This book picks up where Peace Talks left off so make sure you have read that first. This was an absolute roller coaster of a book. So many ups and downs and twists and turns. The ending was true Jim Butcher in that you didn’t see that last twist coming. He does kill off a major character and I still can’t forgive the author for it. Maybe once I am done mourning the loss. This is an absolute must read for any Dresden Fan!

I received an ARC for an unbiased review of this book. I listened to an interview with Jim Butcher this summer for San Diego Comic Con. In the interview Butcher stated that his editor told him that he had to breakup his most current novels into two books. These books were initially a single VERY LONG book with two story lines going. What can I say? She was right. This book has a completely different tone and energy then “Peace Talks”. This book lives up to the name of the title page. "Battle Ground". 90% of this book is for the battle for Chicago. So if you love battle scenes and more battles scenes with detailed descriptions, this is your book. However, is this why we’ve been reading the Dresden files for the past 20 years? I don’t know. However, to see MAB throw down is pretty awesome! The Butters character has developed into a person to be feared (if you are a bad guy of course). However, I feel that Butcher pulled the rug out from under us with the Murphy character. When you arrive at the end of the novel, you’re like, ok, I see now but really! Was it really necessary? To be honest, I enjoyed the bonus Xmas short story at the end more than the novel. I’ve written the last two reviews with a heavy heart. I want to have high hope for book 18, but we’ll see.

Thanks again to Netgalley for an ARC!
I have always been and remain a huge fan of the Dresden Files and this latest entry has not been a disappointment.!
Battlegrounds picks up where Peace Talks left off and sees conflict come to City of Chicago.
A number of old friends and foes reappear as the chaos unfolds and Harry is torn between his obligations to various factions.
I don't want to spoil too much but this book does an excellent job of wrapping up plotlines while also setting up new ones. I am so excited to see what comes next!

<em>Battle Ground</em> ... the title says it all. Almost this entire book takes place on the battle field in a massive confrontation between the local supernatural world and a Titan. Yeah, I said it ... a Titan.

This battle - this<em> war</em> - is set up in the previous book when some of the peace talks went south. Wizard Harry Dresden has been in more than his share of battles against overwhelming odds, but this is going to test his limits . Many will make the ultimate sacrifice and still might not be enough. And if ever there was a need for adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" to be put into play, this would be it. Here Harry will be assisted by all manner of Chicago denizens - anyone who has a stake in protecting their home, even if it means fighting along side the likes of Harry Dresden (who has pissed off any number of families or individuals).

This is the plot. It's just 400 pages of battle prep and battle with about 30 pages of denouement.

As with any war, people are going to die and readers should be aware that some favorite characters might not make it through this battle ground. And <em>NO</em> one comes out unscathed.

It's hard to imagine that a 400 page battle scene could manage to hold on to the reader's attention, but author Jim Butcher is no slouch. He gives us just enough of a breather between pitched battles to allow us to catch our figurative and literal breaths before moving on to the next fight, which somehow is bigger and badder and with so much more at stake. Seriously ... I think I may have been almost hyperventilating at the end of some chapters.

Aside from great action scenes, this book gives a number of other Dresden Files characters a chance to rise to the occasion and have a moment of glory.

The ending took me by surprise. Yet it certainly feels 'right' in the context of everything else. Suffice it to say that future Dresden Files books will take on a different tone moving forward.

I really appreciate when the stakes are high and the obstacles to achieving the goal are challenging, and it just doesn't get much better than this.

Looking for a good book? <em>Battle Ground</em> by Jim Butcher is the 17th book in the Dresden Files series. It's a little low on plot - because the plot has been established in earlier books - but it makes up for it with lots of intense action.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

After the build up that was Peace Talks this book is all action. Dresden is full and truly "in the shit". Chicago sees a full on supernatural war and the world will never be the same. Dresden grows in this book, he suffers losses, his life gets yet more complicated. . . There is so much happening here and little can be said in detail due to SPOILERS. I would not want any reader of Dresden to miss out a single heart stopping reveal. Jim Butcher is at the top of this game and my only regret is that we cannot immediately have another volume.

