rowdya22's reviews
137 reviews

So Harry’s dead. After the tunnel of light turn out to be a train he is taken to spiritual Chicago and before Jack Murphy. He is warned that he must go back and find his killer. Harry reruns and visits Mort Lindquist. While there and convincing him to help he witnesses a ghostly attack on his home. He aids Mort and convinced him to help.
The two visit Murphy and catch Harry up on what’s been happening the last six months. Molly has been posing as the rag lady trying to protect Chicago. Murphy’s house is attacked and Harry uses his ghostly form to track down the shooters. He discovers that they are just kids in a local gang under the thumb of sorcerer. One, named Fitz, seemingly can hear his voice. Harry vows to protect him and help him.
On the way to meet Molly, Harry bumps into Butters who has inherited Bob. They two fill him in on more events and who they think could have murdered him. Once with Molly, Harry sees Leah training her. Molly has grown.
Attached my the turtlenecks, she pulls off and amazing illusionary display.
Harry learns that Father Forthill who was helping Fitz went to confront to gang leader but was captured. Harry goes with Butters to help rescue him. Butters poses as a warden of the white council and tries to talk him down but things go sideways. Unable to physically help Harry encourages Fitz to stand up for himself. To not let himself and his friends be controlled anymore. Fitz listens and convinces all the others to leave.
The next night Harry finds that Mort has been captured. He learns that he is being tortured by the corpse taker so that she can inhabit his body. Harry lets Molly know and gathers all of Morts protector ghosts and goes for the rescue.
Harry assaults the stronghold from the never never and has to fight through a recreation of Normandy. Once he reaches the other side he and his spirits distort the wards which allow Molly and Murphy to enter. Harry is able to help Mort but is attacked by the corpse taker. She has absorbed power from the spirits Harry brought and now seeks to invade Molly.
Molly and the corpse taker face off and shade Harry goes along for the ride. In their mental war Harry is a bi stander but can communicate with Molly. He learns from Molly’s subconscious that she blames herself for his death. We learn that at Harry’s request she erased his memory when he contracted Kincaid to him to try and out whit Mab.
Just in time Mort arrives and is able to rip the corpse taker out of Molly. She is swarmed by shades and destroyed. Harry having expended so much energy in the fight fades away and meets Yuriel.
Yuriel takes Harry to visit his friends and daughter one last time before giving him a choice. Work for him or continue to what happens next. Harry gathers his courage and presses on only to discover that he is on Demon Reach with Mab...alive and her Winter Knight.

“Lies. Mab cannot change who you are.”

Harry has been stuck on the island a year thanks to the parasite in his head. His condition has been steadily deteriorating. Mab arrives with a magical solution all it will cost Harry is working with Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is assembling a group of super villains and thugs to steal the holy grail from the underworld Hades domain. Enter Harry Dresden and Murphy. Muscle. Hades vault has three separate gates that they will have to get through.
Harry as winter night will help get them through the gate of ice. Hannah Asher a warlock will provide the solution to the gate of fire. Nicodemus will open the gate of blood. also on the team is Binder to provide goons, Goodman Gray a shapeshifter to help with infiltration and a Genoskwa for muscle. Anna Valmont returns as the safe cracker.
Harry gets hurt while doing recon and while Butters is patching his arm he plants a magical bug. Butters has grown mistrustful of Harry since his ghost appeared and his Darkside associations with Mab. Butters learns that Harry is working for the bad guys and tries to escape. An awesome chase ensues where Butters has been applying spell craft to mundane items to become a super hero.
To save Butters life Harry tries to catch him first. It’s tough with butters magical skateboard going 30 miles an hour, Binders goons and a Genoskwa to fool. Thankfully Bob Who is powering Butters magic realizes what’s going on. While inhabiting a giant lion statue Bob reeks some havoc. Harry catches Butters outside Michael’s house and has to fight Nicodemus for his life. Murphy has been concealing one of the swords on her the entire time and saves the day. Almost. She beats Nicodemus but he orders that Harry be killed. Using the sword improperly leads to its destruction. Micheal leaves his house cane in hand and bargains for their lives. The trade will be made their lives for his to freely walk out of the gate and turn aside his angelic protection.
Once everyone is safe we get to see Yuriel urge Michael to turn aside from this action. because Michael will choose of his own free will to go no divine protection or aid can be provided. Yuriel is clever however and exerts his own free will to loan Michael his grace. Healing his body and providing him his own sword. Not looking to fight and angelic powered night of the cross Nicodemus leaves.
Moving forward Michael replaces Murphy on team bad guy. The next day they prepare to break into gentleman John Marcone’s vault to reach the corresponding point in the never never.
The team reaches the vault and makes it past the gates. Nicodemus sacrifices his own daughter to make it past the gate of blood. Harry finds the grail and several other handy artifacts. He has a face to face with Hades who clues him in that this was Mabs plan all along.
Nicodemus double crosses Harry to get the grail and battles Michael. Harry has to contend with hellfire from Asher who is in possession of Lashels coin. Goodman Gray the Lawful Evil appears to top the scales.
Here is where we get a great Oceans 11 moment taking us back to the beginning when Harry hires Gray to go along with Nicodemus plan. Gray takes the Genoskwa and an incredible fight ensues.
Good guys win but are broken and battered. They attempt to abandon Nicodemus to his fate in the underworld but he slips by and head to Michaels house to burn it to the ground. Harry does all he can and makes it in time to warn Charity and plan a defense.
The house is stormed and all seems lost. Harry is down and there is no one left. Waldo Butters dawns Harry’s duster and tries to hold them off by himself. Seeing this incredible act of faith, Harry throws the broken hilt of one of the swords to Butters. It’s fantom blade explodes in light causing all denarians to flee and saving the day.
Molly arrives to help heal Harry of the parasite which is actually a spirit of intellect. Harry and Lash’s child of sorts. She is fitting into her new role nicely but also changing...
“And he kicked the gate if it’s hinges”

