Cold Days

A novel of the Dresden files The Dresden Files, #14

by Jim Butcher

515 pages

English language

Published April 8, 2012 by Roc.

ISBN:: 978-0-451-46440-8
OCLC Number:: 807040421

(89 reviews)

Following his death by a mystery assailant, Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, 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.

1 edition

cargide reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold Days' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Un cambio bastante grande en la dinámica de los personajes, pero es gracias a eso que recupera mucha de la frescura (guiño guiño) que parecía que estaba perdiendo con el tiempo.

govmarley reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Harry's back! And the gang is (mostly) back together.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I run out of these books. Jim, please get to writing more Harry. More Murphy. More Thomas. More Mouse. I need them. All of them.

If you are up to book 14, you probably don't need my recap, but here goes. Harry is back, he's stuck wearing the mantle of the Winter Knight, and things go wrong. He gets his ass kicked numerous times, goes on a wild hunt, and celebrates another birthday. Oh, and finally talks to Karen, but I don't get a resolution to all of my hopes and dreams. Yet.

Very curious where we are going to go in the next book. Molly, Butters, Karen, even Mac. These books are perfection, and James Marsters IS Harry. If you aren't reading this series, you should. 4 stars.

B. Zelkovich reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold Days' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

... Why was this book so long? Like, I really only needed the last 6 discs or so. All the stuff with Ace and the Redcap didn't really matter at all. Once the Wild Hunt showed up I was into it, but pretty much everything before that was... slow. I think this was my least favorite Dresden book so far.

Wetdryvac reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

More chaotic than I was expecting, and a connect all the things. Fun fluff.

MaddestMax reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Another great Dresden story. I keep thinking Butcher will lose steam and it'll show. Nope. He keeps it full throttle. I laughed, I clenched my jaw and I even got teary eyed. Another winner.

RxBrad reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A good recovery from "Ghost Story", which seemed like a big fat dud to me. Although, unfortunately, I suppose we're stuck hearing a lot more about lame fairies for the rest of the series now.

Minotaur reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I liked this one, better than last especially. Finally movement on one subject. But look here is another subject you can yell at Harry for doing nothing.
Frustrating but still enjoying this series interested to see where again the major game changing ending takes me now.

SBWright reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Cold Days is Jim Butcher’s latest Dresden Files novel of which there are fourteen.

I wouldn't say I am a fan of the Dresden files but I have 3 titles from across the series and also own the TV series as well (not bad for its time, but a little dated now).

It’s hard boiled detective fiction plus wizardry. Gritty urban fantasy with a good dose of witty self deprecation and pop culture referencing.

Now Butcher has been heavily criticised for not having an awareness of his privilege as a white male author in regards to both sexism and racism. There’s a clanger of a passage on the first page of the hard cover:

She was probably too young to drink legally and she was one of the lovelier women I’d ever seen in person. High cheekbones, exotic almond shaped eyes…

Now yes this is Harry Dresden the character and …

She was probably too young to drink legally and she was one of the lovelier women I’d ever seen in person. High cheekbones, exotic almond shaped eyes…

Now yes this is Harry Dresden the character and not Jim Butcher the writer. It would have been nice though if Harry had gained some wisdom and perspective over the fourteen books. That being said the series has roots in the Hardboiled genre so unless you are Megan Abbott your going to be relying on a genre that has some hefty sexist baggage as part of its modus operandi.

Cold Days though, is a bit of a departure from that genre, the detective shtick. It’s more of an urban fantasy adventure novel where the stakes are very high. And that’s where it lost me to some degree – I prefer the smaller scale Dresden.

Cold Days felt long and at just over 500 pages it’s 100 pages longer than Fool Moon, the other Butcher novel I own. This was exacerbated by the fact that it’s written in the first person and there seemed to be more exposition or info dumping than normal. I can understand the need to fill-in newcomers to the series, but Cold Days had me skimming some of Harry’s longer passages.

So Cold Days was not as enjoyable as the earlier Dresden for me - but then I am not the same reader I was then either. I feel that Dresden is outgrowing the Genre that he started, in moving closer to a level of super heroism.

Fans of Dresden will likely have already bought Cold Days. For the newcomer you’ll enjoy this if you like you urban fantasy on a large apocalyptic scale. If your looking for the Phillip Marlowe of Urban Fantasy I’d suggest you check out the early Dresden books.

This book was provided by the publisher

halkeye reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

All I can, and want to say, is dammit, when is the next one coming out.

Michael P reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

An excellent addition to the Dresden line. Butcher is the master of the long character development arc. I look eagerly for the next volume.

ghostchaser reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold Days' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

How cool, To kill off your Main character and bring him back.

Alex Keane reviewed Cold Days by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #14)

Review of 'Cold days' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Dresden's return to the land of the living following Ghost Story is a pretty epic story. Demonreach's importance gets fleshed out a bit. And we learn a bit more about the deal with this "Gatekeeper" guy. So much fun to read, and unfortunately I read it right as it came out and now I've got to wait a while for the next one. Cannot wait.