It’s been some years of waiting, re-reading (or in my case most often, re-listening) to the rest of the series, diving through the threads on Reddit or the forum on his website, and scouring YouTube for interview bits, but Jim Butcher has put out his next novel, “Peace Talks”, with a follow-up “Battle Ground” hitting my Audible app in September.
A duology within a series that is supposed to end on a trilogy. Dammit Jim, but you’re good.
After taking a hiatus that I know very little details about, and honestly do not want to know; that’s his private life and dammit that needs to be respected, and it’s not like I’m not going to prepare myself for a new book by going through all of the previous stories, but “Peace Talks” hit my phone a few days ago and I gave it my utmost attention.
To give some personal history, I was introduced to this series back in 2006, when a friend of mine bought me a hardcover copy of “Proven Guilty” as a Christmas present. I made it until Lasciel showed up in the story before I put the book away and decided that I needed to know more about the series and should start at the beginning. From there, I delved into the world of Dresden and marveled at the interpretations of the mythologies I grew up around. I even have my hardcover copy of “Changes” autographed by Jim, done by proxy from a friend who was attending a convention. It’s all but impossible for me to attend a convention, and he knew how much of a fan I was of the writer. Good people are hard to find, so hold them close.
Anyway, “Peace Talks” hit my phone and I listened to James Marsters tell me the story. I reveled in ‘seeing’ all of the people I’ve spent the past 14 years knowing, learning about the fallouts from their decisions and making my personal predictions of where they’d go (by the way, Jim, I friggin’ called Thomas’ outcome back when I heard “Thomas, you idiot” and I want that noted somewhere, hence the blog), and also being totally floored by the new introductions.
Understand, readers: I’m an amatuer historian, but I read a LOT of Irish mythology. I was not expecting to see who I would, and it’s raising a metric fuckton of questions that I’m pretty sure Dresden can’t resolve, and Jim simply won’t (I’m a writer, I understand the perverse joy of denying readers their answers if they don’t figure it out for themselves). Namely because I don’t think Dresden would really survive a conversation with Lugh, if he managed to survive his own problems way back when. But it’d be stupidly awesome to see Dresden trying to manage the Spear of Assal, just saying.
The only problem I really have with the story is the time displacement, and that is honestly just a personal one as I rectify internal calendars. Some of the story elements hit like they’re from 2014 (about the time that we last saw Dresden, or so I’ve been told by good sources), but some others hit like they’re from 2019, and when I notice them I try to place them historically. That’s a crux of writing urban fantasy with real-world settings; I’m looking for the when so I can have a bulwark of personal questions concerning the characters.
All in all, a good book, Jim, and a good read, James. I’d love to go into more detail and discuss particulars, but I will not spoil it for anybody who hasn’t yet had the time to read or the opportunity to listen.
I’m actually about to go through my second listen, to see what I missed. See y’all around, folks.
Swift's Corner 