Cold Iron Task by James J. Butcher is an action-packed urban fantasy that grips readers from start to finish. The story follows a protagonist caught in a world of magic, danger, and high-stakes missions. Butcher’s writing is fast-paced and full of tension, with a well-crafted world and a compelling lead character. The mix of fantasy and adventure, along with sharp dialogue and thrilling action scenes, makes this a must-read for fans of the genre. Cold Iron Task delivers a gripping tale with plenty of excitement and intrigue.

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby’s third adventure finds him working as an auditor and trying to cure Rayne. She leads him to an ancient wizard, Keen. Keen needs to break into a reliquary to steal a magical object to cure Rayne. Meanwhile Mayflower is searching for the son of another huntsman with demon problems. Grimshaw is being duped, of course and it’s a Cold Iron Task (hard from Ace) that is almost impossible, except the whole world is at stake. James J. Butcher tells a fun tale that leaves plenty open for sequels.

Grimshaw Grimsby is a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs and Huntsman Mayflower is his mentor. Grimsby has been struggling to find his way within the department and has made more than his fair share of mistakes along the way. His gruff mentor, whom he looks up to, hasn't been as forthcoming as Grimsby has hoped. In fact, Grimsby is sure that Mayflower is holding back on something.

Mayflower leaves Grimsby alone to go to Boston to help another Huntsman - there being plenty of complications with Mayflower being in Beantown.

Grimsby is on his own then to help the imp Wudge; hoping it will result in Wudge leaving Grimsby alone (he can fail on his own without any help thank you very much). Rayne needs to be saved but the biggest issue facing the you Mr. Grimsby is the day-to-day work necessary in the department office - meaning he'll have to skirt the rules and push the boundaries of the laws to complete his other tasks.

There's plenty of action here - it's almost non-stop, keeping us turning pages rapidly. That's definitely a plus in this urban fantasy.

Because I've read the previous two books in the series it's hard to say for sure, but I would be concerned that you might need to have read the previous books in order to really understand and appreciate what's happening here.

I found Grimsby to be a character of some growth over the course of the three books int he series. Oddly (or perhaps not), the young author James J. Butcher also seems to be growing as a writer - mirroring Grimbsy's growth as an auditor.

Mayflower stands out more for me in this book. The gruff older mentor stereotype is becoming less a stereotype and more of a unique individual. His confronting of his past is helping to flesh out his character.

It's a pretty quick read, despite its page count, and for those of us who miss 'father' Butcher's Dresden series, this is becoming an acceptable stand-in.

Looking for a good book? Cold Iron Task by James J. Butcher, the third book in the Unorthodox Chronicles, is fast-paced urban fantasy with characters who are becoming much more clear and interesting.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

James Butcher continues with the third adventure of Auditor Grimsby, aptly named for the scrapes he gets himself into. enforcing the magical rules for Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. He works with the Huntsman Leslie Mayflower. In Cold Iron Task he is seeking to undo harm he has brought to a colleague in his last assignment while keeping ahead of creeping evil. Read if you are a lover of fantastical with horror touches.

Editor’s note: This review and roundup appears in several Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia newspapers and magazines, including at https://cullmantimes.com/2025/03/11/review-a-sip-of-spring-fiction-with-a-bit-of-history-for-flavor/

A sip of spring fiction, with a bit of history for flavor

By Tom Mayer

On the cusp of the 80th anniversary of the atrocities ending with World War II’s VJ Day, comes an important reminder in the form of cinematic storytelling from the pen of best-selling author Robert Dugoni, assisted by fellow academic researchers Chris Crabtree and Jeff Langholz.

Five hundred-page novels that contain more than a hundred pages of afterword and notes aren’t typical fare for the type of thrillers Dugoni writes; and if cinema is used as an adjective for such tomes it generally implies “best documentary” rather than “best picture.” But this fictionalized re-telling of the end of the war is anything but documental, especially with its final 150 pages moving full steam ahead, filled with submarines, warships and Clancyesque code breaking.

“Hold Strong” (Lake Union) tells the story of Sam Carlson and Sarah Haber, young sweethearts from Eagle Grove, Minnesota. It’s the end of the Great Depression and looking for a way out of his and his parents’ misfortunes — the family farm has been repossessed — Sam joins the war effort. Finding that the Army life suits him, he rises through the ranks. In 1942, he’s taken prisoner by the Japanese and survives the worst that that experience can offer, including the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and captivity in the hold of a Japanese “hell ship,” the Arisan Maru.

