Riding Hood with a picnic basket of garlic,
holy water, 2 crosses, a .38, and a military knife. First it's hilarious she was allowed to waltz into this
party without being searched. Second while Susan has a virtual arsenal, Michael and Dresden came to the party with Harry at less than half his power level, no special potions or trinkets aside from a sword cane, and Harry in a cheesy B-movie vampire costume for
no other reason than to piss off the Reds.

I can only imagine how the conversation between Michael and Harry went as Harry feebly attempted to justify his dire need to stop at a costume shop on the way to the party.

It's really hard for me to cheer for a protagonist who is this stupid.

But it's proof that Harry Dresden is a classic "Mary-Sue." He can be as dumb as a turnip and Butcher will never allow his self-
insert to face any real consequences. This means the character will never grow or change in any meaningful way
and will remain the same 14 year old boy trapped in a man's body.

Two fantastic examples of this immaturity occur after being thrown against a pillar, and while enduring a
magical seizure brought on by breaking his bargain with Lea 3 times. In both instances he's in a considerable
amount of pain yet still has the strength to describe what his God mother's breasts are doing!
Spoiler: It has to do with her nipples!

I seriously wish Butcher would just kill Harry and create a spin-off with literally any of his other peripheral
characters as they have proven to be time and time again, more mature, more capable, more intelligent, better
written, and more interesting.

My least favorite aspect of Grave Peril is the rape motif that is peppered throughout the book.
A sorcerer named Kravos was using orgies from teens he kidnapped to fuel his spells. Lydia propositioned Harry
during their first meeting which is a sign of sexual abuse. Harry's description of his feelings of being
violated after the spirit stole his power. And finally Harry's description when he is attacked by Red Court
Vampires near the end which reads like an entry of a rape victim's diary.

In fact all of the Dresden Files books up to this point have had villains who exhibited sexually deviant
behavior. Storm Front had a different wizard using orgies to make magic and Fool Moon had hexenwolves that mated
at the end of a battle. What the hell?

The cherry on this crap Sunday is Bianca's reasoning for wanting Harry dead. Way back in Storm Front Harry
pissed her off so much during their meeting that Bianca lost control after he left and wound up feeding on her
assistant Rachel until she died. So logically Bianca blames Harry for her death. That's like a girl getting into
a fight with her boyfriend, stress eating an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's, and blaming him for gaining 2 lbs.

So while Grave Peril isn't as bad as Fool Moon, it's only because Fool Moon set the bar so high. But an F is still an F.

The first was a great introduction, the second was an enjoyable read, but with Book 3 Butcher's Dresden Files really take off. Characters interact in a more meaningful way, events have greater consequences, and they aren't (nor can there be) any tidy endings.
The first two are well worth reading, but aren't completely necessary--if you want to jump in when the going starts geting good, this is the book to begin with.
Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

Theoretically, "Grave Peril" is the 3rd in Butcher's "Dresden Files" series. But, for some reason, most of the plot, the existence of the secondary character (Michael), and some tertiary character interactions revolve around a major event not covered in the previous two books. Butcher specifically mentions the heart-rending (literally) events from Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1), the werewolf stuff from Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2), and then the demon-summoning sorcerer material that's chronicled NOWHERE. That missing material is essential to this book. I don't know why Butcher decided to make this book dependent upon another book which he should have written but didn't. But, it's highly irritating.

Other than that, the book is standard "Dresden Files" fare: very good writing, an evil that's too powerful for what the system should be able to support, and a fast pace maintained by characters doing dumb things. There are a couple of bright spots in this book, though. First, Butcher finally starts to fill in the magic system and its underlying world. Second, Murphy isn't as dumb as she was in the previous book (but, then, she's relegated to a tertiary character here). Third, Dresden's relationship with Susan is actually fleshed out enough to become believable. If not for the missing prequel, I'd rate the book at 4 stars. But, because of it, I'm only giving it an OK 3 stars out of 5.

I don't think this third book in the series is as strong as the first two. It might just be me but it had a different feel to it. Harry wasn't as witty or sarky and he seems to have lost a little bit of oomph.
The character of Michael is strong and adds an extra element to this book, however I am not sure it is a positive one. Due to Michaels position a lot of the text between him and Harry has religious references.So Harrys says hells bells a lot for instance instead of his usual outbursts. Now that might not seem like a big issue, but it completely changes the way Harry interacts with others. Part of what made his character so likeable is the way he doesn't conform to the wishes
of others.
All in all I thought it was a lot weaker and hope that the next one brings the old 'devil may care, I will never lick your boots' Harry back instead the placid must watch my mouth Harry in this book.
AVP-UK

