Not only is “Cold Days” a return to form for Butcher and The
Dresden Files after the lull of “Ghost Story,” it’s easily one of the best
volumes in the series.
After his little jaunt through the spirit world, Harry wakes
up in Arctis Tor, the home of the Winter Court of faerie. He’s made a deal with
the Winter Queen Mab to take the mantle of the Winter Knight. Mab’s rehabilitation
techniques are somewhat unique, but they leave Harry back in fighting form –
somewhere he’ll need to be to deal with the treachery of the Winter Court. Not
the least of his problems is Maeve, Mab’s daughter and the slightly insane heir
to her throne. His introduction at court makes her the first of his problems.
After an altercation with Maeve and several of her minions,
Harry is transported back to his home in Chicago. He’s determined to get
information that he needs without letting his friends and family know that he’s
back in an attempt to keep them safe. It doesn’t work out very well for him.
What’s more, he learns that there is a catastrophe afoot, centered on the
island in Lake Michigan that he has nicknamed Demonreach. The island, it seems,
holds far more secrets than Harry ever knew, and his efforts there have given
him more responsibility than he expected. He must stop an attack on the island,
while avoiding the enemies he’s made in faerie. But first, he has to find out
who – and when – the attack is coming from.
Though heftier than most of the previous volumes in the series,
there’s little padding in “Cold Days.” Harry gets thrown in the fire right away
and then bounces around at warp speed for the rest of the book trying to
counter the bad guys, dodge attacks and figure out what he’s supposed to do to
save the world. In other words, it’s exactly what we want and expect from
Butcher and Dresden.
It’s also a relief to once again see a more familiar Harry.
The mantle of the Winter Knight, while having some serious negative effects, also
seems to have revived his spirit again. What we have here is the ass-kicking,
wise-cracking wizard of old, for the most part. There’s still a bit of the
brooding, contemplative spirit of “Ghost Story,” and there’s a definite touch
of darkness and anger that goes with the new job, but when the punches are
being thrown, he’s mostly back to the character that we know and love.
I had worried that, after so many books that seemed to continue
to get better and better, the story of Harry Dresden had finally run out of
steam and reached that point that most long-lived series hit sooner or later. I’m
happy to report that rumors of Harry’s
death were greatly exaggerated. Harry, and the series, both are reborn
in “Cold Days,” and both seem to once again have a promising future.
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