Changes is the twelfth book in the Dresden Files and is by far the most unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable. Fans of the series will no doubt notice the change of title-style. Previous books in the Dresden Files have been titled with two words, each having the same number of letters; Storm Front, Dead Beat, Proven Guilty and White Night, for example. To take the title literally, the whole book is about change. Not only the title changes, but the characters and themes within the book are subject to a quick twist in the other direction; the plot itself twists almost as much as Chris Nolan’s latest mind-fuck of a film, Inception, does. There is no doubt that by the end of the book the reader’s emotions will be screaming for mercy – you will feel that a very part of your soul is missing until you can salve it with the next book, Ghost Story.
Changes in a nutshell: Changes is the best novel of the series, so far (and that’s important, because after this explosive book there’s no doubt that the series is only going to continue to blow our minds). It begins with the premise that Harry Dresden’s daughter has been kidnapped by the Red Court vampires – so far so horrifying. Red Court vampires may look sexy, alluring and wanton on the outside but on the inside their monstrous appearance is enough to turn anyone off. The strangest part is that Harry never knew his daughter existed. Susan Rodriguez, Harry’s ex-love and the mother of the child, never revealed it to him – until it was too late to stop them taking her. This tantalising opening pitches Harry, Susan and Martin (Susan’s operative partner in the Red Court-killing Fellowship of St Giles) into a race against time for clues in Chicago that will lead them to their stolen child.
To be honest with you, it’s very hard to find anything wrong with the book. This is not a result of any sort of ‘fandom’ that I may, or may not, be deluded by – I never let things like enjoying the previous books of a series influence how much I enjoy this book. I genuinely find it nigh on impossible to fault this book. The characters are superb, any writer would be half as lucky to have such interesting and entertaining characters populating their series’. The themes running throughout the book are interesting and some are unequivocally shocking in their execution – think about how far you would go to save your daughter from murderers and criminals – but that’s the beauty of the story, even though the protagonist is forced into a difficult choice, he remains true to his character that has been present right form the very beginning!
It’s safe to say that Jim Butcher has more than stepped it up a gear this time around and shows his true intentions with the series as a whole. The climax has some brilliant revelations and twists, each foreshadowed in previous books (as far back as the pre-novel chronology), and needless to say you will be stunned by some, if not all, of them. I was. To cap it all off Butcher ends the novel on a cliff-hanger of Epic proportions, capital E and everything.
As far as actual writing style goes, Jim stuck to his trademark adrenaline-rush action, laced with humour. He excellently balanced it in this book, even with the darker plot and tone. There are plot points which were left hanging, no doubt to be explained in the next book – Ghost Story.
Those readers who have had previous issues with his books will find no new charms to win them over, but anyone who doesn’t love the Dresden Files will be forever mired within the miasma of shit that passes for good fiction these days. Jim Butcher is writing a character driven, humour-laced, action packed urban fantasy series and he’s not making any apology for it and nor should he! Run, babbling and jumping like a madman, to your nearest bookstore and find out for yourself as to why this series is heralded as the Gold standard for all Urban Fantasy books.
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