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Cold Days (The Dresden Files, Book 14) Kindle Edition
After a brief interlude in the afterlife, Harry Dresden’s new job makes him wonder if death was really all that bad in this novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Harry Dresden is no longer Chicago’s only professional wizard. Now, he’s Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. Her word is his command. And her first command is the seemingly impossible: kill an immortal. Worse still, there is a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could mean the deaths of millions.
Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent an apocalypse, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound infinite powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own...
His soul.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAce
- Publication dateNovember 27, 2012
- File size2116 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff will love this series.”—Midwest Book Review
“Superlative.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.”—Cinescape
“Butcher...spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting. The supporting cast is again fantastic, and Harry’s wit continues to fly in the face of a peril-fraught plot.”—Booklist (starred review)
“What’s not to like about this series?...It takes the best elements of urban fantasy, mixes it with some good old-fashioned noir mystery, tosses in a dash of romance and a lot of high-octane action, shakes, stirs, and serves.”—SF Site
“A tricky plot complete with against-the-clock pacing, firefights, explosions, and plenty of magic. Longtime series fans as well as newcomers drawn by the SciFi Channel’s TV series based on the novels should find this supernatural mystery a real winner.”—Library Journal
“What would you get if you crossed Spenser with Merlin? Probably you would come up with someone very like Harry Dresden, wizard, tough guy and star of [the Dresden Files].”—The Washington Times
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, has unique ideas regarding physical therapy.
I woke up in softness.
What I probably should say was that I woke up in a soft bed. But . . . that just doesn’t convey how soft this bed was. You know those old cartoons where people sleep on fluffy clouds? Those guys would wake up screaming in pain if they got suckered into taking one of those clouds after they’d been in Mab’s bed.
The fire in my chest had finally begun to die away. The heavy wool lining coating my thoughts seemed to have lightened up. When I blinked my eyes open, they felt gummy, but I was able to lift my arm, slowly, and wipe them clear. I’d gone jogging on beaches with less sand than was in my eyes.
Man. Being mostly dead is hard on a guy.
I was in a bed.
A bed the size of my old apartment.
The sheets were all perfectly white and smooth. The bed was shrouded in drapes of more pure white, drifting on gentle currents of cool air. The temperature was cold enough that when I exhaled, my breath condensed, but I was comfortable beneath the bed’s covering.
The curtains around the bed parted and a girl appeared.
She was probably too young to drink legally and she was one of the lovelier women I’d ever seen in person. High cheekbones, exotic almond-shaped eyes. Her skin was a medium olive tone, her eyes an almost eerie shade of pale green-gold. Her hair was pulled back into a simple tail, she wore pale blue hospital scrubs, and she had no makeup at all.
Wow. Any woman who could wear that and still look that good was a freaking goddess.
“Hello,” she said, and smiled at me. Maybe it was just the bed talking, but the smile and her voice were even better than the rest of her.
“Hi,” I said. My voice came out in a croak that hardly sounded human. I started coughing.
She placed a covered tray on a little stand beside the bed and sat down on the edge of it. She took the cover off the tray and picked up a white china cup. She passed it to me, and it proved to be filled with not quite scalding chicken noodle soup. “You do that every day. Talk before you’ve gotten anything down your throat. Drink.”
I did. Campbell’s. And it was awesome. I flashed on a sudden memory of being sick when I was very young. I couldn’t remember where we’d been, but my dad had made me chicken noodle soup. It was the same.
“I think . . . I remember some of it,” I said, after several sips. “Your name is . . . Sarah?” She frowned, but I shook my head before she could speak. “No, wait. Sarissa. Your name is Sarissa.”
She lifted both eyebrows and smiled. “That’s a first. It looks like you’re finally coming back into focus.”
My stomach gurgled and at the same time a roaring hunger went through me. I blinked at the sudden sensation and started gurgling down more soup.
Sarissa laughed at me. It made the room feel brighter. “Don’t drown yourself. There’s no rush.”
