Skin Game
core novel 2014 The Dresden Files
Record
| First published | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.56 (94,883 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 464 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780451464392 |
| Internal chronology | 15 |
Synopsis
Skin Game is the fifteenth novel, opening with Harry Dresden isolated on Demonreach island and struggling against a parasitic spirit lodged in his mind. Queen Mab offers to remove the parasite on one condition: Dresden must help his old enemy Nicodemus Archleone pull off a heist, stealing an artifact from a vault that turns out to belong to Hades, lord of the Underworld. Unable to refuse Mab's order, Dresden assembles his own allies, including his former antagonist Karrin Murphy, to work alongside Nicodemus's crew of thieves, warlocks and fallen-angel-possessed operatives, fully aware that betrayal from within the group is all but guaranteed. As the plan for breaking into one of the most heavily defended vaults imaginable takes shape, Dresden must balance the heist's shifting alliances and hidden agendas against the very real chance that Nicodemus intends to double-cross everyone involved.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Dresden Files
- Series: The Dresden Files core; position 15 of 18 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Jim Butcher
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2015: nominated; Did not win.
Notes
- From the series record (The Dresden Files): 18-novel main sequence (2000-2026, ongoing), narrated throughout by wizard-detective Harry Dresden. Publication order equals in-story chronological order for the entire main sequence. Peace Talks and Battle Ground (both 2020) were originally written as a single novel that grew too long and was split into two by the publisher, released 2.5 months apart, a genuine bibliographic quirk, not a numbering error. A 19th novel (Mirror Mirror) is announced for 2027 but unpublished and is not registered.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Dresden Files: position 15 of 18: previous Cold Days (2012) · next Peace Talks (2020)
Sources
- Jim Butcher's official site
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dresden_Files
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_Game_(The_Dresden_Files)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_Game_(novel)
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