Steve's Bookshelf 2014

[Karsa Orlong]

# 38

 

Proven Guilty (Dresden Files Book 8) by Jim Butcher

 

 

2006 - Orbit ebook - 403 pages

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.

 

Harry has no friends on the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined (and they may have a point). However, now vampire wars have thinned out the wizards a little, they need him. So before he can blink, he's assigned to investigate rumours of black magic. Harry's other problem is an old friend's daughter - all grown-up and in trouble already. Her boyfriend insists he's innocent of something resembling a crime straight out of a horror film. This first impression turns out to be . . . well, pretty accurate, as Harry discovers malevolent entities feeding on fear. All in a day's work for a wizard, his dog, and a talking skull named Bob.

 

Magic - it can get a guy killed.

 

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Picking up the year after the events of the previous book, Dead Beat, this story sees Harry investigating the presence of black magic in Chicago, whilst also trying to find out why the Summer and Winter Queens have not been aiding the White Council in the war against the Red Court of the vampires.  Before he can even get started, though, his friend's daughter, Molly, comes to him for help.  Providing this 'help' leads Harry to a horror movie convention and - oh, what a coincidence - to the heart of the black magic.

 

It was going to take something special to surpass Dead Beat, which was probably my favourite book of the series so far, or was at least the most fun.  Proven Guilty, though, is less Dead Beat and more downbeat.  If the previous book was an all-out action-fest with a quite hilariously glorious finale, this one feels more like a pause for thought, with action firmly on the backburner, as it gathers together numerous lesser subplots from right back to the start of the series, and then throws in some references to stuff that the reader wasn't actually party to.  That latter decision, particularly, felt odd to me, as I found the result a tad uninvolving.

 

The story starts out well enough, and the scenes at the horror convention are lots of fun, giving Harry the chance to chuck out numerous pop culture references, some obvious, some not so (my favourites involved Aliens and John Carpenter's They Live, although I would debate that either of them were horror films in the first place   ).  But then things start to drag.  When it came down to it, I just couldn't summon the interest in these particular subplots that were dragged up from the past.  The Nevernever aspect of the stories is one that never grabbed me, so finding it dredged up here was something of a disappointment.  I also felt that this section was padded, and the action was forced, almost as if he'd put it in there because he felt there had to be some action, rather than because it fitted the story.  I certainly felt these sections lacked his usual gusto and seemed laboured as a result.

 

This book is at its best, I think, when it concentrates on Harry, on the White Council, and on Molly and her family.  Fortunately, Butcher manages to turn it around in the last few chapters, which for me were the best part of the book.  The ending is wonderfully low key, with some good character development and a very ominous ending.  If only he had cut out a big chunk of that middle section and got on with this part of the story.

 

Probably my least favourite book of the series so far but part of me wonders if that is down to the book, or down to me wanting to be back in Ancient Rome.  I can't make up my mind on that score, really.  The Dresden books are usually guaranteed entertainment at whatever point I choose to read them, but this one didn't quite do it for me at this time.  Perhaps it is one that will benefit from a re-read at a later date.

 

 

6/10

 

 

 

ETA: Corrected spelling in the title!!

Edited June 6, 2014 by Karsa Orlong

[pontalba]

Great reviews, Steve!

 

Re the McCullough books, I already had 3,4,5, and 6. Somehow didn't have one and two.... but I will soon.......

[Athena]

It's a shame you didn't enjoy Proven Guilty as much as some of the previous Dresden books. Great review though .

[Little Pixie]

Shame you didn`t enjoy that one ( but I`ll still get to it - eventually  ).

[Karsa Orlong]

I suspect I'll enjoy it more if I ever re-read the series   

 

As it is, I'm now into the second 'Masters of Rome' book, The Grass Crown.  Rather typically (of me) I enjoyed the first book so much I came to the conclusion that I must own physical copies of these books, and have them there on the shelf.  So I got this one in paperback on Wednesday

[Athena]

Congrats on your new book, I hope you enjoy it !

[Little Pixie]

I was looking through the Sunday Times` Culture section last night, and saw that Jim Butcher`s Skin Game was top of the best selling hardback fiction list.

