(This review may contain spoilers).
It’s been a while since I read any books in the Dresden Universe, but when I found this among my books, I immediately decided I wanted to return to Harry Dresden’s world. And it was much easier to pick up where I left off than I thought it would be.
It was good to get a glimpse into the afterworld and it was nice to meet a character from early on in the universe, as well as to get to know, however briefly, a new character who had his own connections with the people in Harry’s life. I found the inner monologue Harry was experiencing to be particularly amusing.
There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of new characters, but it was particularly nice to see the older ones and how they had to deal with things now that Harry was no longer in the world of the living. While Dresden couldn’t exactly interact with his former friends, at least at first, it was still nice to learn a bit more of the world under the Chicago he was used to.
I’d say it was Molly who I felt the most for. While everyone was affected, I felt she was the one who was affected the most negatively, considering she struck out on her own. Then again, Murphy’s decision to throw in with Marcone seemed to have a huge damaging effect on her.
There were a lot more references to popular culture, and in particular to Marvel, than I was expecting. Towards the end of the book, the Star Trek thing did seem to get a little bit ridiculous with the whole thing with Molly, but perhaps that was because it was the only real time I got to see inside a wizard’s mind.
One of the things I really like about this universe is that even the characters with magic get beaten down and have to haul themselves back up and this book wasn’t any different, even though Dresden was, effectively, no longer alive. And it was especially good to see he was subject to the limitations of what he was.
I particularly liked Morty and Bob in this book, even though I didn’t get to see too much of either. There was a lot going on and I was very firmly pulled into the action and story. I cared about the characters and what was happening to all of them. And I plan to read the next two books in this universe in the very near future.
Ink of Blood 