Oh, Harry!

Jim Butcher has done it again. He has set Harry up with an impossible job that must be accomplished under a deadline that has terrible penalties for noncompliance and of course he's going to be doing it with teammates that do not have his best interests at heart. And who set this up for him? Well, it's Mab - and she has set in motion plans that have Harry working with Nicodemus.

I find it hard to write about this without giving away too much regarding the storyline - there is so much here. The central theme for Skin Game seems to be family relationships and Butcher has brought back my favorite family man, Michael Carpenter. But there are other types of families as well and they come into play here, too.

The quest that Harry is set upon is nearly impossible and yet Nicodemus has brought together a team with unique properties that can bring him to NeverNever - a very specific portion containing the treasures of … well, you'll see.

I loved much of this book and had many quotes to remember:

There's power in the touch of another person's hand. We acknowledge it in little ways, all the time. There's a reason human beings shake hands, hold hands, slap hands, bump hands.
It comes from our very earliest memories, when we all come into the world blinded by light and color, deafened by riotous sound, flailing in a suddenly cavernous space without any way of orienting ourselves, shuddering with cold, emptied with hunger, and justifiably frightened and confused. And what changes that first horror, that original state of terror?
The touch of another person's hands.
Hands that wrap us in warmth, that hold us close. Hands that guide us to shelter, to comfort, to food. Hands that hold and touch and reassure us through our very first crisis, and guide us into our very first shelter from pain. The first thing we learn is that the touch of someone else's hand can ease pain and make things better.
That's power. That's power so fundamental that most people never even realize it exists.

Sunset isn't just a star orbiting below the relative horizon of the planet. It's a shift in supernatural energy. Don't believe me? Go out far away from the lights of civilization sometime, and sit down, all by yourself, where there aren't any buildings or cars or telephones or crowds of people. Go sit down, quietly, and wait for the light to fade. Feel the shadows lengthening. Feel the creatures that stay quiet during the day start to stir and come out. Feel that low instinct of nervous trepidation rising up in your gut. That's how your body translates that energy to your senses. To a wizard like me, sundown is like a beat on some unimaginably enormous drum.

"You walk through the door and everything goes to hell."
"That's embroidered on my towels, actually."

When you're outnumbered as badly as I was, inflicting two-to-one casualties is just another way to say that you lost and got eaten.

You destroy buildings, fight monsters openly in the streets of the city, work with the police, show up in the newspapers, advertise in the phone book, and ride zombie dinosaurs down Michigan Avenue, and think you work in the shadows? Be reasonable.

Sometimes, when I get bored, I stop and think.

You think your power is what shapes the world you walk in. But that is an illusion. Your choices shape your world. You think your power will protect you from the consequences of those choices. But you are wrong. You create your own rewards. There is a Judge. There is Justice in this world. And one day you will receive what you have earned. Choose carefully.

I remember very little of my father, but one thing I do remember is him telling me always to be polite. It costs you nothing but breath, and can buy you as much as your life.
What, don't look at me like that. I'm only a wiseass to monsters.
And people who really need it.
And when it suits me to be so.

There are weapons that have nothing to do with steel or explosions or vast arcane power, and I used mine. "Do you remember?" I asked in a very quiet voice. "The first time you saw her? The first time she looked at you? Do you remember that change? That shift, when the whole universe suddenly tilted? Do you remember looking at her and knowing that you would never, ever be quite the same person? Do you think the cup will do that for you?"

The Art can be a lot of work, and it can sometimes be tedious, and sometimes even painful, but at the end of the day, I love it. I love the focus of it, the discipline, the balance. I love working with the energy and exploring what can be done with it. I love the gathering tension of a spell, and the almost painful clarity of focus required to concentrate that tension into an effect. I love the practice of it as well as the theory, the research, experimenting with new spells, teaching others about magic. I love laying down spells on my various pieces of magical gear, and most of all, I love it when I can use my talents to make a difference in the world, even when it's only a small one.

Hope lets you do things you would otherwise never be able to do, gives strength when everything is darkest.

Home is where, when you go there and tell people to get out, they have to leave.

Sometimes you realize you're standing at a crossroads. That there are two paths stretching out ahead of you, and you have to pick one of them.


Kudos, Mr Butcher. I love this and yet I feel the best is yet to come. Write on, sir. Write on.

For Daelith - I hope you enjoy this. I love Harry Dresden!

Received in the mail today. Thank you so much. Love this series.

Giving my Dresden series to someone else to enjoy. This series has gone in a direction I don't care for now and is not holding my attention.