Battle Ground

Dresden Files, Book 17

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: James Marsters

THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS FOR HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, in the next entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.

Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.

But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.

Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

Critic reviews

“Just when you think he can’t take it up a notch, Butcher proves once more that he is freaking amazing. Wicked cool.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs

"Urban fantasy at its best, combining spectacular magic and deeply explored character."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The arc begun in Peace Talks comes to a deadly, destructive finish in the 17th 'Dresden Files' book—and nothing will be the same again.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Praise for Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files
“Harry Dresden is a wholly original character in a wholly original world. Every book in the series is a great adventure.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

“I've been reading the Dresden Files for more than a decade, and somehow, every book gets better. It's my favorite kind of story: delightful, deep, complicated, rare, and wonderful.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss

“Jim Butcher has long proven he can juggle multiple threads of political intrigue, personal drama, and threat with a masterful use of action and tension. . . . Harry’s hard-earned grit keeps his head above the magical waters and me on the edge of my seat.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison

“Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”—Entertainment Weekly

“One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.”—Cinescape

“Takes the best elements of urban fantasy, mixes it with some good old-fashioned noir mystery, tosses in a dash of romance and a lot of high-octane action, shakes, stirs, and serves.”—SF Site

Delivers on the promise!

After the massively disappointing Peace Talks, Battle Ground really delivers and makes the 6 year wait between installments really worthwhile! I know that Jim split the two books in half since he'd written too much, but I still kind of wish they were still stuck together. But as someone who's favorite book - ever - is book 12, Changes, this really scratched that itch. In fact there's more series-altering changes in Battle Ground than there were in Changes! Very, very good.

This book, what a Rollercoaster!

Probably my favorite jim butcher book, two books in one year best part of 2020

Man, this one is a heavy hitter!!! 😮

Wow!!!

Masterful storytelling.

I've read/listened to all of the Dresden files novels up to this one, and I have to say that this particular story was the most shocking one yet!

Bring your tissues peeps, cause you'll laugh, you'll cheer, and oh yes, YOU WILL cry!

I dare say no more!

Read Peace Talks right before you start this

This was an amazing book, but the narrative very much relies on having a fresh memory of Peace Talks. Jim has stated numerous times he was forced to split the story onto two installments. If you combine them both into one book, the two of them together would be 10/10 amazing. Without reading Peace Talks to prep, little of the story makes sense. But that’s the Publishers fault for making him split it up.

There are some interesting things to note, even considering Peace Talks and Battlegrounds as “The Saga of the Battle of the Bean”. Jim reused a few of the same story mechanics again. In ‘White Knight’, the driving action of the story was Thomas being framed. In these two, Thomas did something bad, and Harry figures he’s being set up or framed. Trying not to spoil, but one of the biggest personal sacrifices made of Harry in ‘Changes’ is again required. Peace Talks was pretty stuffed with this, Battlegrounds far less so, but given this is the first Dresden installment in years it makes sense if Jim needs to kick the tires a bit. I’ll still keep reading!

There are some fun twists at the end that deepen some of the recurring characters that’s just plain fun, and this book is like ‘Changes’ in that it attempted to resolve a bunch of plot lines while setting up the beginning of the end of the series.

All in all not a perfect book, but nothing is. Excellent enough to pay for both the Audible and the book version: support the series y’all! I’m using it to introduce someone to the series for the first time via ‘in medias res’ fashion. Hopefully we won’t have to wait years for the next installment

Another great Dresden book

Jim Butcher does it again and James Marsters performance brings the Dresden Files alive once again!