This is my first review on the store, so that should say something about how much I really loved this book and this series. This is the series that I think "Anita Blake" started out to be. The universe (present day Chicago wherein magic and the supernatural are there if one knows where to look) is deftly and wittily drawn. The protagonist, Harry Dresden, professional wizard, is smartly wise-cracking without (quite) becoming annoying. He's engagingly flawed and fallible, and if I have one gripe with his adventures, it is that in every book he seems to get SO beaten up so often that his endurance begins to strain credibility (and patience: "What? On Death's Door again?"), even for a wizard.
Mr. Butcher peppers his books with engaging and believable allies and adversaries -- multi-layered, varied and believable, both as foils for Dresden and as characters in their own right."Grave Peril" is no exception in the strength of the secondary characters. Michael, the True Knight, was just a marvelous ally, part straight man, part Tower of Strength.
This third book in the series pushes a little farther on the sex and violence front. If "Storm Front" was PG or PG-13, "Grave Peril" is definately 'R'. However, Mr. Butcher has yet to go over the top; his descriptions are done with finesse, innuendo where appropriate, and evocative language that is never crass.
I do recommend this series: part Film Noir Private Eye, part Vampire Hunter (though much more 'Angel' than 'Buffy', right down to the flowing black coat), with maybe a little sword and sorcerer thrown in the mix. Lots of mystery and plenty of action, likable characters and a nicely textured urban fantasy world. "Grave Peril" is grittier than the first book, but evocative and with a sense of real peril and emotional jeapordy for the protagonist and his allies. A wonderful read.

Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher, is the 3rd novel in the Dresden Files.

Professional Wizard Harry Dresden is at it again. This time, someone (or something) is after Harry and his friend and knight, Michael, and it begins attacking their friends and family. Harry has his list of usual suspects. But when he's invited to a vampire ball, warning bells go off.

Big reveals and even more suspense accumulates in this installment. As always, Butcher does a wonderful job of including elements of clever humor in even intense situations. Characters grow and evolve, and not even Harry can save everyone.

Grave Peril is the third book in Jim Butcher's ongoing series the Dresden Files, which follow the travails of Chicago-based wizard and private investigator Harry Dresden. Specifically, Dresden is investigating a series of ghost-related attacks that lead him into conflict with an evil sorcerer, his wicked godmother faerie, a slew of over-sexed vampires, and (as usual) the Chicago police department.

If you've gotten as far as Grave Peril, you should be pretty familiar with the formula for Dresden novels. Dresden is enlisted to investigate some sort of supernatural occurrence, which leads to a series of death-defying confrontations with all manner of wicked creatures (in this novel, a necromancer, a faerie, vampires, ghosts, etc., in previous novels sorcerers, werewolves, etc.), as well as with the Chicago police department and the head of its special investigations department, Karrin Murphy, who bounces back and forth between depending on Dresden's skills to beating him up and threatening to arrest or actually arresting him. The structure of the novel is, at this point, pretty formulaic, but that doesn't stop it from being an entertaining and enjoyable read.

The strengths of Grave Peril are the same as in previous novels: a likeable (though increasingly predictable) protagonist, humorous and clever narrative (told from Dresden's perspective), some nice twists and turns, interesting takes on traditional fantasy/horror tropes, and an increasingly detailed array of side characters. The latter is particularly impressive because the novel is told from Dresden's limited knowledge perspective, so there is little opportunity to learn what the side characters are thinking or what their motivations and feelings truly are. Butcher continues developing old side characters, like Murphy and Susan (who, in particular, is changed in some pretty serious ways), and adds in some interesting new characters, such as the holy knight Michael and the "White Court" vampire, Thomas Raith. Butcher also adds a new layer to the series by further building the world, seriously exploring for the first time the "Nevernever", the dangerous realm of magic through which Dresden and his allies have to venture to put an end to the ghost-themed attacks.

Although the immediate plot of Grave Peril was somewhat less interesting to me than those of its predecessor novels, Grave Peril does much to develop Dresden's background and character, as well as the overarching plot of the series. There are some pretty major develops near the end of the novel. While the first three novels could more or less standalone, future novels will likely become more dependent on a working knowledge of the series as a whole. The developments make Grave Peril pretty significant in the overall story, and help give it a greater sense of importance than the first two, which seemed more like isolated incidents.

I didn't enjoy Grave Peril as much as I enjoyed its immediate predecessor, Fool Moon, but it's definitely a worthwhile entry and advances the plot in significant ways. That being said, Butcher needs to do something to shake up the increasingly predictable formula of his novels. The series is intended to be 20 novels long, and it would be a shame if it remained so repetitious, as it has the potential to be pretty darn spectacular.

If you read and liked Storm Front and Fool Moon, you should like Grave Peril too. If you haven't read any of Butcher's work, it comes highly recommended but you ought to start with Storm Front. Grave Peril has a darker, more serious tone than the first two novels, but it remains a fast paced, exciting, entertaining and quick read. Recommended.

I'm approximately halfway through this book as of 1/15/2013. I'm enjoying it; it's pleasant brain candy that is reminiscent of the early books of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series.

One thing that reeeeallllly bugged me when I read the first Dresden Files novel was Harry Dresden's chauvinistic attitude that he claimed was mere chivalry and an old-fashioned attitude towards females. Not cool, Dresden/Mr. Butcher. There are still shadows of that in this book. It, and other parts of the novel are somewhat worrisome and annoying. I'll keep reading, probably at least through the next three novels (I own them after all), but if the attitude doesn't shift at least a little, I cannot see myself continuing with this series. I enjoy them but I'd rather re-read Seanan McGuire's excellent October Daye series, which are structured in a similar manner, but feature a female protag and plenty of other strong women.

I like the idea of a wizard living in modern-day Chicago. I like the noir-ish detective story, and the relationships between Harry and his various co-stars. I keep reading for those things.

