The Battle for Chicago is over.  The city is still standing…mostly.  Just about everyone lost someone.  Harry has a new home; an actual enchanted fortress and he’s sheltering all sorts of people.  He has a new bodyguard - an actual Valkyrie; and a new apprentice.  There’s much to do; repairs to the city, the streets and the people.  Not to mention Mab’s insistence that Harry and Lara must start dating. Mab seems desperate to get these two kids together but as with most of Harry’s life and trials, nothing is as it seems at first look. Mab keeps implying another battle is in the offing and a coalition of Winter and the White Court is critical to her plans.

But Harry is suffering.  Karrin’s death shook him like nothing else in his life has ever done.  He can’t sleep, he doesn’t eat, and he pushes all his friends away.  He keeps remembering how he went berserk and nearly killed the idiot who killed Karrin mostly by accident. And he remembers how he injured his friends who stopped him.  He even pushed away his daughter, Maggie, giving her over to the care of the Carpenters; telling himself that it was better for her.

The title of this book is the twelve months after the Battle and Harry’s struggle to heal.  Eventually, events conspire to bring him out of the self-imposed exile and good advice from ever-staunch friends and new allies start to penetrate his funk. At his heart, Harry sees himself as a do-gooder; he simply can’t say ‘no’ to anyone who needs help and lots of people need help as the crippled city tries to rebuild.  And when people are cold, starving and afraid; they tend to do stupid things like blaming the wrong people for their woes. Harry finds himself defusing all kinds of dangerous situations while trying not to kill stupid people.  And each situation gives him an opportunity to reexamine his own woes.  There is an epic battle at the end which is most excellent.  Butcher pretty much throws in the kitchen sink; I think the only person missing from the story is Marcone.

And underlying all of this is Harry’s desperate need to save his brother, Thomas.  Thomas is also Lara’s brother by another mother and their shared love for him ends up drawing Harry and Lara together in a way Mab could never have forced.  Although they do end up realizing that Mab’s reach may be more than even they could foresee.

At the end of the last book Thomas was severely injured and in a very, very bad situation.  His love, Justine – pregnant with their child – was kidnapped and he was forced to do a very bad thing to save her.  The Svartalves still want Thomas to answer for his crime.  So Harry took Thomas away and secured him on his impregnable monster island until he can figure out how to keep Thomas alive while his Hunger destroys his body and the Swartalves want to kill whatever is left.

There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned; really a lot.  So much that it’s too daunting to try to summarize.  This was plotting on an epic scale; Butcher may have taken five years to craft this book but it’s one of the best I’ve ever read.  The man can really deliver an excellent story.  Harry comes alive in my head like few characters I’ve encountered.  Thank you, Mr. Butcher.  ~~  Catherine Book

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