So…yeah…that happened.
What a shit show. Battleground was basically everything is dislike about the Dresden Files given full, adulterated freedom. Endless, pointless battles where Harry continues to find new depths and endurance to powers, mansplaining up the wahoozy, chauvinism disguised as chivalry and that thing that happens half way through for no real reason destroying the only good thing about this series. Pfft. Such a let down. Butcher butchered this. I honestly don’t really care what happens now. He repeatedly sidelines his best characters and gives the awful ones, like Molly (who has always been and continues to be the actual worst) the spotlight. It is unfathomable. He shoved Thomas in a cave prison!!! I am furious about it. I am also confused because I thought the whole tragedy of Thomas and Janine was that they couldn’t touch each other, did that get cleared up and I just didn’t notice? I hope Butcher has a sturdy shovel because he’s going to have a hell of a time digging himself out of this shitpit.

So freakin' good.

The culmination of what all the behind the scenes manoeuvres have been leading up to in one epic battle yet with the story set up for more to come.

Such an entertaining series with a whole mixture of supernaturals make it one of my favourite types of fantasy

It was a fun read , but not as entertaining as the previous books in the series. Had some amazingly fun elements in the book , but the book is sub par with the prequels. Can't say it is a disaster , but was entertaining on some level. Would recommend it to desdren fans.

Over the course of my last few reviews, I’ve begun to feel like a stuck record. It’s my own fault; I need to be more careful when picking my publishers’ advance copies for review.
Once again I’ve been reading a book which is from a series that I started some years ago but am now nowhere near up to date with, and, consequently, I’ve had no idea what was going on, who half the characters were, and I was clueless as to the condition of the main character’s love interests and relationships.
Usually, this is of less consequence if there is at least a plot to follow, but, with Battle Ground, this isn’t the case because there is no ‘plot’ as such. This book is the playing out of one enormous battle – a sort of endgame seventh-level boss fight, involving mystical creatures I haven’t come across before, allies that I’ve never heard of and enemies with reputations of which I was unaware.
But, even though I struggled to get into it as all the characters positioned themselves for the off, the battle is so well written, fast-paced and inventive that I really wanted to get to the end. I wanted to see whether the characters that I cared about most, Harry and a new-to-me dude named Butters, made it through and whether their strategies worked out. And, what’s more, it’s made me keen to go back to the books I haven’t read, in order to fill in the blanks.
I wouldn’t recommend piling into this book if you aren’t familiar with the series, and do wish that I’d at least read the preceding one (at least I would have understood the starting point and how Harry came to be in a boat fighting off a kraken in the first few pages), but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you found yourself washed up on a desert island with nothing else to read.

First things first – whatever you do, don’t pick this one up if you haven’t already at least read Peace Talks and preferably Skin Game before that. All three books run straight on from one another, with no recap or handy reminders about what happened before. So if you just happen to pick up this one on the grounds that you recall Harry with fondness from some of the earlier books, put it back on the shelf until you’ve read the other two.

Book titles generally relate to the contents in some way, although that can often be metaphorical, or slightly oblique. But in this case, Butcher has been literal as the whole book revolves around a single major battle in the middle of Harry’s home turf, Chicago. The earlier chapters cover the battle preparations, with Harry desperately trying to prepare for the worst – and the second half of the book, which isn’t short, covering that battle. I’ve read one other book that covered a single battle in a similar fashion – Last Dragon Standing by Rachel Aaron and overall, I think that one is more successful than Battle Ground.

Butcher is hampered by Battle Ground being narrated in limited first-person viewpoint, which means that Harry has to be in the middle of whatever action is going down. While we have the advantage of seeing everything through the filter of his laconic, dryly amusing characterisation, it also means that every encounter has his trademark fighting style, along with whoever is accompanying him. And although he has a number of different companions battling beside him throughout the night, inevitably a pattern develops. That said, almost anyone who has featured throughout the series puts in an appearance during this vital encounter. I was particularly delighted to see dear old Butters acquitting himself with such distinction as he’s a huge favourite of mine. There are major losses, too. A key character dies during one of the opening skirmishes – and I was more than a bit rocked to see them go. It rocked poor old Harry, too.

Having a full-on battle throughout the book also means there isn’t an opportunity for the reader to get a breather. I frequently put the book down simply because I needed a break from the bloody action and emotional intensity that came with it. And during the latter stages, I became a bit numbed by it all, so that I ended up rereading the ending just to get a more accurate sense of the emotional tenor around the ending.