Butcher's writing, however, requires a certain amount of patience from the reader. He comes across to me as a bit fan-boyish, something one of my friends would have written in high school. I agree with other reviewers who have compared his writing to something you'd experience in a role-playing game.

The most jarring part of his writing is the way the first-person narrator constantly bogs us down in details("the pocket of my duster", "my duster billowed behind me" - we get it, you like your coat), and distracts from the action by getting too bogged down in details like "I switched my blasting rod to my right hand and held the bag of ghost dust in my left". By the time he finished with that particular paragraph, the reader was expected to keep track of the staff, rod, bag of dust, duffel bag, AND the duster. I was so busy trying to picture all those things being held in two hands that I kept losing track of the action.

Another flaw is the constant harping on Harry's weakness for damsels in distress ("I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress"). Show us, Mr. Butcher - don't tell us - real people don't talk like that.

The originality of the story makes up for the juvenile writing style - recommended for a day on the beach or in front of the fire.

Notice the four-stars and title of the review, this really is a good book. My first read-through was testy and bitter, but it did introduce a major and favourite character of mine: Michael Carpenter. We open to a scene that could be straight from the set of Ghostbusters. Harry and Michael are hunting a particularly nasty ghost. We are introduced to the politics of the Dresdenverse. There's another ghost of sorts that causes Harry no seemingly slight problems. Vampires make a power play. So, once more into the breach as they say and Dresden steps in to fight the good fight because no one else will.

And this book also features the first of the classic jokes Harry becomes known for. You can't miss the cheese. It's in a triple-thick layer. And one hell of a plot twist, even if we saw it coming.

Now we are introduced to something of a meta-plot. We come to realize that everything Butcher lays in front of Dresden will indeed come back to haunt him later. Pay attention, and you might figure things out way before I did.

If it weren't for the meta-plot, I'd almost say don't read this book. It is episodic. Sure it introduces two new main characters (the second of whom is Thomas Raith) as well as new plot elements, it's like comparing the original Star Trek to the Next Generation - new characters, but more of the same. Which isn't a bad thing at all. Just put your faith in Butcher, because every effort after this one is greater than those before.

The Dresden Files is one of those series that everyone seems to love and I feel like I should love it, too. I diligently listened to the first two books and, while I found them entertaining, they didn't wow me. I never wanted to rush out and read the next book and I always felt like something was missing. But I kept seeing the reviews and people said that it just took a little bit of time for the series to hit its stride and then you'd be hooked. With that in mind, I decided to give the third book in The Dresden Files a chance in the hopes that it would be the book that would convince me of this series' awesomeness.

The book starts off well enough with Harry and Michael, a new character, fighting off an angry ghost wreaking havoc in the maternity ward of the hospital. Looks like someone powerful is going around and pissing off a bunch of ghosts, causing them to act out destructively. The mastermind of these attacks is more powerful than other demon Harry has ever encountered and he has a grudge against Harry.

At this point, I am on board and it seems like this story could be pretty fun and interesting. Then a girl, Lydia, appears and Harry loses all his common sense. This is a reoccurring theme for Harry and there seems to be an endless queue of damsels in distress just waiting to take advantage of him. Then Harry gets a call that Johnnie Marcone has been attacked. Then some vampires come and threaten Harry and invite him to a ball. And then Murphy is also attacked in the same manner as Marcone. Oh and did I forget to mention that Harry's evil fairy stepmother is after him as well?

Sounds like a lot of crazy stuff, right? Well it was too much for me. I felt like there were 3 or 4 storylines going on at once and I didn't care about any of them. The plot just kept getting more convoluted and ridiculous. Seriously, why is everyone trying to kill Harry and how does he manage to survive? I don't think it's by his awesome detective skills because he missed a lot of things that were staring him right in the face. And while I normally enjoy Harry's somewhat martyred air, he comes off as pretty whiny in this one.

The one bright spot was Michael, whom I really liked and wouldn't mind seeing more of. I also really liked his wife Charity. She had a razor sharp tongue and wasn't afraid to use it.

As you can see, Grave Peril was not the book to put me on the Dresden Files train. While I like most of the characters and many elements of the books, they just don't wow me enough to continue on with the series. This last book especially was very tedious for me. Even James Marsters's wonderful voice is not enough incentive to continue.

Harry Dresden at his finest. This book has it all...it's fast paced, thrilling, funny, humorous and sad in moments.

Harry finds himself racing against the clock to track down a powerful force that is threatening the people important to him. He's dealing with vampires, ghosts and fairies, along with old grudges in his quest to solve this mystery. And, there's a bit of romance to spice things up.

If you struggled with the first book as I did, it was for this payoff. I'm committed to the series.

At the beginning of the book, I felt like I'd missed a book between "Fool Moon" and "Grave Peril". Butcher introduces a new sidekick for Harry without giving the reader any idea of how these two met and the new character's backstory. I was also confused because the book drops you right into the middle of the action, then tells the set-up in a flashback. However, once I got into it, "Grave Peril" was just as exciting as the other Harry Dresden books. The thing that I like about this series as opposed to other supernatural mysteries is that Butcher gets magic RIGHT. It's a power, neither good nor evil. It's the user's intentions that are good or evil. Mr. Butcher, KEEP WRITING!

