A Book Review: Small Favor by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #10)

Two months ago, I read White Night, the 9^th novel in The Dresden Files series. When I turned to the last page of that book, I experienced a “Harry Dresden burnt out”. It's not that White Night was a badly written book. No, in fact, Jim Butcher wrote a good book and it was fun. Jim Butcher injected into White Night, all ingredients that made The Dresden Files novels successful. However, that, for me, was also why I got tired reading this series: White Night felt like “another” The Dresden Files book, a book I have already read in the past.

Indeed, my biggest qualm with this series lies with its episodic, repetitive narratives. It seems to me in each novel, Jim Butcher just recycled the plot devices, substituting them with new characters or creatures, then spit it back out to compose a “new” novel. Suffice to say, after I finished reading White Night, I needed a break from The Dresden Files series.

Two months passed, I have somewhat recovered from this “Harry Dresden burnt out”. With a great anticipation, I returned to Harry Dresden's adventure. I opened the first page to Small Favor, the 10^th installment in the series and read it with a renewed vigor. Is Small Favor still plagued by the repetitiveness of story found in its predecessors? Or has this novel finally broke the trend of recycled plotting? Today, I would like to share my thoughts about Small Favor in this book review.

Synopsis:

“A promise made is a promise kept.”

This saying holds more weight on denizens from Chicago's supernatural community than on the city's normal citizens. In the supernatural community, a broken promise comes with dire consequences that aren't natural. Consequences that could get you killed. In the case of Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, this saying needs to be devised in plural. You see, Harry Dresden owes Mab, the fairy queen of Winter Court, 3 promises. This time, Mab comes knocking on Harry's door like a debt collector.

So what's the deal? Chicago's master of the underworld, gentleman Johnny Macrone, was abducted by unknown assailants while Johnny sat and chilled in his safe house. The disappearance of Marcone is playing against Mab's interest, so she charged Harry with a mission; recover Marcone and return him to Mab, in one piece.

Harry has no choice but to oblige to Mab's request for this “small favor”. The problem is, he has no idea where to start this search...

My thoughts on this book:

I had fun reading Small Favor. Unfortunately, history appears to have repeated itself in this book, and I feel that Small Favor, is nothing more than “another” episode in Harry Dresden's outing. Make no mistake, Small Favor is a well written book. One cannot find fault in Jim Butcher's writings. Every moment is perfectly executed with a good timing, and the story moves fluidly at a fast pace. In other words, Small Favor succeeded in keeping the crown on the head The Dresden Files series as the king of the urban fantasy genre.

Having said this, Small Favor also rouse a sense of deja vu in the minds of long time readers of this series. The story in Small Favor has nothing new or revolutionary about it. If you have read the previous 9 books in this series, then you know what to expect in Small Favor. The story consists of a series of events following this pattern:

• Harry got a new case.
• Harry found some clues on the crime scene
• Harry encountered some supernatural goons on the crime scene and fought for his life
• Harry almost lose the fight but his loyal friends saved him
• Harry discovered an additional clue X
• Harry and his friends perused clue X, encountered more supernatural goons.
• Another big fight.
• Harry and his friend won the day, and discovered an additional clue Y, leading to the big mastermind behind this evil plan.
• Harry and his friend arrived at location Z and confronted the mastermind. They fought, Harry and his gang almost lost the fight, but somehow won the day, again.
• The end. But remember, the next episode of The Dresden Files is waiting for you on the bookshelf, and it will tell you a story that you have just read in this book, except with different characters.

When I closed this book, my two months break from this series was the only reason I did not respond to this book as negatively as I did with White Night. If Small Favor is the your first time reading the adventure of Harry Dresden, then you will find plenty of things to love in this book; actions, thrills, suspense, and a fun story drenched in the flavor of neo noir. However, for a long time reader of the series, Small Favor is a story that Jim Butcher already told in other books, and therefore, leaving much to be desired at its conclusion.