Skin Game: Chapters 1-2

Skin Game (Dresden Files #15)

by Jim Butcher

Hello and welcome to this live-read of Skin Game! This is one of my favorite books in the series, and I'm really happy to be able to go over it with you all, pointing out the parts I think are really cool... and, of course, the parts where I think things did go a little bit awry. Without further ado, let's begin!

Previously: the first 14 books, 20-ish short stories, and 6 comic volumes happened. The previous post should give you a good summary of what you need to know to understand this book.

Title and Cover

The cover shows Dresden in a vault of some kind with burning money all around him, which would seem to indicate that we're in for some kind of robbery/heist story. And the title is 'Skin Game,' which is the same title as a famous movie about a couple of con artists. So, yes--this is definitely going to be a heist book. Which is great, because I love those.

Chapter 1

We open with Harry stuck on Demonreach Island, which he hasn't been able to leave for 'over a year' when the last book ended. He'd like nothing more than to get off it, but the spirit of Demonreach is the only entity Dresden can contact which is capable of soothing the Parasite in his head . Demonreach cannot remove the Parasite, but can at least keep her quiet to stop her from disabling Dresden with monstrous migraines.

Of course, Dresden does have other friends who might be able to do something about this. Specifically, he has Molly, his former apprentice who is gifted in mental magic and who Harry believes might be able to extract the Parasite before it bursts out of his head and kills him. The problem is, Molly and his other allies aren't responding to his messages. In fact, they seem to be avoiding him. Dresden, naturally, is concerned about this:

There was a ticking time bomb inside my head and the one person I trusted to go in and get it out hadn’t shown up or spoken to me for more than a year. That’s a lot of time to start asking yourself questions. Who am I? What have I done with my life? Who can I trust? 

 -- Skin Game, Chapter 1 (opening lines)

Dresden muses to himself about how valuable trust is and how terrifying it is to have to worry that your trust is misplaced, how agonizing it can be to find yourself going over every interaction you had with a close friend to see if you missed any sign or gesture that they might not really have your back when the chips are down. He then segues into thinking that, since he can't act on any of his fears, all he can do is blow off steam. And since he's on a deserted island whose only real feature is the underground prison for monsters,  he's blowing off steam by exercising through the prison tunnels.

“Parkour!” I shouted, and leapt, hitting the top of the mound with my hands and vaulting over it. I landed on the far side, dropped into a forward roll over one shoulder, and came up running. 

“Parkour!” I shouted at the next mound, putting one hand down as I leapt, using it to guide my body up to the horizontal at the same level as my head, clearing the next mound, landing, and staying on the move. 

“Parkour!” I screamed again at the third, and simply dove over it in a long arc. The idea was to clear it, land on my hands, drop into a smooth roll, and come up running again, but it didn’t work out that way. I misjudged the dive, my foot caught a crystal, and I belly flopped and planted my face in the dirt on the far side of the mound. 

--Skin Game, Chapter 1.

Dresden picks himself up from his fall and starts walking to the prison's exit, passing more mounds as he does so. The mounds each contain one of the trapped monsters. As Dresden passes them, he feels the monsters trying to talk to him telepathically. Some promise him wealth and power should he free them, others promise him horrible death if he doesn't, and still others force Cthulhu-esque rants into his head. However, when Dresden stops to rest by one of the smallest mounds, he hears the prisoner grumbling about how there's a new warden. Dresden asks what his problem is, and the prisoner--who has a British accent--snaps at Dresden to go away and leave him (the prisoner) in peace. Dresden, curious, asks who he is.

There was a long moment of silence. And then a thought filled with a terrible weariness and purely emotional anguish, like something I’d experienced only at the very lowest moments of my life, flowed into me—but for this being, such pain wasn’t a low point. It was a constant state. Someone who needs to be here. Go away, boy. 

