Changes
by Jim Butcher

Release Date: 8th Apr 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 978 1 8414 9713 6
RRP: £12.99

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Magical fantasy for (mostly) Grown-Ups...

Admittedly, this is our first encounter with Harry Dresden aka the professional wizard and as with anything newfangled that attempts to reinvent the wheel (so to speak), we approached Changes with some degree of scepticism – after all, Dresden isn’t the first fictitious wizard we’ve come across. Initial impressions gave way to a more enduring acknowledgement that Butcher has created a substantive and impressively complex character through Dresden – full of contradictions, internal conflict and varying degrees of what we’ve come to affectionately call the “ ‘tude”: Dresden is unquestionably a cool customer, with just a smidgen of age-induced try-hardiness about him.

In Changes, it is all about things coming to a head. It’s about deception, fear, morality (and the loss of it), the strength of familial bonds and most importantly magic. Dresden is unaccustomed to being surprised by anything these days, hells bells, he figures he’s just about seen and done everything... but when ex love-interest and half-vampire, Susan, calls him out of the blue to tell him that he has a daughter – oh, but she’s been kidnapped by the Red Council (Vampires, basically) –even the mighty Dresden near blows a mental fuse getting his head around that one. What follows is the equivalent of a detective novel mashed together with a mild thriller. Changes is not a children’s book – although young adults will no doubt find Dresden’s attempts at teen speak pretty amusing and the cool monsters (think giant centipedes amongst other nasties) will definitely make this a winner – it is in fact, mature and savvy enough to appeal to adults with a penchant for anything fantastical.

Butcher’s style is inherently American, but with a knowing self-deprecation that is unusual for American authors. There is plenty of subtle humour, characters which have an earthiness and likeability about them that is almost infuriating as he makes it seem so easy – but then, we have to remember that Butcher has had time to perfect the personas. Intelligently sharp, fantastically addictive and thoroughly pleasurable, Changes brings magical fiction to the table as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Enjoy!

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