I liked having Harry back on this side of the veil, but I was so-so about the rest of Cold Days, the latest entry in The Dresden Files.

Man. Being mostly dead is hard on a guy. pg 11, ebook.

Harry Dresden, wizard for hire, is now the Winter Knight after a series of misadventures and serious adventures in the past couple of books. And the position isn’t very much fun.

The winter fae are hardcore. They’re mean, full of tricks and generally happy to kill without consideration for any consequences. So you can see how poorly Harry is going to fit in.

Queen Mab, his new boss, is smart and dangerous. She also has a lot of pans in the fire that the reader isn’t necessarily aware of until later in the book. But, being that it’s the freaking Queen of the Winter Fae, maybe I should have expected more backstabby things.

“Oh, the Sidhe’s influence had been waning as the Industrial Age gathered steam,” I said. “By making sure the tales kept being told to mortal children, she made sure that she and her folk were never forgotten.” pg 28

I didn’t like Harry’s character development as much in this book. It seems like much of his choice and free will was taken away when he took up the “mantle” of the Winter Knight. I’m not sure that my feeling is fair though. How much choice did he have when he was under the thumb of the White Council? Or being manipulated by the Red Court, etc.

See, that’s the tragedy of the human condition. No one wants to be corrupted by power when they set out to get it. They have good, even noble reasons for doing whatever it is they do. They don’t want to misuse it, they don’t want to abuse it, and they don’t want to become vicious monsters. Good people, decent people, set out to take the high road, to pick up power without letting it change them or push them away from their ideals. pg 30

Harry continues to use “blast first, ask questions later” but now he’s got ammunition made out of ice in addition to fire and he isn’t afraid to use it. His new job (and prior ghost experience) have driven some major wedges between Harry and his friends. I didn’t like that we saw less of the minor characters, some of whom I’ve grown quite fond of. Bob the Skull is the one that comes to mind first, but there were others.

I’m not entirely sure his relationship with Molly is ever going to be the same. The patchwork relationship fixes Harry makes with Karrin Murphy, Butters and Thomas are questionable. Overall, I just felt sad. Sometimes, we out grow our friends or they out grow us. I wanted Harry to be best of pals with those folks forever.

Butters tore off a final piece of medical tape, stuck the end of the bandage down with it, and sighed. “Yeah. Just try not to… well, move, or jump around, or do anything active, or touch anything dirty, or otherwise do anything else that I know you’re going to do anyway in the next twenty-four hours.” pg 287

That’s not to say there aren’t moments to enjoy in this book. There’s still magic, danger and adventure. But I feel like things have certainly changed since a few books ago, and Jim Butcher hasn’t necessarily recaptured the magic he conjured when his characters were racing to prevent the death of a little girl at the hands of Red Court vampires.

Wizarding just isn’t what it used to be. Not so many years ago, I’d think it was a busy week if someone asked me to locate a lost dog or a wedding ring. It had been horribly boring. I’d had lots and lots of free time. I hadn’t been rich, but I’d gotten to buy plenty of books to read, and I’d never gone hungry. And no one had tried to kill me, or asked me to make a horrible choice. Not once.pg 457

I’m dragging my feet on picking up the next entry, Skin Game, because I read that it was the last that Butcher has finished, for now. There are plans in the works for another book, Peace Talks but it isn’t finished yet. I’ve been burned by too many science fiction/fantasy writers like George R.R. Martin or Scott Lynch to expect that the next book will be finished any time in the near future.

Butcher writes on his professional website that he’s lost his dog, gotten a divorce, moved, been delayed in the construction of his new house and gotten engaged since the publication of the last book in the Dresden Files. That’s a lot of change. I wonder if it will come through in his writing…

Maybe I’m mourning the loss of Harry Dresden before the series even ends? The ending seems to be there or at least coming towards us, on the horizon. In addition to the approaching end, I feel like the quality of writing in the books isn’t as good as it was, even a few books ago, when Butcher almost blew up the world he had created with the awfulness that went on between Harry and Molly.

Anyway, of course I will read the next book. Maybe over the holidays, which are swiftly approaching.

In conclusion, I wish Cold Days was more whimsical like the first books in the series or action-packed like some of the last. Because it seems to exist in this middling reality where Harry can’t do anything right and seems to be losing friends faster than he’s making them, all the while spinning his wheels on ice and being manipulated by others who are far more powerful and inventive than he will ever be.

Thanks for reading!

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