YMMV / Cold Days

• Alternative Character Interpretation: How much agency does Maeve have as a willing agent of Nemesis? While it is shown that Nemesis can forcibly take total control of anyone it infects, it is also said that it often just changes or amplifies smaller aspects of the host's personality until directly threatened. During the climax, Maeve claims the entire attack on Demonreach was merely setup for her true goal of revenge on Mab and Sarissa. Is this true? If so, was it what Nemesis had wanted, or was it just for Maeve? Or maybe Nemesis was going for a Xanatos Gambit, setting up multiple outcomes that could benefit it, while Maeve only wanted revenge and forcibly prioritized the part of the plan she cared about.
• Anticlimax Boss:
  • A fight between Fix and Harry has been built up since Small Favor and despite Fix having multiple advantages....Harry beats him rather easily because Harry had territorial advantages with Intellectus and a piece of iron, among other things.
  • The Redcap shows himself to be a cunning and dangerous threat, nearly killing Dresden three different times throughout the novel. In the climax, however, he goes down rather lamely, being taken out at the start of the battle by a blow Dresden meant for Maeve. However, Battle Ground reveals that he was secretly acting as Mab's mole in Maeve's court, so it's possible he intentionally took the hit as a means of removing himself from the fight without drawing suspicion.
  • Ace goes down easily too despite earlier clever use of little folk and explosives.
• Awesome Music: Along with the Funny Moments page's mention of Dresden imagining his "physical therapy" as a montage set to "Walk" by the Foo Fighters, it's noted that after Harry kicks ass at the birthday party, Mab dances with him to an orchestral rendition of ".45" by Shinedown.
• Crazy Is Cool: As usual, Harry's plans end up being this, but this line, where he's talking Murphy into a particular course of action, stands out as emblematic:
  Harry: You have to admit, it isn't the craziest thing I've asked you to do. It isn't even the craziest thing I've asked you to do tonight.
• Genius Bonus: Odin is Father Christmas. A brilliant mythological joke if you've taken any comparative religion classes. Mab pointing out that no Winter Knight had shown the Court such defiance "since the days of Tam Lin" also counts, as every element of that story is compatible with him being a Winter Knight. Even more interestingly, Tam Lin is about a Knight escaping the mantle, which flies in the face of Harry's belief that he's stuck with it forever. This may be significant later.
• Moral Event Horizon: There is no coming back for Maeve after she kills Lily.
• Never Live It Down: Harry having passing-on-the-mantle nookie with Mab in Changes comes up again, this time with Fix and Lily.
• Stoic Woobie: At the end of this, Mab certainly counts. Her daughter Maeve was possessed by Nemesis and threatened to destroy the world, ended up being killed before her eyes, and by Maeve's actions her second daughter has become the Summer Lady, keeping her from Sarissa and destroying the relationship of BFFs they had previously. The only hint we get of her deeper turmoil is when she admits to Harry who asked if she didn't like her choice to have Maeve killed, "[she] was mortal once."
• The Woobie: Titania goes through much the same as Mab, but is more open with her grief. She knew Aurora was evil and needed to be stopped, but Aurora was still her baby girl.