Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
The new novel in the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series.

No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills- and loyalties-to their very limits.

It figures. Everything was going too well to last...

Rating : - Butcher is a wizard
Often in fantasy the basic plot is a cliche. And since Buffy (or Blackwood for that matter) a guardian/wizard/detective in a modern city fighting supernatural intrusions will sound pretty tired. But it is what you do with familiar stories and elements that decides whether you're a hack or a genius. With his storytelling flair, ear for dialogue and inventiveness Jim Butcher plays in the Olympic league. What's more, with every new book in this series he ups the ante - and manages to avoid all the pitfalls of the genre. We still do not know most of the bad guys - or what they are up to - because there are some deep undercurrents in Dresden's world, but does that mean that the series has ground to a snails pace by book 10 (such as in some epic fantasies we know)? Hell no, the pace might well be even more breathless than in book 8 and 9! And yes, we learn new things about Dresden's world and about Harry himself (romance!) but that is not the point, or is it? Action! Character! Emotions! Scary villains! Unexpected allies! Danger from all sides! Big Bangs (lots)! Thunder! Lightning! Include all that and still take the stories in unexpected directions by the 10th book, then you've created magic. Good one, Mr. B. Thanks!