Battle Ground: I’m Sorry Harry

The other group consists of mostly mundane people who felt the call of his banner and who were brave enough to join the fight. They become magically linked to him and he can feel each and every one of them, as they live, and as they die. He arms them with guns. He positions them to fight. He does his best to keep as many of them alive as possible.

Before long, Harry enters the battle himself along with his fellow white council wizards. He fights enemy after enemy. He stops the black court vampires from raising an army of the dead with necromancy. He saw several of his companions taken with them after they lost the fight, but he had to keep moving and fighting. He keeps fighting to protect as many people as he can including the kids trapped inside a daycare facility. And this is where things go very wrong. 

A Jotun (which is essentially a giant) attacks the daycare. Harry is struggling just to stay alive when Murphy comes in and kills the thing with a bazooka. Man, she is amazing. Saving Harry like it’s just another day. Until, she is shot by a frightened Rudolph who has never been able to accept the truth of the supernatural even when he has seen it before in previous books. One shot, and Murphy is gone before Harry’s eyes, and even as I expected something or someone to save her, the light goes from her eyes. 

And Harry Breaks.

Harry completely loses his mind and chases Rudolph down with murder in his heart. He is on the very brink of killing him where he stands. Luckily for everyone, both Butters and Sanya standing up to him with everything they’ve got and manage to save him from himself. I don’t think Harry has ever been pushed as far as he was with her death. It is heart breaking to see him so destroyed but not totally surprising. A man can only have so much taken from him before he’ll snap, even a man as good as Harry.

It also doesn’t help that the battle keeps going on with Harry being the key to saving everyone. The only way to defeat Ethniu is to trap her on Demonreach and lock her in its prison. He has to save himself to be the last stand. Everyone, and I do mean everyone is fighting to weaken her. Almost every single character from all the previous books have gathered together to fight the titan. Not only that, but they manage to weaken her enough for Harry to lead her to Lake Michigan. Both him and Marcone manage to draw her there and get her into the water where Harry can seal her away.

However, the victory is almost overshadowed by a brand new development. Jonny Marcone, the forever rival of Harry Dresden all the way back from book one is actively using a coin of one of the fallen. I never saw that coming. In fact, Butcher makes it seem like Ethniu kills him by breaking his neck. Yet, he comes back all fine and dandy to finish the fight. I have no idea what this means for the future, and I would never have guessed he would do such a thing. However, I wasn’t overly surprised either. Marcone has always wanted to be involved in the supernatural world. Making a deal with a fallen angel helps put him on equal footing in many ways. The only question is, will he be able to control the angel instead of the angel controlling him?

To make this whole happy book even happier we find out that Justine has been possessed by an Outsider named Nemesis for who knows how long. Plus, she’s pregnant. Oh, and right after that, he finds out he’s been kicked out of the white council. Everything is crumbling around him. Butcher has taken more and more from him until all he has left is Micheal, Mouse, and his wonderful little Maggie.

Whew, this book was brutal for me. Truly brutal. I actually wondered if I was going to be able to keep reading it especially after Butcher killed Murphy. I can’t believe he did that. I love her. She has always been one of my favorite characters. Not only that but Butcher takes so much from Harry. It took fifteen books for them to finally get together only for him to take her from him! He had someone who would have stuck with him through thick and thin, and she’s gone. Not only that, but by a stupid fired shot that shouldn’t have been fired? She brought down a giant with a bazooka, but dies like that? She deserved better. Harry deserved better than to lose her. Then, Butcher clenches the hurt by making him engaged to Lara Raith. Now how will Harry find any happiness? What more is necessary for Harry to give? He is down to having almost nothing with Thomas out of commission, Murphy gone, and Molly not really being Molly anymore. What more is he expected to give?

I don’t have any clue about what’s coming next. According to Butcher, there is supposed to be twenty-one main books and an apocalyptic trilogy afterward. So, there is still a lot of story left to go when it seems we have already hit level crazy. Moving forward, I hope Butcher gives something back to Harry. Whether he gets Thomas back out of his current situation, or builds something more stable with his daughter, I truly want him to have something good for once. He deserves it. The phrase ‘the good guy always finishes last’ seems to be the motto for this series. Maybe, that can change at least a little. Though, I won’t be holding my breath.

I’d love to hear what you thought of this book, what you hope will happen moving forward, or what you expect to happen.