I've really enjoyed the Dresden Files series thus far, and this book is no exception. Sure, some of dialouge can make you roll your eyes ("Hells bells" gets old after the second time you've heard it), but the plot is well-paced, the characters, though somewhat flat, can be funny and interesting at the same time, and the story is entertaining. Really, what more can you ask for? Plenty of authors do worse.

I've been listening to the series on audio book, and Marsters does a GREAT job of capturing Dresden's wry wit, and excels with the voices for other characters as well. I have one small gripe with his narration, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen it mentioned. At dramatic points in the story, Marsters all but whispers the lines. Now, I listen to books primarily in my car and while out running. As audio books are a uniquely portable medium, I'm guessing several people do the same. But if there's any background noise, I find I miss whole lines of narration due to Marsters' sotto voce. And if I listen with the volume up, my eardrums are nearly ruptured with the next line, which is likely shouted.

I know, I know. I'm nitpicking an otherwise superb narration. This book and the recording are otherwise fantastic. Would have been a five-star review without this one (small) complaint. Keep up the good work, Mr. Butcher, and I'll keep reading/listening!

About two chapters in to this, the third of the Dresden series, it was obvious to me that Butcher had hit on a formula that worked for him and he was sticking to it.

Harry Dresden, wizard extraordinaire, was once again on the job in Chicago getting his butt soundly kicked by bad guys. This time he has a side kick, but even with that character's sound reasoning Harry manages to flub every attempt to do the right thing, landing him in more and more trouble.

Which twists the plot as much as possible until we reach the ultimate conclusion which includes Harry being pursued by many different other-wordly characters while being brought as close to death as possible without actually dying. Only then does he get blinding inspiration which allows him to pull the rabbit out of his hat and save the day.

It was hard for me to get through this one once the formula became apparent, but I did finish the story. I may skip ahead a few to see if Butcher's writing and plot skills have improved over time but I can't recommend this particular story as anything other than a point along some larger story arc (that's existence hasn't been revealed to this point).

I have read only four the Harry Dresden-wizard novels and I stand here craving more from the author each day. This novel is by far the best of the series. We see Harry interact with the character more so than before and finally his feeling for Susan are laid out on the table. At first, it seemed that Jim's minor major characters lacked depth, but everything is coming full circle. I can't wait until we the full back story of Harry's life that will make a interesting book. Keep up the good work Jim.

These are perfect books for those a little disappoint in the Laurell K. Hamilton serious as of lately.

I've read all the Dresden books and liked them because I like Harry. He does the right thing even when it's inconvenient, dangerous, and distressing. Butcher writes in the common vernacular and sites common pop-culture icons to draw us in and make the point that though Harry's a wizard, his world view is pretty much like ours. He makes me laugh while showing how Harry sometimes gets it wrong for all the right reasons. When Harry gets it right it's through pain, cleverness and bloody perseverance.

Harry makes emotional contact with the other people in his world and his relationships wax and wane through interactions I understand and feel. The people he meets have agendas and personalities of their own, they aren't just there to reflect Harry. That's a powerful thing to say about a story's people. I think you'll find it refreshing too.

'Grave Peril' is definitly the most entertaining installment of the 'Dresden Files' series so far. We learn more about Harry, and Butcher brings in a strong cast of new and returning secondary characters, as well. I really enjoyed meeting Michael, the Holy Knight whose powerful faith is an interesting counterpoint to Harry's powerful magic, and Thomas, the delectably written vampire whom even Harry notices looks awfully good in a loincloth. Is he a charming con-vamp, or a monster with his heart in the right place?--Harry's life might depend on whether he judges correctly. On top of all this, Harry and Susan's deepening romance hits an unexpected curve. 'Grave Peril' took a quantum leap forward in quality and depth from the first two books of the series, and left me eager to read the next.

I stumbled across the books while looking for a light read. I loved the series and thought the book might be an interesting read. WowZaa! The books make me appreciate the series but the guy in the books, rocks! It's very rare for me to read a book and laugh out loud at some of the lines - like, "never point a gun at anything unless you're sure you want it dead"

I'm a fan of the tv series and even though Paul Blackthorne is very nice to look at, I adore the Harry in the books so much more.

I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

When the ghosts of Chicago go postal, who else are you going to call for help but Harry Dresden, professional wizard? Harry's backup is Michael Carpenter, Knight of the Cross and wielder of the sword Amoracchius, one of three swords containing a nail from the True Cross.
Harry and Michael discover evidence that the ghosts are being tortured, by someone or something, for reasons unknown. The barrier between the Nevernever and the real world are strained to their limits, allowing more powerful, more dangerous ghosts to visit our (mostly non-believing of the supernatural) world. But are the ghosts the real problem, or merely part of something more complex?
Butcher keeps the action fast-paced - you can't stop at the end of a chapter, you have to see what happens next. Harry always tries to do the right thing, even if it entails risking his life. This time, however, there's much more at risk and Harry's friends will pay the price if he fails.
I'm not sure how Harry will deal with the consequences of his actions in future books, but I certainly want to see how Butcher follows through with a complicated and unique character such as Harry Dresden.

