Peace Talks (Mini-Review)

Peace Talks is the sixteenth book in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. In this book Harry Dresden has impossible goals he is forced to achieve. When Thomas Raith attempts to assassinate an important figure, Harry is forced to figure out a way to save his half-brother. Queen Mab tells him that she is lending his services to Lara Raith. Finally, he is tasked by the White Council to keep the peace at the peace talks.

Before starting this book I had heard that some considered it way too short. Others said that the length didn't bother them due to the book just being yet another one in the series meant purely to set things up. I agree with the first point of view as this book is much too short. Ghost Story, another book in the series, appears to exist just to explain how Harry survived the seemingly fatal shooting. Yet that book feels complete as there are plots, subplots, and an overall mystery that is intriguing. Peace Talks, on the other hand, doesn't feel like a proper Dresden Files book. The book should have contained more than mere set up for the next book.

Ebenezar McCoy seemed like a different character just to provide Harry with familial conflict. McCoy's hatred of the White Court Vampires is farcical at times. He goes on a rant about them to Harry while both are in the middle of a fight. The only logical way to explain his actions in this book is to say he was infected by Nemesis. I found McCoy's hatred of the White Court similar to how homophobic family members are. They can't see the good in gays/transsexuals/ect. that are their own blood and will even attempt to kill fellow family members that they profess to love. It's the reason I'm in the closet to most of my family. Yes, including my parents.

But I highly doubt that Butcher planned for McCoy to be an allegory of homophobic family members. This due to the fact that he tends to only have references to the LGBTQ+ community and characters to focus solely on the sexual aspect. If more LGBTQ+ characters and references to the community were made that expanded on the types of people and discussions that exist, this wouldn't bother me as much. This due to the fact Butcher would make very clear that he knows the LGBTQ+ community is about much more than sex and lots of different people are in the community. Right now I can only hope that he's an ally that is just making mistakes.

In a lot of fiction, loyalty to family is held up as all important. It doesn't matter what family members do to each other, heroes will always make up with their family. Only bad people will break away from their family. The truth is that some family members can be abusive and overall toxic to each other. You have to break away from those people for your own sanity. It's not an easy decision to make and can take awhile to get the courage to do so. This book shows one of the worse examples of toxic family love. At one point McCoy seriously endangers Harry's life all because he finds out his daughter had sex with a vampire. Yeah, he endangers Harry's life because he's angry about something that isn't even Harry's fault. Afterwards Murphy says he has to make up with McCoy because that's what family does. For some reason she brings her father's suicide up.

I would recommend Peace Talks to fans of the Dresden Files. I would also recommend Peace Talks to fans of urban fantasy mysteries.