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, and this time 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.
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This is one of the more standout books of the Dresden Files, as we see that Harry has to join the bad guys for once, and rob a vault. After the lackluster experience that was Ghost Story, and the merely ‘okay' reading journey that was Cold Days, I was ready for a book that would knock my socks off. Did it? Not as much as I would like.
Most of this book was a positive experience for me, as I read about Harry and his latest endeavor to rob the bank of a Greek God. Truth be told, most of this book is very plot heavy, as we see the team become assembled. All of the members are fighters, but we see them being the antagonists of the story, as opposed to the heroes. Think Ocean's Eleven, but for the bad guys, and you have some idea as to what this book is about. I enjoyed seeing the team being built, and all of the obstacles they face along the way.
Then there is Harry himself. This was the only part of the book that I feel lukewarm about. In the book, we find Harry questioning his motives, as he wonders if he is turning into a twisted version of the monsters he claims to battle against. Thankfully, Michael is there to set him straight. I love seeing him and his family, as they are a bright spot whenever they are on screen (page?). The only issue is that I feel like this is an arc that Harry has gone through before, and we are just hitting the main points again. The idea that Harry is not making time for his friends and family and becoming a monster is one that I felt had been handled better in other, stronger installments. This is a minor gripe, sure, but a noticeable one, for me.
Overall, this one was good, but not one of the greats of the Dresden Files. Perhaps it is just me, and what I am currently going through that made me not want to devour this book, but I think that this novel is one that I liked because of Michael, in particular, and not necessarily because of Harry this time around. I give it a four out of five.
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17 primary books39 released booksThe Dresden Files is a 31-book series with 17 primary works first released in 1997 with contributions by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, and 42 others.