 

Sunday Times.

[Karsa Orlong]

I was looking through the Sunday Times` Culture section last night, and saw that Jim Butcher`s Skin Game was top of the best selling hardback fiction list.

 

Sunday Times.

 

I can't look at that site unless I create an account, but yeah, I saw it was number one on the NY Times list as well, and they've been raving about it over on Malazan (but they do that every time a new Dresden book arrives ).

[Karsa Orlong]

So my decision to get the 'Masters of Rome' books in paperback may have hit a stumbling block in that the nearest branch of Waterstone's that apparently has the fourth and fifth books in stock seems to be in Manchester . . .    I say 'apparently' because 'apparently' Hatchards had them (according to the Waterstone's website) but I went there last night and . . . nope

 

I did get the next Aubrey/Maturin book on my list, though: The Ionian Mission

[Karsa Orlong]

So I just turned on the wi-fi on my Kindle and the damn thing downloaded a bunch of books I'd forgotten I'd bought

 

The Price of the Stars - Debra Doyle & James MacDonald
The Time Traveller's Almanac - various
The Door Into Summer - Robert A Heinlein
Roma - Steven Saylor
Prince of Darkness - Sharon Penman
The October Horse - Colleen McCullough
Antony and Cleopatra - Colleen McCullough
The Song of Troy - Colleen McCullough
All the Windwracked Stars - Elizabeth Bear

 

 

Bloody Kindle . . .  
 

[Athena]

Congrats on the new books !

 

It's a shame those books you want aren't in stock .. are there any other shops you can buy them from or perhaps online?

[Karsa Orlong]

Yeah, I can get them online easily enough, but I'd rather get them from the shop(s).  Even the new Foyles flagship store doesn't have them, according to their website - although I'm planning a trip up there in a few days so maybe they'll re-stock by then.  Either that or I might see if one of the shops can order them for me.

[Little Pixie]

So I just turned on the wi-fi on my Kindle and the damn thing downloaded a bunch of books I'd forgotten I'd bought

 

The Price of the Stars - Debra Doyle & James MacDonald

The Time Traveller's Almanac - various

The Door Into Summer - Robert A Heinlein

Roma - Steven Saylor

Prince of Darkness - Sharon Penman

The October Horse - Colleen McCullough

Antony and Cleopatra - Colleen McCullough

The Song of Troy - Colleen McCullough

All the Windwracked Stars - Elizabeth Bear

 

 

Bloody Kindle . . .  

 

 

Ooh, lovely booksies ...

[Anna Begins]

So I just turned on the wi-fi on my Kindle and the damn thing downloaded a bunch of books I'd forgotten I'd bought

 

The Price of the Stars - Debra Doyle & James MacDonald

The Time Traveller's Almanac - various

The Door Into Summer - Robert A Heinlein

Roma - Steven Saylor

Prince of Darkness - Sharon Penman

The October Horse - Colleen McCullough

Antony and Cleopatra - Colleen McCullough

The Song of Troy - Colleen McCullough

All the Windwracked Stars - Elizabeth Bear

 

 

Bloody Kindle . . .  

 

Oh yes, Kindle can be very bad    You should see all my Samples!  I was looking up The Masters of Rome series after you reviewed it and I saw that Anthony and Cleopatra.   I might read it.  Are the Masters series supposed to be read in order?  Amazon doesn't have all of them.  I mainly wanted to start with the one you did.  And Roma looks good too.  After Wild Swans, I might have to take a small break from epics

Edited June 12, 2014 by Anna Begins

[Karsa Orlong]

I was looking up The Masters of Rome series after you reviewed it and I saw that Anthony and Cleopatra.   I might read it.  Are the Masters series supposed to be read in order?  Amazon doesn't have all of them.  I mainly wanted to start with the one you did.

 

Yes, definitely to be read in order.  I had a look at Amazon.com and they've got all of them in paperback apart from the fifth book, Caesar.  How strange.  You could always get a second-hand copy if you got that far, I suppose    Did you want them in paperback?  Cos you could get them on Kindle, where there's a collection of the first five books, which is what I got originally, although I noticed they haven't got Antony and Cleopatra on Kindle in the US (which is strange as well, cos we have it over here in the UK).

