Twelve Months
by Jim Butcher
DETAILS: Series: The Dresden Files, #18 Publisher: Ace Publication Date: January 20, 2026 Format: Hardcover Length: 463 pg. Read Date: January 20-22, 2026
So at this point, if you haven’t read Twelve Months, there are only a few reasons to explain it: You’re not a Harry Dresden fan; You’re a new Harry Dresden fan and haven’t gotten far enough yet; You’re still on a library wait list; you’re waiting for the paperback and are trying to avoid spoilers. If any of those are true, I’m not going to convince you to read it. And I’m okay with that. I still want to talk about it some. Spoilers for everything before this book.
If I tried to write a full post about this book, I wouldn’t finish. There’s just too much to say, so I’m going to fall back to one of my bullet point lists of things that I’d like to fully develop, but I know that I can’t. I’m most likely missing 6-12 things from this, too. I really have so much I want to talk about when it comes to this book. I just loved the whole experience I had with it.
The book focuses on a grieving Harry—not just grieving Murph. But for all the damage, death, and destruction wreaked on Chicago. Also, the…you know, everything that’s happened in the 17 books before this. It’s raw, it hits you hard. And it is just what this series needed.
This novel also gives a lot of the fans who are still trying to deal with Karrin’s death with the chance to do so with help from Harry. I still don’t want to think of the next few books being Murphy-free, but I’m better about it now.
I didn’t expect to see Fitz return from Ghost Story. When I re-read or listen to Ghost Story, I enjoy him and wonder what happens to him after it—but I promptly forget him. Now that he’s back for the long haul, I’m more than happy to see that. Watching the way that Harry is working with him in ways he didn’t with Molly is interesting—a good sign of character growth (also just a reflection that Molly and Fitz are different).
We got far, far more new characters to the series than I expected. Especially characters that look like they’re going to be around for a while. Better than the number is the quality of the characters.
Of those, my favorite has to be the Valkyrie, Bear. She’s a mighty warrior. She’s wise and oddly emotionally aware. And she’s just fun. I can’t wait to see her and Thomas go into action side-by-side. It’s going to be fun.
I should say something about how powerful the depiction of grief and (the beginnings of) dealing with it were.
Yes, the new characters were great. But the established ones? Even better—Bob, Waldo, Mouse, Sanya, even Daniel Carpenter…I’d missed these guys (yeah, I just finished going through the series again a couple of months ago—but still, I’d missed them). And Will? Will should get a post unto himself.
I’ve long enjoyed Lara as a semi-antagonist, a mostly-trustworthy ally (when they’re forced to work together), but now? I’m on the verge of actually liking her as a character. I’m a little uncomfortable with that. I also trust that I’ll get over that.
I didn’t expect we’d learn so much about the origin of the White Court—and I really didn’t expect it to be anything like what it was.
Part of me feels that the Thomas story arc in this book (and going back to Peace Talks) might have been a little too easy. I don’t know if I could defend that point outside of bullet points like this, but that’s my gut.
I should say something more about how powerful the depiction of grief and (the beginnings of) dealing with it were.
Everything with Maggie just melted my heart. I love this girl like she’s real.
Everything with Molly was almost as good—there was no way to predict that Harry’s padawan would end up anything like she did (so far). I would’ve liked to see her involved some more in Harry’s adventures, but I see how that’s not possible all the time (and might make things less of a challenge for him, so it’s good that she’s not)
There’s a major scene where Harry does some of the biggest and most complicated magic we’ve seen in this series—and wow. Butcher nailed that so well.
In that aftermath, the way that Mab and Mother Winter interact with each other and with Harry? I got chills.
I really want to stress how powerful the depiction of grief and (the beginnings of) dealing with it were.
That said, I laughed a lot and hard throughout this book (right before or right after I got choked up, usually). I cheered so hard at things, too.
Simply put, this is the best thing that Butcher has written. I mean, I’ve spent almost two decades expecting to love a Jim Butcher novel (and have only been let down twice), but Twelve Months has impacted me in ways I didn’t expect. I’m just beyond impressed with this.
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