Skin Game by Jim Butcher Series: The Dresden Files #15
on May 27th 2014
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 464
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From Jim Butcher comes the newest novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files...Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day. Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.Mab has traded Harry’s skills to pay off a debt. And now he must help a group of villains led by Harry’s most despised enemy, Nicodemus Archleone, to break into a high-security vault so that they can then access a vault in the Nevernever.Problem is, the vault belongs to Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld. And Dresden is dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess.…
I must say, it’s good to be back into the daily grind with the fate of the world resting on Harry’s shoulders. I missed him getting cornered into situations, having to think quick and plot and plan. It’s a fast paced book, but it was a million times lighter than the last three Dresden Files I’ve read. I forgot how much I missed it. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those others books, but given how there’s supposed to be 24 in this series, I think it was imperative that Butcher lighten our load. Otherwise, reading such heaviness ten more times would have drained me of life.
Of course it’s fast paced. Harry’s got his sense of humor and Mab was deliciously evil as always. Old players are around and some familiar faces show up from Harry’s past, both good and bad guys/gals. And they all have to work together. It creates a very dynamic mix of people. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this mesh of characters interact with one another.
Overall, can’t say anything else than my normal: read this series if you haven’t. It’s incredible. Now I have to wait until who knows when before the next one comes out. I’m sad, oh so very sad.
About Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher read his first fantasy novel when he was seven years old–
the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the time he turned eight,
he’d added the rest of the Narnia books, the Prydain Chronicles, every
book about Star Wars he could find, a great many Star Trek novels and
the Lord of the Rings to his count.
So he was pretty much doomed from the start.
Love of fantasy, his personal gateway drug, drew him toward a fairly
eclectic spread of interests: horseback riding (including trick riding,
stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery,
martial arts, costuming, music and theater. He played a lot of role-
playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and
eventually got into live-action roleplay where players beat each other
up with boffer weapons.
So, really, he can fly his nerd flag with pretty much anyone, and
frequently does.
He took up writing to be able to produce fantasy novels with swords and
horses in them, and determinedly wrote terrible fantasy books until,
just to prove a point to his writing teacher, he decided to take every
piece of her advice; fill out outlines and worksheets, and design
stories and characters just the way she’d been telling him to do for
about three years. He was certain that once she saw what hideous art it
produced, she would be proven wrong and repent the error of her ways.
The result was the Dresden Files, which sure showed *her*.
She has not yet admitted her mistake and recanted her philosophy on
writing.
Jim has performed in dramas, musicals, and vocal groups in front of
live audiences of thousands and on TV. He has performed exhibition
riding in multiple arenas, and fallen from running horses a truly
ridiculous number of times. He was once cursed by an Amazon witch
doctor in rural Brazil, has apparently begun writing about himself in
the third person, and is hardly ever sick at sea.
He also writes books occasionally.
Jim stands accused of writing the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.
He’s plead insanity, but the jury is still out on that one. He lives in
Missouri with his wife, romantic suspense and paranormal romance writer
Shannon K. Butcher (who is really pretty and way out of his league),
his son, and a ferocious guard dog.
