The next highly anticipated installment in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series is book #14, Cold Days. November 27th is the magical release date and I’m really hoping to have finished NaNoWriMo by that day so that I can once more immerse myself in Harry’s version of Chicago and watch as he attempts to get out of the latest fine mess in which he’s gotten himself. Which mess might that be, you ask? Watch out! Blurb ahead!

HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!!

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard.

He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill.

Guess which Mab wants first?

Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday.

Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own…

His soul.

In preparation for new Dresden books, I generally do a series re-read… or a re-listen rather, since I absolutely love the job that James Marsters does on the audio books. Of course, James was unavailable to read for Ghost Story, much to the chagrin of many, many fans, myself included, but he is back to read Cold Days and I for one can’t wait to hear him voicing Harry & Company again!

But I digress… so odd for me to do that, sorry! Series re-read. There, back on track! For this book release, I won’t be doing a series re-read/re-listen. Why, do you ask? Well, the point of this post is to tell you why, so sit tight!

In preparation for the release of Ghost Story last summer, I re-listened to each of the first 12 books in the series (+ Side Jobs!) and then wrote reviews for each of them once I had finished. I did this, in part, in order to share my love of the series with the handful of people who actually read this blog, but also so that I would have a handy-dandy recap for each book in case an entire re-read/re-listen before future book releases was impossible for me. Much like it is now, what with my busy season at work, NaNoWriMo approaching, and my daughter’s Senior Year of high school in full swing and tons of college stuff to be done.

To be honest, my ‘reviews’ go well beyond what a lot of book reviews are meant to do, which is give you an overview of what the book is about and a general idea of the reviewer’s thoughts and impressions of the book, which is all fine and good. Of course sometimes a reviewer will go a bit further and vaguely mention something about the events that transpired in the book, usually sans spoilers, in order to entice people to read the book.

Ha! I scoff! MY reviews are somewhat… different.

First, they’re pretty much all way too long and second, they’re almost all so chock full of info and spoilers that one might never need to re-read the books!

I say re-read because darlin’, if you haven’t read them, you’re missing out on some kind of superawesometasticspecialness. Seriously. Jim Butcher has created characters that you will love and characters that you will love to hate who all occupy such a rich and fascinating world full of magic. A world that I not only want to revisit periodically by reading or listening to his stories, but one that I would actually want to GO to… to EXPERIENCE. Hell, to LIVE in!

Okay, caps lock off, I’m just trying to get the point across that this is a wonderful series that I’m sure you’ll enjoy, because I know everything about you. EVAREETHANG! So stop doing that thing that you’re doing that you think that nobody knows about. Seriously, shame on you. *tsk*

If you haven’t read the series and want to, don’t rely on reviews here or elsewhere to show you Harry’s world. You’d be missing out on 99% of it, easily. Start with Storm Front and have at it because the books, especially the early ones, are super-quick reads… or listens, if you’re a fan of audio books, and ohmyGod either format is so worth the time.

If you have read the series and you are just looking for a recap before picking up (or downloading) Cold Days and reading about (or listening to) Harry as Mab’s Winter Knight (dun-dun-dun-DUNNN), then dive right into the links below and I hope that I recapped the books sufficiently for you, and that you enjoy!

My Dresden Files reviews: