Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Cold Days by Jim Butcher Cold Days. Cold Days is the fourteenth novel in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, [1] released on November 27th, 2012. It has fifty-three chapters, and a two chapter excerpt is included at the end of the paperback edition of Ghost Story . A previous title was Winter Knight . [2] and Jim Butcher announced its current title on April 4, 2011. [3] Contents. Blurb [ edit | edit source ] You can't keep a good wizard down - even when he wants to stay that way. For years, Harry Dresden has been Chicago's only professional wizard, but a bargain made in desperation with the Queen of Air and Darkness has forced him into a new job: professional killer. Mab, the mother of wicked faeries, has restored the mostly-dead wizard to health, and dispatches him upon his first mission - to bring death to an immortal. Even as he grapples with the impossible task, Dresden learns of a looming danger to Demonreach, the living island hidden upon Lake Michigan, a place whose true purpose and dark potential have the potential to destroy billions and to land Dresden in the deepest trouble he has ever known - even deeper than being dead. How messed up is that? Beset by his new enemies and hounded by the old, Dresden has only twenty four hours to reconnect with his old allies, prevent a cataclysm and do the impossible - all while the power he bargained to get - but never meant to keep - lays siege to his very soul. Magic. It can get a guy killed. Plot [ edit | edit source ] Introduced characters. Character. Description. New plot points. Upon return to Chicago, Dresden sets up to steal Bob from Waldo Butters' apartment and learns that immortals can be killed on the occasion of a conjunction, one of which is Halloween, two days hence. Dresden then proceeds reestablishing his connections with the Za-Lord's Guard, Molly Carpenter and Thomas Raith; Molly informs him that power is accumulating in Demonreach, enough to explode in the near future. With Molly's and Thomas' help, Dresden checks the island, learning that the island is a prison created by The Original Merlin himself to containing a massive number of supernatural entities, the Naagloshii being the least of them. He is now the prison's de facto Warden. The island is under attack, and if it is not stopped, the prison's fail-safe will trigger, releasing enough magical energy to destroy a significant portion of the Midwest. In his hunt for information, Dresden consults with many magical powers, including Donar Vadderung, Lily, Maeve, Titania, both Faerie Mothers, and Rashid, the Gatekeeper. In between attacks from the Outsiders and the Winter faeries, he learns that he is at the center of the events, and about the existence of the Contagion, a disease that so deeply twists a living being's fundamental nature that it must be destroyed on sight. He also learns that he is the spearpoint in the fight against the Outsiders. Karrin Murphy joins him, but refuses him access to the Swords of the Cross. In a hit against Dresden, the Redcap kidnaps McAnally, Butters, Andi Macklin and Justine, managing to wound him with a hawthorn dart, but this does not stop Dresden from organizing the party infiltrating Demonreach, including the kidnapped ones, Molly, . On their way to the island, they hear the horn of the Wild Hunt under the lead of the Erlking directed towards them; Kringle engages Dresden and Murphy in combat. Dresden beats both of them, assuming leadership of the Wild Hunt and repurposing it against the Outsiders on Demonreach; the fight is short, brutal and messy, but in the end only a distraction. Dresden lets the Wild Hunt after the remaining Outsiders; he leads his party toward the summit of Demonreach: a Circle of Power is active and is used by Lily and Maeve against the island's Genius loci; Fix attacks him, but Dresden renders him unconscious, only to be attacked by Lily. Having determined that Maeve has been corrupted by the Nemesis, attacks her, but she defeats him, prompting him to summon Mab, who confronts Maeve. Maeve refuses to yield to her mother, before killing Lily, with the mantle of the Summer Lady to pass to Sarissa. Murphy kills Maeve, transferring the mantle of the Winter Lady to Molly. Dresden confronts Mab and is rebuked; but she admits that she has finally found a Knight worth the trouble. Everything can be traced back to Morgana's athame, which was the vessel that carried the Nemesis in Chicago. After Mab has left, Kringle informs Dresden to respect her pride, also mentioning that Mantles can be worn and discarded. He and Karrin Murphy have a talk, she admits that, whatever it happens, she'll always have his back. Dresden remains on the island, picking up a branch from its oldest oak tree to use in making a new staff. Jim Butcher. “Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.” (© 2011 Jim Butcher) Cold Days by Jim Butcher. I recently got my hands on Cold Days , the latest installment of the Dresden Files. I first picked up the series last winter break, and I was hooked. I passed many early-morning hours attempting to squeeze in just one more chapter, finishing, what was at the time, the 13-book series in one month. With Cold Days , Butcher once again casts his same enchantment, crafting an engaging novel that kept me turning the pages. The prickly, yet lovable, Harry Dresden returns in Cold Days , stronger and with darker inclinations than ever before as the Winter Knight serving Mab, the Winter Queen. Butcher sticks with his winning formula of fantasy transplanted to the very real, and his very gritty Chicago streets. Normally a lovable combination, Butcher skimps on Harry’s time in the Faerie realm and Winter Court to quickly return Harry to his native soil, and himself to the landscape he obviously feels most comfortable narrating. Butcher delivers in all the categories his devoted readers will love. It’s difficult to term any situation in a universe with magic, vampires, faeries, and much more as implausible. Still, Harry once more faces impossibly difficult situations, where the odds of death are high, with sarcasm and the compulsive need to save the day. Not necessarily implausible, but get ready to roll with the excessive punches and blows Harry takes, and manages to survive, during the course of Cold Days . In short, classic Dresden files antics with a more powerful Harry. Butcher has put another 500 pages under his belt without adding much to his authorial repertoire. Yet, Butcher proves a master in maintaining a universe of many raucous supporting characters and 14 books worth of plot points. Whether Butcher can tie together the numerous new plot points created in Cold Days will only be seen in book 15. Cold Days. Harry Dresden is no longer Chicago’s only professional wizard. Now, he’s Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. Her word is his command. And her first command is the seemingly impossible: kill an immortal. Worse still, there is a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could mean the deaths of millions. Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent an apocalypse, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound infinite powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own..