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| Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $14.23
You Save: $9.72 (41%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 2949
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0451461894
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780451461896
ASIN: 0451461894
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The new novel in the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series.
No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.
An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills- and loyalties-to their very limits.
It figures. Everything was going too well to last...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 122 more reviews...
 Never owe a faery queen a favor... April 5, 2008
37 out of 44 found this review helpful
You are never going to believe what Queen Mab wants Harry to do in exchange for a favor owed her. She wants him to rescue Gentleman Johnny Marcone (one of Chicago's most nefarious gangsters) from unknown kidnappers.
Now, having Johnny out of the scene could be a good thing? Well, not if the folks holding him are the order of the Denarians. And yes, they want Gentleman Johnny to take one of those ill-fated coins and the demon possession that goes with.
Unfortunately, Queen Titania is not in agreement with her sister regarding Johnny's possession and she sends some heavies of her own to get Harry's goat. What is described as a small favor turns out to be a serious threat to many of the people Harry cares about.
As always, Jim Butcher puts a lot of heart into his novels. He's kept Harry a good man, someone who'd risk his own life for others, a real hero in the urban fantasy genre.
We get some favorites returning: Michael Carpenter and his family; Sanya, the Black Russian Knight; Captain Luccio; Gard (remember Monoc Security, part of Marcone's protection?); and others.
"Small Favor" is one of the faster paced Dresden novels around. Jim had me hooked from the beginning and didn't let up until I turned the last page. I was glad to read that Butcher has ideas for 20 or so Dresden novels on the books and I seriously hope that his publisher will allow him to continue writing them.
10th in the Dresden Files Series April 1, 2008
25 out of 41 found this review helpful
Harry Dresden is the only professional wizard listed in the Chicago phone book. And just when it seems his life is starting to quiet down, Queen Mab of the Winter Faeries has decided to cash in on a favor that Harry owes. But the Summer Court has already caught wind, and has begun sending forces to stop him. As Harry tracks down a missing gangster, he must make hard choices and put himself in further danger in order to fulfill a "small favor."
My favorite wizard (the other Harry) returns in another suspense-filled thrill ride. A complex and witty character, Harry Dresden has gone through a lot of turmoil and changes throughout the series. He still deals with many internal struggles as well as confusing relationships. Harry is constantly putting others before himself, so his love life has been non-existent for years. He's a mentor, a friend, a brother, a wizard, a warden, an investigator, and whatever else he needs to be to help those he cares about. With equally complex secondary characters, Butcher has created one of the most well-known and well-loved urban fantasies.
Flawlessly blending classic noir mystery with a fresh take on fantasy, every installment of the Dresden Files is a treat. In Small Favor, Harry enlists the help of his friends once again to combat the forces of darkness, while trying to stay alive. With a few surprises along the way, this is a non-stop, action-packed mystery that does not disappoint.
If you haven't been reading the Dresden Files, you've been missing out.
 Thoroughly Disappointing April 5, 2008
17 out of 33 found this review helpful
I can't believe I'm saying this about a Dresden novel, but here goes: this book? Was thoroughly disappointing.
The case, is as always, a great ride. However, to quote an earlier review: Where's Harry Dresden? More importantly, where are the relationships that were so important to him earlier in the series - namely those with Murphy and Thomas?
When I first began reading this series, it was Murphy and Harry that grabbed me and hooked me. Their's was an angsty relationship, but nonetheless filled with chemistry that leapt off the page at me and helped me endure Susan's incredibly grating presence in the early books. As the characters that I cared the most about, I had hoped I would see Harry and Murphy develop into something more eventually. No, instead, Murhpy is now Harry's muscle. Reduced to being "small and fierce" (Tyra Banks has a lot to answer for), she's a cipher to me in this book. For some reason, she's still hung up on Kincaid, yet I have no idea what that relationship meant to her beyond that. A holiday with him is about the last thing I remember from an earlier novel. She's been having experiences off somewhere, while the books now see fit to chronicle Elaine, the annoyance that is Molly and even pages and pages (previous book) of Charity's righteous anger at Harry (Mercifully, Charity seems to have grown a heart in this book). Why? I have no idea. I don't care about any of them, yet recently, they've taken precedence over the characters that I've loved and followed for from the first book.
