Review: The Law, by Jim Butcher (plus Little Things: a short story)

At this point I’m pretty much invested in the Dresden Files series, so there’s a lot of momentum in reading new releases. This review covers the recent Novella plus a short story that appeared in another anthology.

What to Expect

The Law: Expect a shorter story, about a quarter of the usual novel length. More importantly, after the over-the-top events of the last two novels, expect a bit of return to basics. Harry is called up to help someone, whose needs seem only marginally related to the supernatural world (though, of course, they end up escalating).

Little Things: this is a short story told from the point of view of Toot-Toot, Harry’s self-appointed fairy bodyguard (who’s about a foot tall, and his closest ally is Harry’s cat). It takes place in the aftermath of Battle Ground, inside Harry’s castle as some clean-up is still happening. It’s lighter hearted, and gives a different perspective of Dresden, which is always fun to read.

What I liked

I much prefer this intimate tone, with smaller events and tighter plots, with cases of human concerns not pan-galactic comic-scale invaders.

What to be aware of

After 20 odd years and books, there’s a lot already out there in the series continuum. This isn’t the place to jump it – you’ve either read previous novels and liked them enough to read thus far, or need to go back to the beginning to see if you enjoy the series.

Felix’s Review

Felix, like me, enjoys following Harry’s adventures. And, like any sane person let alone a paranormal detective, enjoys helping nice people and would rather leave pan-dimensional horrors to someone like Harry.

Summary

A good interlude for the main series. As is often the case, such episodes are more charming then the big drama. Get The Law here, and the short story Little Things appears in the Heroic Hearts anthology.


Enjoying the reviews, but wondering who the heck is that Felix fellow? Glad you asked! He’s the protagonist of the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series, an historical-fantasy blend of a paranormal detective on the background of ancient Rome.

Come meet Felix and his world on the free short stories and novels!

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