Harry Dresden is back from the mostly-dead, which means there's no way for him to get out of the bargain with Queen Mab that made him the new Winter Knight. After recuperating and undergoing physical therapy that includes daily threats on his life, she gives him his first order: to kill somebody who ought to be immortal.
I will get straight to the point and say that I love this series. If you don't, then there's not much that I'm going to say about it that could possibly change your mind, but I love it. One of the things that I love about it is how Harry Dresden has to fight to avoid being turned to the "dark side" by tapping into some of the powers he has access to, and there is tons of that in this book. Many, many tons, more than I can remember in any of the other books, because the mantle of the Winter Knight is violent in really dark, vicious ways, and we the reader are deep in Harry's head, so we're exposed to all of his worst impulses even if he resists them. With approximately nine books left in the series, I'm not even sure if Harry will successfully not turn evil, but by acknowledging the struggle Jim Butcher has convinced me that if Harry were to turn evil, it would be because it was a story about a wizard being turned evil, and not an unintentional he's-the-hero-so-it's-ok kind of thing.
And although Harry's demons have gotten stronger, he is showing some signs of learning his lesson. He's starting to learn to trust his friends more and to realize that he shouldn't always make decisions based on the idea that he has to save the world alone. I wouldn't bet on him making too much personal progress too quickly - again, nine more books to fill - but he seems to be on the right track, even if at the same time there are new ways he could be dragged backwards on it.
Overall Grade: A