The Dresden Files, book 5 : Death Masks by Jim Butcher

From the book description:- Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practising professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for: A duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards ...Professional hit men using Harry for target practice ...The missing Shroud of Turin ...A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified ...Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging.

In this installment of the life of Harry Dresden, Harry is hired (by a priest from the Vatican) to recover the stolen Shroud of Turin, the sacred shroud that Jesus was wrapped in after his crucifixion.  He is also challenged to a duel to the death by Duke Ortega (of the Red Court) to stop the war between the Wizards of the White Council and the Red Court vampires.  He gets sucked into a deep and involved plot by Fallen Angels to reek death and destruction across the whole world with the potential to kill millions.  He is helped (and tried to be stopped by) three Knights of The Cross, including Michael.  He is tempted by the power of the fallen.

Another great year from the life of Harry Dresden.  Possibly the best book to date - Butcher is evolving into an excellent story teller.

The Dresden Files, book 4 : Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

From the book description :- Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower. The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man. And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him - and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name. It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything ...

In this, latest installment, Harry is in trouble with the White Council for starting the war with the Vampires of the Red Court.  Many members want him sacrificed to the Vampires in appeasement for starting the war to bring a ceasefire and peace.  Others think he was used by them deliberately to start the war and think that the White Council should fight.  Harry is set a task by the council, as a test of his status as a Wizard.  Failure and he will be delivered to the Vamps, success and, well, he keeps his Wizard status. 

He is also hired by Mab, the Winter Queen (or faerie) to find out who killed the Summer Knight (the Knight of the Summer Queen) !  Strange, yes indeed.  Harry gets drawn into a sinister plot to shift the balance of power between the Winter and Summer courts......but by who ?  Billy and the werewolves are in this tale again along with some more new characters.

Another gripping (and somewhat more complex) story from Butcher.

Captain America : The First Avenger

I went to see this with a friend of mine on Friday night.  We're both current, or former comic readers although not avid Captain America/Avengers.  We had both been keeping up with the press views of the film and knowing that it generally got good comments, we were expecting a really good evening.  We have both seen all of the preceeding Marvel films leading up to this - Iron Man 1 and 2, plus Thor (no that they have any significant bearing on this film (except that Tony Stark's dad, Howard Stark, is in it).

The film opens with a weedy Steve Rogers attempting (and failing) to enlist in the army to go an fight the "Nazi's".  Steve has a strong moral standing on doing right and standing up to bullies - something that continually gets him beaten up.  Then Dr Erskine sees him attempting to join again and allows him to enlist in Project Rebirth.  He goes through some kind of basic training with a load of other soldiers, who pretty much bully him right through the training, but show resourcefulness and initiative throughout together with a selfless attitude.  He is helped by Agent Carter and who seems to take a shine to him (liking him as a person despite his physical limitations) and gets picked as the first to be put through the "transformation" and reborn.

Immediately after his rebirth, Hydra (who Erskine used to work for) sabotage the facility, killing Erskine and destroying the equipment.  Rogers captures the saborager who takes a cyanide pill before he can be questioned.  Rogers is then set up as a propaganda mascot and used in shows to sell war bonds to raise money for the millitary.  This is probably the weakest part of the film, but is kept short enough, that it gets it's message across without being too frustrating.  He ends up in Europe and performing to the 107 (which his father served in and in which his best friend Bucky Barnes is serving).  Having been heckled and booed off stage, he finds out that hundreds of the unit were captured by Hydra and Dr Schmitt (Red Skull) at a facility deep in Nazi controlled territory.  Captain America (with the help of Agent Carter and Howard Stark) gets dropped near the base and single handed saves most of the soldiers.

The story escalates from here and I'm not going to go into it all (I'll be here for days).


All in all, it's very well put together, well acted and well scripted.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and it sets up things well for next year with the first Avengers film.

Overall - 4/5 - jolly good fun.