Skin Game - Book Review

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Skin Game (Dresden Files book 15) - Book Review
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Roc Hardcover (May 27, 2014)
464 pages
ISBN: 9780451464392

Beloved series are a joy when one first discovers them. A loyalty and following is built up and maintained by giving the fans what they want. Unfortunately along the way readers can grow as bored with the characters as the author is with writing them. This is where Jim Butcher uses a bit of magic in allowing his character, Harry Dresden, to change and grow while keeping his same self-depreciating, pop culture reference-spewing “charm.” Picking up shortly after where Cold Days left off, Harry is on his island in the middle of Lake Michigan, training his body and learning to control his new powers that come with the Winter Mantle. Harry is occupying himself with parkour and trying not to be a danger to others. Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, shows up with a job for him. The job stinks from the beginning but it’s not like Harry can refuse. He is her Winter Knight and all. Harry returns to Chicago to work with a variety of baddies in order to pull off a heist. The job requires subtly and tact, two things Harry lacks, so he has to make up for it on the fly, usually with lots of noise and people running away. Harry reaches out to old friends but realizes that he may have just put them in the same danger he is in.

Butcher seamlessly weaves back-story in with the present story, reminding fans of previous events and catching up new readers. It is always a nice bonus to the Dresden Files, and the mark of a talented writer, for new readers to be able to pick up at any point in the series and know what is going on without having to read the first fourteen books. Butcher also establishes Dresden’s powers and their limitations early, keeping tension throughout with readers knowing that he can’t just have new powers to get out of a given situation. The latest Dresden Files book is just as fresh and entertaining as the first.

While we are treated to more fantastic elements, witty jokes, and Harry being a smack talking, wizard-for-hire we all know and love, there are a few parts of some real emotion and struggle. Characters have to deal with the ramifications of their decisions. The heist plot was wonderful and beautifully layered out. While it didn’t go together as nice as a Swiss watch (gears and cogs rubbed against each other a few times) it did have enough twists and turns to keep the reader from seeing what was coming. At first people scoffed at the twenty book plans of the Dresden files and now fans are worried about the series wrapping up. While our hero is stronger, at a cost, I feel like the series is rounding third. The quality is still there but how much morecan Harry take before giving out? It will be an ending worth waiting for. Skin Game is a brilliant and fun look at the continuing adventures of Harry Dresden. If you’re a fan it is a must. If you’re not a fan…what’s wrong with you? Pick up this book or one of the fourteen others and you’ll become a fan.

Reviewed by Adam Armstrong