--Skin Game, Chapter 1

Dresden begins to leave, but then is hit with one of his worst headaches yet and collapses. He's stuck there, groaning in agony for over an hour, until the spirit of Demonreach finds him and soothes the Parasite.

Dresden reflects that the Parasite-caused migraines are getting steadily worse, and guesses that it will surely soon burst out of his head and kill him. He then talks to Demonreach (whom he addresses as 'Alfred', in reference to Batman's butler) and asks what's going on. Demonreach says that Dresden has a visitor at the abandoned dock, which Harry calls the 'Whatsup Dock' after Bugs Bunny. Harry is hopeful that the guest is Molly, but it's not. It's Mab, Queen of the Unseelie (AKA winter fey) and Dresden's ruthless, merciless, and nigh-unstoppable boss.

Mab--whom, Dresden notes, has also been ducking his calls--shows no signs of leaving the dock. Harry surmises this is to protect herself; if she went onto the island proper,  Demonreach could help Harry fight her and they might even be able to win thanks to Demonreach's power. While on the dock, though, Harry would be alone and would have no chance in a fight. From this Dresden also concludes Mab thinks Harry will want to fight her after she tells him whatever she came to tell him, meaning whatever her message is, it's nothing good.

But he can't do anything about that, especially since--with Molly out of contact--Mab is the only person he can actually talk to who may be able to save Dresden from being killed by the Parasite. He thus reluctantly heads for the dock.

----

As openings go, this is one of my favorite in the Dresden Files.

First, I like the bit about Harry exercising. Not only does this set up some things to pay off later, but it shows good development on Harry's part--he's been exercising more and more as the books go on, and this extends on that trend--and also makes Harry's powers and accomplishments later feel more earned. He's not just relying on Mab dumping a bunch of power on his head, but is actively pushing himself to get better and better, fighting for every scrap of strength and speed because he knows he may need them someday.

The part with Harry's loneliness and paranoia are also pretty good. I do wish there had been more mention of Harry's daughter and pets, whom he should be missing, but what we do get--Harry wondering why everyone seems to have abandoned him, why all the people who he's fought with and stuck his neck out for now seem to be ducking his calls--works very well. The idea of having people you can trust and have faith in also serves to set up some themes for the book, of course, and it plays into Harry's need for affection.

The British prisoner is an interesting plot hook, although one that won't pay off for a while. I think it works alright. Butcher has been known to drop tiny plot hooks in earlier books that don't pay off for a long time--there's a short reference to Harry getting migraines in Book 11, Turn Coat, for instance, which is multiple books before we learn about the Parasite--and I'm willing to wait to see where this develops.

Finally, we get a glimpse into one of Dresden's more subtle character traits--he likes naming people and things. This has happened several times before and been consequential in multiple cases (e.g., him naming Lash may have actually helped her develop a distinct personality from Lasciel,  and him naming Ivy seems to have gotten him into her good books), and it's nice to see Butcher is continuing in that vein. I for one am very interested to see how Dresden's bond with Demonreach influences both of them.

I do have a couple questions about the timeline. The last book, Cold Days, took place on Halloween--in fact, it was a plot point that Dresden had to assassinate a fey who could only be killed on Halloween--and this book, as we're about to see in Chapter 3, takes place in 'late-February.' If more than a year has passed, we're about 16 months out from Cold Days, which seems a bit much. I think it makes more sense if really only 4 months or so have passed. Perhaps Harry's 'more than a year' line could be attributed to him losing track of time; after all, he's been on a deserted island for months and months with no one to talk to or interact with. However, losing track of a full year that way seems a little much. This could just be an error, or it could really indicate that 16 months passed, but either way I wish we had more clarity.

Overall, though, in my view this is a really great beginning.

Chapter 2

Dresden approaches the Whatsup Dock, walking through the remains of the ancient, abandoned town on Demonreach's slopes. All the people in the settlement were driven mad by Demonreach (the spirit) and died or fled decades ago, and Dresden wonders if he'll eventually go insane from being stuck on the island as well. But again, he has no choice, so he persists.

