HBalikov's Reviews > Small Favor

My intention is to keep this review short since many of you already know that I consider Jim Butcher’s Dresden series one of the finest collections of contemporary fantasy writing…and because I want to avoid any spoilers for those of you who have yet to read Small Favor.

In this novel, there is plenty of action and Butcher keeps it going with imaginative variations. Harry finds that he is over his head almost right from the start and has to call on a large number of his allies in order to solve the underlying mystery of what has happened to Chicago’s number one crime boss. This becomes important because Harry has to pay a debt to Queen Mab of the Winter Court and that “small favor” leads to a conflict that threatens Earth as we know it.

For those of you who have read none of the Harry Dresden series, be aware that Harry is all that is keeping those other worlds of magic and demons from destroying the life that you hold dear. Harry works from Chicago and pays the bills by hiring out as a private investigator. He uses his skills (in white magic) as part of his investigations and his investigations usually come to involve the “supernatural.”

More than some of the books in this series, Small Favor drags in elements of the White Court, the Red Court, the Black Court, the Summer Court and the Winter Court. These are terms I won’t explain in detail except to say that we are given a fully developed alternate world with characters who interact in ways that may or may not affect the plot. There are those who say they are on the side of good, and those who say that they serve some other goal and those who are just out for anything they can get. They may be ghouls, vampires, pixies or succubae. Harry has powers, some of them pretty awesome, but there are costs to using them and costs to resisting their use. We find out a lot more about the balance of power as Harry Dresden must counter the challenge posed by the Danarians led by Nicodemus.

As I said earlier, there is plenty of non-stop action, and when you think it might be over, it isn’t. What may impress me most beyond the excellent writing is that Butcher keeps track of everything (like a professional juggler). There may have been something that occurred three or five books ago, but he has not lost track of it and blends it seamlessly into the story.