The Times, They Are a-Changin'

Finally read Butcher's latest Dresden novel a few nights ago. Took me two nights to get through this one; I just avoided falling asleep from staying up too late the first night, in order to read it. So I finished it the next night.

I ended up mostly enjoying. I thought the relationship with Susan was handled very well; the choppiness was very appropriate.

The daughter, though, I kind of wonder about. I would probably be willing to do the kinds of things he was willing to do for her, if my daughter was threatened, but then I've been able to watch her grow up (well, inasmuch as she has grown up, when she's barely two years old :). Of course, I did not grow up as an orphan, so I don't get the motivation from that end that Harry has. But I've got to say, I don't know if I could live with myself, doing what he did to end things. Well, I could see myself, if pushed, doing the other things he did to save her. What he did at the end, though? I don't think that would ever even occur to me, even in such dire circumstances, let alone follow through with it. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call him an evil person after that, but it was certainly an evil act.

Getting back to the main plot, this one felt a lot different. For one thing, Harry found a lot more friends than usual. For another, he made a compromise of the type he'd been avoiding for a long time. And finally, he's kind of been cut loose in a way, and tied down tightly in another.

It's probably just as well that he's basically been removed from the Yellow Pages. That hasn't been a factor in the plot in quite a while, so it was just as well to be gone. I'm thinking the home isn't quite as gone as it appears, though. The summoning circle down there never got used, so I'm thinking that needs to come up again somehow.

And, of course, the Winter Court will now be constantly in the foreground, rather than regularly in the background. I'm very curious to see where that goes.

Of course, the biggest question remaining will be the giant cliffhanger at the end. Who did it (I'm guessing Gentleman Johnnie), and how will Harry pull a Houdini? Regardless of the answer, that definitely caught me off-guard. I can't wait for the next one.

Meantime, I'm slowly working my way through the Codex Alera. Which is good, but definitely not as good as the Dresden books.