My two favorite series are Discworld and the Dresden Files. The Dresden Files started off as a paranormal mystery series with a wisecracking noir PI, but as the series has continued, the books have grown deeper and more emotionally complex without losing the suspense and action. Unlike most series, it never stagnates and drops in quality.

'Changes' continues to maintain this high quality while upturning Harry's life. He suffers loss after loss and, in some ways, grows up, which is an accomplishment for a character who is a 'grown-ass man,' as my last roommate would say. Harry has always had major abandonment issues, stemming from being an orphan who was forced to kill his foster father in self-defense. When he finds out that he has a daughter, and that she has been kidnapped, he goes ballistic. In the course of searching for Maggie, he discovers that maybe he wasn't as abandoned as he thought. It shows how much Harry has grown that while these discoveries are important, they are not the focus of the book. He is now more focused on his own actions and their repercussions than on how others' actions have affected him.

Jim Butcher has said the book does not have a cliffhanger ending, but it is very close to Harry hanging off a cliff. I cannot wait to read Ghost story.

A response to other reviews: I admit that the female characters(other than Lash) are not compelling and do not feel like people. This series weakness is that, other than his half-brother, almost no characters other than Harry are compelling or feel like people. I hope this changes.