I finished the cup, spilling only a little on my chin, and then murmured, “The hell there isn’t. I’m starving. What else is there?”
“Tell you what,” she said. “Before you do that, let’s shoot for another first.”
“Eh?” I said.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“What, you don’t know?”
Sarissa smiled again. “Do you?”
“Harry Dresden,” I said.
Her eyes sparkled and it made me feel good all the way to my toes. More so when she produced a plate that was piled with chicken and mashed potatoes and some other vegetables that I had little use for but which were probably good for me. I thought I was going to start drooling onto the floor, that food looked so good.
“What do you do, Harry?”
“Professional wizard,” I said. “I’m a PI in Chicago.” I frowned, suddenly remembering something else. “Oh. And I’m the Winter Knight, I guess.”
She stared at me like a statue for several seconds, absolutely nothing on her face.
“Um,” I said. “Food?”
She shivered and looked away from me. Then she took a quick breath and picked up an odd little fork, the kind they give to kids with motor control issues—it had lots of rounded edges—and pressed it into my hand. “If you’re willing to go for three, we’ll have had a really good day.”
The fork felt weird and heavy in my fingers. I remembered using forks. I remembered how they felt, the slender weight of them, the precision with which I could get food from the plate to my mouth. This fork felt heavy and clumsy. I fumbled with it for a few seconds, and then managed, on the second try, to thrust it into the mashed potatoes. Then it was another chore to get the stupid thing to my mouth.
The potatoes were perfect. Just warm enough, barely salted, with a faint hint of rich butter.
“Ohmmgdd,” I muttered around the mouthful. Then I went for more.
The second forkful was easier, and the third easier than that, and before I knew it the plate was empty and I was scraping the last of the remains into my mouth. I felt exhausted and stuffed, though it hadn’t been all that much food. Sarissa was watching me with a pleased smile.
“Got it all over my face, don’t I?” I asked her.
“It means you enjoyed the food,” she said. She lifted a napkin to my face and wiped at it. “It’s nice to know your name, finally, Harry.”
There was the sound of light, steady footsteps coming closer.
Sarissa rose immediately, turned, and then knelt gracefully on the floor with her head bowed.
“Well?” said a woman’s velvet voice.
My whole body shuddered in response to that voice, like a guitar’s string quivering when the proper note is played near it.
“He’s lucid, Your Majesty, and remembered my name and his. He fed himself.”
“Excellent,” said the voice. “You are dismissed for today.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Sarissa. She rose, glanced at me, and said, “I’m glad to see you feeling better, Sir Knight.”
I tried to come up with something charming or witty and said, “Call me.”
She huffed out a surprised little breath that might have been the beginning of a laugh, but shot a fearful glance the other way and then retreated. The sound of her sneakers scuffing on the hard floor faded into the distance outside the curtained bed.
A shadow moved across the curtains at the end of the bed. I knew whose it was.
“You have passed your nadir,” she said in a decidedly pleased tone. “You are waxing rather than waning, my Knight.”
I suddenly had difficulty thinking clearly enough to speak, but I managed. “Well. You know. Wax on, wax off.”
She didn’t open the curtain around the bed as much as she simply glided through, letting the sheer cloth press against her, outlining her form. She exhaled slowly as she reached my side, looking down at me, her eyes flickering through shades of green in dizzying cycles.
Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was too terrifying to be beautiful. Though every cell in my body suddenly surged with mindless desire and my eyes blurred with tears to see her beauty, I did not want to come an inch closer. She was a tall woman, well over six feet, and every inch was radiance. Pale skin, soft lips the color of frozen raspberries, long silver-white hair that shone with opalescent highlights. She was dressed in a silk gown of deep frozen green that left her strong white shoulders bare.
And she was about six inches away from being in bed with me.
“You look great,” I croaked.
Something smoldered in those almond-shaped eyes. “I am great, my Knight,” she murmured. She reached out a hand, and her nails were all dark blues and greens, the colors shimmering and changing like deep opals. She touched my naked shoulder with those nails.
