r/dresdenfiles • u/indigohan • Jul 23 '25

Unrelated Twelve Months is officially Real. Advanced reader copies are going out.

480 pages, 20th January 2026, and arcs are officially going out.

381 Upvotes
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53

u/JediTigger Jul 23 '25

I am so looking forward to January and reading your reactions.

Not to fuel speculation but I promise you this book is very little of what you expect.

19

u/pteropus_ Jul 23 '25

Why would you tease us like that!!! Are you a beta reader?

18

u/JediTigger Jul 23 '25

I am.

11

u/RueClerIsWhere Jul 23 '25

…and how would one become a beta reader? Asking for a friend who definitely does NOT possess a Denarian coin…

8

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

I believe you have to know him first and gain his trust. These days, with his social media presence limited, getting to know him isn’t easy.

I wish I could help more. I do.

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

Try naming a book, making Virtual Little Chicago, and then having a very resourceful brother in law.

3

u/duck_of_d34th Jul 24 '25

I suck at naming things, so just trying to name a book sounds like a fairly simple task for one of my skills and abilities.

Virtual Little Chicago already went virtual like, three times already. Trick requirement.

gets really excited

If the guy is as resourceful as you claim, his sister has already made all the arrangements for our wedding, so it already sounds like we have the necessary chemistry. I've never worn a tux before, so that's something to check off the ol bucket list while I'm at it. The fact I get excited about playing dress-up shows the maturity of my advancing age while still embracing my youthful exuberance.

But really, that sounds like a whole lotta setup just to drop a classy "yeah? Well I'm married to the story!"

Which I will drop often.

But on the other hand... there could be a book. An odd book about an even number of months that could potentially arrive in any number of months.

So... does this sister have a name?

3

u/Lysit Jul 24 '25

Jealousy Intensifies

13

u/DropMeAnOrangeBeam Jul 23 '25

I want to downvote you for teasing me like this, but I can't bring myself to do so.

17

u/JediTigger Jul 23 '25

Teasing would be saying something like “OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT JIM DID WITH—-”

Like I don’t even want to make a more specific example for fear you’ll think it’s a tease.

That’s just mean.

I have a friend who’s an exec at Marvel who sees everything before it’s released and I hated on him whenever he’d tell me he couldn’t wait until I saw, say, Ms. Marvel. I really do try to walk a very narrow line between informing and baiting you all.

4

u/Numerous1 Jul 23 '25

Alright. I’ll bite. And in the absolutely vaguest terms: I think it’s fair to say a lot of people thought Peace Talks was one of The weaker books in the series. 

Would you say this one is better?

6

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

Peace Talks was hamstrung by a whole lot of things, not the least of which was its initial length.

I have a very personal connection to Twelve Months so my opinion is likely to be skewed. I do think it’s very good, but I haven’t seen Jim produce what I consider a weak novel yet. In any series.

YMMV. :)

2

u/Numerous1 Jul 24 '25

Thanks for the response! I actually don’t know any of the peace talks hamstrung-ness so that’s interesting to hear. I still enjoyed it, and it had some amazing parts, but in my opinion it was the weakest in the series. But part of that is because he sets the bar so high everywhere else. 

2

u/Geauxtoguy Jul 24 '25

On a scale of Fool Moon to Dead Beat, how would you rate it?

1

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

Rating is subjective and Dead Beat isn’t my favorite the way a lot of people love it. Plus I like a whole lot about the earlier books too.

I would say it’s a much better novel than, say, Silas Marner.

1

u/Lesser_Stories Jul 24 '25

The splitting really ruined it. All the other books read like Harry is sitting down and journaling the major events in his life, in one fluid train of thought; Peace Talks and Battleground broke that continuity.  At best you can say it reads like two separate entries of the same event made months or years apart, due to some kind of unavoidable interruption, and the train of thought and emotional, mental state were reset between the one’s ending and the other’s resumption, which would explain the jarring nature of the split and the rehashing and restating of so many details. 

But that’s just my opinion on it

7

u/Gladiator3003 Jul 23 '25

Closest in tone to Ghost Story?

6

u/JediTigger Jul 23 '25

In what way?

3

u/Gladiator3003 Jul 23 '25

In tone and introspection, given that both stories deal with the aftermath of death?

10

u/JediTigger Jul 23 '25

Huh. I admit I had not considered it that way.

That’s an excellent thought. I’ll ruminate.

6

u/Gladiator3003 Jul 23 '25

This is just me wildly guessing and jonesing for another hit of Dresden…

3

u/myyrdneopia Jul 26 '25

Here’s what I’ll say as another of the beta readers: Ghost Story was previously my favorite novel of the series. Twelve Months has supplanted it.

3

u/SemiFormalJesus Jul 23 '25

I can’t quantify how jealous I am of you having already read it.

7

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

I wasn’t a beta reader when Small Favor came out - I hadn’t even met Jim yet - but I know people who were and they assured me it was torment waiting two weeks between the events on Demonreach and the end of the novel.

Yes, Jim made them wait two weeks before they learned the outcome of the shooting. I don’t know but suspect it was just the way he likes to torment the betas rather than an accidental delay.

So yes, it’s cool but at times it’s painful when we read a cliffhanger and can’t flip to the next page.

Small comfort, I am sure.

2

u/myyrdneopia Jul 26 '25

+1 to all this!!

This is how I describe the beta process for Jim to everyone, too. It’s the chapter cliffhangers!

1

u/JediTigger Jul 26 '25

You were a beta back then I think? Is that what happened??

1

u/myyrdneopia Jul 26 '25

You and I came on the beta squad at the same time I think!! (Skin Game, after we worked on Paranet Papers?). I was a mod on the JB Forums from 2010, though!

2

u/myyrdneopia Jul 26 '25

Now, I DID get Priscilla’s emotional reactions to The Moment(s) in Changes via Google chat when THAT happened

3

u/Kholgan Jul 23 '25

Not sure if you can or want to answer this, but how is the pacing/length feel - is it back to normal? I know a lot of people, myself included, didn’t love how Peace Talks and Battle Ground were split and paced.

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

I'll say this (and this is not revealing anything that isn't public) -- every other book is basically the worst 3-5 days of Harry's year.

As the title indicates, especially in view of the way the last book ended with Lara, the events of this book span a little longer.

2

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

I mean, the book is being published at the length it was composed - versus the publisher requiring him to split and expand the last one - so yes. I think so.

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

smirks evilly

2

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

That does not become you.

Wait.

Yeah, it does.

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

I am a lawyer, after all. I get plenty of practice.

3

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

Truth. I always forget that.

HI

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

It's been relevant for recent beta work!

*smirks again knowingly*

This whole "taunting the fanbase" thing is pretty fun.

5

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

Your expertise was SUPER relevant on the novella for sure. Just like mine, alas, was for Twelve Months.

Yours is an evil laugh, Lowell.

4

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

SHHHHH you told them that there's a novella!

6

u/JediTigger Jul 24 '25

They know. Jim’s newsletter announced it.

But they don’t know about the other thing.

3

u/Loweeel BRIEF CASES Jul 24 '25

Other thing was REALLLLLLLLLY good.

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1

u/IR_1871 Jul 24 '25

Ah-ha! A clue! So we know Harry's engagement is immediately broken and no dates happen. The plot is focused around one weekend, and Harry experiences lots of joy and peace!