That said, I don’t want you to go away with the impression that this is a poor book. The action scenes are gripping and immersive. Butcher portrays Harry’s experiences during the battle with vividness and emotion that packs a punch. And I’m fascinated to discover exactly how he’ll take the series forward from here. It was a calculated risk to split the original book in two, which I think Butcher has mostly pulled off. Recommended for fans of the Harry Dresden series who have at least read the previous two books. The ebook arc copy of Battle Ground was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
8/10

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

this book has it all...magic, mayhem, titans, fighting, battles, in fact its one big long fight scene and the losses are big....

this book will keep you reading until the dawn light , you will lose sleep over it but it is so worth it

cant wait for the next one in this series

Like a lot of other Dresden Files fans I was a bit angry after reading Peace Talks as it was the first part in a duology.
Battle Ground is one of those books that keeps you reading and a classic Dresden File: plenty of actions,
disasters, humour and so on.
It's not the best in the series but it's a gripping and entertaining story.
On my side I'm read for Twelve Month (or whatever the next title will be)
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Jim Butcher has done it again. Wow, I can relax again now I’ve finished the book. This is a wonderful, fast paced romp into a fantasy battle, with just about every historical fantasy major domo, good, bad and in between, linked through good story telling, humour, and major battles in the centre of Chicago. Yet amongst the carnage Butcher still has the ability to draw my tears as he relates pure fantasy to everyday realised life experience. Family and friends are important. Through the series Dresden has been building up from a ‘leave me be kind of guy’, to a battle hardened Wizard ready to defend his friends and families, balanced against the commitments he has made in this defence. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series you can enjoy this book, but you may feel a little lost,. Butcher’s books are all so good, go and read them.

This book takes up where the previous one left off , taking us straight into one large battle ........with all the heavy hitters returning to Chicago to lend a hand - their help will be needed

Harry has faced many foe in the past often fighting well above his weight - but a more powerful and deadly being is coming ........... a being who will bring an army to defeat all who stand in their way .......... can Harry stand against such a being , let alone defeat the powerful Last Titan ?

This book is full of battles as you might expect but I found the death of one of the original characters a little unsatisfactory -I felt it was badly handled ................. that being said it was a book I enjoyed and I look forward to the sequel

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Battle Ground and Peace Talks, the volume that preceded it, began life as a single novel and although the author has reworked the text into two separate books, a few structural issues remain. Whereas Peace Talks consisted of a slow build up towards a relatively subdued climax, Battleground (the the title suggests) involves non-stop action from the word go. I missed more of the quiet character moments that make the Dresden Files so enjoyable for me.

That isn't to say that this novel isn't a good one! Jim Butcher excels at writing action scenes and there are some brilliant ones to be found here.

Above all, Battleground is a game changer. The events which occur within its pages will ensure that the Dresden Files are never the same again and, seventeen novels in,  that's exactly what the series needs.

I look forward to the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Dresden Files is a comfort series, it always feels like returning home. The narrative voice of Harry is iconic, and the pacing for the Dresden novels are always spot on.

This novel takes place right where the last left off, and it encompasses one large battle as all the heavy hitter return to Chicago to save the world. All the secondary characters we’ve met throughout the series make a cameo and the narrative trajectories for a bunch of characters changed. I’m really excited to see where Butcher takes these characters I know and love as the series continues.

My biggest criticism of this book is Butcher fridged Murphy. It’s genuinely textbook fridging since it serves no purpose other than a motivation for Harry. It also continues the major criticism people have for Butcher that he kills off all the major female characters. It honestly feels like a betrayal that one of the few still living characters from the first novel is dead in an unsatisfactory way. I understand that I just mean Harry no longer has his grounding in the human world, but it was handled so poorly and only used to push Harry forward. It’s textbook fridging and it’s gonna alienate a lot of the female audience, despite the obvious set up of her returning as a valkyrie.

Still a decent installment of the Dresden Files and had twists that makes me so excited for the next novel.

I’ve read 17 Dresden Files books, I enjoyed most of them, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep reading them. But I don’t think I’m going to be worrying about when they release any more.

This book was just...kinda boring. Lots of fighting happened and Dresden killed bad guys again. This is no Changes 2.0, where so much of substance happened. This was a whole movie full of the big fight scenes and nothing else, no real payoff.

Absolutely fantastic read, well worth the wait, non stop action from cover to cover, and can’t wait to read the next book.

Harry Dresden is in deep shit again. You know his problems somehow get more and more serious with every book? Well, it's about to become worse! Love it