And I suddenly felt like a fifteen-year-old about to kiss a girl for the first time—excitement and wild expectation and fluttering anxiety.
Her nails, even just the very tips, were icy cold. She trailed them down over one side of my chest and rested them over my heart.
“Um,” I said into what was, for me, an incredibly awkward silence. “How are you?”
She tilted her head and stared at me.
“Sarissa seems nice,” I ventured.
“A changeling,” Mab said. “Who once sought of me a favor. She saw Lloyd Slate’s tenure as my Knight.”
I licked my lips. “Um. Where are we?”
“Arctis Tor,” she said. “My stronghold. In the Knight’s suite. You will find every mortal amenity here.”
“That’s nice,” I said. “What with my apartment burned to the ground and all. Is there a security deposit?”
A slow smile oozed over Mab’s mouth and she leaned even closer to me. “It is well that you heal,” she whispered. “Your spirit wandered far from your body while you slept.”
“Free spirit,” I said. “That’s me.”
“Not anymore,” Mab murmured, and leaned down toward me. “You are shaking.”
“Yeah.”
Her eyes filled my vision. “Are you frightened of me, Harry?”
“I’m sane,” I said.
“Do you think I am going to hurt you?” she breathed, her lips a fraction of an inch from mine.
My heart beat so hard that it actually hurt. “I think . . . you are who you are.”
“Surely you have no reason to fear,” she whispered, her breath tickling my lips. “You are mine now. If you are not well, I cannot use you to work my will.”
I tried to force myself to relax. “That’s . . . that’s true,” I said.
I hadn’t seen her picking up the thick, fluffy pillow beside me while she held my eyes. So I was totally unprepared when she struck, as fast as any snake, and slammed the pillow down over my face.
I froze for half a second, and the pillow pressed down harder, shutting off my air, clogging my nose and mouth. Then the fear took over. I struggled, but my arms and legs felt as if they’d been coated in inches of lead. I tried to push Mab away, but she was simply too heavy, my arms too weak. Her hands and forearms were frozen steel, slender and immovable.
My vision went from red to black. Sensation began to recede.
Mab was cool. Unrelenting. Merciless.
She was Mab.
If I did not stop her, she would kill me. Mab couldn’t kill a mortal, but to her I was no longer one of them. I was her vassal, a member of her court, and as far as she was concerned, she had every right to take my life if she saw fit.
That cold knowledge galvanized me. I locked my hands around one of her arms and twisted, straining my entire body. My hips arched up off the bed with the effort, and I wasn’t even trying to push her away. There was no opposing the absolute force of her. But I did manage to direct her strength just a little to one side, and in so doing managed to push her hands and the smothering pillow past me, freeing my face enough to suck in a gasp of sweet, cold air.
Mab lay with her upper body across mine, and made no effort at all to move. I could feel her eyes on me, feel the empty intensity of her gaze as I panted, my head swimming with the sudden rush of blessed oxygen.
Mab moved very slowly, very gracefully. There was something serpentine about the way she slithered up my body and lay with her chest against mine. She was a cold, ephemeral weight, an incredibly feminine softness, and her silken hair glided over my cheeks and lips and neck.
Mab made a low, hungry sound in her throat as she leaned down, until her lips were almost touching my ear.
“I have no use for weakness, wizard.” She shivered in a kind of slow, alien ecstasy. “Rest. Heal. Sleep. I shall most likely kill you on the morrow.”
“You? A Princess Bride quote?” I croaked.
“What is that?” she asked.
Then she was gone. Just gone.
And that was day one of my physical therapy.
* * *
I could describe the next few weeks in detail, but as bad as they were, they did have a certain routine to them. Besides, in my head, they’re a music video montage set to the Foo Fighters’ “Walk.”
