Short Story Review: Last Call by Jim Butcher

Book Description: Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' 'Bacon,' a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In 'Seeing Eye' by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother - and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's 'Last Call,' wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers - the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!

Review:
Jim Butcher’s story continues his popular Dresden Files Series.  In Last Call, which occurs chronologically between Small Favor, book 10 and Turn Coat, book 11, wizard Harry Dresden is on the hunt for the mastermind behind some bewitched beer.  I’ve only read the first book in Butcher’s Dresden Files, and despite the gap in my Harry knowledge, this was an easy story to slip into and I never felt disoriented like I had missed a lot in the interim. Harry and Murphy play off each other in just the way I remembered.  Harry was, if anything, more enjoyable for me.  He is a perfect anti-hero with his sarcasm and humorous non-alpha acts of self-preservation. I’m seriously going to have to pick up Full Moon after thoroughly enjoying this funny paranormal romp.

Sexual Content: None

*Last Call is part of Strange Brew: An anthology of stories edited by P N Elrod.  I will be reviewing the other stories in this anthology in separate posts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383363
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383367