So this is the latest book in the Dresden Files saga, taking place close to a year after the events of the last book. In this, Dresden is forced to team up with the one person he really hates, Nicodemus. Their job? To rob the vault of Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Yeah...this is going to be messy for Dresden.
I'm not going to go into specifics for the book but basically, a lot of shit happens in it. A knight of the blackened denarius dies, a sword of the cross is shattered, a new knight of the cross is chosen, Dresden talks with his daughter for the first time, Lasciel comes back. Basically, shit goes down in this book and it's pretty action-packed.
However, a few things about the book that bugged me. Murphy and Dresden's 'romance'. OMG, it's been FIFTEEN fucking books already and they're still stuck in the flirting stage. That's 15 years in the dresden-verse already. And the pseudo-sex scene? Totally a tease since it's just a wet dream Dresden is having. Can Dresden please just become celibate if readers are just going to be tortured with this kind of 'will they, won't they?' bullshit? Also, the sheer number of references to Dresdens libido in Skin Game was...unsettling to say the least.
Although I do like how the book threw it in that Murphy had been totally unreasonable before, keeping the swords from Dresden. Even Uriel; Archangel, destroyer of galaxies, etc, says Dresden IS the one who was appointed keeper of the swords not Murphy and that Murphy merely took it on herself to keep the swords. Kind of like how a thief keeps your possessions. And then Murphy goes and destroys the sword with a careless act. GJ Murphy. Thankfully, the swords can be reforged. Apparently.
I suppose I'm coming off as pretty harsh towards Murphy's character but that's because she is pretty annoying at times. Plus the author likes to shoehorn her into things, which makes me feel like she's being shoved down the readers throats. Like in the book, Dresden can take ONE person to watch his back while he's being teamed up with Nicodemus and his merry gang of misfits who would like to do nothing more than to stick a knife into it. Who does he ask? Murphy...why? Cause she has 'Awareness'. Yes, that's her super power. I guess she can shout fast enough that Dresden can turn around and react. Instead of choosing someone more useful like....maybe his half-brother -_- Who has speed and awareness and strength.
Also, I'm somewhat disappointed with Dresden in this book. He's the winter knight, he's god knows what else, chosen one blah blah blah, and yet he's still stuck with the same type of shit he's been dealing with in since book 5. It just doesn't feel like he's been given any sort of power increase, which I guess would make him the shittiest winter knight ever. He's still having trouble with goons with guns, he's still having trouble with ghouls which he dealt with before. I feel like the author, in an effort to make it seem like Dresden is struggling like he always does, kind of downplayed Dresdens powers in this book. Considering Dresden is supposed to be one of the most powerful wizards on the council and he now has the power of the Winter Knight added to his original power, it seems like he struggles with the same exact stuff he did BEFORE his power change. At least increase the difficulty level of his foes so that it seems like his power level has increased but so has his foes power levels.
Overall, I'd still recommend this book because Dresden Files. Plus shit does happen into it and the plot does advance in a way. It also regresses in some ways, which is bad but still tolerable.
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