Side Jobs (The Dresden Files #12.5)

Ever since I read his first book, oh so long, long ago, I have been an ardent fan of Jim Butcher. I know I haven’t read all his books…but the very interesting thing is that a) they are well written and I have not found any English grammar problems or spelling errors, 2) the plots don’t repeat and each character is so well fleshed out they have assumed “living” proportions for me and 3) I know the plots are so variable and so well and accurately intertwined I am awed by Butcher’s imagination.
Now, I want to know why Dresden isn’t aging like we all are? I want to know him as well as an older man as I think I do as a younger man. Aging isn’t bad and having a character age and be able to articulate the wisdom of the elderly could be a very interesting personality and fun..especially as an aging wizard and recognized guru of the fantastic and magical.

This was a great way to get back into this series after taking a few months off (needed to catch my breath after Changes).

For those who may not know – Side Jobs is NOT a full-length Dresden Files book, it’s an accumulation of all of the short stories and novellas Butcher had written in the Dresdenverse up to this point.

I’m not going to review each story (some were as short as 5-6 pages), but suffice it to say I really enjoyed them all. If you’ve come this far (13 books), then I assume you are a huge fan of everything that makes this series great, which means you’ll enjoy them too.

I do want to call attention to a few of the stories that stood out to me, though.

‘Restoration of Faith’ was great, simply because we finally get our ‘When Harry met Murphy’ moment. You know you wanted it.

‘Backup’ was enjoyable, because we finally got a story from the perspective of someone other than Harry – his brother Thomas. It was very interesting/hilarious to see Harry from someone else’s perspective. This story also stands out because it details much more about the Oblivion War, something I expect to come much more into play in the following novels.

‘The Warrior’ was probably my favorite story of them all, but then again I am openly biased towards the Carpenter family. I had been impatiently waiting to find out what happened to Michael following the events of Small Favors, and this story did not disappoint. Many people point to Harry and Thomas’s friendship as the best in the series, but my money is always on Harry and Michael. This story was everything that makes Dresden Files my favorite series.

Finally, we have ‘Aftermath’, which is exactly what it sounds like. It is the story of the first couple of hours after the events at the end of ‘Changes’, from the perspective of Karrin Murphy. The best part of this story was getting inside Karrin’s head (didn’t think I could love her more – I was wrong), but honestly the story didn’t do much for me. Maybe it will be better once I get Harry’s side of things in ‘Ghost Story’.

Either way, I would encourage any new reader to NOT skip this book on your way to ‘Ghost Story’, tempting as it may be. There are some great stories here, and more than anything it justs so nice to enjoy things the way they were before ‘Changes’, because you know nothing will ever be the same now.

This book (and series) get my highest recommendation.

There are two reasons for reading this book. The first is that all the previous Harry Dresden short stories are gathered together in one place, including the first, apparently unpublished short story that comes before Storm Front and whose relatively lesser qualities betray its status as one of Butcher’s first stories. And yet it also contains some very good sections and passages. Putting this story first gives a real feel for how Butcher has grown as a writer, and would probably be inspiring to any novice writers out there. But you have “Vignette,” “Something Borrowed” (in which Harry for once is intentionally, and quite effectively, rude to a wicked stepmother), “It’s my birthday too,” “Heorot,” “Day off” (the only genuinely comedic Dresden work), “Backup,” “The Warrior,” (perhaps the most philosophical of the Dresden works), “Last Call,” and “Love Hurts.” Each is marked by the books which bracket it and they come in chronological order. Along the way it’s not hard to be reminded of Butcher’s penchant for homage to his favorite stories, films, and TV shows, as well as his gift for creating effective scenes of tension between main characters. Pretty much everyone in Dresden’s Chicago appears at one time or another, and some side plots and characters get fleshed out in these stories in ways that would be hard to duplicate in the main novels.

The second reason for reading this book is, of course, the final story in the book. “Aftermath” takes place shortly after the end of “Changes,” a book certain to win the World Fantasy Award for Most Apt Title. There are no spoilers in this review, but it is probably influenced by the peculiar fact pattern: due to a death in the family of a close friend, I had taken Monday off from work, and somebody at the post office screwed up and delivered my copy one day early. Perhaps the coincidence between external loss and Harry Dresden’s situation at the end of “Changes” colored my appreciation, but I was actually kind of grateful for this story. It’s at one and the same time unusually interesting and deeply unsatisfying, a change of pace and a coy hinting at future directions — much in the manner of a funeral, I realize. Butcher carries on the narrative from a wholly unexpected point of view, which I found both refreshing and convincing. He answers few of my questions – well, none, actually – while raising still more. What I valued about this little intermezzo was the way it deepened some of the characters in the Dresden universe, central and peripheral, hero and villain. It doesn’t really satify my hunger for the next novel, yet it’s a healthy dissatisfaction after a worthwhile read. These are all fun stories, sometimes comedic, sometimes thoughtful, and at the end rather wistful.

Thanks, Mr. Butcher. You made one rather bad day a little better.

The Dresden files are some of the few books that at my age i get excited about a new book coming out.Action,humour,adventure and the mix of every fairy tale character good and bad with Angels good and bad and other gods, demigods vampires werewolves all woven into a comprehensive storyline no wonder I can’t wait for the next one

This was good it told you a bit of a back story about how they coped on a job with out dresden it was a good little story and other short ones which was just as good I loved them if big fan of the series then read these as well they give u bit more of them all

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