Book Review: Cold Days by Jim Butcher

 Cold Days (Dresden Files #14) by Jim Butcher

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard.

He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill.

Guess which Mab wants first?

Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday.

Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own…

His soul.

*spoilers for previous book*

There’s very little you can say about Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series that hasn’t been said before.

You could pick any superlative and chances are it would be an apt description of the latest saga in the life of Chicago’s favourite wizard for hire.

Cold Days follows on from the events of Ghost Story, look away now spoiler phobes, that saw Harry back from the dead after agreeing to serve as the Winter Knight.

Long term readers will know that Harry’s new position is something of a poisoned chalice, to say the least, and it isn’t long before he’s once again up to his neck in danger.

Butcher’s biggest skill is giving us this incredibly detailed and awe-inspiring universe and grounding it by focusing on the wise-cracking and long suffering Harry Dresden.

On the surface Butcher would have you believe that Dresden is just like anyone else, but as we continue to follow Harry on his extraordinary path it’s clear that isn’t the case.

The stakes have never been higher for Dresden and his friends as they are thrown headfirst into a plot that threatens the very fabric of existence.

There are plenty of pop-culture references thrown in that will keep the fanboys happy long into the night.

Who couldn’t love a book that has a goblin army going into battle while chanting Queen’s We Will Rock You en masse?

You know what you are getting with The Dresden Files and, once again, that’s a gripping page-turner of a novel that is impossible to put down.

5 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Paddy from Following the Nerd

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Sheep Movie Review: Battleship directed by Peter Berg

We have guest reviewer and Nerd, Paddy, sharing his thoughts on Battleship. Stay tuned for Katie's (man-candy) review once it opens in the States.

Battleship (12a)
Directed by: Peter Berg
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson
Running time: 131mins

Plot:

Peter Berg ('Hancock') produces and directs 'Battleship,' an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Based on Hasbro's classic naval combat game, 'Battleship' stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper's fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper's older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper's crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone's superior (and Sam's father), Admiral Shane.

IT’S been a disappointing start to the blockbuster season this year. John Carter, while not necessarily a bad film, underperformed and Wrath Of The Titans was somehow even more wretched than the first.

It’s fair to say that expectations are not exactly high for Battleship, a blockbuster based on a board game was never going to set the bar highly, but even that doesn’t excuse what we’re presented with here.

Playing like Battle: Los Angeles mixed with Transformers at sea, there’s nothing in here this is anything but a complete cliche.

The story, if you could call it that, centres on an alien fleet that intercepts a satellite message from Earth and decides to come here and throw their weight about. They obviously didn’t count on the sheer bravery and slow motion heroics of the brave boys and girls of the US Navy.
Anyone who has ever had a thought in their head will see through this mess of a film that feels like it has been made by committee.

While it’s never as bad as Michael Bay’s appalling Transformers films, it runs it fairly close at times. If there is any enjoyment to be had it’s in the action scenes that are admittedly impressive. Unfortunately they aren’t enough when you’re presented with one dimensional characters and a storyline that feels like it’s been written on the back of a beermat.

The cast are all perfunctory to say the least, with Liam Neeson continuing his run of dire movies that began with Taken and continued with low brow fare like The A-Team and Unknown.

Battleship fails to hit the target and sadly sinks without trace.

1 1/2 Sheep

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