I would wake in the morning and find Sarissa waiting for me, keeping a polite and professional distance between us. She would help me take care of the needs of my weakened body, which was rarely dignified, but she never spoke about herself. At some point after that, Mab would try to kill me in increasingly unexpected and inventive ways.
In the video in my head, there’s a shot of me eating my own meal again—until, just as I finish, the giant bed bursts into flames. I awkwardly flop out of it and crawl away before I roast. Then, obviously the next day, Sarissa is helping me walk to the bathroom and back. Just as I relax back into bed, a poisonous serpent, a freaking Indian cobra, falls from the bed’s canopy onto my shoulders. I scream like a girl and throw it on the floor. The next day, I’m fumbling my way into new clothes with Sarissa’s help—until a small swarm of stinging ants comes boiling out of them onto my flesh, and I have to literally rip the clothes off of me.
It goes on like that. Sarissa and me on waist-high parallel bars, me struggling to remember how to keep my balance, interrupted by a tidal flood of red-eyed rats that forces us to hop up onto the bars before our feet get eaten off. Sarissa spotting me on a bench press, and then Mab bringing a great big old fireman’s ax whistling down at my head at the end of my third set so that I have to block with the stupid straight bar. Me slogging my exhausted way into a hot shower, only to have the door slam shut and the thing start to fill with water. Into which freaking piranha begin to plop.
On and on. Seventy-seven days. Seventy-seven attempted murders. Use your imagination. Mab sure as hell did. There was even a ticking crocodile.
Product details
- ASIN : B0090UOJAI
- Publisher : Ace (November 27, 2012)
- Publication date : November 27, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 2116 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 633 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #35,291 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Jim Butcher is a bestselling author and martial arts enthusiast. His resume includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least 200 years ago, and he turned to writing because anything else probably would have driven him insane. He lives with his family in Independence, Missouri.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoy the book's readability and engaging storyline. They find the humor and action entertaining, with plenty of dialogue. The characters are described as engaging and mysterious from the previous books. Readers praise the writing quality as well-written with strong language that is understandable. They appreciate the exposition on current events and people surrounding them.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book. They find it well-written with great characterization and plotting. The book is described as a solid entry in the series, with vivid storytelling and a clear pace throughout.
"...For fantasy enthusiasts like myself this is a complete breath of fresh air for a genre that is over saturated with stereotypical dragons, epic save..." Read more
"...Overall, this was an enjoyable book for me. I appreciate the return to a more standard format (none of the ghost business!)..." Read more
"...we've come to love: great character moments, high tension, great characterization, and terrific long range plotting...." Read more
"...This was a great read. Harry is back to his old self in this book, but with new and awesome powers of the Winter Knight at his beck and call...." Read more
Customers enjoy the storyline. They find the plotlines solid and easy to visualize. The book is described as fast-paced with plenty of action and excitement. Readers appreciate the multiple plot threads that tie together in the end.
"...a genre that is over saturated with stereotypical dragons, epic save the world quests and long winded love stories involving vampires...." Read more
"...But for all that, the best moments in this book, for me, are the quiet ones: Harry's first meeting with Thomas, or a few moments in the final battle..." Read more
"...been able to keep up the quality storytelling and wonderful momentum throughout this series. Highly recommended to fans of this series...." Read more
"...There were several unexpected outcomes to the final fight and at least one of them is a game changer...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's humor and action. They find it engaging with a lot of dialogue and wit. The book sets the mood for excitement and adventure, with plenty of action and excitement.
"...This makes Harry Dresden's character so unique, real and fascinating...." Read more
"...protagonist, Harry Dresden, is an awesome mix of badass, romantic, and nerd, and the side characters are even better...." Read more
"...This series continues to be very well written and very engaging...." Read more
"...And along the way it is a fun ride of spiderman like patter, amazingly good humor, great pop culture references, plenty of action, and careful..." Read more
Customers find the characters engaging and well-developed. They appreciate the reuniting of many past characters and the addition of new ones. The mystery characters from the earlier books are explained to some extent. Readers also appreciate the Christian character Michael Carpenter. Overall, they find the story fast-paced and never slows down for the characters to catch their breath.
