Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15)

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.

He doesn’t know the half of it….

Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.

It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world—which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.

Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess—assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance…


Everytime that I read a Dresden book, I am subtly reminded at the genius of Jim Butcher. Why, you ask? No matter how much you think that you can infer from the plot, you quickly find out that you are wrong. Nothing is what it seems.

This book centers around one of my favorite characters, Mab. Mab has this elegance about her that makes me very happy. I cannot pinpoint it. Is it the dark undertone to her words? Is it the hidden agendas that she has? Or is it that she is a bad bad girl? One can wonder.

So, we pick up where we left off. Harry is stuck on the island with a "parasite" in his head. One, that will kill him in a matter of days. Even Demonreach himself cannot corral the beast in Harry's head.
Months have past and Harry is left to wonder amongst the pain, why his friends haven't visited him.

Mab arrives with a proposition. She is required to fulfill a debt to a certain evil that has plagued Harry's life for years. The one and only Nicodemus. Harry refuses, but his mantle requires him to comply. To sweeten the deal, she offers to take the "parasite" out upon completion of the task.

When Harry arrives, he finds that he is needed to help Nicodemus break into a vault. This is the vault of Hades. Yes, the Greek god of the underworld. Within this vault, we find lies a artifact that will make Nicodemus, along with the noose of Judas, practically invincible.

What are some questions, or small plot points.

1. Where is Molly?
2. Michael and how will he play a part?
3. Of course both Mab and Nicodemus have hidden agendas.
4. Will we see Marcone?
5. How will, if any, will the other coins of the fallen angels play a part?
6. Bob, we need Bob!
7. What is this "parasite"
8. The two swords of the Knights of the Cross are unused....will they be at the end of the book?
9. What or who are the protectors at Michael's house that we got a glimpse of in the last book.
10. Mab and Harry...oh what pair these two make.
11. A Greek god? What's next?
12. Karen and Harry? Come on!!!

I want to tell you all everything that has happened in this book. Sadly, I cannot. We have clearly reached a climax in this series and the final pieces are starting to take shape. However, slow the clouds are parting, I sense that Nicodemus and crew might be the final battle for Harry is this amazing series. Sure, there are a billion questions and a few are answered in this book. Butcher tries to put the familiar plot back (as much as possible) back in place. Sure, some of the characters are different, but those dedicated to this series can appreciate the delicate manner in which he does this.


Quotes:

“Hands that wrap us in warmth, that hold us close. Hands that guide us to shelter, to comfort, to food. Hands that hold and touch and reassure us through our very first crisis, and guide us into our very first shelter from pain. The first thing we ever learn is that the touch of someone else’s hand can ease pain and make things better. 

“But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil, damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness . . . . . . which could obviously be redeemed only by passing through the fiery, cleansing inferno of a wizardly digestive tract.” 

Rating

Until Next Time,