Harry Dresden, Winter Knight wakes in Fairy. He is greeted by Mab his queen who immediately tries to kill him. Daily, as part of his physical therapy. Harry recovers enough strength to have a party thrown in his honor. Coincidentally, his birthday party as well. While at the party Harry receives command from Mab to kill Maive, the Winter Lady, Mabs Daughter.
Shocked Harry tries to think this threw and returns to Chicago to seek council. He breaks into Butter's house and steals Bob to find out how to kill an immortal. Turns out all it takes is Halloween...just a few hours away.
Harry reunites with Molly to find out that Demon Reach is going to go nuclear for an unknown reason. He goes to the island and finds out its true purpose. It is a prison that makes the darkest of things seem commonplace and it is under attack.
Trying to pull it all together Harry meets with the Summer Lady to find out more details and to see if Mab is still sane. Maive arrives and confirms that Mab has been taken over by an unseen foe.
Still not knowing who is in the right Harry pays a visit to Mother Winter and Summer who show him the Outer Gates.
Harry learns that his world, his reality has been under siege from Outsiders for all of time, and some of them are getting through.
Planning to stop the island from exploding, Harry and company get ready to head out to wreck the ritual sites that have been discovered. The Wild Hunt confronts Harry forcing him to run. With Murphy's help the two try and out pace the hunt on her motorcycle. Harry manages to sucker punch the earl king and take control of the hunt. With his new found allies, he takes them all to Demon Reach to hunt Outsiders.
Once on the island Harry throws around a ton of magic to freeze the coastline and prevent boats from landing. Once they are all stopped and victory is close at hand, he realizes it was all a distraction.
The top of the island is contained in a circle where Lilly, Maive and their allies are assaulting Demon Reach. Harry gets through in time to confront Lilly about what the are doing, with the Summer Knights help, he gets the message through to her that Maive is the one who is in the wrong.
Maive being her psychotic self, kills Lilly but is killed in turn. The mantles of the Summer and Winter Ladies pass to others. Summer goes to Maives sister, Mabs daughter while winter goes to...Molly.
With an incredibly strong new enemy revealed, the balance of power in fairy turned upside down, what could happen next?
"Also death. Bad Plan!"

