Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
13,148 global ratings
5 star
77%
4 star
15%
3 star
5%
2 star
2%
1 star
1%
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Review this product

Customer images

Customer image
Customer image
Customer image
Customer image
See all customer images
Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars This is only 1/2 of a book and a weak one at that
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
Be aware that this reads a bit like fan fiction. If you are expecting a story that focuses on what occurs when major players in the supernatural world meet, you will be disappointed. If you want to see a rehash of old storylines and relationships, then this is the book for you. This is the first half of one book that is being sold to you separately, it leads to a cliff hanger (of course) and you will have to buy the second half of this book later this year.

This is an incredibly lazy effort by Jim with multiple scenes that could have been cut and made room for for the actual Peace Talks. Instead we just get fan fiction like scenes that do little to move the plot forward and generally rehash other books. We all love Michael Carpenter, but seeing him rehash the same advice given in the last 10 books just fills pages and little else. Laura Wraith having to work with Dresden and having sexual tension and a misunderstanding sound familiar? Plenty of that here. Wardens not trusting Dresden? Got you covered. Murphy having to remind Dresden not to treat her a normal frail mortal? In spades.

Sadly the book only gets interesting in the last few chapters and we never get any insight into what a gathering of powerful supernatural nations/entities actually does at a Peace Talk as Dresden is basically running around on a side quest most of the book, so don't expect any actual politics or new information on any of the major players.

Listen I love the series but this obviously was a way to get readers to pay twice for the same book and at the same time allow Jim to write a bunch of fan favorite fluff with little need to edit the book into something stronger.
Read more
Tyson Purcell
2.0 out of 5 stars No Spoiler Review: Avid Fan, BUT was Underwhelmed
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
****No Spoilers****
This is a significant departure from what most fans have come to expect in regard to offering a complete story while continuing a large overarching story arc, in that: This isn't a complete story and the large overarching details are largely just re-hashed details fans already knew or suspected with a few small new pieces thrown in.

I feel like Jim, the author, has had a plate full for many years. Deadlines and real life and original content didn't line-up, and I get the feeling that the publisher was like: Well the book you wrote is really long, and it's been a long time since your last book; thus, to make it seem like you didn't have problems, bloat the early parts with re-hashed details from earlier work, end on cliff-hanger, and then finish the story in the next book which will come out in just a couple of months.

I'm a big fan of Jim's work, and the Dresden Files are my favorite books, and while I am happy to have another book in my favorite series, I also feel I should be honest: This book is only half the story. It's the setup to what might be finished in the book release at the end of September 2020. I purchase all of Dresden Files books in multiple formats: Hardcover, Audible and Kindle, for every book, and typically I am happy to do it; but right now I just feel robbed.

There's a ton of specifics that I could get into but will not in order to not spoil it for you.

Jim is typically a master at foreshadowing, but in this outing he lays the groundwork for a payoff that doesn't appear in the book. Hopefully Battle Grounds will be better, but it will also risk being the most predictable book in the series; because, the foreshadowing done in Peace Talks that has yet to play out.
Read more
Poor Richard
4.0 out of 5 stars Half a Book - May want to wait a few months
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
Harry's back! After too many years without a novel, Jim Butcher's latest picks up shortly after the last one finished. It is fast-paced and mostly a fun read. Unfortunately, it is only half of a book and ends on a cliff-hanger. That explains why the next book will be out this fall, I suspect Jim wrote one very long book and the publisher split it into two. If so, I wish the publisher had the courage to release both books at once. I'm fairly confident his readers would have bought both books at once, and then we would have had a satisfactory reading experience - assuming Butcher draws this story to an end with the sequel.

If you haven't bought this book yet, consider waiting for the sequel to come out first. You've waited years for this story, why not wait a few months more and read the entire story at once?
Read more
See all reviews

Top reviews from other countries

Miss K S Prideaux
3.0 out of 5 stars Where's the rest of it???
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
I love Jim Butcher and have been a Harry Dresden devotee since the early 2000's...I waited patiently (for 5 years) for the next book in the series and was beyond excited when it dropped on my Kindle yesterday morning.

