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

Loved the book and the narrator!

James Marsters is the best narrator. He can do so many voices for each of the characters. Love you James!

one of the greats

James Marsters is the perfect narrator for Dresden Files and Jim Butcher is in top form here. Glad to see Harry having long term plans and I've been waiting to see team-ups and character arcs like this. Can't wait for the next one!

I LOVE THIS SERIES

Repeat read was already strong, plus greatest narrator. heck yes, I download every last one!

an excellent dresden files novel

one of the best dresden files books that I've listened to. absolutely fantastic. performance was superb.

One of my favorites in the series!

First off, James Marsters is absolutely EPIC with his performance on this series. Such a great range of talent, you can always tell which character is talking with his skills. I never thought I would find a great series that I could get immersed into again after trying so many out on Audible these past few years. Jim Butcher has been a pleasant surprise with his storytelling and I immediately download the next one every time I finish. I am a grown-a man and I was clutching my chest with tears bubbling in my eyes during the scene meeting with Maggie. Holy cow, I will probably RE-listen to this whole series multiple times it is that GOOD.

Best Dresden book yet

I love these books and his writing has gotten so much better over time. Thi s, however, is a culmination of 15 books of back story and character development. Chapter 32 rocked me , I cried and I laughed.

The End of the Book is The Best Part

"Skin Game" never made a lot of sense to me. It seemed like such an abrupt departure from "Cold Days" and the basic ongoing theme of the books to that point. It's not the characters' actions that I questioned, but what Jim Butcher was doing. We left Harry alone on the island after the battle with the faeries, the two deaths and the two new additions to the faerie courts. Where's the aftermath of that, the run-in with the Outsider and the Wild Hunt? Yet none of that is dealt with in "Skin Game."

Instead, Mab shows up at the island with a special earring for Harry to wear. His headaches have grown exponentially as the parasite (that is not a parasite) grows larger in his brain and only Demonreach is able to keep the headaches somewhat at bay. If Harry leaves the island, the pain will incapacitate him. Since Mab needs Harry, she needed to find something to use to keep the headaches at bay. Thus the earring with which she pierces his ear.

Shockingly, she then takes Harry to a meeting with Nicodemus Archleone, the Denarian. Even more shockingly, since Mab owes Nicodemus - or at least his fallen angel - a favor, Mab is lending him Harry. Naturally, Harry is appalled that Mab would expect him to do such a thing. He voices his opinion loudly and she shows him who the boss is.

And we're off on a strange romp with a motley crew that has been gathered to illegally enter John Marcone's high security vault in order to reach an even higher security vault in the Nevernever. A vault owned by Hades, lord of the underworld. Let the craziness begin.

Murphy, Mouse, Butters, Michael, Charity, Anna Valmont, Maggie, Binder and many more become part of this fifteenth edition of The Dresden Files.

The end of the book is the best part.

By the way, this book only began to make sense to me when "Peace Talks" came out.

great listening

loved it. Marsters has made Harry a superhero
will listen to it again and again

10/10

love this book, Jim Butcher is a wonderful writer. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys intense mysteries

Excellent

Very well written and read. Vivid, dynamic, frightening, touching and engaging. It draws you in.