"...Jim's books and characters become completely unique by his ability to call out the cliche nature of his work, his characters and the world he has..." Read more
"...Another thing I like about this book is that you gain new insight into other characters, including a few who have been fixtures of the series but..." Read more
"...Cold Days brings all the elements that we've come to love: great character moments, high tension, great characterization, and terrific long range..." Read more
"...We meet a great new character in the sarcastic and uber powerful Cait Sith...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's writing quality. They find it well-written and readable, with strong language that is understandable for many characters. The author writes above and beyond most contemporary writers, and his writing style improves with each book.
"...There are, as usual, four-letter words and "adult" situations..." Read more
"...that this series is still going strong and is still incredibly well done after 14 books! Can't wait to see what the next book holds!" Read more
"...Butcher's writing is consistently improving with each volume, and this one's no exception, even playing off of and using his prior habits to trick..." Read more
"...much more dire than when we started in Storm Front, and stronger language is understandable for many of the characters...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's exposition. They find it provides more explanation of current events and the people surrounding them. Readers appreciate the detailed explanations on how and why Summer and Winter came about. They also like the brief synopses of each book to help remember them. The characters are described as rich and complex, with just enough background information to not overwhelm them. Overall, customers find the storyline well-crafted and intelligently written.
"...He flawlessly reintroduces characters and gives you just enough background information to not be overwhelmed by their complex history but also..." Read more
"...There are quite a few battles in this book (maybe even more than in past volumes), and the arc of the series, overall, is further explored --..." Read more
"...Everything makes sense. The story line is well drafted in advance. I get the feeling that Butcher always knows where he is going with the story...." Read more
"...The order of the books and a very brief synopsis of each so if you cant remember which one you last read...." Read more
Customers find the book's pace engaging. They describe it as a quick read that starts fast and picks up speed as it goes. The book takes time for intimate moments, and there is a lengthy pause between each new novel.
"...Files you can read them stand alone and Jim does a great job of catching the reader up on everything going on with the main character Harry Dresden...." Read more
"...In a way, it's good to read these fast. Harry usually only has a day or two, to solve a case or accomplish a task he's been given...." Read more
"...world (naturally), especialiy Chicago (see above), but takes time for some intimate moments...." Read more
"...the fae, magic, guns, explosions, Outsiders, death, mayhem, deadlines, etc, etc, etc...." Read more
Customers enjoy the Dresden Files series. They find the book engaging with references to previous books and short stories. The plot twists expand on previous books and hint at what's to come. Readers describe the book as violent, fast-paced, and irreverent. It is considered a high point in the series.
"...know what I am talking about, then rest assured this book keeps up a nice tradition of making you stare blankly at the last sentence you just read,..." Read more
"...Overall, this was an excellent addition to the Dresden Files and I recommend reading it, but only after having read the others...." Read more
"...progress from this book on, as Cold Days was definitely a fairly high point in the books, and, much like Grave Peril way back when, promises of even..." Read more
"I love the Dresden files and cold days does not disappoint! This series is by far my favorite urban fantasy! This is a great continuation of the story" Read more
Reviews with images
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012So I started reading Jim's work with Changes. I was on a business trip and needed something to read on the plane. I grabbed the book knowing nothing about Jim's work except it was a NY bestseller, the cover art was cool and summary seemed interesting. Best impulse purchase I've made yet to date. I just wish I'd started at the beginning of the series initially. I actually read the books in reverse order because I was sure his last book could not be on par with Changes. Wrong, so wrong but I continued to read in reverse order anyway. In retrospect I have no clue why but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Onto Cold Days...as with all of Jim's books in the Dresden Files you can read them stand alone and Jim does a great job of catching the reader up on everything going on with the main character Harry Dresden. He flawlessly reintroduces characters and gives you just enough background information to not be overwhelmed by their complex history but also enough to give you a concrete understanding of where these characters have been. If you've read the books in the correct order it adds even more to the story and I highly recommend you start at the beginning.