I was provided an eArc of this book by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

A very classic Dresden novel that picks up directly after Peace Talks, so read that first! Chicago is under attack, and the plan is for Dresden to bind Ethniu. The problem is how. And that is where a major problem arises. How do you stop a Titan with a supernatural weapon? Luckily, Dresden has The Queen of Air and Darkness, part of the White Council, Gentleman John Marcone, and a number of other allies to help. But the real fun comes later! To talk more would be to spoil the surprise(s)! So read the book, enjoy the thrill ride, and stick around for the Christmas short story at the end!

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!

As I said for Peace Talks...
Despite Magic, Mayhem, and Everything Else, for Harry Dresen, it is all about Family.

After the amazing events of Peace Talks, Harry is ready to take to the Battle Ground. The fate of Chicago, let alone the world are at stake. Can Harry take on a Goddess, while dealing with the rest of the magical forces at work? Finish to find out the whirlwind conclusion to this amazing back to back story!

What can I say that won't spoil everything?

This was a thrill ride of a read from beginning to end. I laughed. I cried. A LOT. Butcher outdid himself with this one. Truly the opus of the Dresden Files to date. Wrapping up many stories and beginning many more.

I cannot wait to see what's next but for now I am going to go cry in a corner.

I will admit, I got Peace Talks from my local library and then could not wait for Battle Ground. Once again, Butcher delivers an action packed tale with his trademark "things get way worse for Harry" plot. And like, I didn't think things could get worse, but man. After many monster of the week stories that eventually revealed much bigger political machinations, Harry is suddenly faced with something entirely new and awful, taking the series for an unexpected turn.

We get to see the familair faces of allies, and the reviled faces of some of our favorite villains, as well as a breadth of exciting new creatures to face. The themes of war and loss are strong and painful, but are balanced with themes of family and finding the light in the dark. Things change dramatically for everyone, and it seems like all the characters get a change in perspetive in this one.

One thing is for sure, Harry's world will never be the same.

This is another excellent installment of the Dresden Files. Harry once again finds himself over his head and in a huge boss battle. Regular readers of the series will enjoy this new book.

The first 90% of this book is pretty much non-stop action taking place over just a few hours, taking up just minutes after the conclusion of the previous book. I recommend reading them back to back if you haven't already devoured "Peace Talks". The last part of the book deals with the aftermath of the battle and repercussions from new information that Harry has discovered. And, of course, it sets us up for some major changes in Harry's world and with some new conflicts for him to deal with. There is also a bonus short story, the sweetest little Christmas tale.

This, like all of this series, was great fun to read. We get lots of Harry's snappy banter, two Knights of the Sword, quite a bit of Molly, Mab, Marcone, Murphy, and more. As you might expect with a battle of the magnitude detailed in this book, many lives are lost including some of our ongoing characters. And there are a couple of really great reveals in the last 25% of the book.

Still one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series, and I'll definitely be coming back for more.

This was a difficult book for me to read, simply because I have never been a fan of war/battle stories - not in movies, not in books. The vast majority of this book is given over to just that - certainly understandable as a progression in his larger arc, and given the upfront nature of the book title, but I have always felt that Butcher's biggest strength was in the characters and relationships he crafted between them. Despite the cameo appearance of many well loved characters, their relationships are not the heart of this particular book, and however unreasonably, I was somewhat disappointed. Typical of the author to leave you wanting so much more story, and hopefully there won't be quite the same time gap before we see the next instalment.

I am a BIG FAN of Butcher and the "Harry Dresden" series, and have read the entire series over many years... waited the five (six?) years for "Peace Talks" and "Battle Ground" to come out. I am VERY PLEASED with "Battle Ground"! I do, however, wish that the two books had been released as one "big book" - we fans really could have read that long! That said, I really did enjoy the action of THIS ebook - which is aptly named, as it primarily takes place over the course of a LONG night of battle for control of Chicago between good and evil. Harry Dresden, our Wizard hero, will be tested, and will see loss, and pain, and struggle tremendously to vanquish the bad guys. I have very few quibbles with the book, and much praise for it - I read it primarily all in one very long day! BRAVO! My thanks to NetGally and the publisher for the ARC, and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

BATTLE GROUND picks up exactly where PEACE TALKS stopped. The story (and subsequent conclusion) is filled with tension, surprise, sadness, hope, and the ending makes the 2-part journey feel worthwhile. The events of this book have the highest stakes of any adventure for Harry Dresden thus far - and the writing helps portray this without relying on heavy-handed tactics. I definitely recommend reading this directly after PEACE TALKS!