There is no lack of trouble in this world for Harry Dresden. As one of the few (and most powerful) who can stand against the forces of supernatural evil, he just goes from one dire predicament to another & gets beaten like a pinata. He still keeps his sense of humor & honor despite it all, which makes for an epic inspirational tale.
Harry reminds me a lot of Spider-Man. The bad guys line up to kick him around, but still he keeps looking for the bright side of things and always has that ever-present humor to keep even the darkest moments light.
It's a great series so far. I am hooked and can't wait to see what is next.

Of the 4 Dresden books currently available (with another due out in September), this one is my favorite. The combination of very intricate plot, the main character's snarky wit and hapless, can't-catch-a-break, down and out attitude, plus the introduction of some very compelling new characters (Thomas the Friendly Vampire, Father Forthill, to name just two), make for a fascinating read. I was up past 2AM finishing this, on a worknight, because I just couldn't put it down.If I have one complaint, it is the character of Michael, Good Knight, Fist of God, Family Man, Ever-FAithful, All-Around Good Guy, yadda yadda yadda. He's Harry's friend in this, but he's just kind of there, with no background explaining his connection to the main character (who up to this point, has pretty much worked alone). He makes an interesting, if almost too-perfect, counterpoint to Dresden, though--whereas Harry's strength comes from within himself and his own magic, Michael is traditionally Catholic and is fond of such phrases as "The Lord doesn't give anyone more than they can bear." He doesn't even want to be present when Harry's doing a summoning spell because Harry's not doing it in God's name. (And even Harry expresses some exasperation when their friend Father Forthill tries to convert him every time he sees him.) I like the adultness of the entire series, but this book seems even more so than others. Harry finds himself in deep at a vampire ball, and no one emerges unscathed. In the tradition of the first two books, Harry once again winds up unexpectedly naked in this; he's also injured very badly, more than once. Jim Butcher truly understands the value of a big finish; the last 20 pages of Grave Peril are real page-turners. My heart was pounding! There's also a real tragedy that made me tear up (and that doesn't happen to me very often, believe me.) Truly a gripping, heart-wrenching read.Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and pick up the entire series of The Dresden Files!

Grave Peril is a funny, witty, rip-roaring, seat-of-your-pants, stay-up-and-read-it-in-one-night kind of book. Once again, Wizard Harry Dresden is up to his elbows in trouble, this time he's assisted by the ever stalwart and faithful co-hort, Michael -- a Knight of the Cross. The streets of Chicago have become a battle ground for terrozing ghosts and other otherworldly problems. All in all, a fine read, lots of fun. Grave Peril flows easily like an excellent mystery novel, keeping you on the edge of your seat, wondering what is going to happen next. It's filled with wit and sarcasm from Harry's point of view. 5 stars. This is a must read.

Funny how my tastes have changed. I read a book by Jim Butcher recently called "Grave Peril," and I would have formerly loved it. I did devour it, a quick greedy read, but it left me unsatisfied. The writing was competent, and the action fast-paced, style firmly set in the Tanya Huff/Laurell Hamilton supernatural thriller genre. Hard-boiled wizard detective with a heart of gold must solve disturbances in the spirit world spilling into the real world, when someone has been torturing ghosts into tearing the veil. A vampire court is involved, as is a scheming faery he owes a debt to. Accompanied by a Knight Templar with a holy sword, he has to solve the puzzle before it's too late. I'm not saying it's a bad book, but for under three hundred pages, it's not very well-developed. He brings in characters for the first time who he apparently doesn't develop much if at all in other books.

I'd rate it a good young adult book, with a few well-written disturbing scenes and enjoyable descriptions and action, but the first-person point of view does grate after a while, since the main character is not very believable as a person. Harry is very much a "Mary Sue" kind of character, and I suspect he began as the author's roleplaying player character. Butcher loses points for blatantly ripping off the setting of the White Wolf roleplaying universe, complete with the war between mage council and vampire court, Paradox Flaws, True Faith, and the Umbra in general. Everything just gets renamed but could have otherwise been inserted directly into the WW setting. I'd rate "Grave Peril" much higher if the concepts, though handled well, were not so clearly stolen wholecloth from other people.

This is really it for Harry and I (unless I still have another installment on my shelf...). This is number three and I still am not compelled by the character lineup. I heard an interview with Mr. Butcher about this book and he mentioned how many fans feel that Grave Peril is when the series really gets started. I didn't have that reaction to this book. Just when I begin to get into the story I am annoyed by Harry's constant guilt trip. The dashing, duster-clad hero is always obligating himself to everyone else and then goes on a guilt trip, reader in tow, when something goes awry. I don't like to hang out with people like that in real life so I most certainly don't enjoy the "it's all my fault, it always is" types for my fictional retreat each day.
[...]

Vampire, ghosts, demons - Harry's got problems. Grave Peril was an action packed mystery that kept me on my toes and slightly confused throughout. There was so much going on in this book, all good, all exciting, all interesting, but almost like entertainment overload. I can't wait to see what's in store for Harry Dresden next, but if Jim Butcher would slow the pace down a fraction, I wouldn't complain.

The book starts off with micheal who is the holder of one of the three swords of the cross and Harry Dredsen are at a hospital where a lot of unusual accidents are occurring. They discover that the ghost are being tortured by a spell making them go on a rampage. So Dredsen of course has to figure out what's going on because its his town to protect. This book is where a new character named Susan shows up. Susan is a investigator who is interested in news about super natural incidents. Bianca and the red court vampires are heavily focused in this book. So how is Bianca going to get her revenge? Read and find out.

