Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Battle Ground by Jim Butcher Narrator: James Marsters
Series: The Dresden Files #17
Published by Penguin Audio, Ace on September 29, 2020
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 432
Length: 17 hours, 53 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.
But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.
Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.
I own the entire Dresden Files series on audio, including the novella collections, and pre-ordered Battle Ground. It’s amazing on audio.
Urban Fantasy is my favorite genre and this series is definitely in my top 5 series ever. Harry has all the things I love in UF. He has collected a group of allies of all types. He shows compassion for others and some intelligent strategy. He puts others before himself, often risking his life, pushing himself to his limits. And I love the humor.
We knew this would have battles from both the title and the way Peace Talks ends. There is a lot of action. We get to see many characters from many different groups that we know from past books, but so many of them come out to “play” here.
Usually Harry has so many different things he is juggling but he has to remain focused this time. Here he is leading the defense and attacks. He is certainly a primary force in trying to keep humans safe and he insists the other supernaturals do that too. I love that he has some long-time allies like Butters and a new friend in River Shoulders. I love his major general, Toot, who does incredible work.
Of course, he has old enemies too but most everyone is on the same side against the Fomor and the Titan. I don’t really understand how even though he is supposed to do the final part against the Titan to send her to DemonReach, his grandfather keeps throwing him at various monsters as if he is the only one who can take them. Harry gets hurt often and a lot, which isn’t anything new. It makes me angry he is always the fodder, and also the one who in the end saves the world, and he never gets any credit with anyone but some friends and family.
Apparently there are things the wizards and the fae know about Harry which he doesn’t know about himself. No one is telling him either. It sounds like they are all using him.
There are many loved characters who get hurt or die. The supernaturals have a bit better chance of recovering from serious wounds. It’s brutal. Keen strategy kept it less horrible than it could have been. Between the deaths and the way Harry was treated after coming though for them, I was crushed.
There is much more for us to learn in this great series. Thomas and Justine are still in trouble. Marcone and Harry will have a showdown at some point. Mab has plans for him. The wizards are all watching him closely with plans to take him down at the slightest misstep.
At the end, there is a nice little Christmas vignette which happens six months after the battle. It shows the family and friends Harry has.
Narration:
I love the audiobook narration by James Marsters. He brings these characters to life and I can’t imagine anyone else. Even if I read, which I have only done with a few novellas, I hear him. I love his performance and own everything including the novella collections on audio. I now listen comfortably at 1.5x – 1.75x speed.
Listen to a clip:
About James Marsters
AMERICAN actor, singer and songwriter James Marsters first found international fame playing punk-goth Brit vampire Spike in the critically acclaimed American TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the equally popular spin-off Angel.
Film roles include live action film Dragon Ball, romantic love story P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler and Kathy Bates , USA Original true-crime film Cool Money, independent thriller Shadow Puppets, Winding Roads, The House On Haunted Hill and Chance with Buffy co-star Amber Benson.
The Californian actor, who grew up in Modesto, has also played Brainiac in TV’s Smallville and guest starred in Without A Trace, Millennium, Andromeda, The Mountain, Saving Grace and mostly recently Caprica. James is currently filming in CBS’s Hawaii Five-O.
James’s voiceover talents can be found portraying Lex Luthor on the DVD release of Superman: Doomsday and he continues to read for the very popular Dresden Files books on tape series.
He has received numerous nominations and awards, including the Spacey Award, the Saturn Award, the Cinescape Face of the Future Award, the Golden Satellite Award, and the Teen Choice Award.
James attended New York’s prestigious Juilliard, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and the American Conservatory Theatre and spent 10 years doing stage work before moving to LA to work in film and television.
He worked in Chicago’s famous Goodman Theater and also set-up and ran companies in Chicago and Seattle. One of his early television appearances was as a hotel bellhop in the television series Northern Exposure.
James is also a singer songwriter and has enjoyed sell-out concerts in America, Canada, Australia and Europe. He brought out his first solo album, Civilized Man, in 2005 and has followed it up with Like A Waterfall.
About Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.
Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990′s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.
All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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I’m so jealous of your being up to date with this series! I got distracted at #4 and haven’t been able to get back to it. I’ve all the audiobooks, too. Great review, Anne?
I love this so much! It might have to be my 2022 Read-along. It’s certainly one of the options.
I have GOT to start listening to this series on audio. I’m a huge James Marsters fan?
He’s amazing. I love it so so much.
I used my last Audible code for Peace Talks because I’m a fan of the series and James’ narration. May have to rejoin in the future when the series is complete and get the rest.
I have to have them all.
I only tried book 1 years ago but I should read more!
You should. They really start to get great at about book 4. I may do this for the Read-along 2022 since it is one of my top 5 series.
i love when an author isn’t afraid to kill off his characters. i have had my eye on this series for some time. wonder if the library has copies?? i’ll be checking
My library had the entire series and many on audio but I have excellent library access. I did buy every single thing on audio though, initially after getting it from the library. That was back in the days when I got one Audible credit a month. Now I buy a year at a time.
unfortunately, ebooks are scarce here in our pensacola florida library and that’s mostly what i look for since covid
I am all about the digital and you are right there are good libraries for digital and poor ones.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I have DNF’d it… for now, and maybe forever. It makes me sad b/c this truly is one of my absolute favorite series. The book is just too gruesome and dark, for all the reasons you listed, and now is not the time for me to be listening to a book like this. I was already slightly unhappy after the previous book — that it wasn’t a complete story. But I was excited to jump into Battle Ground and see what would happen. But the constant battles were just too extreme for me. And then… well, I’m sure you can guess what put me over the top at the 50% mark. I just couldn’t go on.
yes it was very sad to me. I am anxious for the next one because as was stated by Harry multiple times things have changed and will never be the same.
oooh, I just got the notification that the audiobook landed on my phone, will probably listen to it next week. Loved Peace Talks and can’t wait to see how the story arc plays out.
~ Corina | The Brown Eyed Bookworm
As another commenter noted it was intense with so much time in battle.
My review posts next week. I tried to savior this but hot damn it was intense. I need the next book.
Exactly, this was action-packed and full of consequences for the future.
Indeed, and my review posts tomorrow. LOL, my brain has turned to mush!
I’m so glad to hear the books are still great! I’m so badly behind with this series I think I’ll need to restart it!
I love it! I was able to binge the first ones all within a year before these came out with about 2 years ago. I am already up for a reread as part of a Read-along some year maybe 2022. It’s one of my very favorite series.