What I love most about Cold Days and Jims work in general is the blindfolded roller coaster ride he takes you on as a reader. I thought he had reached an apex in surprising his readers in earlier novels but Cold Days injects steroids into the roller coaster ride. I've read a ton of epic fantasy, hardcore Sci Fi and mystery books over the years and rarely am I surprised by what happens or can't see the plot evolving twist coming up around the corner. With Harry Dresden you really have no clue what is coming up next. Plots seem to twist on a dime and yet still make perfect sense. When reading this book you will have moments where you put down the book for a moment and say to yourself "did that really just happen...I never saw it coming" I've never read an author who has his ability to surprise the reader so much in such a short period of time. Cold Days accomplishes this feat 10 fold over most of Jim's earlier novels (which were action packed to begin with).
Some people have criticized Harry's lack of character growth and the have cited limited interactions with reoccurring characters when they learn Harry is not dead. I on the flip side think that Jim has done a very good job on both fronts. As with most of Jim's books and subsequently in Cold Days Harry is always on a very sensitive time schedule. This is no more apparent than in Cold Days when Harry has 24 hours to save the world. Considering the time sensitive schedule Harry's interaction with an old lover, best friend or brother is going to be a bit limited. I think fans of the series fail to realize that Harry only has time to do so much. He can't sit and chit chat with his brother or have more than a few minutes to catch up with Murphy when the world is being invaded by some of the most powerful beings in creation. When you transcend reality in fantasy but still keep manage to keep the element of "if this was real it would happen this way" within your work it is a huge bonus for the reader and Jim accomplishes this very well in Cold Days
As to Harry's character growth and the brevity of his role within the Winter Court not being properly explored I again remind the readers the guy has 24 hours to save the world, save his friends and save his life do you honestly think he is going to be doing a lot of life pontificating within this time frame. For what its worth I think Jim did just enough character development on Harry to remind the reader what Harry is all about. A good hearted but flawed hero with inner demons (literally)he is constantly battling and will continue to do so.
Perhaps one of my favorite parts of Jim's work and one that initially locked me into this series is the mash up of the fairy tale creatures Jim's creates and his ability to make fun of these cliche creatures by calling out the cliche though humor and sarcasm. Cold Days has scenes that will make the reader laugh out loud and shock then shock them a moment later. Again you will put down the book smiling and say to yourself "did Harry Dresden really just say THAT to one of the most powerful creatures in the world?" Humor and sarcasm allow Jim as a writter to attack the cliche pitfalls present in all fantasy novels. How many fantasy books heros dark or otherwise call out the cliche nature of their work or their world. Rarely if ever. Harry Dresden does it in every novel.
Harry Dresden, on the surface, is a walking cliche, a the quintessential archetype of a hero, physically strong, compassionate, tall, ruggedly handsome, inherently good natured and extremely powerful and the creatures / villains who inhabit his world are a walking cliches along the same vein. You can't get around it these days when writing fantasy or fiction at all. Wizards, vampires, angels, demons, fairies, dragons, ghosts all are present Jim's work. He involves almost every different fantasy subset and has them existing in the same time and the same place. Jim does a masterful job at weaving these conflicting worlds together aided by injecting pop culture, humor and sarcasm to address the genre's cliche nature thereby calling out the cliche to the benefit of the reader. On the outside Harry Dresden is one of the most powerful wizards in the world (very cliche for a hero) on the inside he is a sci fantasy nerd who does poor impressions of Yoda and is constantly rattling off movie quotes in between LARPing sessions. (a hero who is a secret nerd NOT CLICHE)
To look further lets talk about one of Harry's free time activities. In his free time Harry Dresden is in a live action fantasy role playing group with a bunch of werewolves (LARPers). Now this is amazing on so many different levels. 1. the fact that roll playing is mentioned in a fantasy novel at all, 2. the fact the one of the most powerful wizards in the world does this in his free time and 3. the fact that he plays in this group with a bunch of werewolves. So you say to yourself "you're telling me one of the most powerful wizards in the world is a LARPer", "This is a joke right?". Of course it is a joke and Jim's novels are littered with these tongue in cheek scenarios and wise ass comments that add more reality to the world Jim creates and makes the cliche character archetypes completely un-cliche. A hedgefund manager who is a closet Twilight fan, a plumber who writes poetry, a drug dealer whose favorite movie is "Gone with the Wind", a powerful wizard who... Larps. Non of these archetypes go together but in reality these archetypal conflicts happen every day in real life. This makes Harry Dresden's character so unique, real and fascinating. Besides being a world class wizard he is a normal guy on his days off... completely un-cliche, hence original.
