Reviews

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

3.0

I don't know, something about this just rang hollow to me.

Maybe it's how Thomas' motives are just assumed and there's never any proof or questioning of why he did what he did. Or maybe it's the whole dispute between Ebenezer and Harry which kind of felt like a thinly veiled racist grandpa thing (for the record, Ebenezer has solid points

Spoiler

White Court vampires prey on people, Thomas tries to minimize his harm but it's not eliminated

). Or it might be that Harry's a dad and in a stable relationships and I don't know how to deal with happy Harry when I'm used to Harry angsting about his miserable life.

But, I heard that this book and the upcoming Battle Ground started out as one book and got split up and this one feels like it. There's so much left hanging and so little resolved in here.

I guess there's a lot going on here that bothered me so I'm going to reread this and Battle Ground together and see what I think of the whole.

Though, I've got to say, that

Spoiler

Harry-Ebenezer

fight was really darn cool.

marimbagirl22's review against another edition

4.0

I will always love how he writes Dresden and his cast of characters but I felt like there wasn't a ton of movement in this one. Based on the cliffhanger I understand a little bit but at the same time he's previous writings usually moved things forward a bit better or at the very least built more background. Guess I need to get the next book stat.

a_chickletz's review against another edition

3.0

...

So.

I waited so many years for a new book and I get half a book released and the other half coming out later? SO, I think if I rate this book three stars and the next book three stars, it'll equal the full five stars? Yes. Okay.

I am a little confused on the high ratings this book is getting. Literally nothing happened in this book! The villain showed up in the tail end and on a cliffhanger. There was no lead up, just a whole bunch of whining from Harry and McCoy. Like give me a break.

I think I'm loosing interest in this series. Kind of like Buffy when she moved on past high school. Her life just got boring and so overdone. The mysteries are few and far between.

I think my three stars support what I read. I rate it down two because nothing happened and that I shouldn't be suckered into buying another book when the first one wasn't resolved correctly or properly in the form of an actual story. Cash grab? Yes.

cara0007's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

jg1987's review against another edition

5.0

4.5 stars

The world has been eagerly awaiting [b:Peace Talks|22249640|Peace Talks (The Dresden Files, #16)|Jim Butcher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585062885l/22249640._SY75_.jpg|40515430] for quite some time now and, while I won't say it was worth the wait because I would never want to wait that long for another book again, I will say that it was a fantastic book. [a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1400640324p2/10746.jpg] creates such a unique world with interesting and detailed descriptions of both the environment, as well as the spells/magic, without affecting the pacing or losing the reader's interest. The characters, both hero and monster, are fascinating and original. The supernatural creatures in particular manage to be both stunning and terrifying simultaneously. As usual, the book is action packed and fast paced. Harry, along with the readers are kept on your toes from start to finish and there is barely a moment’s rest between crises before Harry has to pick up and get moving again. This whole story was a whirlwind of conflicts that end with an unresolved momentary respite before Harry and Co. will have to take up arms yet again in the next installment scheduled to come out in a few months time. I am so pleased the wait will not be long to see what comes next for our favourite wizard for hire.

cassiedevay's review against another edition

3.75

 

Peace Talks had a difficult job. It was the first mainline entry into the series following Skin Game, arguably one of the best books in the series thus far (second only to Changes in my opinion). Whether or not it did this, I’m still not entirely sure. I’ll probably need to read Battle Ground to get a full grasp on where this book succeeded or failed. Because for once, this is a Dresden book that doesn’t stand on it’s own. That alone makes this book stand out from the rest of the series thus far, by extension making it very hard to gauge within the wider context of the series. It just feels incredibly different, breaking at this point, 15 books worth of tradition. 

The standard formula for a Dresden book is, a decent chunk of time has passed since the last one, Dresden’s doing something small, a thing happens, Dresden has a shit couple of days, then we get a final chapter which wraps up the book, and sets up what Harry will be doing in his time between books. And arguably, this book does follow that structure to the letter. Except we know the next book is an hour later, not a year. 

This leads to some mild issues in my opinion. The first of which is that a lot of stuff that’s set up as part of this story, is left entirely unresolved. This includes the main villain, who’s only introduced in the final act of the story. Speaking of the final act, I wasn’t all that into it. The big fight Harry has towards the end has really strong emotional beats, but it does also feel like we’re retreading ground with that particular relationship being strained, albeit in a much more interesting way this time. 

The pacing also feels a tiny bit off in this one. Not a whole lot really happens. Most of the book is concerned with the political aspects of the world, which, while being incredibly interesting, just doesn’t really fit the vibe of the series thus far. Long term, this is probably going to pay off in spades, since it feels like we’re seeing the endgame for the series beginning to fall into place. 

It was a lot of fun seeing the White Council return to focus, who’ve been absent since Changes, as their reunion with Harry has been getting built up for the last two books. And lo and behold, the more things change, the more they stay the same. They’re still the same group of sanctimonious assholes who seem to constantly have horse blinders on. I enjoy the White Council’s presence, but the lack of nuance that some of them have, is getting to be tiresome after 16 books. I’d expect Merlin to have at least an ounce of good characterization, especially given how often he’s an antagonist, but thus far, he’s just a total prick, with little to no actual justification for it anymore. When we started the series, it made sense, but for fuck sake, even Morgan came around. MORGAN. And he was the king of dickheads for 11 whole books. 

Ebenezer was a highlight, as per usual, especially getting to watch him and Harry struggle against each other in relation to Maggie. As I said in my review for Brief Cases, I really enjoyed seeing Harry as a dad, and seeing Thomas as an uncle was really cute. 

In terms of plot, this is probably the single most tense book in the series. Any type of tension you can think of, this book has it and then some. From the first few chapters this book constantly feels wired to blow, but you never know which bomb it is that’s gonna go off first. Harry is constantly on the verge of getting caught in a major fracas, either at the hands of enemies, or his erstwhile allies in the White Court. It’s great. 

Thanks to this, it’s yet another page turner, and unlike some of the books in the series, it’s a page turner from the word go. 

Overall, I don’t have too much to say about the book, as a lot of my feelings are in escrow while I wait to see how some of the dominos fall in the next book. Given the slightly off pacing, but overall enjoyability of the book, I’d rate this a 3.75/5. It’s closer in quality to some of the early books, like Death Masks, and, if not for the huge amount of characters, would feel a tiny bit out of place in this era of Dresden. 

nickelwing_td's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Peace Talks kind of felt like the first half of a long book, rather than a standalone entry to the series. It was solid, and there were some awesome character moments and action set pieces (as usual), but the plot overall was a little cluttered and underwhelming. 

harmonictempest's review against another edition

2.0

See Battle Ground review for why I mostly disliked this.

winemakerssister's review against another edition

3.0

I always enjoy reading Harry's adventures, but this is probably my least favorite in the series. It took me a long time to get through it.

darren0101's review against another edition

4.0

After a long break, Jim Butcher is back with the follow up to his Dresden series. I was fortunate enough to have caught onto this series following the release of the third book and can honestly say there has never been a dip in the series and Peace Talk delivers. As with the majority of the Dresden Files, you get a fantastic story as well as plot points that are being set up for the next book or two.
This one felt a little more low key than previous books and with the follow-up, Battle Ground released so soon after, there is the feeling this is the first of a two-parter.
This is a great follow-up to a fantastic series and only makes you anticipate Battle Ground.
This book was provided by NetGalley for an honest review