Through this, Sarah, and Sam’s family, receive no word about him, and the Army records him as missing in action. Though the couple made a promise to each other but never cemented an engagement before he left, Sarah especially is left in limbo, loving a man who she knows could be dead.

But Sarah’s strong, independent character is coupled with a brilliant mathematical mind, and she’s recruited out of college by the Navy to become a code breaker in the service of the WAVES — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — helping to turn the tide of the war, and possibly even unknowingly, Sam’s fate. The upshot is that no one, not even their families, can know what the women are doing, even to the point of telling others if asked that they are nothing more than secretaries in the service of Uncle Sam.

The story of Sam and Sarah is just that, a story, but Dugoni and company get it right, opening new and little-known chapters on the hells of that war — and the critical roles of female recruits — with startling and stark reality.

“Hold Strong” works well as a novel, and its secondary characters, such as Father Tom with his unflappable faith and Grace Moretti with her unbounded optimism, are extraordinarily well-developed. But this is one book bound for the big screen, and with its historic foundation underpinning a captivating wartime love story, one that is sure to become the sleeper read of the year.

Another novel of potential sleeper status comes to us as a dream in the charming coming-of-age “The Rainfall Market” (Ace). Written by a young South Korean novelist, You Yeong-Gwang (whose own dream as a young author is this story), and translated by Slin Jung, this magical novel tells the story of the impoverished teenager Serin and an abandoned house on the outskirts of Rainbow Town.

The legend says that if you send an essay explaining your misfortunes to that address, you could receive a ticket in return, and one that not only allows entrance to the Market beyond the house’s front door, but the offer to swap your life for another.

The odds are long but Serin sends off her letter and gets in return a ticket and an invitation to visit the Market for the duration of the rainy season — those who overstay the welcome are destined to never leave — with the total of its enchantments, including a magical cat companion named Issha.

Travels and travails follow Serin and Issha as they are plagued by Dokkaebi — goblin-like creatures taken from the pages of Korean folklore — who run the individual shops in the market, each offering a “happier story in our stock.”

With help from Issha and others that she befriends, Serin traverses the market’s allegorical landmines, comparing one life’s outcome with another until she comes to the end of her visit in this predictable but rewarding fairytale.

Other notable titles out this spring and worth the price of admission — no essay required — range from the fantastical to the feral with a number of big-hitting authors submitting some of their best work, including sequels:

“Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” (Berkley) by Grady Hendrix: 15-year-old Fern arrives alone and scared and pregnant at the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida — as are all the young woman and girls living at the home. Life is strictly regulated under the tyrannical control of the adults until Fern is gifted a book about witchcraft — and the power it contains to both create and destroy.

“The Ends of Things” (Blackstone) by Sandra Chwialkowska: A romantic lovers’ paradise is anything but idyllic for Laura Phillips and her boyfriend as shea becomes involved in the disappearance of the lone traveler befriended on the beach. An exotic getaway soon itself gets away from Laura as garnished cocktails and sumptuous suites turn into a murder investigation — and a fight for her innocence.

“Somewhere Toward Freedom” (Simon & Schuster) by Bennett Parten: Parten, a Georgia-native university professor with an expertise in the Civil War period, shines with storytelling as his reporting illuminates new, and unconventional, light on one of the most well-documented and well-known war episodes in our nation’s history — Sherman’s march to the sea. Subtitled “Sherman’s March and Story of America’s Largest Emancipation,” Parten re-tills well-trodden ground, telling the story of the thousands of enslaved people who followed Sherman and his army, turning a march of destruction into the launch of liberation in this meticulously researched book.

“Cupid on the Loose” (Blackstone) by John J. Jacobson: This timely novel that slipped into best-selling list early in February is nonetheless a timely tale for the ages, and especially for those who love a love story in the vein of Nicholas Sparks, and the romantic mayhem of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — an author who incidentally plays a prominent role of his own in this fun read. Centered on a “kindred kind of romance” that needs a bit of tender to set it ablaze, enter a meddling grandmother whose intentions are as well-conceived as they are misguided.

“Destiny’s Way” (Berkley) by Jack Campbell: In this sequel to Campbell’s “In Our Stars,” the time traveling part-human, part-alien-DNA Selene Genji is thrust 30 years into the past, before the Universal Way destroyed the world, in an attempt to save Earth — excedpt those alive who want her dead after being declared a traitor by the Earth Guard. Assisted by at least one friend from the first part of the “Doomed Earth Duology,” Selene must find a way to save a prejudicial mankind that wants this independent and strong woman dead.