Jim's books and characters become completely unique by his ability to call out the cliche nature of his work, his characters and the world he has created. For fantasy enthusiasts like myself this is a complete breath of fresh air for a genre that is over saturated with stereotypical dragons, epic save the world quests and long winded love stories involving vampires. Jim Butcher has created a world and characters unlike any you will see in contemporary fantasy and creating anything truly new and unique this day in age is quite an accomplishment. Read just one of his novels and you'll be addicted I promise.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2014I'm sad that I'm almost finished with the published books in this series. Pretty soon, I'll have to wait along with everyone else. But that didn't stop me from finishing this book in one day, even though it was a bit long (500+ pages) compared to the series average. In a way, it's good to read these fast. Harry usually only has a day or two, to solve a case or accomplish a task he's been given. So reading these quickly helps feed the sense of urgency.
Anyway, as usual, this is not the place to start the series. Many, many characters and events from previous volumes are referenced; it would be overwhelming to try to sort through character identities without a proper introduction. If you're thinking about starting this series, you should go back to book #1 (Storm Front) and go from there. Sounds like a lot of reading, but all the books are fairly enjoyable (and/or downright fun), and the time will fly by. Plus, if you ever forget who anyone is, there are decent Wikipedia summaries of all these books available online, as well as a pretty comprehensive character list.
I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, as far as Cold Days goes, but if you read the book description on Amazon's main page for this book, you'll see a spoiler for the previous book (Ghost Story), so I'm going to feel free to refer at least to that information. When this book starts, Harry has basically come back from the dead and is being nursed back to health in Arctis Tor, the stronghold of the Faeries' Winter Court. Mab, the Winter Queen, has some odd ideas about physical therapy, and Harry improves from some pretty serious damage in just a few months. Not only does he use his magical skills, but his physical abilities have been enhanced, as well. However, whereas he frequently used fire magic in the past, he's become more used to ice/cold magic and uses that a bit more often in this book (nice for a change, actually).
One thing that's interesting when you read a series with a first-person POV is that you focus on what the POV character focuses on. You don't necessarily know how others see him, unless they say something to him about it. A little of that goes on here (Harry's friends distrust him after he's been shot, come back as a ghost, and then come back -- alive -- as Mab's servant). But Harry's reunions with some characters (for example, his half-brother Thomas) and lack of reunions with other characters (e.g., his daughter), as well as Harry's reaction to an idle thought about commitment early on serve to show you just how messed up Harry is when it comes to relationships. While this dimension was always present in the series, it is really brought to the surface in this book. And it makes sense based on Harry's background, as well. Anyway, I like seeing new things done with the character, or seeing his personality from a new perspective. It's got to be difficult to do that after so many books in this series, and I appreciate the effort.
Another thing I like about this book is that you gain new insight into other characters, including a few who have been fixtures of the series but haven't really played key roles before now (Donar Vadderung of Monoc Securities, Mac from Harry's favorite bar, Rashid the Gatekeeper, etc.). In some cases, this means mysteries solved. In others, the mysteries are only beginning to unfold. In particular, I'm really interested in what happens with Mac, and figure we'll hear more about that in a future book. I trust Jim Butcher to deliver; though you might think there are loose ends in one book in this series, they do eventually get tied up (for example, you learn more about what was going on when Harry saw his godmother imprisoned in Arctis Tor a few books back). There's also a warning that Harry may be doing harm by feeding the Little Folk (i.e., Toot-toot and his friends) pizza, so I hope that gets explained in the future, as well!
