Skin Game

A Novel of the Dresden Files, Book 15

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: James Marsters

Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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.…

©2014 Jim Butcher (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Another Amazing Dresden Files

Thank you Jim, another great story! Characters we love and love to hate and everything in between.

Get ready for some fun. PARKOUR!

The Dresden Files series is back in top form for Skin Games. The book is less plot and character driven and gravitates more towards action. This is a nice change of pace from the past few books. Jim Butcher writes great action scenes and this story keeps you on the edge of your seat from begining to end. I particularly like all the swerves in the story. I usually can predict where a story is heading, but in this case a lot of the story caught me by surprise and that's a good thing.

I won't go into details as I do not want to spoil anything, but several new characters are added and one old favorite gets a major power-up in this novel. The new characters are really interesting and I hope to see more of them in the future. Also, we are given answers to several long standing questions that have been fodder for debate for a long time.

The meta-plot for the series is moved a long a bit, but this novel seems closer to a stand alone novel than most of the previous ones. While the author does a good job of explaining the backstory, I would still advise reading the previous novels to get the full impact of this story.

In order to be as fair and balanced as possible there are a few things worth noting. First, there is a pretty heavy sex scene in this novel so be aware you might have to forward through that scene if you are listening with younger people.

Second, some of the character changes are getting mixed reviews from people I know who have read the books with some saying it is really cool and others not so much. I personally like them but found myself scratching my head at a few points and going, huh? That isn't to say the changes were not cool and interesting, just that that portion of the story seemed a bit forced. Kind of like the author said wouldn't it be cool if X happened and then shoe horned it in rather than letting it occur more slowly and organically. That is my only complaint with Jim Butcher as an author is that sometimes he gets into a hurry and rushes major plot changes that would be better developed more slowly.

The narraration is top notch as usual. Mr. Marsters is clearly one of the best in the business and I wouldn't want anyone else reading these stories if I could help it. The only negative is he was reading very slowly at first. This may be to show how Dresden was feeling at the time but it did drag a bit for my tastes. Still a superb performance and my negative is more of an aside than actual complaint.

Overall, this is one of the better books in the series and is definitely worth a credit. The author took some major chances with making huge changes to the series in the past few books and now they are starting to pay dividends. Hurry up and get this one, you will not regret it.

Another favorite

Any additional comments?

Butcher's Dresden series are my favorite audiobooks to listen to hands down. This book continues the trend of great story and characters. While I can't say that it is my favorite of the series, it is really good none the less. Marster's performance is wonderful as always. I can't imagine Harry any other way. These are the ones I listen to almost straight through and always involve late nights. Enjoy!

Good book, exactly what you'd expect

I love this series (and I really liked this book) and Butcher is an amazing author, but the Dresden books are starting to become a little bit of rinse and repeat. Let me explain, I love how Harry's story (and the stories of all his supporting characters) advances with each book. We learn more about Harry and the further down the rabbit hole we go the better the story gets. However, Butcher seems to be following a pattern lately, Harry gets into situations that are seemingly impossible to get out of, gets physically and mentally injured to the point of not even being able to maintain consciousness most times, and always gets out of the situation (although never unscathed, which I understand is part of Harry's character developing, the plot moving along, etc.). I don't have a problem with this scenario in general as long as it doesn't happen that often. The problem I have is that it seems to be happening with more frequency in the Dresden books, like two or three times a book, and it's getting a little old, and in Skin Game, I felt like there was a bit of deus ex machina which rubbed me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong though, I still thought it was a really good book and can't wait for the next installment in the series.

James Marsters IS Harry Dresden. There is no other way to put it. He was made for this role and his performance on this book was as amazing as all his others.

Another FANTASTIC Entry in the Dresden Files

With Skin Game, Butcher reminds me why I rate him as one of the all-time best character and story writers. Great story right from the first words, twists and turns, he already has me chomping at the bit for the next book. If I get too detailed as to why I loved this novel, I will give too much away, but there is a meeting between Dresden and another in the middle of the book that made me feel like I was sitting in the room listening to the conversation. Five of Five stars here.

Also, Marsters brings you right into the narrative with his reading, he does an excellent job.

Wonderful....grip ya by the nads

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Only to one that has some spare time

Who was your favorite character and why?

Harry

What about James Marsters’s performance did you like?

absolutely the perfect performer for this series!!!

Any additional comments?

I have listened to all of the books in this series....One of the best series going as far as for my tastes ....Get the series and be prepared to loose some sleep!!!!!!

James Marsters makes Jim Butcher shine.

I hav already read the series and am revisiting it via Audio book and have fallen in love with the work all over again. Much of this is due to the amazing performance of James Marsters, he lends a lot of emotion and feeling to the work and seems to nail the sarcastic tone of Harry perfectly. Interestingly enough having his unique delivery throughout the series really highlights the growth in both the character and the authors abilities.

This is one of my favourite entries in the series, although it's hard to continue the "Harry is the underdog" theme when he has amassed some ridiculous power at this point, Butcher still managed to maintain a sense of danger and suspense by pitting him against what feels like a tough situation.

My only real complaint is the portrayal of Harry's daughter. unless I misunderstand the time line, by this point in the series she should be about 10 or 12 years old but is written and performed like someone more likely to be 5 or 6.

A grand tale and a marker for the stories.

a great story strongly recommend this for anyone if you haven't picked up the dress and files yet get started the rest of books before you pick this one up.

Loved it!!!

Once again, Butcher has out done himself. James Marsters has grown with Harry, and I can only hope he continues to perform with the next books..

Can't wait until the next one

I enjoyed the story line, the characters, and the readings. this is definitely not a family series and made for adults.