At the dock he sees a fancy boat with some sailors whom he pegs as Sidhe, fairy nobility:

There was an expensive motored yacht tied to the dock, as out of place as a Ferrari in a cattle yard, white with a lot of frosty blue chrome. There were a couple of hands in sight, and they weren’t dressed in sailing clothes so much as they were in sailing costumes. The creases were too straight, the clothes too clean, the fit too perfect. Watching them move, I had no doubt they were carrying weapons, and practiced in killing. They were Sidhe, the lords of Faerie, tall and beautiful and dangerous. They didn’t impress me. 

--Skin Game, Chapter 2.

Specifically, he's not impressed because he also sees Mab on deck, and he knows she's so powerful that the Sidhe are basically of no consequence.

Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, was wearing a tailored business suit somewhere between the color of smeared charcoal on newsprint and frozen periwinkles. The blouse beneath was snow-white, like her hair, which was bound up in an elaborate do that belonged in the forties. Opals flashed on her ears and at her throat, deep colors of green and blue, matching the shifting hues of her cold, flat eyes. She was pale, beautiful on a scale that beggared simple description, and I harbored a healthy and rational terror of her.

--Skin Game, Chapter 2 

Despite his terror, Dresden approaches the boat and formally inclines his head, thinking to himself that if he bungles protocol and disrespects Mab in front of her Sidhe minions, she's very likely to kill him. But once protocol is satisfied, he still feels free to be flip with her:

“My Queen,” I said pleasantly. “How’s tricks?” 

--Skin Game, Chapter 2

This doesn't technically break protocol, so Mab just tells Dresden to get in the boat. He wants to know why, which pleases Mab, and she tells Dresden that the 'why' is 'because she says so.' Dresden asks what happens if he refuses, so Mab tells him that she knows if she tries to magically compel him to do anything he doesn't want to do, he'll just stop showing any initiative and become a useless puppet. Since there's no point in that, if Dresden insists on refusing to go with her, she'll just sail away--and wait three days, at which point the Parasite will burst out of Dresden's head and kill him. She'll then get another Knight from somewhere and go on with her life.

Dresden realizes that the reason nobody responded to his messages was because Mab was blocking them. She admits to intercepting his fairy minions, using magic to block his message spells, and keeping Lake Michigan icy enough that nobody could physically go check on him. That prevented Dresden from finding anyone else to extract the Parasite, meaning he now must obey Mab to have a chance of getting rid of it. Dresden is, of course, angry about this:

“Have you ever considered just asking me for my help?” I asked her. “Maybe even saying ‘please’?” 

She arched a pale eyebrow at me. “I am not your client.” 

“So you just go straight to extortion?” 

“I cannot compel you,” she said in a reasonable tone. “I must therefore see to it that circumstance does. You cannot leave the island without being incapacitated by pain. You cannot send for help unless I allow it. Your time has all but run out, my Knight." 

I found myself speaking through clenched teeth. “Why? Why would you put me in a corner like this?” 

“Perhaps because it is necessary. Perhaps it is to protect you from yourself.” Her eyes flashed with the distant fury of a thunderstorm on the horizon. “Or perhaps it is simply because I can. In the end, it does not matter why. All that matters is what is."

--Skin Game, Chapter 2

Dresden is furious, but realizes that he does have to play along; Mab can't tell lies, so if she says he'll die in three days without her help, it's true. He tries to get her to just remove the Parasite now, so that he can get off the island do whatever it is Mab wants, but Mab explicitly tells him that she knows Dresden would refuse her job if he had any choice in the matter, so she can't give him that choice. Rather than cure him, she instead gives him an earring which will give Dresden an immunity to headaches for three days.

Dresden's not happy about this, for a few reasons:

“My ears aren’t pierced,” I objected. 

Mab arched an eyebrow. “Are you the Winter Knight or some sort of puling child?” 

I scowled at her. “Come over here and say that.” 

