Title: Dead Beat
Author: Jim Butcher
Narrator: James Marsters
Series: The Dresden Files #7
Length: 15h 7m
When the once thought dead vampire Mavra threatens to destroy the head of Special Investigations Karrin Murphy’s reputation, Harry finds himself thrust into the dangerous world of necromancy in to find the Word of Kemmler for her, but it quickly turns into a huge mission to stop the undead and the birth of a god.
While I didn’t remember anything about this book, I did remember one very exciting key scene because it has stuck with me since I read this book years ago. This scene has lived rent free inside of my head and will continue to for probably the rest of my life. I won’t say what the scene actually entails because I think it would be a spoiler but I am sure you can probably figure it out once you read this story. I will just say a giant one!
This was probably the most action packed and dangerous case for Dresden yet. It’s been a year since the events in the previous book and Thomas is still living with him. Harry finds himself dealing with nonstop attacks against him and his friends all in an attempt to gain information about the Word of Kemmler. I really enjoyed all the action that was in this one and seeing Harry work together with friends we haven’t seen him work with before.
In this book we see Harry having to officially work with the White Council for the first time and it was very begrudgingly, but it works out in the end. I will be really interested in seeing what happens next with the White Council after everything that happened to them in this book. Also, I want to see how Harry’s relationship with the White Council changes now that things have changed.
With each of these books we learn more about the paranormal aspects of this world. Necromancy has been mentioned in previous books but it was never discussed. I found the whole concept of necromancy in this world to be fascinating, especially since they have to use a steady beat to keep the undead and ghosts in control. The undead just ended up being really interesting and dangerous enemies.
Overall, this was an action packed story of necromancers, zombies, ghosts, demons, and new wizards. I really can’t wait to see what happens next for Harry.
TW: death; torture; violence; injuries and blood;
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Previous books and reviews for the series:
#0.5 Restoration of Faith
#1. Storm Front
#2. Fool Moon
#3. Grave Peril
#4. Summer Knight
#5. Death Masks
#6. Blood Rites
Red-Haired Ash Reads 