2 hours later, I was done and left feeling very meh! Where is the rest of the book? It felt like half of it was missing. I then noticed that book #17 Battleground is scheduled for release in September...hopefully this will finish off the story started in Peace Talks.

As a loyal and faithful fan, I cannot help but feel a little aggrieved that I paid full price for what amounted to half a book, only to be expected to shell out the same again for the 2nd half a couple of months later (which I will because I do love the books). However, this smacks of a money making scam and has left an unpleasant after taste for me - a very poor way to rewards fans for their patience...badly done Mr Butcher and Ace Books...badly done :(
Read more
Kindle Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars More than a tad disappointing.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of Harry Dresden, but I feel severely short changed by this novel. 3 chapters do not make novel. I paid £9.99 for the Kindle version, supposedly reduced from £20. I can tell you I would have been even more peeved if I'd paid full price. Very little happens, it feels like the opening chapters of a full novel, there's certainly no resolution. And Mr Butcher seems to lean heavily on setting up background as if his readers haven't read any of his previous novels. Considering how long its taken to come out, it feels rushed and unfinished. He's written short stories not much shorter than this. I suspect his publishers have pushed him into getting something, anything out asap. They could at least have had the courtesy to charge short story price for it.
Read more
David
2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the wait
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
For a book that took so long to write it feels oddly rushed. For example, if you were to take a drink everytime McCoy is referred to as The old man, I think you'd die of alcohol poisoning. It was also weird to have Harry reference The blob twice in two different scenes without acknowledging the repetition, feels like Butcher just forgot he did that already. Also, what was the point of the conjuritis? It was just weird without adding anything or getting resolved. It was also rather boring to return to the format of no one trusting Harry, the White council being stupid, and dull family drama.

Nitpicks aside, the larger problem was that this book feels like a slow first third of a longer book. There was a lot of poking about and a lot of setup, but nothing was resolved. I know Battle grounds is coming out in a few months, and I hope that has all the action and resolution that this book missed, but if that's the case then why not cut a bunch of the filler from this and just release one book? I suppose the answer is that this way Butcher gets twice the income.

My least favourite Dresdan book so far, and I have just been re-reading the entire series

But the
Read more
Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars The long wait disappoints
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
Peace talks has been a long time coming: sadly it doesn't show as the book feels very rough around the edges to me. Butcher's high octane action stories never disappoint in that that regard, and there is enough - though strangely muted - mayhem to keep the story going. However, a number of characters turn up for a scene and add nothing to the plot or to the characters, and the reason for their inclusion is unclear and jars. Familiar they may be, but also they glossed over this time and feel thin and unreal. Mab in particular lacks her normal air of menace and real threat. Dresden's musings and asides feel hurried and the plot line insufficient to carry a whole novel - then wait, there is no resolution to the story at all and we all have to wait for the next one! It would have been more honest to call this Peace Talks Part 1, and then expectations might have been different.
Read more
Fantasy Geek
5.0 out of 5 stars Killer set up for, hopefully, a killer part two.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
This is is the 16th book in the Dresden files a series that follows Harry Dresden full time wizard and wise ass in modern Chicago. Obviously not the place to start if new go to the first book in the series it will be well worth it.Harrys enemies gather as Chicago finds itself hosting a peace conference between the Fomor and the other signatories of the unseelie peace accords, the supernatural version of the United Nations, not exactly a wizard in good standing torn between his duties as white council warden and winter knight of the winter court. when the personal intrudes upon the professional Harry when finds himself scrambling to save someone he loves while trying to stop a outbreak of open war.

Long time fans have been waiting 6 years for this in most ways it doesn’t disappoint with one caveat discussed below. Featuring many of the side characters from previous adventures this was a confident and worthy entry the only fault is the story moves at breakneck speed which means this book was mainly set up for book two there wasn’t a whole lot of filler.

Peace talks was originally going to be one book but the publisher requested it be split into two since it was so long that’s something to bear in mind because while this is some kick ass set up it very much feels like part one of the story and what weaknesses there are in the book come from the fact that it is one incomplete book rather then a story told across two volumes. Ultimately how strong a entry in the Dresden files this is will depend on Battlegrounds which is due in September. I am giving 5 stars for now because while we don’t get the full story what we do get is top notch.
Read more
See all reviews