Top 10 list

Top Ten List
Jim Butcher's White Night

10- Jim Butcher- Author of the Dresden files, he has a creative style with his mixture of jokes and mystical writing in the same sentences! He made Harry Dresden to be a mean but good-hearted detective determined to stop at nothing to help people and solve crimes. I also think he’s background influences his writing about fantasy ideas and stuff.

9- Harry Dresden- The main character of this book, he is a vampire-slaying detective who lives in Chicago. In this story his brother looks like the prime suspect for a series of murders that have occurred and he wants to prove that it wasn’t his brother. Also Harry although a detective has wizard-like magic that helps him solve cases most could not.

8- Chicago- A great setting for a unique story like this. They make Chicago to be a very dark and mysterious place in this book. A crime filled area, which makes this a great setting for this book. This area is filled with vampires that are unknown to most people but Harry can find them and use his magical abilities to discover the whereabouts of the vampires in Chicago.

7- White Court of vampires- A very interesting part of the story. His investigations intertwine him with these vampires and the vampires are what make this book awesome. He disturbs these vampires as he is investigating a murder and from then on they are in a big struggle. It causes much conflict and hardship for Harry to prevail in finding the murderer of the mystical crimes happening.

6- Elaine Lilian Mallory- Once the lover of Harry plays a significant role later in the book in Harry’s memories. She brings back the thought of pain to Harry when he is thinking about love. It also is reminded to Harry when he sees Anne’s death, which sparks a memory of Elaine. Clearly she played a significant role in other books of this series as well.

5- Detective Murphy- Detective Murphy throughout the whole book is helping Harry solve the murders and try to prove Thomas, Harry’s brother, is not guilty. She has seen lots of the things Harry has and is willing to help him at all costs to solve the murder. Not only does she do that but she helps him against the White Court of vampires that are restless to kill Harry.

4- The Murder Case- In the book, although there are many things that are happening. The central plot of this book is solving this series of strange murders that have been occurring to people that have spiritual powers. When all the evidence points to Thomas Dresden, Harry will stop at nothing not even the vampires to prove him innocent.

3- Molly Carpenter- This is Harry’s apprentice. She is very inexperienced but plays a significant role at the end of the book when they’ve just about solved the case. It seems as though she will be used in more books of this series because of being a round character. She is a little bit clumsy and mishandles some evidence but when she is very smart.

2- Magic- Throughout the entire book, some form of magic is being used. For example Harry uses detecting, tracking, etc… magic that helps him find things. Also the vampires use magic. I think this aspect of the book can be undermined by all the action that is occurring between Harry and the Vampires.

1- Fantasy and reality- Clearly there is a mixture between fantasy and reality in this book. The vampires and human traits of Harry are always found in the same situations. This helps us make a very clear connection with what’s happening in the book while at the same time we’re allowed to let our minds flow freely and imaginations give us pictures of what’s happening.

White Night: Reading Section 7

Post A
(348-404)

Resilient (372)- rebounding like elastic
Sigil (395)- a magical sign

"I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, and it felt good." (404) I feel that this quote is a great ending quote. Although it doesn't really seem like a great ending it will start up another book in this series.

Post B

Ah… a good ending to a book. This is a great book and anyone reading my blog I think should read this book too. It’s full of suspense and action. You might think it’s boring at first but it’s just because you wouldn’t have read enough to know how great the book is. I’d encourage anyone to read this and his other series. I’m starting to read this series from the beginning with the first book in this series. Well clearly Jim Butcher is one of the best author’s I’ve read in a long time. As I’ve said in my past post this book has really opened my eyes to new genres of books, this is just the start to reading these unusual and mystical books. Well the quote in Post A of this section doesn’t have great meaning yet it really shows two things that I believe are important. The two things are: more human characteristics, and also a great way to allow a transition to a new book in this series. Well this is it for my postings on this book. I’d recommend borrowing or buying this book from a store or library, it’s great. I hope you find my postings useful to look at this book and get it.

White Night: Reading Section 6

Post A
(289-347)

overindulgence (295)- indulging excessively
entropy (323)- thermodynamic system, energy not available for work, a closed system.

An emerging theme that is appearing is the theme of persistence. Harry is constantly trying to find new finding the one responsible for the murders.

Post B

This is by far the most climactic part of the book. All the rising action leads up to this section; this is the part I love in books. Well I won’t get into it that much because I feel like there are other things to talk about. I wanted to talk about how I feel about fantasy books and how this book has made me change my mind about it. Before I didn’t like fantasy books because I didn’t like the idea of unicorns and fairies and flying pigs. I thought all the books in that genre were the same plot and always was resolved in the same way. This book is way different from what I thought a fantasy book was stereotypically like. Sure it has vampires and all, but clearly this has a different plot and not everything is a happy fairy tale ending. It had action, a little slow, but as the action began to rise the less and less boring the book became. Because of this book I’ll open my reading genre’s to fantasy now and maybe a new genre every once in a while, because you never will know how good fantasy or some other genre will be unless you’ve read one. Jim Butcher is one of many authors I’m sure that can do this to a reader; the ability to change one’s opinion on things because of his writing skills. I will continue to read books and be more open about new books that seem different to me because maybe I’ll like the book.

White Night: Reading Section 5

Post A
(231-288)

"Elaine Lilian Mallory. And the image came to life. Elaine's face bowed forward, her hair falling around it, not quite hiding the expression of bone-deep weariness and despair." (253) Gives an amazing descriptive feeling to me as a reader, helping me by giving me a picture of what is happening.

An emerging theme from this section is pain. How it feels to lose some body, not entirely physical pain but more emotional pain.

Post B

Dear Mr. Harry Dresden

Although you are just a fictional character in this book, I love your human ways and also your incredible wizard-like powers. You are a very interesting character and well frankly I need to read more books with you in it. Your mysterious life and yet very dangerous excites me and I need to see more. Still there are some questions I’d like to ask you. What is it that drives you to help these people and solve mysteries and crimes like you do? Also, do you ever look for compensation after helping out people because it seems like you like to keep your name quiet? And, do you ever get scared doing this kind of work? These are just questions I’d like to know if you weren’t fictional. I’m looking forward to reading more of the Dresden Files series and also looking forward to the one that has yet to be published. Your human characteristics are very alike to mine, I like how I’ve made a connection to you it just propels me to want to read more about you. Any info that you’d like to tell me if you decided to write back would be great too. Also I’ve found to have many connections with Elaine. In one of my postings I talked about a significant quote she had said in the book that described real human emotion. It’s very cool to know that even fictional characters like you can have so many human characteristics; it never seizes to amaze me.

Farewell,

Andrew

White Night: Reading Section 4

Post A
(174-231)

Incongruously (210)- inconsistent
Fluted (225)- harmonious, clear.

"She spoke, and her voice came out rogue and quavering. 'I told her I would protect her.'" (207) This is Elaine getting very emotional after she swore protection on Anna and she let her die. It gives Elaine a lot of character in this book, it's also an important event in this section.

Post B

I think that quote that I’ve shown above is extremely significant. It’s not only significant in the book but it’s significant in real life. It shows us that we are all human and sometimes things happen that are out of our control. Yet sometimes we tend to blame ourselves for the sequences of events that occur. It is a very human trait of people it is not a science fiction novel trait. Not only is Jim Butcher trying to make an understanding between the readers and the main characters, he’s trying to portray real humans to make his story connect with us. He has been very successful because this is not the first time he has done it so far in this book. He’s done it multiple times and I think when you gain a connection between the reader and the main characters, that’s when you know you have a good book that people will want to read. That is clearly why I think I’m beginning to like this book; I hope to see more connections like this later on to further my interest in Jim Butcher’s writing techniques. Again, I’m going to give you my feelings about this chapter and not just the significance of that quote. I think the climax is about to happen all the rising action is leading up to the climactic point. The background information is just about done and its all about what’s happening now. Clearly the story is getting more and more mysterious and I don’t really know what to expect. Hopefully the climax isn’t cheesy.

White Night: Reading Section 3

Post A
(116-173)

Subtle (131)- elusive, hard to find/discover
Pantomimed (144)- gestures without speaking, using facial expressions.

An emerging theme that came out in this section was Guilt. Examples would be with Harry and his brother, the suspected murderer, and their conflict with the investigations.

Post B

Well as I said last section I would be giving you a little bit of information on the author of this book, Jim Butcher. A skilled martial artist for 15 years, that writes books and his most famous series is the Dresden Files. (I’m currently reading the ninth book of this series) Also he is a skilled horseback rider and lives in Missouri today. He loves writing about science fiction and fantasy ideas. Well last post I said I wasn’t trying to be a critique but now I’m beginning to like this book. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t read enough to judge this book correctly, but anyways the book is getting interesting. It went from just a little action to a lot in just a few chapters, the storyline is strong and the plot is very unique. As Entertainment Weekly says “Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.” All I can say is that this is a perfect description of the book as he is fighting mystical creatures such as vampires on his way to solving cases. Also the bibliography’s I read helped me understand his writing style. I learned his background and his style with jokes and science fiction intertwined in his book. Anyways if your expecting more critical and negative reviews by me on the book I doubt that will happen. It’s a good book and this section really changed my mind.

White Night: Reading Section 2

Post A
(59-116)

Translucent (87)- allowing light to pass through an object making things not clearly visible on the other side.

Confluence (111)- a joining of people or ideas.

"I rose, acutely conscious of the fact that my power was still interdicted by the apartment's threshold, and that I didn't have enough magic to spell my way out of a paper bag." (95)
I think this quote has significance because it is leading to one of the main events of this chapter in which Harry and Elaine almost get caught in a fire during their investigation.

Post B

So far the book is a little slow. The action is just beginning to rise but the last 2 readings mostly background information was written. I like the idea of how he’s fighting vampires in a unique style. It brings a more modern version of all the other books about vampires. The detective’s unending hardships are shown so far. I’m waiting to read the action and climax yet it seems as though I might be disappointed and what I’ll end up reading. I should have probably read the other books in this series. If I had maybe I’d understand the book more. It could enlighten me and catch me up with what I’m reading. Although from many reviews I’ve read I’d so say far this book isn’t hyped up to all of its reviews. I know I’m repeating myself as in last section. But this clearly isn’t a book I would have picked up and read for the fun of it. I need more action, more horror, more drama; I don’t need all of this background information. It’s killing me to see an acclaimed writer is doing such a poor job to keep a reader like me attentive. Next post I won’t be doing a critique, I’ll try to find out a little bit of information to share with you guys about Jim Butcher. Who knows, maybe it will help me like this book.