 

The only real problem with the Kindle editions, I found, is the maps.  There are a lot of them, and they're completely useless on Kindle, too small to be able to read.  I resorted to using this site, but then decided to switch to the paperbacks.  Guess it depends on whether you want to know exactly where all the places are in relation to each other.

 

I reckon your best bet is to try the Kindle sample of the first book and see if you like it

 

 

 

And Roma looks good too.

 

Having read some reviews of that one, I'm not sure it will compare - but it was only 99p at the time, so it was worth a shot

[Karsa Orlong]

My mate just told me he got this with the gift token I gave him for his birthday, thought I'd mention it here cos it's bargainous! 

 

Books 1 - 6 of Bernard Cornwell's fantastic 'Warrior Chronicles' for £11.04 on Kindle

[Anna Begins]

Yes, definitely to be read in order.  I had a look at Amazon.com and they've got all of them in paperback apart from the fifth book, Caesar.  How strange.  You could always get a second-hand copy if you got that far, I suppose    Did you want them in paperback?  Cos you could get them on Kindle, where there's a collection of the first five books, which is what I got originally, although I noticed they haven't got Antony and Cleopatra on Kindle in the US (which is strange as well, cos we have it over here in the UK).

 

The only real problem with the Kindle editions, I found, is the maps.  There are a lot of them, and they're completely useless on Kindle, too small to be able to read.  I resorted to using this site, but then decided to switch to the paperbacks.  Guess it depends on whether you want to know exactly where all the places are in relation to each other.

 

I reckon your best bet is to try the Kindle sample of the first book and see if you like it

That's so strange because when I looked it up, either as Masters of Rome or by Colleen McCullough, I can only find The October Horse and Anthony and Cleopatra.  Maybe because I am looking them up as Kindle books and not paperbacks?  I dunno, but I will check out the sample to both... I always read Kindle samples first (except for Jack Reacher books.  Did you know Lee Child is a pen name?  Probably.)

[Signor Finzione]

"Bargainous". Great word.

[Karsa Orlong]

# 39

 

The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome II) by Colleen McCullough

 

 

    

 

 

1991 - Arrow paperback - 1,072 pages

 

 

From Amazon:

 

The second book in the epic Masters of Rome series.

 

Rome. 97 BC. Gaius Marius is one of the greatest generals Rome has ever known. Under him, Rome has conquered the Western world, withstood invasion and crushed its enemies. But when the ageing Marius grows weak, the stability of the mighty Republic looks uncertain.

 

Ambitious, tormented Lucius Cornelius Sulla, once Marius's right hand man, withdraws from his commander's circle to prepare his own bid for power. Marius is determined not to relinquish his control over the Republic, but with his closest ally now his most dangerous rival, the stakes are higher than ever before. And as a deadly enmity develops between the two men, Rome must fight its own battle for survival.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I think I can actually keep this review reasonably short     Stop cheering!      Basically, pretty much everything I said in my comments on The First Man in Rome could be repeated here, with a couple of deviations.  It's daunting, flowing, compelling and completely absorbing once again.

 

This one tells the tale of Gaius Marius's fall from grace, Lucius Cornelius Sulla's rise to prominence, the so-called Social War (where Rome went to war with the other parts of the Italian peninsular), and the rising shadow in the east (sounds familiar . . . ) of Mithradates.  It covers the period 98 B.C. to 86 B.C.

 

McCullough's ability to make these real people come alive is astonishing.  Sulla is a stand-out: he is so unlikeable and yet somehow she makes you care for him, or at least understand him.  He's afraid neither to murder his way to the top nor to do the unthinkable once he gets there.  The young Gaius Julius Caesar also starts to make his presence felt (although I couldn't help feeling McCullough reveres him maybe a little too much), and also young Pompey and Cicero join the fray.

