And then there was a heist.

Book 15, so the Denarians are due. In they came, and not in a way that anyone would have expected. Turns out, Mab owes Nicodemus a favor. She wants Dresden to carry it out.

What’s the job? Oh, not that complicated. Steal the Holy Grail from Hades. Yes, that Hades.

Dresden is voluntold that he’ll be working with Binder–who Dresden threatened to kill the next time he saw him; Hanna Ascher–a warlock with a serious gift for fire magic; Anna Valmont–who’s team was previously killed by the people she’s now working for; and Goodman Gray–a seriously creepy shapeshifter with a fascinating background and work ethic.

It’s kind of awesome to get the handful of new characters along with fleshing out some old favorites. Combined with the twist in genre and we have a story that manages to at once grow the Dresdenverse yet more while at the same time pulling back the scope as a bit of a breather. Based on the ending, it’s going to get interesting again.

On another cool side, we learn a bit more about Uriel and his archangelic powers and get a small chance to see Michael back in the action. Michael remains among my favorite characters in the books, so it’s good that he yet has a part to play. Oh, and he has the power to destroy a galaxy. Just so you know that.

Random note: There’s a kind of crazy explicit sex scene roughly half way through the book. It’s a bit of a surprise, especially when you’re listening to the book on a car ride with someone who’s never listened to any of the other Dresden books before. So it goes.

Awesome scene: Butters goes full Jedi Knight. And then there was a Jewish Knight of the Cross. It's actually getting kind of ridiculous how only 1 of the 4 we've seen (2 of 5 if you count Murphy) has been particularly devout).