Book three in a long series of books. 14? I am unclear because of the short story book(s).

I am really enjoying the Harry Dresden series. After all, every one loves it when the underdog gets up on top for once. And I like the new member of the scooby gang, kind of like a King Arthur kind of guy.

This may get spoilerish:

I have so far really enjoyed the series with books 1 and 2. But half way through 3 I felt as if this should have been number 4. Everything that is going on is connected to a story that happens between book 2 and 3. A story that sounds like it should have gotten its own entire book. Another issue is that I am not sure that it is tied to the ending of book 2 where Dresden mentions that the events of 1 and 2 where the work of another force. Am I supposed to think that any of the numerous 'bad guys' ws this force trying to get him? It is not clear.

Some parts of the story jump or felt rushed to get to a plot point which leaves you a little confused until the exposition kicks in.

But do not get me wrong, the story was still good and feels like the kick off to some major events in the following books, but it suffered from pacing problems and information overload. Perhaps if this had been the 4th book and used the 3rd to flush out the events leading to this book and maybe put in the introduction of Dresden's god mother in that theoretical book, this one would have been more satisfying.

I hold out hope that book 4 doesn't have these issues when I begin reading it next week.

While many authors of a series start off strong and then taper aff after the third or fourth book in a series, Jim Butcher continues and even improves over time. Butcher does a great job of introducing and handling plots and sub-plots, constantly moving the main character forward in his development. He also has a fantastic supporting cast of characters who change and grow through the course of the series.

Another thing Butcher does really well is handle the tone of the stories. He deftly handles and balances both heavy and light elements extremely effectively.

Always an entertaining read. One of the few series where I am always looking forward to the next book.

Exciting as usual, this series is my "candy' series...fun, dangerous and a main male character you really like and care about, though he may get beaten, bitten and magiced half to death one time too many. love the new character, Michael. As a Christian myself, it is a nice change to see a Christian character in popular fiction who isn't simply evil -- most writers today take that all-too-easy, predictable path. I love how Harry can feel the power coming off Michael when he prays and the power imbued in Michael's sword. If Butcher hasn't already done it, I'd be interested in reading a whole series based on the Michael character.

I really enjoy this series, and Book 3 shows a real trend from book 1 - they just seem to get better and better in terms of writing and story. All have been good, but I think this last is really good. I am hooked and need to read more even though this is expensive as this series is not included in my monthly the store Unlimited book subscription :(

I have not read the second book, but it seems Harry Dresden has moved a step out of the poverty area, and has started to be a scarier arse
kicker, with a bunch of vampire roastings, demon ghost huntings, etc.

He also has picked up a Knight of God helper, and managed to get his reporter girlfriend into a lot of trouble.

This novel starts out as ghostbusting, and escalates beyond what at first seems a fairly mundane and straightforward plot.

I really loved book #3, the best one yet. Book 1 + 2 were absolutely great but this one wins by far. With that said, I'm starting book 4 right now. Can't wait to see what Butcher has created this time.

This is the third in a series of books that pits Harry against the wizards, demons, and black magic around Chicago. This is a easy read that will sink it's claws into where you want to know if Harry will survive against evil.

The best Harry Dresden yet. The story really kept moving and I'm looking forward to further development of the Michael and Charity characters as well as seeing where Harry and Susan's relationship goes next.

Another Fun Dresden Files...Demons invading your dreams, a side kick knight templar that can kick some vampires butt with righteous fury. A good dose of Harry's wicked awesome powers that you wished another Harry would have tapped into against Voldemort. Some really scary scenes in this one as well, Harry calling forth the dead to fight his battles a la Lord of the Rings. These are quick quirky books that allow for nice breaks...I will come to back to Mr. Dresden I am sure of it. Butcher does a lot with emotion and magic good stuff.

I have read all three titles in this series and can't wait for number four.
Some say this series is similar to Hamiltons Anita Blake. The early Blake titles for sure. Like them this had a sense of adventure, humor and mystery.
That mecahnical objects go on the fritz whenever Harry is around adds plenty of light touches. Also the ingrediants in his potions are imaginative to say the least.
I am not much of a fantasy reader but this series is definetly an exception.
The titles pretty much stand on their own and move at a fast pace.
The fact that Harry tells the story in first person helps keep the pace going. This is escapist adventure not a soul searching morass.
The setting and plot lines leave plenty of room for Harry and Company to expand. And expand I hope they will.
This is a wonderful series and I for one cannot wait for the next title.

"Grave Peril", book three of the Dresden Files, is the best of the three books. Wizard Harry Dresden's world is never boring, but this book,(complete with tortured ghosts, evil god-mothers, rampaging vampires, and old enemies bent on revenge)is SO MUCH FUN!!! The three books that make up this series have some common characters, but each will pretty much stand alone, and you won't be lost if this is the first "Dresden" book you read. (Trust me, you will be combing the shelves for "Storm Front" and "Fool Moon" if you read this latest offering).
Great imagination, plotting, character development, and yes - (Thank you Jesus)- the man can write. Good Luck, Jim Butcher!! I hope this book catches fire, and you can continue to supply us with your wonderful tales for a long time to come.

