Cold Days

Last updated
Cold Days
Cold Days Hardcover.jpg
Author Jim Butcher
Cover artist Christian McGrath
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series The Dresden Files
Genre Fantasy, mystery
Publisher Roc Hardcover
Publication date
November 27, 2012
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages528
ISBN 978-0-451-46440-8
Preceded by Ghost Story  
Followed by Skin Game  

Cold Days is a 2012 bestselling novel by Jim Butcher and the 14th book in the ongoing The Dresden Files series. [1] [2] The book was first published on November 27, 2012 through Roc Hardcover and continues the adventures of wizard detective Harry Dresden. [3] [4]

Contents

Plot summary

As the story begins, Harry is in Arctis Tor where he is nursed back to health by Sarissa, a member of the Winter Court and a servant of Mab, the Winter Queen. His recovery culminates in a Winter Court party, serving both as an introduction of the new Winter Knight and as Harry's surprise birthday party. During the party he is set up by Maeve, the Winter Lady, who sets a number of events in motion in an attempt to kill him. With help from Sarissa and advice from Kris Kringle, he defeats Maeve's minions and asserts himself as the Winter Knight before the entire Winter Court. Mab, quite satisfied at this outcome, gives Harry his first mission as the new Winter Knight: to kill Maeve.

Harry returns to Chicago and consults Bob, to find out how to go about killing an immortal. Bob is initially reluctant to give out such dangerous information, but eventually tells Harry that immortals can be killed during certain conjunctions, such as on Earth on Halloween night, the day after tomorrow. Harry meets up with Molly, who informs him that energy is growing on Demonreach and she thinks it might explode. He travels to the island and speaks to the spirit of Demonreach, learning that the island is a prison which was created by Merlin himself to contain a massive number of various unspeakable supernatural horrors. Because of his connection to the island, he is now the prison's de facto Warden. The island is under attack, and if the attack is not stopped, the prison's fail-safe will trigger, releasing enough magical energy to destroy the prison as well as level a significant portion of the Midwest.

In trying to figure out how to proceed, Harry consults with many magical powers, including Donar Vadderung, Lily, Titania, the Faerie Mothers, and Rashid. Harry learns that Outsiders are constantly attempting to get past the Outer Gates, which are defended by the Winter Fae. He discovers that Outsiders are behind his present troubles, and that an Outsider infiltrator named Nemesis has been behind many challenges faced by Harry and by the world in general for many years. He also figures out that the ritual that will be used to destroy Demonreach will be performed at the island itself at some point in the near future.

While preparing for the assault against the hundreds of Outsiders attacking Demonreach, Harry is chased and attacked by the Wild Hunt. With Karrin Murphy's assistance, he is able to evade the Hunt temporarily, and after shooting the Erlking, he takes command of the Hunt and leads it against the Outsiders. With the reinforcement of the Hunt, Harry is able to disrupt the ritual and repel the Outsider attack.

Harry and his friends head for the top of the island, where they find Lily and Maeve magically assaulting Demonreach. Harry, having determined that Maeve has been corrupted by the Nemesis, attacks Maeve. She defeats him soundly but he is rescued by his friends. Harry, out of options, summons Mab, who appears and confronts Maeve. Maeve refuses to yield to her mother and shoots and kills Lily, resulting in the mantle of the Summer Lady passing to Sarissa. Murphy then shoots Maeve, resulting in the mantle of the Winter Lady passing to Molly.

Harry decides to remain on the island for the time being so that he can learn more about it and establish a new base of operations, and takes a branch from its oldest oak tree to use in making a new staff.

Introduced characters

Reception

Critical reception has been mostly positive. [5] [6] [7] Tor.com praised Cold Days and wrote that they viewed it as "one of the best books in the series". [8] Kirkus Reviews gave the work a favorable review but commented that the book would have benefited from "more rigorous copy editing to clean up the continuity errors which continue to riddle the series". [9] CNN and Geeks of Doom also reviewed Cold Days, [10] and Geeks of Doom recommended the book highly. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Butcher</span> American fantasy author (born 1971)

Jim Butcher is an American author. He has written the contemporary fantasy The Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and Cinder Spires book series.

"The Chute" is the 45th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the third episode of the third season. In this science fiction story, two members of the crew of the USS Voyager are trapped in an alien prison. The episode was directed by Les Landau with a story by Clayvon C. Harris. It aired on UPN on September 18, 1996.

The Dresden Files, a contemporary fantasy/mystery novel series written by American author Jim Butcher, features a wide cast of characters. The book series was also made into a live-action television series which ran in 2007.

<i>Storm Front (The Dresden Files)</i> Novel by Jim Butcher

Storm Front is a 2000 fantasy novel by American writer Jim Butcher. It is the first novel in The Dresden Files, his first published series, and it follows the character of Harry Dresden, professional wizard. The novel was later adapted into a pilot for a SyFy channel television series, though Jim Butcher felt the writers were not attempting to recreate the novel on a "chapter by chapter or even story by story basis".

<i>Grave Peril (The Dresden Files)</i> 2001 novel by Jim Butcher

Grave Peril is a 2001 urban fantasy novel by author Jim Butcher. It is the third novel in The Dresden Files, which follows the character of Harry Dresden, present-day Chicago's only professional wizard.