 

The deviations are relatively minor, but they are going to stop me giving this one a 10.  Firstly, the women - who were so brilliant in the first book - take a back seat in this one, which is a real shame.  In fact, in the latter stages, when I thought it would've been fascinating and a little scary to see Rome falling apart from their points of view, they barely get a mention.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, one of my favourite aspects of the first book, the letters from Publius Rutilius Rufus, are almost completely missing.  This is for reasons somewhat beyond McCullough's control (the facts kind of work against her here!) but it is still disappointing.  His letters were used to convey information with great wit in the first book, but their absence here results instead in vast info dumps which, whilst never less than lively, never really capture the feeling of those letters.  Shame.

 

Also, I suppose, in Jugurtha in the first book I felt she had a really sympathetic character, even if he was the enemy.  I was incredibly moved when he finally got to walk the streets of Rome.  Mithradates isn't sympathetic at all, just a megalomaniac with a penchant for beheading people.  Seriously, the numbers of people who die in this book are astronomical.

 

All of these are minor niggles, though - almost lost in the midst of a dark, brooding, superb novel.  I was tempted to do something I've not done before and give it a 9.5, but that would just open up a whole can of worms I don't want to investigate   Can't wait for the next book where, I suspect, Spartacus might make an appearance

 

 

9/10

Edited June 30, 2014 by Karsa Orlong

[Athena]

I'm glad you're really enjoying these books. They do sound very good, I'm quite interested in the Romans. I followed Latin for a few years in secondary school, I had to choose though between doing Latin and Greek and chose Greek. But I'm also interested in ancient Rome, I always loved the lessons that detailed their culture etc.

[Karsa Orlong]

I wish I could have studied Ancient Rome, I find it such an exciting period of history.  As much as these books are fantastic entertainment, I also feel like I'm learning a lot from them, too, which is brilliant

[Athena]

As much as these books are fantastic entertainment, I also feel like I'm learning a lot from them, too, which is brilliant

That's great !

[pontalba]

I wish I could have studied Ancient Rome, I find it such an exciting period of history.  As much as these books are fantastic entertainment, I also feel like I'm learning a lot from them, too, which is brilliant

 

I do as well.  I did take an Ancient History class in High School, and fell in love with the era.  Especially Cicero.

 

In this series, I agree about Sulla, wow, what a contradiction of a personality!  It'll turn out to be his son that is so horrible later and is the one that Cicero's Orations are against. 

 

I love the assassin that  Jugurtha's half brother hires in the beginning of the first book, and how that assassin turns up late in the book!  Just wonderful.

Edited June 16, 2014 by pontalba

[Signor Finzione]

This sounds great, and how exciting that there are still more in the series for you to read.

 

I'd love to read these at some point. I took Ancient History as an A-level, and we studied the Romans for a whole year. We didn't really do much about Rome itself, though. We mainly studied the main invasion of Britain up until their withdrawal (43AD - 410AD if I remember right?), and looked a little at both Caesar's mini-invasions too. All the stuff relating to this in films always seems to just focus on the attempts to take Scotland, though, and I've never really looked into any novels about it. Any recommendations?

[Karsa Orlong]

This sounds great, and how exciting that there are still more in the series for you to read.

 

I went trawling around bookshops yesterday to try and find the paperbacks.  Went to the new Foyles flagship store, which was underwhelming I have to say, and managed to get Caesar's Women there.  The only copy of Caesar I could find was in Waterstone's on Gower Street, but it was a bit knackered and I wasn't going to pay £9.99 for it in that state    I'll have another go next week but may have to resort to Amazon for that one.

 

Also went in Forbidden Planet and didn't buy anything    

 

 

 

 

I'd love to read these at some point. I took Ancient History as an A-level, and we studied the Romans for a whole year. We didn't really do much about Rome itself, though. We mainly studied the main invasion of Britain up until their withdrawal (43AD - 410AD if I remember right?), and looked a little at both Caesar's mini-invasions too. All the stuff relating to this in films always seems to just focus on the attempts to take Scotland, though, and I've never really looked into any novels about it. Any recommendations?

 

Can't say I've read any particularly brilliant ones about that period.  The closest I've got is Jack Whyte's The Skystone, which is his go at a realistic version of Camelot, set during the last days of the Romans in Britain and told from the point of view of a Roman soldier.  It was quite good but, as Arthurian stuff goes, Cornwell is vastly superior, imo.