--Skin Game, Chapter 2

Mab doesn't respond to that last line, but does step onto the shores of Demonreach with the earring. Dresden realizes he overplayed his hand and lets Mab approach. She goes to pierce his right ear, but he asks for her to do his left one instead, refusing to say why. (The implication is that he doesn't want the earring in the 'gay ear.' Historically, some gay people who wanted to signal that they were gay to other gay people but who didn't want homophobes or others to know would wear an earring in their right ear but not their left. For more on this, see this link and this NYTmes article.) She does eventually get his (left) ear pierced and put the earring in; Dresden notes how it feels oddly cold and seems to be pulsing.

[...] a slow pulse of lazy, almost seductive cold, like the air on an autumn night when you open the bedroom windows and sleep like a rock. 

--Skin Game, Chapter 2

Dresden then asks why he shouldn't just have Demonreach imprison Mab while he steals her boat, uses the earring to suppress his headaches, and finds Molly or someone else who can help him. Mab, however, points out that she's necessary to stop Outsiders from destroying the world--and that she took a drop of his blood when she pierced his ear, meaning she can do all kinds of nasty magical things to him.

She gave me a very small, very chill smile, and held up her finger. There was a tiny droplet of my blood upon it, scarlet against her pale skin. “The consequences to your mortal world should there be no Mab would be dire. The consequences to yourself, should you try it, even more so. Try me, wizard. I am willing.” 

--Skin Game, Chapter 2

Dresden thinks about fighting her anyway, but acknowledges to himself that she's right on both fronts. Her work is necessary... and she could do absolutely horrible things to him if they fought and he lost.  Which he is still pretty sure would happen.

He looks away, and Mab nods to acknowledge her victory. She then tells Harry to get all his magic gear so they can leave at once.

----

This chapter's major role is to set up the relationship between Harry and Mab. It works pretty well at that; we see a good sketch of how far Harry has to bend in order to keep Mab happy, and also what Harry can get away with. In particular there's a nice distinction between the formal protocol that Harry must follow under pain of death (the formal inclination of his head), and stuff not included in the protocol where Harry can, and does, choose to be a bit snarkier or more aggressive.

I like in particular Harry acknowledging his position that he's weaker than Mab and must therefore play along with her, as well as how she foils his attempts to escape from his position. Harry has grown more and more powerful as the books go on, so having him be under the thumb of someone who is explicitly stronger in terms of power is a new development for him and helps to push his character in new directions. This development puts Harry not just into a morally compromising positions when Mab wants him to do something evil, but into a position where he can no longer rely on his magical heft to slug his way out from his problems. He cannot beat Mab in a fight, so he's got to be clever now, not just to win battles but to finds ways to operate within Mab's rules without committing atrocities. It's a really cool development for Dresden, and I think this scene does a good job of both setting his problem up and also conveying just how terrified he is of getting on her bad side.

Dresden's snark is another recurring plot point (although I'll hold off on really getting into that until the next chapter, when it has a much bigger role). I'll just say now that I think it works well that it's set up here; it makes Dresden's later choices seem much more consistent.

I'm not a big fan of Harry insisting on the earring being on his left ear. In-universe I doubt Dresden would really care about that given the context of everything else going on. I think what this supposed to be is Dresden messing with Mab and trying to assert some kind of boundary, asking her to change her course (however slightly) because of a 'mortal thing' as he calls it. He couldn't leave the island (because Mab prevented him from contacting the people who could help him with the Parasite), and he can't refuse Mab's quest (because of the Parasite's imminent due date), but if he can pick which ear Mab pierces--and moreover, make that choice based on a silly aesthetic reason, not a life-or-death necessity--then he can still exert a tiny amount of control over his life. Personally, though, I would have cut that bit or found another way to get the point across.

----

Next time: we find out just what dangerous, difficult, very-possibly-lethal task Mab wants Harry to do! Spoiler: she was correct in predicting Harry would hate it.