Book in Series: The Dresden Files #17
Author: Jim Butcher
I am finally caught up; it only took me the better part of 3-4 years. Granted I was reading other books scattered throughout that timeframe. Had I been reading these books back-to-back I’m sure I would have caught up sooner. I rarely review any of the Dresden books but I feel like I have some things I want to share following the events of Battle Ground but they will contain spoilers.
Before I get into that, I will first say that I did enjoy this book. Unlike any of the other 16 books, the flow of this book is completely different. There are no time skips (until the very end). There isn’t even a time jump from the end of Peace Talks to the beginning of this book. He does shake things up a little bit but not as dramatically as Changes. However, there is still apart of me that’s hurting after this book. IYKYK.
Spoiler Alert!!
RIP
Battle Ground features the first major character death. When there are 17+ books in a series, at some point a main character has to die. I think that is Authoring 101. The question becomes, which character do you kill off? I feel like Butcher has been foreshadowing Murphy’s death since Ghost Story. However, just because I was expecting it, doesn’t make it less devastating. The sorrow persists even a few weeks later.
Now comes the theory. It feels like Butcher never wants Harry to be happy, romantically. Perhaps he’s saving that for the end of the series? We are rooting for Harry and Karrin to get together and have been since the first book. There is a big conundrum about their relationship. Harry is, essentially, immortal (at least while he remains the Winter Knight) and Karrin was mortal, obviously.
However, by killing Karrin you now have an opportunity to, somehow, bring her back as an immortal. This would eliminate that conundrum but the question is, does Butcher believe in “happily ever after” for Harry Dresden?
If Karrin becomes Einherjar then that creates a new problem. She cannot return to the mortal realm until the memory of her has faded. Of course Harry is immortal (for now). Either Karrin is gone for good or, sometime over the last few books, Butcher will write her back into the story. Perhaps Harry performs an invaluable service to Odin and his reward is an immortal Karrin?
What are your thoughts?
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss