Blood Rites / Jim Butcher

Blood Rites
(Dresden Files # 6)
by Jim Butcher

young adult, fantasy, horror

copyright 2004
read in October 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

I've said it before... in a Dresden Files review: you can't go back.

I read half of Butcher's books. Read a lot of other books. Then went back to Dresden... And found that my view of the books has completely changed.

Yes, Blood Rites is a lot of fun. Yes, I still like Harry Dresden. But I wonder how I managed to miss the ticking of all the boxes to deliberately appeal to horny teenage boys.

This book -- this series -- is young adult. Young, male, adult.

The hero is adult, but not a part of the establishment. Like any teenage boy he has the ability, he still needs to prove his worth. The elders won't allow him to do what he knows is right.

And he knows right from wrong. In fact... an actual weakness of this book... he spends several pages explaining to the reader just how right he is with his ethical standards.

The final tick for young adult appeal, is sex.

The hero is regularly distracted by thoughts of sex. He is surrounded by incredibly sexy women. There are knickers on display, and more. (Or should that be, less ? )

Yet succumbing to lust would be the first step on the slippery slope to hell... Or, in this book, on the slippery slope to becoming a slave to the vampires. So the hero resists.

It seems essential, in young adult books, that the hero wants sex, nearly gets sex, but remains chaste. (In a later book the hero actually says no, because it would be taking advantage of a young and vulnerable girl. Of legal age, but much younger than the hero.)

What we have, is a moral fable. With action, adventure and magic. Oh, and vampires, which is why I have added horror to the categories. When I read the first few Dresden stories I saw the action, adventure and magic. But I missed -- or ignored -- the moral fable.

So really, this book is just as good as all the others... Actually, no. In Blood Rites the young adult essentials are a bit heavy-handed. But it's still a lot of fun.

I still want to read the entire series.

But if I'd read this book first... and had seen the formulaic approach to attracting the target audience... I might not have read any more.

Perhaps six out of ten is a bit unfair. There's more nudity and more almost-sex than in the other books in the series. Balanced by more of the other young adult attractors... Either that, or I'm more aware of these aspects of the book.

Whatever the reason, this book is not as good as others in the series.

Still. There are a lot of good books in the series. Every author is entitled to an off day. It's still a clever and enjoyable book.

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