<i>Death Masks</i> 2003 urban fantsy novel by Jim Butcher

Death Masks is a 2003 novel by science fiction and fantasy author Jim Butcher. It is the fifth novel in The Dresden Files, his first published series that follows the character of Harry Dresden, professional wizard.

<i>Small Favor</i> 2008 book by Jim Butcher

Small Favor is the tenth book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's continuing series about wizard detective Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. The book stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 3 weeks following its release, attaining the number 2 spot during its first week. Small Favor is available as an eBook and an audio CD (ISBN 0-14-314339-5).

<i>Summer Knight</i> 2002 fantasy novel by Jim Butcher

Summer Knight is a 2002 New York Times Bestselling contemporary fantasy novel by author Jim Butcher. It is the fourth novel in The Dresden Files, which follows the character of Harry Dresden, present-day Chicago's only professional wizard.

<i>Dead Beat (The Dresden Files)</i> 2005 fantasy novel by Jim Butcher

Dead Beat is the 7th book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's continuing series about wizard detective Harry Dresden. It is available in print and e-book.

<i>Proven Guilty</i> Novel by Jim Butcher

Proven Guilty is the 8th book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's continuing series about wizard detective Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. It had a release date of May 2, 2006.

<i>Changes (The Dresden Files)</i> 2010 novel by Jim Butcher

Changes is the 12th book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's continuing series about wizard detective Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Changes was released on April 6, 2010, and debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Fiction, dropping to #3 in its second week on the list.

<i>The Magicians</i> (Grossman novel) 2009 fantasy novel by Lev Grossman

The Magicians is a new adult fantasy novel by the American author Lev Grossman, published in 2009 by Viking Press. It tells the story of Quentin Coldwater, a young man who discovers and attends a secret college of magic in New York. The novel received critical acclaim and was followed by a sequel, The Magician King, in 2011 and a third novel, The Magician's Land, in 2014.

<i>Ghost Story</i> (The Dresden Files) 2011 urban fantasy novel by Jim Butcher

Ghost Story is the 13th book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's continuing urban fantasy series about Chicago wizard Harry Dresden.

The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by American author Jim Butcher. The first novel, Storm Front—which was also Butcher's writing debut—was published in 2000 by Roc Books.

Hellboy: The Storm and the Fury is the twelfth collected edition in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book series, the third of three connected story arcs written by Mignola and illustrated by Duncan Fegredo. It collects Hellboy: The Storm #1-3 and Hellboy: The Fury #1-3, with the partition into two limited series intended to accommodate an anticipated production gap of several months that eventually saw the story's first three issues published between July through September 2010 and its last three between May through August 2011. This is the concluding story arc of a trilogy beginning with Darkness Calls and continuing with The Wild Hunt, all of them written by Mignola and illustrated by Fegredo. The six issues were numbered on their inside front covers as issues 47-49 and 55-57 of the continuing Hellboy series. Two prelude pages from The Fury #3 are absent in this trade paperback.

<i>Skin Game (The Dresden Files)</i> 2014 fantasy novel by Jim Butcher

Skin Game is a novel in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It is the 15th novel in the series. It follows the protagonist, Harry Dresden as he teams up with former enemies to rob a vault belonging to Hades, lord of the Underworld.

Besides the novels of The Dresden Files, author Jim Butcher has written several shorter works appearing in the same universe. Most are told from the point of view of Harry Dresden, as are the novels, but some take the point of view of other characters.

"The Bicameral Mind" is the tenth episode and the first season finale of the HBO science fiction western thriller television series Westworld. The episode aired on December 4, 2016. It received positive reviews from critics, who cited Anthony Hopkins's performance in particular.

<i>Peace Talks (The Dresden Files)</i> 2020 novel by Jim Butcher

Peace Talks is a novel in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It is the 16th novel in the series. It follows the protagonist, Harry Dresden as he attempts to navigate a convoluted peace negotiation between various supernatural powers.

<i>Battle Ground</i> (The Dresden Files) 2020 novel by Jim Butcher

Battle Ground is a novel by Jim Butcher and is the 17th novel in The Dresden Files. Battle Ground was published on September 29, 2020 by Little, Brown Book Group. In it Harry Dresden, the protagonist, attempts to stop the Titan Ethniu from destroying Chicago.

References

  1. ↑ "Cold Days: A Novel of the Dresden Files (bestseller list)". USA Today. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Bridges, C. A. "Complications, intrigue and blowing stuff up: An interview with Jim Butcher". News Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Welsberger, Jason. "Cold Days, a novel of the Dresden files". BoingBoing. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Nance, Kevin. "'Cold Days' for hot series". Sun Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  5. ↑ FOX, BETTE-LEE. "Xpress Reviews: Fiction". Library Journal. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Cold Days (review)". Booklist. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Cold Days (review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  8. ↑ KHANNA, RAJAN. "One of the Best Books in the Series: Jim Butcher's Cold Days". Tor.com. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "Cold Days (review)". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  10. ↑ DuChateau, Christian. "Hot thrillers in time for the holidays". CNN. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Makries, Gary. "Book Review: Cold Days: A Novel Of The Dresden Files". Geeks of Doom. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.