“The Secrets of Flowers” (Blackstone) by Sally Page: A story floating from the depths of the Titanic — and we never get tired of those — Page crafts a unique, heart-healing tale of Emma, who is bereft following her husband’s death. Told through the language of flowers, Emma discovers the lost story of a girl from the ship, one told in the arrangements of the flowers on board during the maiden, and final, voyage, that might just blossom into the healing of her own grief.

“The Memory Ward” (Blackstone) by Jon Bassoff: A seemingly Elysian small town is the scene of bizarre oddities, and postal worker Hank Davies isn’t the first to notice — he comes to realize he’s delivering mail filled with blank pages — but he’s the one whose willing to cry foul. A secreted story discovered beneath the walls of Hank’s bedroom touches off pages of alternate reality as Bassoff delivers a tale of trauma and altered identity, and one questioning the concept of humanity itself.

“American Fever” (Arcade) by Dur e Aziz Amna: This engaging and humorous novel centers on a Pakistani exchange student in rural Oregon who finds herself between worlds — and entrenched in the navigation of first love, racism, Islamophobia and homesickness. When she finds herself quarantined after a diagnosis of tuberculosis, her world shrinks further as themes of religion, family and national identity take on increasingly larger proportions.

“Protecting Jess” (Arcade Crimewise) by Karna Small Bodman: A White House economist and rising star, Jessica Tanner, has both brains and beauty. Sent to Brazil to speak at an international conference on behalf of her boss, a planned exotic dream assignment descends into a dangerous and foreboding nightmare.

“Don’t Tell Me How to Die” (Blackstone) by Marshall Karp: Marshall Karp, of NYPD Red series (aka, co-conspirator of James Patterson) fame, offers a taut, sharp and on-target psychological thriller in “Don’t Tell Me How To Die” (Blackstone). Told in parts, past and present, Karp crafts a evolving storyline centered on 43-year-old Maggie, a woman who is not only diagnosed with the same deadly disease that claimed her mother but vows to not recreate the adolescent hell she endured because of the passing. Seeing firsthand her dying mother’s warning that, once she died, women would flock to 17-year-old Maggie and her sister’s father “like stray cats to an overturned milk truck” and that it would be up to girls to protect him. Which they do, admirably — until one slips through their gatekeeping. … Determined that the same thing won’t happen to her own family, Maggie devises a plan to find a perfect match as wife and mother … before she dies. If this were all to the plot, the storyline would be worth an afternoon, but in succeeding parts of the novel, Karp continuously turns everything upside down, projecting surprise after surprise in a trope-laden, over-blown style that works perfectly for a main course instead of the appetizer it would have been coming from a lesser pen. Karp is a veteran in keeping the cinematic action going and the shocks coming — both of which are abundantly on display in his latest.

“Cold Iron Task” (Berkley) by James J. Butcher: In this Book 3 of 3 in Butcher’s “The Unorthodox Chronicles,” Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby — one of the most notable names in literary history — has solved at least one case, but he’s still a beginner in Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. As he joins an unlikely partner in the heist of of an otherworldly vault, Grimsby touches off past and closely guarded secrets, freeing demons and monsters, Usual and Unorthodox, that could be his demise in this series finisher.

“The Gate of the Feral Gods” (Ace Hardcovers) by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl series): Welcome, Crawler, to the fifth floor of the dungeon in Book 4 of Dinniman’s quest series, and one filled with warrior gnomes, malfunctioning machines and a deadly, haunted crypt. On the eve of utter failure, Carl and his team find they must rely on the untrustworthy crawlers trapped in the bubble with them.

“The Summer Guests” (Thomas & Mercer) by Tess Gerritsen: In Book 2 of The Martini Club, retired covert agent Maggie Bird has “retired” to the seaside. In Purity, life is quiet, but it’s not without murder as a friendly neighbor of Maggies becomes embroiled in double homicide charges. It’s up to the Martini Club, a circle of ex-CIA friends book club, to find the truth behind the secrets that portend more murder on the horizon.

“Gothictown” (Kensington) by Emily Carpenter: What if you could purchase a Victorian home for $100 in a small Georgia town eager to spur its pandemic-riddled economy? So begins this story of Billie Hope’s dream of fleeing cramped and crimped New York City with her husband and daughter. Dreams, as they often do in the offerings from Carpenter — a Birmingham, Alabama, native now living in Georgia — descend from opportunities to devilish bargains, and “Gothictown” is part and parcel of the oeuvre. More than genteel charms lurks beneath the facade of Southern hospitality in this town. View a free 66-page teaser of the novel (“Gothictown: A Sneak Peek”) at online booksellers.