I don't understand why Murphy, pretty much the strongest female character (a character I wished more urban fantasies could get a clue from) in the book has been reduced to a bit part. Is it so Luccio can take her place? Ten books later, I care nothing for Luccio, and frankly, the thought of seeing Harry in this relationship in the next book has me already putting it aside. I have no earthly idea why I should care about this character as opposed to Murphy. Murphy and Harry are the normal and the supernatural in intriguing packages (I've been eagerly waiting for Murph to get the sword...yet, that's done too, explained away in a flip line and nothing more), and more importantly, in characters who to me had such grand potential considering their views on the world, their attraction and their partnership. They pretty much *sparked* like crazy to me from the get-go, and as the characters grew with each book, the story potential between this too seemed to me to be too good to be true - I *craved* their relationship in other urban fantasies I've read. Now? Not anymore. I rather suspect they might find they're too good friends to ever stuff it up with a relationship at the rate things are going, but I doubt I'll be around to read about it.
If there was no romance on the horizon for them - cool. However, Murphy, pretty much hands down my favorite female character in the books like this that I've read, is still slowly disappearing in favor of background characters.
The other disappointment? - Thomas. Nothing more than muscle, and competing with Molly as the Resident go-to-guy for funny one-liners. He's been reduced to being Harry's chauffer and Harry's double. After which, he suddenly reappears at the end of the book, the lack of his presence at his brother's side explained by one line. Thomas' reveal as Harry's brother in an earlier book pretty much gave me the biggest emotional punch for Harry in the entire series. Since, then, I've seen nothing of the sort for Harry. He's been coasting along, getting a revelation here and there embroiled in his cases, but none of it translates back to the next most important characters to me, and I'd argue, Harry - Murphy and Thomas.
I think Harry is stagnating. I haven't seen any change in him since Thomas appeared. Perhaps a line or two there, when he's not running for his life, or getting involved with third tier characters, but that's pretty much it. He is surrounded by pages and page of superfluous characters, thrust into importance in the book, and at the expense of the established characters. I was willing to tolerate Molly's presence as Harry's apprentice, but frankly, any character designed to be the sister/apprentice/plucky, yet snarky with the one liners? Is as annoying in print, as they are onscreen. I shudder to think of yet another book involving Michael and his family. I know more about them, than I do about Murphy and Thomas these days, and I don't care about the former, especially when their presence is as a consequence of sacrificing Murphy and Thomas' time with Harry. Simply put, that isn't a sacrifice I'm willing to make. And having Thomas appear in a separate book? Doesn't do him justice. It's Thomas and Harry (and Murphy), that I want to read about, not `Thomas' adventures without Harry'.
My best friend made sure I had this book on time the day it was released. I waxed lyrical about it for a year until I got it...and I really don't know how to tell her I wished she'd saved her money. There's nothing here that got me hooked in the series' early novels. All there is, is a hero that's stuck, and a cast of characters that are suddenly thrust into importance after spending the previous 10 books as minor characters, while those that have been around for ages now, that affect Harry the most, are slowly fading away.
 Fallen Angels and Fey April 2, 2008
13 out of 24 found this review helpful
The Queen of Air and Darkness cashes in the 2nd of the three favors Harry owes. Harry must rescue his frenemy Gentleman Johnny Marcone from unknown kidnappers. Harry is caught between his friends in the Summer Court and an obligation to the Winter Court with accompanying death threats from both sides. Denarrians and Knigts of the Cross vie for for souls and Harry has too many obligations to count.
Faeries, why did it have to be faeries? April 3, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Small Favor
By Jim Butcher
Once more author Jim Butcher has given his readers a thrill packed roller coaster ride through the wild & woolly world of Harry Dresden's Chicago. The 10th book in the series shows us an ever evolving and maturing Harry Dresden. Almost all of the old gang are back, Murphy, Mab, Thomas, Marcone, Knights of the Cross, Fallen Angles ...etc.... and of course ...Bob. While Butchers books are far superior to the enjoyable , if somewhat short lived TV series, is there anyone who doesn't visualize Terrence Mann in a smoking jacket as they read about Bob?
Butcher seamlessly moves his story from the world of the hard boiled gumshoe through the occult and into magical realms of Faerie, (not to mention a few stops at the Godfathers), with all the in's and out's that we've come to expect in a Dresden novel.
I normally don't do reviews of novels because I would hate to inadvertently ruin the story for someone. So here`s the nutshell version without giving anything away. A very enjoyable read that I highly recommend. The book has most of the cast and crew that we've grown to love (or hate). Fast paced with lots of twists and turns in the plot, no surprise there. The Good guy's finaly get to.......... I'll stop there. Oh, ya.... There's something better than hellfire, (be careful what you wish for Harry!). Enjoy!
In Frith,
Spence the Elder
"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
M. Addams
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