Twelve Months (The Dresden Files, #18) by Jim Butcher (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

Jun 22, 2026

After six years of absence felt by his fans, author Jim Butcher is back with the latest installment-number 18-into the Dresden files series, featuring modern-day wizard Harry Dresden. Harry is attempting to pick up the pieces of his life following the events of the last book, Battleground, which concluded a supernatural war fought in and around Chicago.

The city is shattered from the aftermath of the final battle, and Harry is devastated by the death of the love of his life, Karrin Murphy, who fought in the final battle despite being severely injured previously in the conflict. The city is largely without power, shelter, medicine, etc.;in short, is a zone that has seemingly survived a “natural disaster” to those not in the know about the supernatural. The ordinary citizens have seen that the supernatural is real, and come together to protest their continued presence in “their” city.

Surrounding and assisting Harry, is a large group of both supernatural and human beings who are trying to recover and broker peace between discordant factions. Meanwhile, Harry relies on his friends to help him find the will to not only survive, but create a new life for himself and his daughter Maggie, a young and very precocious future wizard.

Twelve Months is the chronicle of a year in the life of Dresden and Chicago, as they recover together. There are ups and downs, there is sorrow and joy, there is magic and even some action though that is not the primary focus in this novel. What we see is a wizard eventually embracing the changes that will come as he settles more fully into his duty as the Winter Knight and as the future consort of Lara Raith, leader of the White Court of Vampires.

While this book is definitely different than many of the other novels in the series, I can see that it demonstrates necessary growth for its main character, and look forward to the direction the author seems to be growing for the future of his universe. The next novella is already out, and I look forward to getting a copy of Outlaw soon.

I award this novel four stars, and recommend it first to fans of the long time series, as well as in general fans of urban fantasy. There are enough explanations for newbies to enjoy the book, and perhaps pique their interest into other books of the series.