Changes: The Dresden Files [Hardcover]

Oh man was I ready to give this book a slating.

I've read all the Dresden books. I've seen the characters develop, relationships become more and more complex and an entire world taking shape. Then, meh. 3 star books that I enjoyed but didn't necessarily improve on anything.Over the past few releases, I felt the books were becoming tired and stale. Dresden is now becoming an undefeatable superhero who faces the giant, evil henchman around the middle of the book, nearly gets killed, then comes good as the final quarter is reached. Over the past few releases. Plot threads seemed to drift ever onwards with minimal reservation. Dialogue became too familiar, repetitive and unlikely.

In many ways this book suffers that same fate - at least the first part of it does. It seems to amble through very familiar (albeit likeable) territory.

Butcher was losing interest it seemed.

Then the ending. The last 60 pages.

Jeez he packs stuff in doesn't he? Butcher - whilst never purporting to be the most sure of writers - is an intricate plotter. What he lacks in prose (which isn't a slight but more an observation on his casual style) knows exactly where this series is heading.

And then the final page - almost a Deus ex Machina moment insofar as you can't see THAT coming.

Now I can't wait for the next one and it's a year away.

I'm not getting any younger and if something happens to me in the next 12 months, I know who's getting my death curse.

OK. I realise now that it has taken me five years to get to this point, and for the series itself, ten. And it's been an interesting and entertaining journey for me. But here is, as the title would suggest, where everything changes. This is the Dresden equivalent of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, or of the Battle of Minas Tirith.

Here things really become different. This is one where Jim rips up what has gone before, and makes, in many ways, a fresh start. Many of our reference points are removed here, leaving a feeling that this book really does change things about.

Having said that, there are some things that don't change. The series, as I've noted before, has a reputation of starting with a bang. Turn Coat did, but this one is a new shock.

"I answered the phone, no big deal, until I heard the message: 'They've taken our daughter.'"

The phone call is from Susan Rodriguez, his ex-girlfriend who was turned into a vampire by the Red Court back in Book Five, Death Masks. He is told about something he didn't know - he has a daughter, Maggie, kept in secret from Harry for her protection. And that Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has found out, kidnapped her and plans to use Maggie against Harry as revenge for the death of her husband, an action precipitated by Harry.

Over the next three days Harry's task, with Susan and half-vampire Martin, is to find his daughter and save her from the evil vampires. Whilst she initiates the kidnapping, Queen Arianna also manoeuvres towards a proposed peace settlement between the Red Court and the Wizards: something that would be greatly desired by the Council. Thus given a choice of saving Harry's daughter or ending the war, the Wizard's actions seem restricted - exactly Arianna's point. The actions are further limited when a serious and mysterious illness dehabilitates many of the Council who remain at the Council Centre in Edinburgh.

Further help is denied when newly appointed Gregori Cristos (in Turn Coat) has many of the Senior Wardens arrested, including Captain Anastasia Luccio, who was involved with Harry in Turn Coat. Harry is pretty much on his own here, with only his closest friends to help. Them and Queen Mab, who for reasons of her own is enlisted to help in a pact made with Harry.

To do that, Harry has to pay back some old debts, all at a cost. He also uncovers secrets and makes serious sacrifices that will affect him, and those around him, forever.

So: we finally see a resolution of sorts of the Vampire Wizard War, though perhaps not the way it what was expected to be initially. I must admit, considering that Susan is now a half-vampire why the Court hasn't considered using her against Harry before, particularly if they are as ruthless as we are led to believe. However she has kept Maggie a secret from Harry (and everyone else) for that reason, though I'm not sure it would be that easy to do.

In terms of overall plot development, the arrival of Maggie now means that we're into what I jokingly referred to as Dresden: the Next Generation in an earlier review, though this is not developed here. However some of our regulars do have their star moments - the training of Molly as an apprentice finally comes to fruition, Mouse has an interesting development and Karrin excels herself as a friend of Harry.

There are some new elements. We have some new characters: Esteban and Esmeralda Bastiste, collectively known as `the Ebs', are sent as hired assassins to kill Harry. Though rather deranged, I did think they were a little bit underwhelming.

Less disappointing was the fact that, as you might expect from previous Dresden's, Jim does do epic battles well. Here there is an epic battle at Chichen Itza, where Maggie is to be sacrificed, between Harry and his friends and the might of the Red Court. We discover that Arianna's aim is to sacrifice Maggie in a blood ritual which would release a death curse which would travel up the family tree from the sacrificial victim to all her siblings, then to her parents, then to all their siblings (like Harry's half brother, Thomas), to the grandparents, to the grandparent's siblings, ad infinitum.

What works best here is that the book has jaw-dropping moment after jaw-dropping moment. We have the appearance of an ancient God, the emergence of the Red King, and Harry visits the domain of the ErlKing. Most importantly, here's where a lot of those plot lines previously told comes together: Harry's past, Harry's responsibilities, the Vampire-Wizard War, Harry's friendships.

And just when you think the tale's been wrung out as much as it can, the ending is a stunner, which, in a page, changes things again.

In summary, those readers who have made the journey, as I have, to this point are going to be shocked and horrified by some of the things that happen here. There are characters that come to the fore and unexpected betrayals. This book is life-changing for Harry and many of the key characters we have got to know, in both positive and negative ways.

This, for me, puts Harry above the genre competition by a mile. If I may have felt that there were previous books that treaded water a little in places, this one definitely doesn't. This is where everything that has gone before counts and for the reader makes what happens here have an emotional punch that makes reading all the books up to this point pay off. Big time.

The thirteenth novel, I understand, will be called Ghost Story and is due out March 2011 (though we have short story collection, Side Jobs, already out in the US and due later this year in the UK.)

I can't wait.

I'm not going to cover the ground that everyone else has covered. I'm simply going to add that this book was fantastic, if a little bit rushed, and whilst it's a sign that there's plenty more to come, the year long wait seems almost interminable... Particularly as I bought and finished the book yesterday, despite a busy medical degree. Need I say any more to those casual shoppers who are reading this and haven't already been convinced to read the series?