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When Marcone, the Chicago crime lord, is kidnapped, Dresden is called in to help find him by Mab, the Queen of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, and she refuses to take no for an answer. But any favor for the Queen of the Winter Court, even one that is owed, is no small thing, and soon Dresden finds himself at odds with the Summer Court and the Denarians, fallen angels who use humans as hosts. And what Dresden uncovers is a far larger plan that gives the Denarians more power than anyone in their right mind would want them to have.

Impression: While the story itself is up to Butcher's usual excellence, the writing is starting to slip a little...or maybe it's the editing. Particularly early in the novel, there were some small technical issues, repetitions, and a few other things that are unusual for a Dresden book. But once the story got rolling, either those problems became less prevalent (and they weren't all that frequent to begin with, just noticeable when you're used to the quality that a Dresden book usually has), or the story did its job and made the problems disappear. Either way, the bumps were only in the first few chapters for me. After that, I was too drawn in to care much.

And, as usual, Butcher dives into the action early. Even before Harry knows Mab will be calling in one of her remaining favors, the Summer Court is after him. From there, it only gets worse as Mab forces him to hunt for Marcone, a man he's sure Chocago is better off without, and he quickly uncovers his own reasons to find the mobster before he accepts a Denarian coin and becomes an greater power and worse danger to the city. But in the process of trying to negotiate for Marcone's release, he uncovers an even more dangerous plan and finds himself the target of suspicions from the friends who aide him.

I think, if anything, the book could have used a lull or two, places for Dresden, and the reader, to catch their breath a little. The plot flowed, the reason for the constant rush of the novel made sense, it was just hard to process the events. I'm sure a lot of readers would say that's just a me thing.

Other than that, it was another excellent addition to the Dresden series (it really is nice to see a series continue to so strongly after the 4th or 5th book, when so many other series are starting to lose steam or are having other issues). Character development wasn't as strong in this particular installment, but with as much as was going on, that makes sense. The plot twists worked very well as usual. If there's one thing Butcher is the master at, it's putting in a twist you don’t see coming, but you can definitely see events leading to it once it happens. So I highly recommend the book, but there is one thing readers do need to be aware of: a lot of the earlier books didn't need to be read in a particular order to make sense, but this book (and, to be honest, at least the two or three before it) needs to be read in order or a lot of what goes on, particularly with the Denarians, will not make sense.

And if you haven't started reading the Dresden Files, and you love fantasy (particularly urban fantasy), what are you waiting for? Pick them all up, including this one. You won't be disappointed.