The latest volume in the long running Dresden Files about Chicago based, perennially unlucky, Wizard/Supernatural Investigator Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher is Small Favor.

Word of warning, if you have not read the Dreseden Files, then don't start with this book. It is not a great jumping point for new readers. While the early novels like Storm Front, Full Moon and Grave Peril were easy enough to understand, a reader new to the series would be completely lost in all the back story that Butcher does not spend time discussing but relies heavily upon to move the story in Small Favor.

This isn’t to knock the book, there gets to a certain point in any series where you can’t really cater to the newbies any more, only to serve as fair warning for those who have yet read any Dresden at all.
This is, in many ways, the first time we’ve seen the ‘real’ Harry in a long time and the whole book feels a bit lighter, despite the dire circumstances, as a result.  The banter between Harry and Thomas is quick-witted and enjoyable. As with many of the Dresden books featuring recurring character Michael (a sword wielding modern knight) a certain tension between the mostly faithless Harry and over abuntantly faithful Michael adds an interesting moral element to the story that has a surprise, and very interesting, twist in the end.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the series is how the seemingly always under-powered Harry has to out think his often ridiculously over-powered opponents.  This book had no shortage of that from a rather clever, and ultimatley hilarious, use of Dresden’s cat to a certain incident involving a doughnut.  Harry still gets his ass-kicked, it would hardly be a Dresden novel if Harry came out unscathed, but its without the ‘woe-is-me’ Harry vs. the world mentality of previous entries.