Heorot By: Jim Butcher Series: The Dresden Files Book Number: 9.3 Star Rating:

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Synopsis

When a young woman disappears from a beer festival that Harry's friend, Mac, is attending, Mac calls Harry in to investigate. Sensing something supernatural afoot, Harry tracks the woman to a door that leads below the city into Undertown. Coincidentally, Marcone's security consultant, Ms. Gard, is also hot on the trail of the supernatural baddie who's abducted the woman, so they team up to try to save the girl from a horrible fate. Can they win against this strong new foe, or will they be defeated by their enemy and his Fae protectors?

Review

"Heorot" is a short novella in the Dresden Files series that falls between White Night and Small Favor in the series chronology. It's a fairly simple story in which a young woman disappears from a beer festival on what is also her wedding day. Harry's friend, Mac, owner of McAnally's Pub where all the supernaturals congregate, is on hand, recognizes something from the spooky side afoot, and calls in Harry to investigate. As he's using a tracking spell to find the young woman, he's joined by Ms. Gard, John Marcone's supernatural security consultant. Since she's already tracking the grendelkin, the creature who took the girl, they team up and head into Undertown to find them. There are some tense moments and a big battle, but in the end they save the day - and the girl.

I enjoyed the story, just not quite as much as some of the other novellas in the series. I think the most interesting part is that we learn a new tidbit about Gard and who she really is. But since she's not one of my favorite characters of the series, I wasn't as engrossed as I might have been if it was Murphy or Thomas or perhaps someone else acting as Harry's sidekick. Harry's other helper this time was Mouse and I always love him. The grendelkin is a disgusting new supernatural baddie that we've never seen before and that's based on the mythology surrounding Beowulf. I've never read Beowulf, but those who have might find this novella a bit more intriguing than I did. It was still a good story and a fun read, but perhaps just not as memorable as some of the others. "Heorot" was originally published in the anthology, My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, and was later reprinted in the single-author anthology, Side Jobs, along with several other Dresden Files shorts.

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Jim Butcher