The Stats
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: Cold Days
AUTHOR: Jim Butcher @longshotauthor
Publisher: Roc Hardcover, of Penguin Random House @penguinrandomhouse
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published: July 26, 2011
The Review
So, Harry isn’t really dead! Mazel! That means, however, he has to make good on his promise to Queen Mab and be the Winter Knight. His first order: Kill Mab’s Daughter.
He needs his old lab assistant Bob, because the old skull knows how to kill immortals. So he heads on back to Chicago, and reconnects with his old pals, no matter how hard he tries to keep them blind to the fact he’s still alive. This causes all manner of chaos, as now, the Lovecraftian outsiders pop up to kill him, his living iland Demonreach warns him that it’s about to go supercritical, the summer court of the fey are warning him there is a mindwarping contagion going around, and he’s got a SPLITTING headache.
Yup, it’s a Dresden Files.
The Title/Cover Draw:
I’ve always found Dresden Files covers to be a bit bland-ish. They’re typically just Dresden standing there either being shady or wizard-y in a nondescript urban setting. The titles are often cute puns on the plot (such as Fool Moon, about idiots being various forms of Werewolves). So, this title was a bit of a letdown. Yup, it’s cold.
What I liked:
This is the book where Harry finds out what all his accidentally stumbled-upon responsibilities and mantles mean. He finds out what Demonreach really is, what it means to be the Winter Knight, what it means to be a Faerie Lord or Lady, who Vaderung really is, and what the whole Wild Hunt is all about. We also find out why, of all the people in the universe, all this stuff is happening to Harry. Yeah, fourteen books in and we are just figuring it out now.
What I didn’t like:
Maeve. Then again, you’re not supposed to.
What kept me reading:
Each case with Dresden is a roller coaster, and whenever you don’t have action, you have him dealing with deep emotional and philosophical questions. Of course, those questions are completely beyond him unless he’s guided by the nose, but that’s half the fun.
The Characters:
If you’ve read the other books in this series, you’re already here for the characters. People you thought you forgot come back and make their presence known in a big way. People you expect to see all have a bone to pick with Harry for not only arranging his own death, but for not telling them as soon as it didn’t take.
The Ending:
Though not as cataclysmic as Changes, Cold Days ends with some pretty major upheavals. Personally for the characters and the balance of power for the realms of Faerie. It shows how much effect Dresden has on his universe.
Consider if you like / Reminds me of:
If you’re all grown up and ready for darker, more mature content, but also loved Harry Potter, give the other magical Harry a try.
*****
Summary:
You can’t keep a good wizard down – even when he wants to stay that way.
For years, Harry Dresden has been Chicago’s only professional wizard, but a bargain made in desperation with the Queen of Air and Darkness has forced him into a new job: professional killer.
Mab, the mother of wicked faeries, has restored the mostly-dead wizard to health, and dispatches him upon his first mission – to bring death to an immortal. Even as he grapples with the impossible task, Dresden learns of a looming danger to Demonreach, the living island hidden upon Lake Michigan, a place whose true purpose and dark potential have the potential to destroy billions and to land Dresden in the deepest trouble he has ever known – even deeper than being dead. How messed up is that?
Beset by his new enemies and hounded by the old, Dresden has only twenty four hours to reconnect with his old allies, prevent a cataclysm and do the impossible – all while the power he bargained to get – but never meant to keep – lays siege to his very soul.
Magic. It can get a guy killed.
I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.