“Home Is Where the Bodies Are” (Blackstone) by Jeneva Rose: Questions and secrets arise when three estranged siblings begin to sort their mother’s estate — and discover a VHS recording of their blood-soaked father involved in a death of which none of them have any recollection. Revive the past or leave it buried with their mother? That becomes the question … with no easy, or safe, answers.

Reach Tom Mayer at tmayer@cullmantimes.com.

Book #3 in the Unorthodox Chronicles. Buthcher has developed an excellent community of magic and populated it with a cast of characters that feed the imagination with every chapter. Grimsby is taking the next step into becoming the auditor he has always wished to be while working very hard to keep on his mentor's good side. As he learns from Mayflower, he's developing into his own vision of success while Mayflower learns patience and that his way is not always the only way.
This series grows with each new book into one that I'd recommend to any and everyone looking for the next TBR favorite.

Cold Iron Task by James J. Butcher is the third audiobook in the Unorthodox Chronicles featuring Grimsby, a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs. Character growth, reveals and magical heists await you. Butcher delivered an addictive tale.

Like most urban fantasy, it is important to listen to the Unorthodox Chronicles series in the order of its release. With each new installment Butcher fleshes out the world, the magic and allows his protagonist to grow. If you love urban fantasy, I highly recommend this series.

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby is a novice auditor for Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. He worked his first case in the previous book, but still has a lot to learn. Grimsby’s mentor and partner is Mayflower, a Huntsman. I love the interactions between the two, from irritation to respect. We have watched the two form a bond as Mayflower’s reluctance gives way to friendship.

Grimsby is determined to find a cure for Rayne View Spoiler » He is also trying to help Wudge find his door. All of this is how he ends up joining a team to breach a magical vault to retrieve an item that may offer answers. In the meantime, Mayflower is trying to help a fellow Huntsman find his younger brother.

The story that unfolds was addictive and well paced with plenty of magic, demons, secrets, and twists to keep listening into the wee hours. We see shifting alliances and for me; it is the characters who truly make this world. I am hoping we see more stories in this series as Grimsby’s tale is far from over.

James Patrick Cronin narrates and gives voice to all the characters, allowing me to recognize who is speaking immediately. I love urban fantasy in the audio format, which is why despite some reservations I continued the series on audio.

What I have liked best about this series is a lot of urban fantasy is very female focused and when the romance is secondary it’s a pleasant surprise. I don’t mind a nice romance subplot but having another good urban fantasy series that I can recommend to a male reader or to a woman burned out on the impressively ripped were critter/vampire/fae love interest(s) who just wants the story to focus on the fantasy side of an urban fantasy story is great! And I liked that the main character really started out from the very very bottom so he’s not overpowered.

Thanks for the free book @JamesJButcher and @AceBooksPub. #BerkleyPartner #Berkley #BerkleyBookstagram

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
📚Cold Iron Task (The Unorthodox Chronicles, Book 3) by James J. Butcher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 480 / Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: March 4, 2025
🥳#HappyPubDay!🎉

In this third book in the Unorthodox Chronicles series, witch/Auditor Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby is desperately trying to find a way to help his former co-worker and friend Rayne. In doing so, he works with her uncle to break into a vault to steal something very old and dangerous that will cure her predicament. Meanwhile, his partner, Mayflower, is trying to track down a friend’s son, who is also afflicted with a terrible power. The two cases end up colliding and we get treated to one crazy, magical adventure.

You could probably read this book as a standalone, but you’d miss Grimsby’s growth as a sad kids’ party magician to an actual Auditor for the Department of Unorthodox Affairs. I also love the evolution of the relationship between young Grimbsy and grumpy, old Mayflower. The creativity that goes into the magical creatures and wizardry in each book is also astounding. I’m looking forward to the next one.

In the third book in The Unorthodox Chronicles Cold Iron Task, James J. Butcher has given us a fast paced and complex story. As the world slowly unfolds, the characters of Grimshaw and Mayflower deepen their friendship but also become increasingly more multi-faceted. Each faces struggles unique to their world and the world of The Unorthodox Chronicles gets more fascinating.
From the very beginning, the action is fast paced and doesn’t let up. Grimshaw and Mayflower deal with the complications and secrets from other parts of their lives in the matter of a couple days but nothing about the story itself feels rushed. James J. Butcher builds up the suspense and the entanglements with increasing skill and sets up the new and old horrors perfectly. The mysteries that Grimshaw faces and secrets he learns not just about his own past but about Mayflowers add complexity to the world and help both characters to grow. I love how the various plot lines come together and how the solutions might be worse than the original problem. And the ending will leave readers intrigued and ready for more.
If you like fast paced and complex urban fantasy novels, with a struggling witch and a morally grey huntsman, you will love this book, especially if you’ve read the first two. The ending left my appetite whetted for the next book and I think most fans of the series will love how much the characters have grown.

