I can’t believe it’s time to say goodbye to Harry Dresden. He’s been part of my life for most of two years! I remember when Ender was my best friend for so many audiobooks and it was hard to let him go, too. Well, at least I can tell you about this last book before we close the pages.
Skin Game was the first of Jim Butcher’s titles I didn’t “get” from context. I wasn’t familiar with the phrase (I didn’t even know it was a phrase, a shortening of “skin in the game”) and I didn’t remember to look it up until I’d finished the book. It basically means a trick or scam.
This book brings together characters who wouldn’t normally work together—Nicodemus and Dresden on terse terms and at cross purposes at either end of the table, and a bunch of unknown quantities with a bunch of unknown allegiances between them. Characters run the gamut from familiar faces like Binder and Karrin Murphy (I’ve been listening to the audiobooks and only just recently realized it isn’t spelled Karen) to new-to-us faces like Hannah Ascher (who is a young, literally-fiery redhead) and Goodman Grey (who has the sexiest Looziana Bayou drawl). Now we all know Dresden would never willingly work with the evilest of evils—Ole Daddy Nickelhead Himself—but Queen Mab essentially puts Harry in a do-or-die armbar. So the team assembles to steal the Holy Grail out from under the nose of Hades. (Because, why not, right?) This book is just as exciting and snark-filled as all those before it, but it’s tender exchanges like the ones between Harry and Maggie that really kick ya in the feels. (I’m not crying, you’re crying!) If you’re new to my reviewing style, I try to avoid spoiling stuff, so if you want to know more, you should just read it already! (But start with book 1, okay?)
James Marsters has now read me all fifteen Jim Butcher books in the Harry Dresden series so far. Book 15 came out almost 4 years ago, and Butcher has been putting out other books in the meantime. I’m a little lost as to where to go from here!
Reading Challenges
And here are the reading challenge updates:
- PopSugar 2017 reading challenge No. 2, a book that’s been on your TBR list for way too long. I realized that the PopSugar challenge didn’t exclude library books from its definition of TBR so I jumped on the chance to use this title for this category. The series is 15 books long, after all, so book 15 has been on my TBR since I picked up the first volume!
- Book Dragon’s Lair Audiobook challenge Yes! And this makes my audiobook total come to 12.
- Book Dragon’s Lair Pages Read challenge These 454 pgs bring me to 13,045 pgs.
- Read It Again, Sam Nope. This has been my smallest category and I’m not surprised, as I rarely reread books. I’m not sure why that is! Maybe there are just always too many new ones vying for my attention.
- My Reader’s Block Mount To Be Read (TBR) and Rock My TBR challenge Doesn’t count bc it’s from the library. I’ve been able to keep pace for the lowest level, 12 for the year or 1 per month, so I still have some time in October to do this one.
- Diverse Reads challenge (here and here). Nope. But I think I messed up somewhere and didn’t list my September diversity book, or else didn’t do one (egad! zoinks!) so I’m going to have to go back and take a look at that.
- The Book Date Full House challenge Nope. I have a few picked out to finish my last two squares on the board but I haven’t prioritized them yet.
- The Book Date Read the Books You Buy challenge Nope. I’m floating around a 1/3 average.
- The Worm Hole’s What’s In A Name challenge Nope. This one is seriously hard! I’ll have to work on it specifically if I want to finish in time.
- Anne Read Along Nope.
Hashtags for the challenges that had them:
#popsugarreadingchallenge
#rockmytbr
#diversereads2017
#whatsinaname2017
#AnneReadAlong2017
Love,
Jobe
J. Jobe 