“I answered the phone and Susan Rodriguez said, “They’ve
taken our daughter.”” – Changes, p.1.
This is how Changes opens, with Harry Dresdsen, Wizard, answering
the phone to the revelation that he has a daughter and she has been kidnapped
by vampires, Red Court vampires, after the war is over. This entire novel is bait to get Harry Dresden
involved, and hopefully killed while possibly even starting the war with the White
Council once again as a bid for power and the kicker is, they succeed, sort of,
the bloodline curse which is set to take the lives of anyone genetically
related to him. This would mainly effect
Harry himself, Susan, and his half-brother Thomas, but it is all an elaborate revenge
on Harry’s previous actions against the Red Court: killing Bianca and denying
them Susan who still has not given into her vampiric desires. Much of Changes uses this as the main
thrust of the novel, while Butcher never lets the reader forget that there is
something odd about this situation. This
is incredibly subtle as Harry Dresden is driven only by saving the daughter he
has just learned exists. This drive
leads Harry to making several decisions which might just be enough to put him
in a dangerous position among the magical world around him, something that
leads to one final twist where Harry Dresden is shot and killed on Lake
Michigan after succeeding in eliminating the Red Court in its entirety. He has taken Queen Mab’s offer to become the
Winter Knight, making himself her dog, but is killed before he can take up that
offer. It’s symbolic of him finding a
family and closing some of the trauma of losing his other family, just before
it can be ripped from him.
Susan Rodriguez is also a character who has shown
growth since her last appearance in Death Masks, she is successfully
integrated into the Fellowship of St. Giles and never told Harry about their
daughter to keep her safe, something that she will later regret. She stops herself from falling back in love
with Harry physically, even if she still is very much in love with him. There is also a reflection on how Jim Butcher
writes women who are not Karrin Murphy that allows Susan to have matured. The first three Dresden Files novels were
particularly bad with casual sexism and with each book that has diminished
until this point where while there are times it never feels like it’s Butcher
being sexist, but a character being sexist.
It’s also telling when a majority of the supporting characters in this
novel are women, including Molly, Murphy, Mab, and Harry’s fairy
godmother. Lea, the aforementioned fairy
godmother, has perhaps her best appearance, for the first time not attempting
to make a deal with Harry but being the closest to a human character as she has
a soft spot for the fact that this is a family matter. There is this moment where she outright makes
a no strings attached promise to Harry to ensure the safety of his daughter
after the big climactic twist involving a traitor in the ranks of the
fellowship doing a triple cross ending with the genocide of the Red Court of
vampires. There is indeed a blood sacrifice
and it is genuinely a terrifying moment.
Overall, Changes is simple, hence the shorter
length of this review, but it is perhaps the perfect installment for The
Dresden Files. Jim Butcher has
genuinely no way to top this and there are several books left as it leaves the
reader in a rush and unable to process the cliffhanger while it seems
everything is turning out alright. While
there were spoilers in this review, some of the moments I deliberately left vague
as they could easily be their own essay.
10/10.
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