Battle Ground is really the second half of the story started in Peace Talks. Given book 17 of a series is rarely the correct place to start, it still doesn't stand alone as well as most of the other Dresden Files books. In context with the previous book, it's excellent, but needs to be read as a pair.

This is the most action packed book of the series, even more so than Changes. The book covers the invasion setup in Peace talks as well as the immediate aftermath. In the second or third chapter, there's a fight that would have been a highlight of most other books and it just ramps up from there. There's barely a moment to breath between fight scenes, but the action scenes have always been among the highlights of the series. Trademark Dresden humor still has time to shine through and I found myself laughing out loud at the references and jokes even more than usual. The scope is epic and the results on the main characters are life-changing.

This is easily one of the best books in the series and will have me waiting eagerly for the next one. If it had been combined with Peace talks as a single novel, it would take the top spot without question. After six years, it's good to know that Jim Butcher still has what made the series great. I just hope the next book won't be split into two parts.

Battle Ground is a continuation of the story started in Peace Talks (16), so its not going to be a book that will stand on its own very well. Much like Changes (book 12) before it this book is an emotional roller coaster. Its balance of humor and metaphorical gut punches left me laughing out loud at the pages and at one point sobbing. We get to see some favorite characters and how they’ve grown over the series, and been reminded of why we love (or love to hate!) others.
The book begins in the thick of things and the action never really stops. The story lives up to its title, being almost exclusively set in the middle of a war after the failure of the Peace Talks in the last book. While it did leave some unanswered questions, there were some pretty big reveals that I’ve been waiting to find out, and the story left me satisfied. Its easily one of my top 3 favorites of the series.

#BattleGround #NetGalley

I enjoyed the previous volume in the series despite its lack of a truly satisfying ending, which says good things about Jim Butcher's skill in the art of spinning out a narrative. The mix of humor, conflict, magic, and mystery always keeps me coming back for more.

I enjoyed Battle Ground too, but again it was a liking despite elements. I knew Battle Ground would hold a lot of action. I knew conflicts of duty, honor and heart-ties would multiply, and decisions would come home to roost. I knew all those things going in, and it was still a grueling read. A GOOD read, but a hard one.

No one coming into book 16 needs me to tell them what's good about this series. So. Below, the things that stuck out to me as memorable.

There were no breathers beyond a paragraph or or two of character interplay between epic fights and interpersonal demolition derbies. There just wasn't page space for narrative relaxation or much of the typical Dresden banter. The whole book takes place over a single night of nonstop end-of-the-world battling. The stakes are sky-high, the forward momentum is relentless, and the tone is... blood-drenched.

Character Development? I didn't see much, but I didn't expect much. There are big revelations, uncomfortable epiphanies, and questionable choices, all the juicy, twisty goodness that makes Dresden a wonderful train wreck of a character to follow, but nuance took a back seat to plot raveling.

That blood-drenched tone I mentioned? I don't see it lightening up any time soon. This book is the beginning of the end, the rise into the big, bad boss resolution of the whole series, which looks like a war to end All Of Time And Space..

That means there's some hard moral work for Harry Dresden ahead, and after his performance in Battle Ground, I am not sure he's up to the task. That's disappointment enough to pull my liking for the book down a bit.<br>I'm sure I'm meant to feel doubt, but the ambiguity never develops.
Will Harry turn to the light or the dark? Will he make the selfless decision when it comes down to the wire? Battle Ground leaves that answer thoroughly up in the air yet again, and not in a way that felt character-driven.

