Book Review: Small Favor

This year I'm keeping track of what I read. Whether I enjoy the book or not, I'll post a blurb and brief review. Most will be speculative fiction in some form—genres I gravitate toward in my own writing. Today, it's Book 10 in the Dresden Files: Small Favor by Jim Butcher.

An old debt puts Chicago wizard Harry Dresden in harm's way. Harry’s life finally seems to be calming down. The White Council’s war with the vampiric Red Court is easing up, no one’s tried to kill him lately, and his eager apprentice is starting to learn real magic. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow. Mab, monarch of the Sidhe Winter Court, calls in an old favor from Harry. Just one small favor he can’t refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills—and loyalties—to their very limits. And everything was going so well for once...

I've never been a big fan of magical fantasy stories (except those written by Tolkien and Lewis), but I'm glad I took the advice of a fellow reader four years ago and gave this series a shot. Ten books in, and I'm enjoying it more than ever. Not great literature, but then pulp fiction doesn't pretend to be, and I don't think the snarky, wise-cracking Dresden would have it any other way. Small Favor is one of the best of the bunch, being an Avengers-like team-up of many characters we've gotten to know throughout the past nine books. One of whom is a Knight of the Cross, whose faith in the Almighty remains unshakable. Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Butcher doesn't include a Christian character only to belittle him. Instead, this friendship provides Dresden an opportunity to wrestle with a reality bigger than himself, one that he doesn't fully understand. That gritty tension keeps me invested in these characters as Harry learns more about his developing abilities and the forces at play in the world around him. One star deducted for chronic word repetition / thesaurus neglect; otherwise, a solid 4 out of 5 stars.