Spoiler Free Skin Game Book Review
Skin Game by Jim Butcher was an incredible read. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Harry Dresden so smart! Out of all the scrapes he’s been in, this one had me the most nervous and unsure of what was to come.
It’s beginning to get difficult to write spoiler-free reviews, now that I’m 15 books in, so I’ll keep this brief.
Parkour!
That might seem like a silly subheading (and it is), but I want to talk about character. For me, this series has been all about character – we love to see our favourites pop up in the next book, like Butters, Michael, Molly and Marcone.
A few years have passed since Cold Days and Harry Dresden has been keeping to himself on the island. This created an interesting, new dynamic between our wizard and his closest friends.
Murphy is badass as usual, and only gets cooler with each entry in the series. I always love seeing Butters, but he had a few moments in this book that were so special. Michael and the carpenters warmed my heart, and to see them again was great.
With each book, Jim Butcher grows and improves as a writer, even after so many entries. His character work has gotten so good and is one of the main reasons I keep returning to this series – I have never read so many books by one author before.
The Stakes Keep Rising
Harry Dresden is known for getting himself into a lot of trouble – or at least trouble seems to find him regularly and he narrowly survives (most of the time). Skin Game might not have been as huge as Changes, but it didn’t need to be – I still felt like the stakes were higher.
The heist format certainly helped, especially with him working alongside people who are normally the villains. I felt on edge at all times, much like Dresden did, wondering if one of the people around him would turn and attempt to kill him at any moment.
Continuing with that thought on the plot, as always there were plenty of twists, and most of them were fantastic. So many that I should have seen, but didn’t, and they are always the best. There is one twist that I think didn’t quite work because there was no hint of it at all throughout the book, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story.
Final Thoughts
Skin Game is a fantastic entry in The Dresden Files and I am excited to catch up and start waiting for the next books with everyone else soon. I have been reading these books for almost 3 years now and they’ve been incredible – I’ll almost be sad to have finished them!
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