The publication gap between Battle Ground and the new book Twelve Months has been over 5 years, the longest in this series. The back-to-back of Peace Talks and Battle Ground left Harry Dresden in a bad place, and from reading that – and now Twelve Months – it was clear to me that Jim Butcher didn’t appear to be in a good place either.
That’s proved true as he’s spoken about his depression, and a divorce that left him struggling – but also not in such a bad place as in the gap between Changes and Ghost Story. He’s now explained that he wrote Ghost Story after a suicide attempt and looking back I can now see how that was reflected in the change in Harry during the book.
All this is to say I can see that recovery for Jim in this book too. Twelve Months is set immediately after the events of Battle Ground, Chicago (and Harry) are recovering from the damage of a battle that has left Chicago in ruins. Harry at a personal level is coping with the loss of Karrin Murphy (just after they acknowledged their love), his brother’s traumatic imprisonment in Demonreach (encased in crystal to prevent him succumbing to vampiric hunger), and breaks in his relationship to the wizarding community and the knights of the cross. In addition he’s betrothed against his wishes to Lara Raith – the beautiful and deadly queen of the White Court vampires – believing if he succumbs he’ll be her enthralled slave. And then he’s also worried about his powers as the Winter Knight taking over under the influence of Queen Mab.
Sounds awful and like so much could go wrong, but this instead is a book set over a period of a year in which Harry heals. Not all at once, and not perfectly, but he comes to rebuild relationships with family and friends. It’s about realising you’re not alone and that you can find hope in the small things, over time grief can lessen and you can let go without forgetting, . In the end you may find you have more friends than you thought and together you can get through this and build something stronger.
It’s not a perfect book, I know some people will still struggle with how Harry handles women – I saw a difference though from the start to the end. Initially Justine was referred to as ‘Thomas’s woman’, by the end she was ‘Justine’ again and I think that was a deliberate reflection of Harry gaining control over the power of Winter and how it regarded women. Bizarrely I think Harry physically attacking Mab was progress for him, even if it was a terrible thing to do – Molly (former apprentice wizard, now the Winter Lady) noted that previously he wouldn’t hurt women which was to an extent misogyny as he was subconsciously regarding them as weaker. Given he works with some very scary women that was a particularly stupid attitude to have.
For me, I found this a great return to form. It was therapeutic, there were touching conversations and lots of moments where people’s care was evident. At the same time real progress was made on plot as we get to find out more about the White Court and Winter. Harry and Lara’s relationship grows in a real way and she becomes less of a scary figurehead and more of a person. We see bridges being repaired, other relationships strained, and evidence that Harry is so much more than he thinks he is. I’m looking forward now to what comes next and I hope Jim is now in the place where he feels he can write that next step.
And for those who’ve never read the Dresden Files this is obviously not where you start. Similar to Discworld the first two books have ‘early instalment weirdness’ but stick it out and it’s worth the journey!