2 Bloggers 1 Series - Death Masks (The Dresden Files #5)

 

It might be a tad bit late but Stormi and I continued our series read of The Dresden Files in October.  It took me a while longer to read this one but I think it's because of other books taking priority.  Once I got into it, it did fly pretty quickly.  It just took a while for me to get into it.  So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Storm Reads to see what Stormi thought.

TITLE: Death Masks (The Dresden Files #5)

AUTHOR: Jim Butcher

PUBLISHER: Ace

PUBLISHING DATE: August 5, 2003

PAGES: 432   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for: 

A duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards... 

Professional hit men using Harry for target practice... 

The missing Shroud of Turin... 

A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified... 

Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. 

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging.

MY THOUGHTS: So, I'm now five books into this series and I think I see a pattern.  Every book opens with Harry in the middle of a catastrophe where his death is imminent.  It has to be exhausting to be Harry Dresden because I get physically tired reading about his disastrous life.

In this book Harry is continuing to rage war with the Red Court, or maybe more accurately, they are raging war with him.  They have sent a representative to town for a duel and Harry excepts, even when the odds of survival are definitely low.  In addition, Harry has been hired by a new job hired by the Knights to find the ancient Shroud of Turin.  Oh, and by the way, Harry now thinks that the big Chicago mob boss he thought he was on decent terms with has a hit on him.  

I will admit I found this book a bit hard to get into.  Although I know the Knights are an element Stormi really enjoys reading about, they aren't my favorite part of the Dresden world.  I enjoyed seeing Susan return and feel badly for the obstacles that exist that keep them apart.  I enjoyed meeting Butters, the unique character who works in the city morgue and I hope we get to see more of him in the future.  I also enjoyed learning more about the Denarians even though, dare I say it, snake-man.  Ugghh.

Like previous installments, the ending of this novel was satisfying and left just enough unresolved issues to lead into the next book.  I am glad I hopped on board to read this with series and can't wait to find out what trouble finds Harry next!

MY RATING: 4 Paws