The Dresden Files
may have had its ups and downs, but Blood Rites is perhaps the worst
that the series has been. Now my biggest
complaint with the series thus far has been with the second installment, Fool
Moon, and its tendency to introduce several plotlines and floundering as a
story, and those are still present in Blood Rites which is on the whole
weaker there as Butcher just writes something which becomes difficult to get through. If Summer Knight and Death Masks
were formulaic, but improving on the formula, Blood Rites is a step
backwards, going right back to the standard detective story with only an A plot
and a B plot actually worth talking about while the C plot is essentially a
running gag which of course ends with Harry adopting a dog, something signposted
right from the first page where he rescues said dog from demon monkeys. The gag is essentially: Will you take care of
this dog, no? Okay, I guess I’ll have to take care of him. It’s fine, but really it doesn’t to anything,
though the setup of getting the dog is perhaps where it falls apart to be the
worst. The opening action sequence starts
out fine, but the tone is immediately set when the demon monkeys end up
flinging feces at Dresden and you kind of know just what sort of installment in
The Dresden Files you’re in for.
It barely is connected to the rest of the book outside of reintroducing
Thomas and the dog bit, and there is a silver lining of the opening paragraphs
being some of the best so far.
The plot proper follows Harry as he is hired to investigate
threats on a pornography shoot.
Yes. That is the plot we are
going with. Butcher already has been
critiqued for chauvinist and outright sexist characters, but the objectification
here is perhaps at its worst, though it is at least rarely coming from
Harry. There wasn’t an expectation of
Butcher making this an analysis of sex work, but there are a few decent scenes with
this aspect of the plot where those involved are mostly just treated as decent
workers. It’s just the description of
the actors and the cliches of the prima donna especially which just gets
boring, and the twist there is also incredibly obvious. The idea of a death curse is interesting, but
it is wasted on this setting. This is
also the first time that Karrin Murphy, a character whom I praised for defying
stereotypes, is not only objectified, but her marital history is a minor
subplot which while good for depth just doesn’t fit with the absolute sleaze
that this book includes. Butcher wants
to have the porn plot be at least a little comedic, but the comedy just doesn’t
work. Luckily the second half of the
novel goes to a plot involving Dresden and Thomas attempting to take down Tomas’
father and White Court Vampire, Lord Raith.
The brewing war doesn’t actually get touched on here, but the heist
style of the second half is one of the few redeeming figures, allowing characters
from previous books to appear and get some depth. The only characters whose added depth doesn’t
really work are Thomas, who is revealed to be Harry’s secret half-brother, and
Kincaid from Death Masks, who is sexist now I guess and just has a
wildly different personality. The climax
is fine and Harry’s lasting injury might actually help the series in the long
run, but a lot of this book just does not focus on anything that moves things along.
Overall, Blood Rites is most definitely a
misstep and if the follow up, Dead Beat, does not improve things, it
could be a fatal one. Reading this book
is only saved by Harry having some nice character moments and growth and Butcher’s
easy to read stylistic choices shining through.
It’s one that could have been skippable if it wasn’t for the fact that
several major things about Dresden are revealed as well as some character moments,
even the ones that do not resonate. It’s
a book that does not come recommended as it fails on most levels to be engaging
and easily could cause some readers to jump ship at this point. 3/10.
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