Harry Dresden. Father. Is putting his life back together. He has an apartment with Maggie and Luna the spirit of intellect. Harry and Murphy have been dating and she is still in recovery from her fight with Nicodemus. Mab trades some favors with Laura Wraith and Harry has to fulfill two requests for her.
While heading home one night Harry sees that his apartment building is on fire. While everyone is safe there are some awkward moments when his building security realizes that he upgraded their standard magical defenses to some thing of a fortress. Harry takes Maggie to Michael’s until things cool down. We find out that Thomas has been accused of trying to assassinate the Svart Elf head of state and was captured in the attempt. Thomas asks Harry to watch over Justine who is pregnant!
While returning from Justine’s apartment to find out if she is safe Harry is confronted by his grandfather Ebeneezer McCoy. McCoy cannot stand vampires in anyway and orders Harry to back down who refuses. While arguing the two are attacked by corner hounds. Outsider demons. they are able to fight them off thanks to Harry being star born but are in quite the argument. Harry returns to Michael’s to find that Sonia is in town. He and Butters are training and we find out some interesting things about Butters sword. Namely that it is purely a spiritual weapon and has a hard time affecting mortals.
Harry and the white council go to a peace talk conference with Fomor. Harry and Laura use the conference as a distraction to break Thomas out of the holding cells. Come to find out he is being held in Harry’s old lab. On their way out the Fomor embassy arrives. In from of the most powerful figures and heads of state that have signed the accords throw Mab through a building. Declare war on humans and destroy some of the most powerful magical defenses we have yet seen....
Harry sets off to Demon Reach and imprisons Thomas to keep his safe. Laura attacks Harry as he didn’t fill her in on that part of the plan. Harry takes advantage of the island and causes a stalemate until he can explain.
They all set off back to Chicago to try and save the world.

This book is fantastic. So much world building done in increments to keep you understanding but wanting more. Along with being a thrilling read, the book deals with human issues such as depression, failure, anxiety, morality, and many other important traits.

