The next book in the series is an add on that wasnt planned. 12 Months. The year following the last two books, it will apparently focus on Harry dealing with that shit show, getting himself together after the last few years and also getting ready to marry Lara. Their is a WOJ somewhere that Harry and Lara will also have 12 dates, so it seems likely each will have a chapter, or maybe a few will be glossed over. Last book had 36 chapters, so there is plenty of room.

With that all said, what do we think will happen?

The fact Jim said this wasn't a planned book makes it clear there is unlikely to be any of the classic bad guys or detective plot. So its likely tying up old plots and setting up some new ones, along with cleaning up the series.

* I think knowing Butcher and his style, Harry and Lara will split the dates 50/50, she will go to posh restaurants and shows etc and try to seduce him. He will me all nerdy charming (as Jim sees it) taking her to Burger King and Drive in movies, she will fall in love with him somewhat as that is what Butcher does.

* I think we will have Harry go camping with River Shoulders and get some proper magical insight and training finally.

* I don't think Listens to Winds will help as Harry is now out of WC.

* If the book finishes with the wedding, which I think it will (Although the actual marriage may not happen the party will) we will see Harry face to face with the Merlin and several other big wigs, as this is a big event in the magical world and it would only be polite to have everyone show up. McCoy... not sure, I think no.

I think the book will be odd, there are lots of things to cover, hunting Justine, trying to help Thomas, being a Dad, its all just bits. I think it will be a kinda interesting book, and needed, but I don't think it will be a "good" book.

Any ideas on what else it may cover or what you want it to cover?

 

I didn't realize I needed this until your post. Every time we've seen Langtry and Dresden interact there's always been a moderate level of "you are an embarrassment to the White Council and I wish you weren't my problem" from Langtry. It would be very interesting to see their interaction without that dynamic there. Especially since I don't there is as much personal animosity from the Merlin as Dresden thinks there is.

 

Its been so incredibly long since I read this series, I don't even remember who Lara is.

Is it his daughter's mother? I thought she died waay back in the first couple of books when he genocided all the red vampires.

Wasn't Harry a winter knight stuck in the winterlands in the last book? When did he meet someone to date?

What happened to Murphy? Were they not a thing after Harry got Killed and revived?

I genuinely can't remember the plot of the last book, other than Nicodemus was involved and they met Hades.

 

You're two books behind, my dude.

 

Wow, you're right.

The last book I read was peace talks.

I had absolutely no idea another book had come out.

Going to get it ASAP

 

It's worth it. Butcher returned to form in a lot of ways with this one.

 

In order:

Spoiler

Yes. End of Battle Ground (as in, last chapter or two). Lara was owed 3 favors by Winter and the last one was for a stronger alliance with Winter and Mab is rather medieval with such things. Has to be Dresden because aspects of Mab's powers are due to choices she made as a mortal which prevent her from marrying Lara (maybe marrying in general). Neither Harry nor Molly are happy about it, and Lara also seemed blindsided by it. Fast talking on Molly and Lara's part got Mab to delay by a year instead of performing it that night.

Hope that helps.

 

Oh, Lara/Dresden Dating Sounds hilarious.
couldn't get into peace talks, dropped half way through. Is the next one better? I

 

I wouldn't call it a full return to form, but it's a lot better.

As for this one, I'm conflicted about it. It feels like a filler arc when things should be speeding up, especially with how long it gets between books, but maybe Butcher will use this break to give more information about the world's politics which should happen in Peace Talks in my opinion.

 

Peace Talks and Battle Ground need to be read as one book to properly judge them.

They rank in the top half of the books but only just.

In terms of events and ramifications... biggest book since Changes.

 

It's also more dependent on having read some of the short stories than any other book in the series so far, there are things that just will not make proper sense if you haven't.

Backup and Cold Case are 100% required to understand PT/BG, there are a few others that are pretty important in terms of character development; Even Hand, the Bigfoot Trilogy, the Journal microfic from Jims Blog. But Backup and Cold Case outright lay the foundations of major plot points in PT/BG that simply don't work without knowing them.

 

I think the thing that rubs me the wrong way is the Fomor appear out of fucking no where when the Red Court goes down. Gets talked about a bit but not shown, and then we are supposed to believe they are a world power capable of threatening the other magical nations.

I’m not sure it’s a trope, but it annoys me when one villain gets taken down to then immediately get replaced by another (looks at Stargate and the Ori).

The Fomor are shown in short stories, but I don’t agree with telling vital plot points outside the main story.

 

Oh, is that why it happened? I only read BG once and was kind of confused by the reasoning, it felt like it came out of nowhere to me. Your explanation makes sense.

 

A lot of angsting over Murphy because tortured Dresden is Butcher's favorite Dresden.

The marriage to Lara will absolutely fall apart, either in this or the next mainline title. Calling it now.

 

Pretty sure I've read WoJ somewhere that states that Mirror Mirror is Mirror!Harry having gone full bad guy, and yoinking Harry to die in his place to get the heat off his back.

EDIT:

Yeah, the establishment of the favors was at the start of Peace Talks. Like, in one of those chapters that was released early as a teaser.

 

Let's be real, the way Butcher works, the universe where Dresden went full moustache twirling evil (which is, supposedly, the Mirror universe for that book) is the one where he'd be rich, successful, beloved by the Council, and in a steady mostly-healthy relationship with someone.

 

That's honestly what I am expecting.

 

And everyone he cares about would be super safe and happy. All that for a small price of his soul.

It's a really good setup, but I suspect that if it happens Butcher will cheat and not everything will be as good as it appears. It would be a lot stronger if it was exactly that good for Dresden and everyone else, and then normal Dresden would destroy it all doing what he considers to be good fixing the evils of his other self.