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2014 Book Review #8: Cold Days
Title:Cold Days
Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Urban fantasy (latest in long-running, increasingly continuity heavy series)
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: As Queen Mab's reluctant enforcer, Harry has evil fairies to fight off, terrifying Cthulhoid horrors to evade, and an assassination of an immortal to carry out. Oh, and the DMV is convinced he's dead.
Thoughts: If you've been following along with Dresden's adventures so far, this won't disappoint. If you haven't been--don't bother. The first several books of the series might have stood alone ok, but at this point, Harry's in a serial and you really can't jump in the middle.
Over the last several books, Butcher's made a point to shake up the status quo each time. This time, Dresden has to come to terms with a decision a few books ago to take up the mantle of Mab's Winter Knight. In Ghost Story, Dresden had to face what happened to pretty much his entire supporting cast after he died. Now, he has to deal with pretty much the entire supporting cast again finding out he isn't actually dead. Or dead anymore. He's a little confused on that point.
And the entire supporting cast is out in force. We have the core group--Karin, Thomas, Molly. We have quite a few of the regular rotation, from Toot-toot to Titania. And then we have some characters from previous books who I barely remembered, including a guy with a grudge I'd completely forgotten from Summer Knight.
There's some hardcore world-building going on here--one of the big revelations shows that the structure of the world we've grown accustomed to overlays something much bigger and more dangerous. Mab and her court of insane killers just became significantly more interesting. Which is good, because after the topsy-turvy ending, it's clear we're going to be spending a lot more time there. (Not to mention two or three other big plot hooks that just got dangled.)
Long-running series require escalation of stakes, which Butcher is handling nicely so far. As Dresden becomes increasingly powerful, he's also paying the price. And his adversaries are becoming not only more powerful, but more subtle. He started in the mold of some of the classic noir detectives, with morals that kept him mired in near-poverty and stupid bullshit. These days, trying to get the police to pay his invoices is the least of his concerns. And I'm looking forward to seeing what fresh hell he gets dumped in next.
Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Urban fantasy (latest in long-running, increasingly continuity heavy series)
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: As Queen Mab's reluctant enforcer, Harry has evil fairies to fight off, terrifying Cthulhoid horrors to evade, and an assassination of an immortal to carry out. Oh, and the DMV is convinced he's dead.
Thoughts: If you've been following along with Dresden's adventures so far, this won't disappoint. If you haven't been--don't bother. The first several books of the series might have stood alone ok, but at this point, Harry's in a serial and you really can't jump in the middle.
Over the last several books, Butcher's made a point to shake up the status quo each time. This time, Dresden has to come to terms with a decision a few books ago to take up the mantle of Mab's Winter Knight. In Ghost Story, Dresden had to face what happened to pretty much his entire supporting cast after he died. Now, he has to deal with pretty much the entire supporting cast again finding out he isn't actually dead. Or dead anymore. He's a little confused on that point.
And the entire supporting cast is out in force. We have the core group--Karin, Thomas, Molly. We have quite a few of the regular rotation, from Toot-toot to Titania. And then we have some characters from previous books who I barely remembered, including a guy with a grudge I'd completely forgotten from Summer Knight.
There's some hardcore world-building going on here--one of the big revelations shows that the structure of the world we've grown accustomed to overlays something much bigger and more dangerous. Mab and her court of insane killers just became significantly more interesting. Which is good, because after the topsy-turvy ending, it's clear we're going to be spending a lot more time there. (Not to mention two or three other big plot hooks that just got dangled.)
Long-running series require escalation of stakes, which Butcher is handling nicely so far. As Dresden becomes increasingly powerful, he's also paying the price. And his adversaries are becoming not only more powerful, but more subtle. He started in the mold of some of the classic noir detectives, with morals that kept him mired in near-poverty and stupid bullshit. These days, trying to get the police to pay his invoices is the least of his concerns. And I'm looking forward to seeing what fresh hell he gets dumped in next.