The book opens with a brief history of the Kingdom of Alethkar. King Gavilar has made peace with a people called the Parshendi, seemingly primitive warriors. On the night that the peace treaty is to be signed, Szeth, the Assassin in White, is sent to kill the King. He is bound in service to the Parshendi as "truthless" and is a "Surgebinder" granting him special abilities through the use of Stormlight. After smashing his way through the Kings guards, Szeth is successful and the King falls.
The main story begins with Kaladin fighting in Amaram's army. Kaladin seeks out the struggling and new recruits and strives to protect them. He is driven and dedicated. After this brief introduction of his character, years pass and Kaladin is now a slave. The reason he became is slave he gives is that he killed a man and let one live who he shouldn't. He has been through several masters always trying to help others and escape. As the son of a surgeon, he wants to help and protect those around him at all costs. The constant failure and death he sees from his own actions has worn him down into a shell of who he was before. The only companion he keeps is a spren that will not leave him alone.
Shallan is from a quiet reclusive household in Jah Keved. Her father has died and she and a wardship to Jasnah Kholin the daughter of the late King Gavilar are the only hope for her family now. Her first interaction with Jasnah does not go according to plan. There has been an accident and the King of Kharbranth has requested that Jasnah help save his trapped family. Jasnah quizzed Shallan to see if she is worth her time as a ward while preparing to Soulcast. Soulcasting is the art of changing something from one thing to another. Artists carve staircases in wood and have them soulcast to marble when finished. Food can be created, and in this case a large foundation stone can be turned to smoke allowing the trapped to escape.
Kaladin has been sold once again but this time to an army fighting at the very battle he was hoping to join. Hope is dashed when he becomes a bridge man on the Shattered Plains. During his first bridge run, Kaladin barely survives. Running while carrying a bridge for hours and then running at the front while helping get it across a chasm under Parshendi arrows. Weeks pass in this same pattern. Kaladin is surrounded by death and failure at every turn. He always survives only to see those around him die. He must be cursed. One night while reflecting on this fact he walks to the "Honor" chasm where bridge men are allowed the only mercy left to them. Suicide. While preparing to step out into the emptiness below Syl, the spren who has been following him, speaks to him. She expresses her desire for Kaladin to go back to the way things were before, to be happy, to live. Kaladin remembers his family, his brother who died, and at rock bottom realizes that he has nothing to lose any more. If he tries one more time, what is failure? The worst has already happened to him. He leaves the chasm, determined to make something of himself and the other bridge men in Bridge Four.
Dalinar, Gavilar's brother and High Prince of Alethkar has been seeing visions during the High Storms. He is being drawn to a book that Gavilar suggested to him towards the end of his life. With a paranoid Nephew as King, Dalinar does everything he can to live up to Gavilar's memory. He strives to live how Gavilar would have wanted. He has taken the teachings that Gavilar was drawn too and adopted them into his house hold. We learn that the war surrounding Gavilar's death has become nothing more than a game to the other High Princes. Chasm Fiends spawn on the shattered plains and the Alethi hunt them for their gem hearts, worth fortunes. Killing Parshendi has become a secondary objective. While on one such hunt, Dalinar questions the war and why they are fighting. He mistakenly voices this to the King who thinks him cowardly. While setting up for the hunt, things go badly. A massive chasm fiend attacks the company. King Elhokar attacks it thinking it great sport but is thrown from his horse. In order to save the king Dalinar risks his life to intercept the killing blow from the beast. As the claw hammers down at Elhokar, Dalinar materializes and catches it stunning all onlookers and allowing his men to gain the upper hand and win the fight.
Kaladin wakes the next morning and gets the other members of Bridge Four out of bed. He starts enforcing discipline among them, humanizing them again instead of treating them like cast off tools. To keep his men alive, he and Syl hunt rare plants on the plains during work duty, enlisting some of the other bridge men to help. The funds that they raise allow him to buy supplies and medicine for his men. Instead of dying on the plateau runs, he is able to start saving their lives. The trust of his men is not easily won. One night Kaladin starts a tradition of making stew before bed. All his men are unable to resist the additional tantalizing food. They start sharing personal things with one another, names, backgrounds, hopes, things that once were lost.
Shallan has been studying with Jasnah for some time now. She has been observing her use of the soulcaster in secret trying to find a time to steal it. One way that Shallan has excelled is through her art. Lately however, strange figures plague her drawings. One night Jasnah takes Shallan into the city for an object lesson. They travel a dangerous but direct route to the theater district. Jasnah knows that the route has been marked by several murders in the past weeks. When confronted by attackers Jasnah soulcasts two into fire and crystal. Two more attempt to flee but are struck down with lightning. Shallan is tasked with determining if what Jasnah did was "right".
Kaladin has gotten his squad into shape. He has a new idea on how to keep his men safe during assaults. During a bridge run he and his men use a new technique to avoid arrows. Other bridge crews seeing this try to imitate him and falter costing High Prince Sadeas the battle. As punishment his is strung up in a High Storm, a death sentence. Kaladin surprises everyone including himself, by living through it with the help of Syl. We learn more about his past and that as a soldier that he killed a shard bearer to protect Amaram. Amaram slaughtered Kaladin's company to a man and claimed the shard blade as his own.
Dalinar is trying to make sense of the visions he is seeing at each High Storm. With the help of Navani, we learn that his lunatic ramblings are an all but forgotten language. With renewed faith in himself he tries to unite the High Princes together to unify the kingdom that his brother fought for. He starts doing joint plateau assaults with Sadeas and had great success.
After the night where Jasnah killed the men in the ally, Shallan worked up the courage to steal her soulcaster. She remains however to try to unlock its secrets. The creatures that she sketches have started becoming more frequent disruptions. One night, Shallan feels surrounded by them and they speak to her. Inadvertently, she soulcasts a goblet into blood. Panicking and trying to hide what she has done, she fakes a suicide attempt. Upon waking the theft is discovered and Shallan cast out.
Kaladin and his men continue training. He keeps working on learning what he can do with stormlight. Sadeas and Dalinar go on a joint bridge run and Kaladin's squad is used. During the battle, Dalinar extends his army, expecting Sadeas to do the same to hammer the Parshendi from both sides. Sadeas pulls back allowing Dalinar to be surrounded. He orders all his bridge men to leave abandoning Dalinar. Kaladin and his squad lag behind the others in Sadeas' army. When they are out of site, they return to try to help Dalinar. Kaladin absorbs all the stormlight he can and singlehandedly fights his way through the Parshendi to Dalinar. He lames a Parshendi shard bearer saving Dalinar. The remaining group retreats back to the Alethi war camp.
Upon arrival Dalinar confronts Sadeas. Not wanting to divide the kingdom in war, he says that he understands why Sadeas did what he did. To repay his debt to Bridge Four, Dalanar purcheses them, and all other bridgement from Sadeas by giving him his shardblade.
The book concludes with Dalinar and Kaladin discussing how to move forward. Kaladin and Bridge Four are made into Dalinar's personal guards. Dalinar confronts his nephew the King and takes direct control of the war effort. He will unify Alethkar by force if needed. Shallan confronts Jasnah with the fact that she knows she can soulcast without the aid of a fabreal showing that she can do it as well. The two unite again to learn what happened to the void bringers, or as Jasnah has discovered, the Parshmen....