This was my first foray into this particular series and perhaps that is why it wasn't my favorite. I think i will give the rest of the series a try and we if it grows in me.

Another great entry by James Butcher. I was dubious for his first book, but after reading it I was all in. There are a handful of authors that check monthly to see when their next book is coming out and James is one of those. A good buddy cop book with some laugh out loud lines, I’m always up for the next entry with Grimsby and Mayflower.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of Cold Iron Task. Below is my honest review.

If you haven't read the famous Jim Butcher's son James' urban fantasy series, you should pick it up. This is book three in the Unorthodox Chronicles, and it's worth the read. He definitely inherited a bit of his dad's talent in regards to creativity and worldbuilding. I can see a lot of Jim's earlier books in James', and can see an upwards trajectory for his skill.

This installment shows us a new side of Grimsby's relationships - mutual trust, respect, and Grimsby truly feeling like he has friends. Mayflower's going through the wringer, and this time Grimsby gets to be true support for Mayflower, Rayne, and even Wudge.

I really enjoyed the way this one shakes out, and the amount of growth Grimsby has shown.

Definitely recommend this series for Urban Fantasy fans.

Cold Iron Task by James Butcher takes us on our next urban fantasy adventure with Grimshaw Grimsby, a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, and his mentor and partner, Huntsman Mayflower. This, the third book of the Unorthodox Chronicles series, continues to be populated with weird otherworldly characters trying to thwart Grimsby and Mayflower in their pursuit of justice. The plotline takes our partners on separate paths to an exciting conclusion to the action. The characters are well developed and, though the story gets off to a bit of a rocky start, it's a worthwhile ride. Thanks to NetGalley and Ace Publishing for making this ARC available.

If there's one thing I love in urban fantasy, it's a good mentor-mentee relationship, and Cold Iron Task delivers that in spades. At the heart of this book—and really, the entire series—is the dynamic between the well-meaning but occasionally hapless Grimsby and his grizzled, world-weary mentor, Mayflower. Their partnership's brilliance is in how they've begun to shape each other. Once content to drown his regrets in work (or a bottle), Mayflower is slowly learning to confront his past. At the same time, Grimsby has gained both confidence and a sharp edge that wasn't there before. He's no longer just the scrappy underdog; he's stepping into his power, and I loved watching it happen.

Grimsby's growth is one of my favorite aspects of this book. His development feels natural, not rushed, and completely relatable. He's starting to take ownership of his abilities, stand his ground, and dig deeper into his own history—all while navigating the ever-evolving push-and-pull of his relationship with Mayflower. And speaking of that relationship, it's everything I want in a mentor-mentee dynamic: full of begrudging respect, exasperation, and (underneath it all) genuine, if gruff, care for one another. Grimsby's journey is one that many of us can see ourselves in, making his character all the more compelling.

Beyond the character work, Cold Iron Task is packed with everything that makes an urban fantasy shine: magical heists, shifting allegiances, high-stakes action, and twists that keep you on your toes. But what keeps me returning isn't just the magic or the action—it's the characters. I care about Grimsby and Mayflower. I want to see where they go next, how they continue to grow, and what chaos they inevitably find themselves in. The urban fantasy elements in this book are not just entertaining, they're downright captivating.

James J. Butcher, if you're listening, please make this a long series. I want to watch Grimsby and Mayflower evolve for years to come. The thought of their future adventures is something that fills me with anticipation and hope.

The ending of the second book in the Unorthodox Files left me curious as to whether the series was meant to be a trilogy or ongoing. Happily, Cold Iron Task confirms that it's the latter.

Like previous entries in the series, the strength of Cold Iron Task lies in the counterbalance between its two lead characters: the well-meaning but somewhat bumbling Grimsby, and the grizzled old veteran Mayflower. At this point in their relationship, it's become clear that each of them has rubbed off on the other to some degree: Mayflower grapples with the mistakes of his past, but thanks to Grimsby's influence is more willing to confront them than to bury himself in work or a bottle. Grimsby is more confident and forthright, both in his magical abilities and in his interactions with other people, but also has inherited a degree of Mayflower's anger.