The writing style and story structure are similar to past books. Harry does have a mystery to solve this time; he's given a task and when he gets new information, he has to decide who's telling the truth and whether or not to complete his task or take alternative action. This part of the story comes to a conclusion by the end of the book. There are quite a few battles in this book (maybe even more than in past volumes), and the arc of the series, overall, is further explored -- including things that happened in Harry's past (childhood and adolescence) and events of the first several books in the series. I like the dual story structure -- you are satisfied that events are coming to a close, but there are still reasons to come back for more! There are, as usual, four-letter words and "adult" situations (nothing terribly graphic, though, I think, and if you've read the other books in the series, you'll be used to this stuff by now).
There's a real sense of urgency in this book; Harry's task has to be completed on a certain night, and things are going wrong on Demonreach (the island in Lake Michigan that Harry has a unique bond with). Plus, we get a glimpse of a larger, supernatural conflict that's been going on for a long, long time, which is surely going to come to a head soon. This made it easy to keep reading right along without taking too many breaks.
The new "paranormal" entities in this book are the Outsiders. We've actually met one before (He Who Walks Behind), and now we learn there are more, and we learn about the threat they pose. I would guess that we'll be getting a lot more information about the Outsiders in future books. We get a little more insight on the Erlking and the Wild Hunt, as well. Everything is introduced at an appropriate pace (including new characters, and there are a few of those who will almost certainly be coming back later on). And I was surprised by a couple of events, which was great (because, thinking back, the surprises were set up appropriately, but I still didn't see them coming).
Overall, this was an enjoyable book for me. I appreciate the return to a more standard format (none of the ghost business!) and I'm looking forward to Skin Game.
Top reviews from other countries
- Joseph ZimmerReviewed in Canada on April 5, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Delivered on time and in stated condition.
Love this series, the characters are relatable and real. Highly entertaining!
- Julio Davila SanchezReviewed in Mexico on March 31, 2024
4.0 out of 5 stars A new appreciation for the book.
This is probably my 3rd read through of this book. If you had asked me before, I'd have told you that this was my least favorite book in the series. Just too detached from the more grounded P.I.-side that has been traditionally the main focus of the series and the thing that sets it apart from other urban fantasy pieces.
However, upon this last read-through, I've come to appreciate what it does for the series. Harry is operating on a whole other level as the Winter Knight, and that just means that his mundane problems are now compounded by it. Poor Harry is now an epic underdog, instead of a street-wise underdog.
There's also a more emotional undertone to the antagonists, which feels fresh after them appearing as incapable of change and somewhat alien to mortals.
All in all, I'm happy with it
-
ElisaReviewed in Spain on May 12, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars No decepciona
La verdad es que siendo una saga tan larga, siempre esperas que llegue el libro que sea más flojo, en el que ya se haya agotado la cuerda. Pero nunca llega. Cada libro evoluciona, el personaje va siendo más complejo y la trama también, pero siempre atrapa. Recomendado 100%.
- Soumendu DasReviewed in India on July 11, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Cold Days! Icey & frozen...
Nice and fast-paced read as always like any other Dresden book. However, felt too much repetition at times with explaining how the water disrupts magic and digital gadgets fail around the wizards. I mean, after all these reads all of us do remember the basics.
Harry takes up the mantle of the Winter Knight and Mab at her scheming best makes for a nice read. Felt too much supernatural and very low on magic here, though. Just a spoiler - Molly becomes the Winter Lady in the end!!!
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Australia on May 7, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely cool story
What do you do on your first day back among the living, save the world, again oh and wreck a tuxedo.