Jim Butcher has a Plan

The St. Louis Arch

Way back in 2007, I decided to give an up-and-coming author, Jim Butcher a chance. The TV show was coming on on SyFy and since I have a habit of reading the books TV and movies are based upon, I decided to hop on The Dresden Files book train.

Woah.

Fast forward six years, there are now fourteen books in the main series (lots of shorts on the side) and I'm thoroughly hooked. These fourteen books contain roughly six thousand pages of material, each with its own standalone story arc but building an epic storyline like no story before it.

Mr. Butcher has said that he plans on roughly twenty books followed by an epic three book ending. Even at the pace of a book per year, that gives me ten more years of reading pleasure ahead of me.

Given that this is such a long series and how long ago I read the initial books, I decided to revisit the series from the beginning, to get re-acquainted with the characters and the foundations of the Dresdenverse. I'm so glad I did, even though I'm only on book four (Death Masks).

Now that I know the direction of characters and storyline, I'm picking up a ton of nuances, hints, and tidbits of story lines to come. It really is amazing.



----------------------------------------------- SPOILER INCOMING -----------------------------------------------



Really, if you haven't read the series, don't read this coming paragraph. I'm not really giving away a whole lot, other than the ending of book fourteen (Cold Days) but since that has been one of my favorites, I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

The ending of Cold Days is hinted at directly in book three (Grave Peril). You see, in book three, Harry attends a Red Court masquerade ball with Michael, one of the Knights of the Cross in an attempt to pinpoint a murderer in that book's story arc. While there, Harry's Godmother, Lea, makes an appearance and speaks to Harry and Michael. She says something along the line of:

I don't want you, Michael, you are to rigid and stuck in your ways. Now, your eldest daughter, however...

At which point, Michael goes ballistic and wants to take her on, telling her in no uncertain terms, to stay away from his family. Now, if you have read Cold Days, you know that Michael's oldest daughter, Molly (who is now Harry's apprentice) joins the Winter Court as the Winter Lady, mostly due to her proximity to Lea.

In a single story or even a trilogy, I could understand dropping a bread crumb such as the scene above. However, how does one plan eleven books in advance for an event such as Molly ascending to the Winter Court??? Sure, this could be a coincidence, but I suspect this was very much planned.

My hats off to you, sir. Well played, Jim. Well played.