“Polka will never
die!”
The legendary quote (above) latched onto my mind, when I finished reading Dead Beat, the 7th
novel in The Dresden Files series. You may be wondering, what
on earth is “polka will never die”? Well, read the book to find out. But I'd say if you do read this book,
then as you reach the scene when Waldo Butters declared “Polka will
never die”, it will make you grin wide from ear to ear.
The Dresden Files is a series of
urban fantasy novels. It is (currently) 15 books in length and new
books are still coming. This series attracted a huge fandom and
received numerous literary awards in recent years. I ventured into
this series (on and off basis) in December last year. After reading
the first 6 installments in the series, I thought these novels are
fun reads, but they are also very repetitive. In other words, my
opinion was while The Dresden Files novels are entertaining,
but I didn't think the series was radiating brilliance.
However, after reading the 7th
installment, Dead Beat, my opinion changed. This novel is
probably the best book in the series yet. I had a great time reading
it. So without further delay, let me begin my review with a synopsis for this book.
Synopsis:
Magic can get a guy killed.
This is especially true if you are
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, the world's only professional
wizard/paranormal investigator, who works as a consultant for Chicago
PD. You see, sometimes when things go bump in the middle of a dark
night, not even the police know what to do. This is why they have a
special unit in the department to take care of these “unusual
cases”. And this is where a guy like Harry Dresden finds
employment, offering his area of expertise in exchange for
metallic-smelling dollar notes. Because remember, money smells just
as good to a wizard as to everyone else. After all, we all have bills to pay.
But it is not always about the money.
Under a windy October sky, a deadly vampire blackmailed Harry,
threatening to destroy the reputation of Karrin Murphy, who is both
Harry's friend and the head of the special unit in the PD. Harry is not the
kind of man who puts up with blackmails, but this time it is different,
because if he does not comply then his friend's reputation is going
up in smokes. So Harry acquiesced to the vampire's demand, then set
out to recover something called “The Word of Kemmler”.
Harry only has 3 days to accomplish
this mission. As if the problem is not big enough already, 6
necromancers popped up in Chicago town and they smell like big, big
trouble. All this goes to say, Harry is about to experience a
Halloween he will never forget...
My thoughts about this book:
The main protagonist, Harry Dresden, is
a paranormal investigator by trade. In the earlier installments of
the series, the plots tried to incorporate elements of detective
fictions yet this feature was not well realized. Dead Beat succeeded
where the earlier installments failed, in that it successfully
blended detective fictions with an urban fantasy novel. Sure, the
plot is still pretty straight forward, but the story manged to weave
a veil of mysteries around it. Mysteries that are kept secretive from
the readers and only revealed at the end of the book. This creates an
engrossing story where the tension kept the readers in suspense.
The second, major improvement in Dead
Beat, is that Harry is now a vulnerable character. He is still a
powerful wizard, but he can be beaten in a fight. And when he is
beaten, he stays down. This change to the storytelling is crucial in
eliminating the repetitiveness found in the earlier installments. In
the earlier installments, whenever Harry was beaten in a fight, he
always found some “inner strength” to help him win the day. The
plot device of “finding inner power” was used so frequently in
the first 6 novels that it became a trope. Thankfully, Dead Beat
has erased all traces of this trope. The result? The story is more
intriguing and unpredictable because of this change, and readers can
feel the sense of danger, as Harry took on legions of powerful,
unholy nemesis in his perilous quest.
Dead Beat maintains trademarks
of The Dresden Files series. The first one is the humor. Dead
Beat tells a very intense story, but humors also punched in at
the right moments, showering readers with comedic reliefs that will
surely bring laughters to their voices. For example, I love Waldo
Butters' memorable, and legendary quote, “Polka will never die”.
The scene when Waldo Butters, a friend of Harry's, pronounced this
quote I laughed until tears came out of my eyes. It was a golden
moment!
Secondly, Dead Beat tells a
story that moves with the pace of lightning. Exhilarating actions,
narrated in Jim Butcher's cinematic prose flew across the white pages
in black ink. Some actions scenes reached a new level of epicness,
making this a very entertaining book to read. It will not disappoint
both fans and newcomers to The Dresden Files books. However,
if you are looking to start this series, I would strongly recommend
start reading from book 1, titled Storm Front.
The first 6 books in The Dresden
Files were ok but not great, but I persevered and read the 7th
installment. I am glad that I did not give up on the series, because
it turned out this is a really good novel. I hope Dead
Beat marks the turning point in this series, and the
strengths that made this novel good will carry on to the next one.
For the first time since I ventured into the world of The Dresden
Files, I am actually looking forward to reading Harry's next
adventure, titled “Proven Guilty”.
In the meantime, happy reading!
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