I just finished Jim Butcher's Battle Ground - I'll give it a solid "meh" - spoilers inside
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I'm not sure what Butcher was attempting here. A combat history like Cornelius Ryan's The Last Battle (the story of the Battle of Berlin)? Or was he aiming for something else? But a whole book devoted to a single battle while trashing downtown Chicago grew a bit tiring.
One thing is it grew a little confusing for non-Chicagoans to follow. Military historians overcome this by the use of maps. A lot of the fighting centers in Millenium Park and at one point it is mentioned that another faction is fighting around Wrigley Field. I'm aware that Wrigley Field is in Chicago, but I have no clue as to its location in relation to Millenium Park. It seems to me that the publisher should have put a map of the relevant areas of Chicago in the flyleaf of the book.
Another thing that seemed unclear through this and the previous book is the motivation of the bad guys. Were they trying to draw the Unseelie Accord members into one climactic battle in order to defeat them and pave the way for world domination? It seems that the bad guys were pawns of other darker forces playing a more insidious game. Still once the board was cleared, you are left wondering what the pawns thought they were achieving.
A hallmark of the earlier novels in the Dresden series was the innovative use of magic. Here in this massive battle, powerful supernatural and supernatural-adjacent beings merely threw up huge walls of force in defense and large beams of force on offense. No real subtlety or imagination was used. As Dresden grows in power, it seems his options in magic are beginning to be limited.
Another thing that bugged me was the senseless death of a major character that had featured prominently in practically all of the 17 novels. Why kill a fan favorite? Was it to drive home the cost of war for the reader? Was it to be more 'realistic' in a fantasy series? Was it to free Butcher for what he has planned in future books? Or was it because he has been influenced by Game of Thrones?
I did enjoy the re-introduction of Black Court vampires who seem to have been forgotten ten books ago. Drakul makes an excellent bad guy going forward and we were promised a resolution with Mavra.
But overall, the best part of the part of the book is the ending chapters. We get a better look at the inner thoughts of Queen Mab than ever before. We are promised the introductions to come of The Librarians, special agents of the dark division of the Library of Congress. We return to conflict with Harry and The White Council, who seem to know something about Harry's destiny that he doesn't. Overall, the end was a much more enjoyable few chapters than the constant falling of foes that the body of the book entailed.
I love The Dresden Files but this is not one of of the more stellar entries, but I'm not giving up yet.
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