Changes - Jim Butcher
I love this book so much. I love this whole series, and this is easily my favorite so far. Changes, indeed.By the end of this book, View Spoiler » Except probably not. Seriously. Everything about this book is great. This is the twelfth book in the series, and I really don’t recommend starting here. Do yourself a favor and read it from the beginning. Or at least from 3 on.
It’s really hard to talk about the individual elements of this book without spoiling things, so this will be a short review. Harry having a daughter isn’t really a spoiler since it’s literally the first line of the book. (“I answered the phone, and Susan Rodriguez said ‘They’ve taken our daughter.’ I sat there for a long five count, swallowed, and said ‘Um. What?'”) If you’ve been following this story from the beginning, you know how important family is to Harry Dresden. He’s not happy to find out that not only does he have an eight-year-old daughter that he never knew about, but for safety reasons, Susan has placed her with another family to be raised as an orphan. And, clearly, the cover has been blown. For the first time since we met Harry, he’s trying to save the world for more than just altruistic reasons or to save his own ass. This time he’s trying to save his daughter.
I know I’m repeating myself, but this book is so good. Every time Harry thinks he’s figured out what’s happening, he’s thrown for another loop. Every time the reader thinks we’ve figured something out, we find we’re completely wrong. And that twist with Karin at the end! Wow.
I can’t talk about this book without talking about the narrator. I’ve only read a few of these books; I usually listen to them on audio because James Marsters is so freaking good! I haven’t listened to any of the other books he’s narrated, but he’s so good as Harry. In fact, the next book, Ghost Story, is the only book of the 15 that he was unable to narrate due to other commitments and time constraints, so I’ve never listened to it. But recently, four years after the fact, James Marsters and Jim Butcher were finally able to give the fans what they’ve been clamoring for, and James went into the studio to record it. I’m so excited to move on to that one. It’ll be like a whole new book for me!