My last impression concerns the "redemptive power of a child" trope. The larger story arc has already headed far down that road. Now, I love reading and writing about family bonds, and I am all-in on the ineffable wonder of love, but, um. It isn't up to bearing the weight of so much narrative. I reserve judgment until the series is finished, but Harry's relationship with his daughter makes me uneasy. It's precious but feels...awfully pat.<

In summary:
Battle Ground is everything Harry Dresden turned up to eleven, the good parts and the problematic ones both. And with all the the virtues and vices of protagonist and plot are cranked up past maximum volume, some of the things I like about the music got lost in the noise.

(All that said, I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT)

In my review of the previous book, Peace Talks, I noted that it felt like Butcher was setting up all the chess pieces of an epic plot and then the book abruptly stopped with a cliffhanger. I was right about a game being set up, but instead of chess, it’s more like continual boss fights for about 90% of the book. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be mentally exhausting, especially with so many characters from previous books reappearing that you have to recall and track their storyline in relation to Dresden. I’ve been reading the series as it comes out since the beginning, so I found myself using a fandom wiki to jog my memory on some details.

Even with the Final Boss being defeated, it’s still not the final level. There are scenes, some just hints, about the greater enemies from the Outside and that so much of what Dresden has been through is just a warm up for an even Bigger Bad. Which makes sense if Butcher is sticking with the idea of having 20-ish “case books” planned, capped off by an “Apocalyptic trilogy”, and this is book 17 which was “an apocalypse with a little a”. Though I’ve also seen Butcher talking about possible spin-off series set in the Dresdenverse, so it’s not over until he decides it is.

Even with the devotion to ongoing battles, there are some major events and reveals, including character deaths, but the biggest thing is now magic has been forced out into the open by the Formor attacking Chicago, and regular people defending their town alongside the Accorded Nations of various supernatural and other in-the-know entities. Now the question is whether those regular humans will turn on the paranormal in general or not, and Dresden is trying to do his best to get the Accorded Nations to prevent that from happening, but I wouldn’t doubt that at least some do hunt the supernatural at some point.

We do get an answer about why Thomas apparently killed someone for no apparent reason in the last book, and the implications are rather horrifying. Nothing is as it appears, and hasn’t been for some time. The only difference now is Dresden is starting to push harder to find out all about this “starborn” and “Endless Night” stuff, and there’s a hint in this book that an enemy may have the information the White Council has been unwilling to share, and there’s possibly other sources of information with various levels of danger involved. Whether or not this is Butcher’s plan remains to be seen, but the White Council has been playing their cards close to their chest about what’s really going on with Dresden, to the point they’re willing to cut him off if they even suspect he’s not 100% with them.

Dresden has been beaten down on multiple fronts, but the various alliances he’s made throughout the series came to his aid in the Battle of the Bean, and most (but not all) are still on his side in some fashion. Those who have shifted away from him have seen what he can do, and they’re afraid of him, and they should be. Harry Dresden is always trying to do what he thinks is right, but he’s been manipulated his whole life and doesn’t even know to what extent.

Looking forward to the next installment, and hopefully it will be a one year wait this time.

Straight up: I am already a big fan of Jim Butcher and his creation Harry Dresden. This title "Battle Ground" follows closely on the heels of the previous book "Peace Talks". Let's face it, they really should be one big book.

All of the great things that I noted in "Peace Talks" appear in "Battle Ground". The writing is tight, the storytelling is exciting, involving, complex. The characters go from strength to strength. Dresden's life history (the struggles, villains, allies, friends) is on full, complicated (like his life) display here, at his moment of truth. The author really demonstrates his ability to juggle multiple characters and handles the battle scenes (much of the book) really well. I did not lose the train of events, I did not skip ahead (some books having me skimming during overlong, overly detailed and confusing action. The reader here cares about the characters, the consequences, the unpredictable results.

My one criticism of "Battle Ground" is that I felt a bit lost during the first couple of chapters. Butcher usually connects the reader adroitly to the previous action (in "Peace Talks"). But in "Battle Ground" I felt initially adrift, like I should know immediately what was going on. Usually the author gives us a first chapter of action, then backtracks to let us in on what got the characters to that point in time. The lack of this format had me briefly struggling-- and hoping that other readers would not have this issue. Going to go back and read these books back to back, as they should be. Looking forward to one, long, all together five-star ride.