By the time Cold Iron Task: The Unorthodox Chronicles - Book 3 kicks off, Grimsby has already had a pretty hard life. An apartment fire when he was young not only scarred his body, but also his ability to access magic (AKA Impetus) as well. As a result, his lifelong dream of joining The Department of Unorthodox Affairs as an Auditor has only recently been realized, and well, life as an Auditor hasn't been what he hoped it would be either. Not only is his former teacher dead, but one of his only friends, Rayne, has been imprisoned, had her magic suppressed, and her badge revoked. During the last book, it became clear that for most of Rayne's life, she has had another witch inhabiting her mind and, quite frankly, if it wasn't for the strange cursed nail that Grimsby found and ultimately gave to Rayne, that other witch would be in full control of his friend.
At this point, Grimsby feels he has a few debts on his ledger. Not only does he feel responsible for Rayne's present circumstances, but that particular cursed nail wasn't exactly his to just give away. Wudge, Grimsby's strange little Unorthodox roommate, is very mad at Grimsby since that was the one clue the creature had to find "the door," and by giving it away, Grimsby broke a promise to Wudge.
At least Grimsby feels on even footing when it comes to his partner. While the old, non-magical hitman is still as grumpy as ever, they do seem to be on the same page as far as how to handle their respective workloads. Unfortunately, even that bit of peace can't really last long. Mayflower ends up getting some unexpected visitors, and the resulting revelations lead Grimsby to realizing that Mayflower has a lot more secrets in his closet than even The Department realizes. Meanwhile, Grimsby himself ends up getting pulled into a few different directions and he isn't sure if he should bring Mayflower into his own little secrets.
Grimsby's own little trials begins when Rayne discreetly asks him to meet up with a man who turns out to be Rayne's uncle. It appears that this uncle has been researching how to cure his niece of her particular predicament. Unfortunately, his research has led to dead ends and the only option he can see left is an artifact that claims to be able to answer any question posed to it. Of course, such an artifact isn't just lying around for anyone to use. It is secreted away in the vault of a group of witches called The Coven. While The Coven was eradicated generations ago, their vault still remains intact in the Elsewhere and Rayne's uncle is putting together a group to break into the vault.
As if helping a clandestine group on a heist wasn't enough to deal with, Grimsby is also asked by Aby, a demoness bar owner from a previous book, to look into a recent theft. It seems the head of Ash was recently stolen by none other than Blackskull, a monstrous familiar that seems to have a particular grudge against Grimsby. While Grimsby doesn't necessarily have to take on this particular challenge, given recent events, he does feel compelled to help out where he can.
So, not only does Grimsby have two new "cases" to tackle (neither of which are exactly sanctioned by The Department), but when he learns what mess Mayflower is getting involved in, Grimsby's day just gets more and more complicated.
Cold Iron Task does an excellent job of building on the previous books. While it reminds the reader of some of the series' more esoteric rules (like the various time limits when visiting the Elsewhere), it doesn't rehash too many details. On top of that, readers get a bit more world-building and a better understanding of how Impetus works and why Grimsby in particular has a hard time with his magic. All that being said though, where The Unorthodox Chronicles shines is its characters. Both Grimsby and Mayflower end up becoming more fleshed out by the time this book ends and it will be clear that neither of their pasts are as cut and dry as readers might have thought during the first book. While there are some new mysteries that open up, they will only help to further the series' overall plot.
I fully enjoyed Cold Iron Task: The Unorthodox Chronicles - Book 3 and devoured it in only a couple of sittings, and I can't wait to see how Butcher continues to weave the threads he has started laying out in these early books.
