Small Favor, Book Ten of the Dresden Files

Small Favor

Book Ten of the Dresden Files

Publisher: Penguin Books USA as Roc (2008)

Author: Jim Butcher

Genre: Fantasy, Urban

Pages: 541

Price: $9.99

Wizard Harry Dresden’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 Winter Court of the Sidhe, 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 strain his skills and loyalties to their very limits.

And everything was going so well for once...

Intrigue, intrigue and more intrigue! This chapter of the Dresden Files puts Harry at the center of everyone else's plots and watches him navigate his way through, shooting off at the mouth and getting beaten up along the way. He's helping those he's normally loathe to help, and raising suspicion in those who are usually his allies. About halfway through you'll realize he's not exactly acting like himself, and then the hammer drops. What's going on with Harry?

All of the various supernatural factions we've come to know and love make an appearance in Small Favor. Winter and Summer both rear their heads, as well as the Knights of the Cross, the Denarians, Marcone's crime network, another Warden or two, and of course Thomas; all have their parts to play in this intricate story. The overall situation also seems to be getting bigger on a cosmic scale and divine forces are leaving their fingerprints on events, and there is still an unseen puppetmaster manipulating the whole mess.

Harry's world is also rocked in ways he, and the reader, aren't quite accustomed to. We're introduced to a possible love interest, and on the much more somber side, one of Harry's dearest friends suffers mightily at the hands of their enemies.

Jim Butcher's familiar style continues to guide us through Harry's exploits. The blending of humor, anger and sadness that is necessary to tell this story seems to give Mr. Butcher no trouble at all, as the story flows seamlessly. The 'falling action' part of the book is perfect, as they usually are in a Dresden Files book. The ending doesn't drag on for so long that you're begging for it to end, it just tells you exactly how everything that transpired affected those involved, even if in one case you almost don't want to know.

Conclusion: The list of enemies that Harry Dresden has made doesn't necessarily grow in this one, but he's given them even more reason to seek his downfall. The dangers surrounding him have increased, while the list of those capable of helping seems to be dwindling. If something doesn't give, and soon, Harry might just find himself in more trouble than he bargained for.

Rating: 8.5/10