Battle Ground *Minor Spoilers* – The Climb #592

Tuesday 6^th October 2020

So I finished Jim Butcher’s Battle Ground tonight.

I’m a big fan of the Dresden Files after my friend and writer Stephen Aryan encouraged me to read them. It’s a weird series because the first 6 books in the series are only OK but that investment in reading is worth it due to the way book 7 goes into high gear and the series just goes off like a rocket. It’s asking a lot of people to stick with a series for 6 books before it becomes amazingly good… but it is what it is.

Dresden fans got a treat this year when not one but two books got announced this year. Peace Talks came out in July and whilst I enjoyed it, it felt one of the weaker books in the recent series. It felt all set up and no pay off.

Given that pay off was due in Battle Ground due in a few short months, a lot was forgiven in that book, but I think if Battle Ground had been a year away, fans would have been a lot less generous.

But here’s the thing about Butcher. Fans have already been patient enough to give him 6 books before book 7 goes into orbit. You already know that any book that is set up, is going to pay off.

And Battle Ground does… massively.

If you’ve read Peace Talks you already know that the books sets up … well, basically a war.

This book is a little bit of a departure as well. Butcher normally structures his books where there are several nested subplots. Harry has a case, but there’s some Winter Court subplot, complicated by Malone or the Police after him. And you can almost see the structure of the chapters goes Case – Winter Court – Malone – Case – Winter Court – etc.

I don’t say this to be dismissive. Butcher has structure to his writing, and does it well. I’ve studied it to improve my own writing. Even my agent has recommended it.

But Battle Ground is more linear. There’s only one central plot, and that singular focus helps this book feel more epic. Not that it needs any help.

Another thing Butcher does is have sidekick of the week. With a big array of characters, each Dresden book takes one or two of them and makes them the sidekick for the duration. So you get Michael books, werewolf books, and so on. He does this with the bad guys as well to the extent that you’re never quite sure who has met who and what secrets might be hiding behind those character interactions. It’s one of the things that makes me want to go back and re-read the series (especially after this book!)

But Battle Ground has just about everyone. It helps with the scope of this book. Whilst it’s small in terms of structure, following just a single plot that is basically one giant battle, it’s huge in that it’s Dresden greatest hits. Just about every character is in here.

Given some of the events, you know that this is a pivotal book much like Changes was. Whatever comes next, there’s a feeling we’re now moving into a new stage of the saga.

I’ll go so far as to say that it’s my favourite Dresden yet. There are some huge moments, and I’m sure there’s loads I missed. For a book that is essentially one big scrap, there’s a lot buried in here.

As a writer, it feels like everything got notched up a gear again, and I’m interested to see what Butcher does next with the series. Does he go back to the nested subplots, or will this see the start of a slightly different writing style.

Weirdly, with call backs to those early books I dislike the most (Death Masks, Summer Knight) I now wonder if I need to revisit those because – with what I know now – it’s possible I may enjoy them a lot more.

If you’ve not read Dresden, don’t start with battle Ground as 90% of what makes this such an epic book would be lost on you. Instead, start at the beginning, and when you get to books 5 and 6 where it feels like it’s OK but it starts to feel formulaic and maybe the hype was overblown, keep reading.