Put the grittiness of noir, Pratchett's dryly humorous fantasy, and C.S. Lewis's moral heroes in a blender, and you might come close to capturing the world of Harry Dresden.

A snappy voice, flawlessly fast pace, and enchanting characters bring the world to life in one of the best, most fun fantasy novels I have read in years.

The books needs some major edit work. It appears to have been rushed. Misspelled words and interrupted flow of words are common.

Its a bit hard to follow, a lot has happened since the last book, new characters are everywhere. I like it. There was a direct story, a plot, a resolution, and an opening for the next book in the series. This book is not filler until a new idea came to the author, this is a new idea. Nicely done characters, but poorly polished. All the rough work is there, just needs to be cleaned up.

If you have started on book 1, then you know what to expect. If not, you can read this book on its own, but there are some references back to the earlier 2 books that you won't know and plus you might as well start on 1 :)

Book is just fun action... a popcorn book if you will. You can down this book in a sitting or two as it is a page turner and is light reading. Not great dialog, not great character depth, but that isn't what this book (or series) is aimed for. Harry is just a butt kicking wizard who finds himself in very bad situations alot of the time and this book has its share of rocks and hard places. Up to this point, book 3 has been better than 1 and 2 and those were fun to read also.

I like Jim Butcher. His first two books were entertaining, and I enjoyed getting to know a whole new series of characters. In Grave Peril it seems that Jim steps it up a notch. There are very important long-term characters introduced in this novel, which was great placement for the series. The action was much better than the previous two novels. This was the first one of his that I had trouble putting down. I tried to find every free minute to cram another page into. I am eager to purchase the next book, hoping for more of the same level of excitement.

I am new to the Jim Butcher series but really enjoyed this one. This is book three in the series and I didn't read the others first and it was very easy to understand and keep up. The author takes the time to explain things so that someone who is new to the series can easily get into the story. It ends so that you will want to read the next in the series, which isn't surprising. It has vampires and ghosts and magic but it is an interesting twist on them so you don't feel like you have heard this story before. I recommend this book even without the others.

Third book in the series. I loved the first two, feel ambivalent about this one. I wish the book had ben longer, because it seemed as if a lot was missing from the beginning. And the new character Michael was intersting concept-wise, but without a backstory it felt like there was a gaping hole in terms of characterization. Still, it's a good, quick read. And you have to read it because you're gonna move on to the next in the series, just like I did.

When I first began this book I checked the cover several times to make sure it was book 3, I even checked on line to see if there was something I may have missed inbetween 'Fool Moon' and 'Grave Peril'. I kept getting lost in the plot, who was Micheal? I even scanned through the first two books to see if there was any reference to 'Micheal' or the mysterious 'Kravos'. The plot seems to be based on events and people that no one has any prior knowledge of, it was very confusing.

The one thing about the book that I did love was that Murphy had such a small role in the plot, there is nothing likeable about her character, sure she's a tough, hard bitten detective who takes no crap from anyone but her single mindedness makes her appear stupid and really annoying.

I did enjoy the book but not as much as the others.

This series is good clean fun from beginning to end. Grave Peril is more of the same. Alternately amusing and exciting, the tale follows Harry on the trail of disturbing ghost manifestations. This is a page turner, and the ending will probably have you immediately buying the next in the series to read.

My biggest gripe would be the opening scene, where Butcher info dumps in a rather clumsy fashion everything that Harry Dresden's been up to recently. Beyond that point, the story starts to run smoothly.

I devoured the first two Harry Dresden books but was brought up short with this one. While I still think Harry kicks Anita Blake's butt any day, he came across as a little long in the tooth in this one. It seems someone is always bailing him out, either his intriguing but nasty fairy godmother or the incessantly annoying Michael. I missed Murphy's presence keenly, and wondered at a possible continuity glitch: didn't Harry sacrifice his mother's pentacle to defeat the "bad guy" in the last book?

Talk about action packed! This story definitely moved along, and I like Harry with each passing book. Butcher delves more into the practical application of magic in this book, but never in a way that seems dark or scary. It's very real and almost scientific, and it's always about intent. I like that.

I've been devouring this series this week! Yum, yum--good brain candy!

I'll admit--when the premise was first revealed, dealy ghosts, I thought "Okay, now, how is this going to be interesting?" Let me tell ya--it got VERY interesting after the initial slow startup. Kinda sneaked up behind me and GOT me.

I love how Harry and Susan have settled into their relationship--she's incredibly patient with the craziness in scheduling his profession brings about.

I also loved the twists at the ending--didn't see it coming!

Three for three! I get the next one tomorrow!

The entire series of Dresden books are just fun, fast, and wonderful. Grave Peril is particularly intricately woven, and a bit more serious than some of the others. The ending is very devastaing, very sad. I also noticed more typos than usual in this book, and occasional errors, such as the fact that it's stated earlier in the book (and in all the others) that Harry has no electricity in his apartment, but at one point he goes into his bathroom and "flicked the light on". Oops.
Anyway, I recommend the entire series, and am looking forward to the next installment.

This was the first book in the series that I truly fell in love with!
I absolutely adore the introduction of the character Micheal and Harry's fairy godmother.
Since this book I have been unable to put them down!

Yes, I am a fan now. I am completely in love. Jim Butcher is now my favourite writer and Harry Dresden is now my favourite character ever. The story is darker than the previous ones and it was equally well writen. Harry Dresden show more about himself. The way he deals with him own fear is a kind of example to everyone. Perfect, that's all I can say.

There are a number of books in this series. One reason I took up reading this fantasy. I doubt I'll stick with the series tho. The author has Harry living up to his namesake ... escaping from one trap, locked room after another, but always landing in another, worse one. A little character development (yes, I know it's a fantasy) would have been nice.

Grave Peril, the third in a series that now includes the latest fifth installment(Death Masks), is quite possibly the most well written of the series so far. The characters are more fully developed, with the addition of powerful character in Micheal. This book, as with the others, carries Dresden's humor and attitude into each situation, no matter the situation. Partying with vampires, summoning demons, or being greeted by his cat, he takes all of this, perhaps not in stride, but at least at a good sprint. A good read on all accounts.

It's time to give Jim Butcher his just dues. the man has written 3 back to back books that have been down right outstanding.
I cannot recommend this series enough.
Especially to the Anita Blake fans.
I could go into the plot of the book. But instead I'll simply say it's good. It wraps up nicely, and drops a couple more sub plots that give you renewed hope of further novels, and the direction that they will go.
Furthermore, they are immensley satisfying.
I give this 5 stars, and I hope Mr. Butcher is working on his next novel.

This was the first of the Harry Dresden books that I read. And what can I say. It had me crying with laughter. It just such a good blend of horror and comdy. I was on the train coming home from work when I got to the bit at the vampire masqurade ball and I had to cover my mouth to stop my self from crakking. If you have not read one of these books before I recomend you get hold of one. I was lucky, in england not many people have herd of them but i'm now doing my best to change that

Jim Butcher ranks as a favorite author because of his character development and witty repertoire. The Harry Dresden books always deliver an amusing, if not somewhat harrowing ride. One author I will buy without checking the reviews. This is my second time through his series to refresh myself and the read was just as delightful and exciting as the first.

Just finished all 3 books in the last couple of weeks. Lots of action, keeps your interest. Will definitly keep up with this series. Just wish the author would get Dresden, the hero, and Murphy, the female cop, together. She a great character but has not had a large enough role in the books, yet.

This series is awesome. Book Candy at its finest.

All the used book people need to take a moment and read this. I should be able to buy this book for $4 used, but all the sellers are starting at about $4 and then adding the 3.99 shipping, so $8 used. ;( These used book people need to take a clue and realize it won't move at that price. Hello Library, can you put that book on hold for me thanks. SORRY used book people.

Butcher shakes things up with this one, in a good way, - I'd say the plot is much more fast paced, new characters are phased in (Michael, Lea) and old ones don't show up as much (Murphy). I liked Michael's character (Knight of the Cross) alot, and can't wait to read more about him. I also liked that the book went into much more detail about the 3 vampire courts - excellent stuff! Another great read. One plot twist after another.

always saved by an implausible device or person/ghost. it gets old. I'm only a few books into the series, but already I can guess when the magic - by which I mean the boloney - is going to kick in. steer clear

Now we have White Court (oh yeah), Bram Stokers Black Court, Red Court, Ghosts, Dragons and a Kight of the Cross. What could go wrong with this book. The plot is so deed. Much more twists and turns than I expected. Perhaps to much? Depends on the reader. Another great novel by Butcher. With every succeding book, Harry's Kowledge and power goes up a notch. This series is turning out to be great

Jim Butcher's Dresden is so exasperating! I want him to fit my stereotype of a wizard, and Dresden always falls short. Still, that's why I like these books so much: he's so powerful yet so human. In this book I especially liked the conflict between Dresden and Miss Bianca, and the swirling attendant events. Susan continues to drive me crazy because she's so brave but reckless. A great read for those who like Dresden.

Book 1 in this series is fantastic. Book 2 is even better, and Book 3 is better than Book 2. If this trend continues, I might be dressing up as Dresden and waiting line at the book store, at 11:55pm they day before the next release is out.

I have read this book five or six times (not sure which). I can definitely say that Jim Butcher is my favorite author and The Dresden Files is my favorite series. The book sets up a lot of things that affect Harry Dresden's life for the rest of the books in the series. It's an easy and fast read; one that I don't want to put down once I get started.

This book is the best of the Dresden Files. Lots of action in the typical realistic yet fun Dresden style. New allies and enemies seem to be coming out of the woodwork as the entire spiritual world starts going crazy. This book was an excellent read with non-stop action and intrigue. It does end on a considerably darker tone than the previous Dresden Files, making me eager for the sequel.

The first two books in the series were great. This one begins in the middle of events, with a new supporting character, and it takes a few chapters to figure out what's going on. Butcher should have added a few chapters to the beginning to make the book easier to track.

Jim Butcher delivers more action, excitement, and mayhem than just about every other author working in this genre. This book introduces a new character, a Knight Templar, and Harry and the Knight must do battle with vampires, ghosts, and faerie alike in this never-plodding always-pulsating effort. The humor and action are top-notch, and you'll find yourself tearing through the pages.

Highly recommended.

This book was very enjoyable. There are ghost, wizards, vampires, etc. Each of the "Dresden Files" is more addicting than the last one. Before I finished reading this "Grave Peril", I ordered #4, 5, 6, & 7.