Review: Peace Talks, by Jim Butcher

Rating:

🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️

First Response:

I need to go read Battle Ground NOW.

One Sentence Summary:

Thomas Raith is accused of murder mere days before a massive peace conference of supernatural powers is set to take place in’s Chicago.

Tell Me More:

This one only gets 4 stars, and I feel conflicted about it. One the one hand, I know this book is actually only the first part of the book that was supposed to include the content of both Peace Talks and Battle Ground, and it doesn’t seem fair to penalize this book for being itself. I don’t know what pushed Butcher to split, but he did; and I like to judge books for what they are, not what I want them to be.

On the other hand, it’s just the first act of a much bigger book, and it feels like it. Yes, this book technically has a complete plot with setup, development, and resolution— but it really felt like the whole book was just setup to the real story of Battle Ground. Similar to Turn Coat, this book felt like the last little bit of stage setting before a big event that’s going to reframe the series. We’re on book 16 of a planned 25, which means we’re well into our second stage of the development, and while we shouldn’t hit our turn into the final act until around book 19, the events of Battle Ground as set up in this book feel like a big turning point. The stakes have stepped up by a LOT.

Unfortunately, I can’t say much more. Not because I don’t want to, but because there’s not much to say. Like I said, this book is just the beginning of a much bigger story, and while there’s something here, it’s not a lot. (I was going to say "it's not much," but that makes it sound like there's no substance, and there is something here.)