Anger, as it happens, is both a theme and a driving force in Cold Iron Task, as our two heroes grapple with how to deal with rage (justified and otherwise) without causing collateral harm to the innocent. The struggle between self-control and fury runs throughout the story, leading it (and our heroes) to the final, inevitable test of their character. If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, Cold Iron Task will deliver for you in spades.

"Grimsby, a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, finds himself on the other side of the law in this spellbinding urban fantasy.

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby may have one case under his belt, but he's still a novice Auditor in Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. And he's already made mistakes.

Desperate to repair his fraying friendships, he doesn't ask too many questions when a mysterious patron offers him the chance to join a heist of an otherworldly vault - and in the process find answers that could make things right.

Complications arise when Grimsby learns that his partner, Mayflower, is keeping secrets about his past. Between facing new demons, old horrors, and monsters - both Usual and Unorthodox - Grimsby soon realizes nothing is how it appears and that not asking enough questions just might be his downfall."

Seriously, you only pull a heist with people you trust.

Huntsman Mayflower and Grimsby find themselves in more trouble, each going their separate ways to deal with what they both see as personal issies. Mayflower needsto help another Huntsman from Boston, other Huntsman that are not allowed in Mayflower's city, to find his younger brother who fled to Boston. Grimsby is set to help Wudge find his door, since the imp keeps making life at home hard from Grimsby., and find a way to save Rayne from the entity now bound to her and the mysterious nail that messes with magic. They have to do the work for the Department still and skirt around the rules. The story is action packed from start to finish with new secrets being revealed about Grimsby and Mayflower as the story unfolds. Old enemiers rear their heads as new enemeies emerge from the shadows. Wonderful worldbuilding. The magic winthin Grimsby grows as he learns more. from enemies, his history, and friends. For those that enjoyed the first two books. this is heartfelt, nuanced continuation of the series. I can't waiit to get my hands on book four.

To start, a huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read an eARC of Cold Iron Task in return for an honest review.

Cold Iron Task is the third installment in James J. Butcher's The Unorthodox Chronicles. Continuing the adventures of novice Auditor Grimsby with experienced and grizzled Huntsman Mayflower, Butcher has continued an Urban Fantasy story worthy of his famous father. The story does an excellent job continuing to build on the lore of the first two books with a solid mixture of action and exposition.

Picking up where Long Past Dues left off, Grimsby is reeling from his "failure" with Rayne. When she asks for a favor from Grimsby, he gladly offers to do all he can to help her. At the same time, Mayflower is tasked with helping a rival Huntsman with a familial concern. To top it all off, Grimsby is pressed into the service of an Unorthodox "criminal" to try and solve a murder that incidentally ends up connecting Rayne's favor and Mayflower's personal mission all together.

Over the course of the story, we see Grimsby start to grow into his new role and learn so much more about his background. We also start to get a better understanding of Mayflower and Huntsman culture and history. Butcher is definitely doing some very solid world-building even if it feels a little derivative of his father's Dresden-world. Overall, the book is a great read leaving me wanting more and eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the story.

The success of a long running urban fantasy series hinges on its ability to give you enough action and satisfying closure in each book, but also continue to up the stakes (without getting utterly ridiculous), adding depth to the world, and growing both the character and the wider mystery/plot/antagonist. Cold Iron Task is the third book in The Unorthodox Chronicles, and it continues to deliver on the promise of the first two books.

The trope of younger detective/protégé paired with older, grizzled, cynical veteran is pulled off perfectly. Grimsby, our young novice Auditor, has clearly become much closer to Mayflower, his reluctant mentor. Which makes it that much more difficult when everyone begins keeping secrets from each other. There’s a lot to unpack here about the importance of trust and found family, and a lot is introduced about our characters backstories.

Magical heists, trust and betrayal, plenty of action. But most importantly, this series manages to give me characters I care about and I want to follow. I love the mentor-mentee relationship trope, especially in urban fantasy, and I hope that Butcher intends to make this a loooong series so I can watch the evolution of Grimsby, Mayflower, and their relationship for years to come.

On another note, I can’t find the name of the artist who’s doing the covers for this series, but they are killing it! I love this style. Publishers, please start listing artists along with authors! Give them credit for this phenomenal work!

Cold Iron Task comes out March 4, and if you’re a fan of the urban fantasy genre I definitely recommend it. Thank you Berkley Publishing Group/Ace Books and NetGalley, for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review!