Review: Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher

What even IS this cover? If that's a real person, I'm sorry, but that's some uncanny valley shit right there. That's not my Harry. I refuse.

Rating:

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

First Response:

This book has no spice. I'm shocked, considering it's about porn.

One Sentence Summary:

Someone is trying to magically sabotage an... <ahem>... adult film, and the producers what Harry to figure out who.

Tell Me More:

I'm pretty sure this is the one with Vampires, but it's kinda hard to tell. Considering there have been vampires in almost every book since Storm Front, in a sense, they're all 'the one with vampires;' on the other hand, this is the first one that features vampires as the main villain, and expands on the lore of the three courts-- given the sheer number of words given over to the vampire mythology in this one, I'm comfortable calling this one "THE ONE with vampires."

But... It's also the one with succubi and incubi, because succubi and incubi are vampires! The White Court of Vampires don't feed on blood, they feed on passion, which is why they are very heavily involved in the... <ahem>... adult... entertainment industry. Thomas (a White Court Vampire we've met in previous books) has a friend who makes porn; and the friend believes his current film is under attack from an Entropy curse, so Thomas hooks is friend up with a professional wizard: one Harry Dresden.

This book feels a little more unfocused than previous installments. In earlier books, Harry has pounded the pavement in search of bad guys to bring to justice; but in this one he's on the defensive. It feels as if things are happening around Harry for most of the book, and while the book is still action packed, there's a lot more running-and-hiding in this book than in previous installments. While Harry's trying to protect the porno, he's also under attack from the Black Court of Vampires. They come on hard and heavy (no puns intended), which forces Harry to seek refuge with the White Court. I don't want to get into spoiler territory, so let's play a game instead!

Here's a playlist. These songs give spoilers, but no context. Can you guess what they mean?

Blood Rites is getting 5 'drops of blood' out of 5 because, as with all the others in this series, it was a ton of fun. Butcher knows how to write a great adventure novel, and expand his worldbuilding without letting the info-dumps overwhelm the narrative. It's been a fun ride as Dresden's world has gotten wider with each passing book, and I can't wait to see which corner of the Nevernever we explore next!