I guess I can understand why her sudden appearance would be off-putting compared to established characters like Molly. I dont mind it as much because I like when these sorts of stories (especially ones that have gone on as long as Dresden has) remind the audience that there is a lot of other crap happening out there in the story-world, so that Significant things dont always have to happen near the Main Character. Some of my favorite stories made their fantasy world seem so much richer simply by mentioning other events or legend or whatsoever entirely in passing.
I also didnt come down on the anti-Susan side of things, so I actively wanted Susan to come back and be relevant again. She was either actively participating or else was a primary motivation for all the the first five books, then wasnt mentioned again beyond the Other Ex that Ended Badly for another seven. Saying she dropped off his radar on purpose to hide their love-child from his horrifically dangerous lifestyle felt realistic and thematically interesting in the sense of highlighting the difficulty of the morally grey.
I should clarify that I don't mind Maggie as a character, and I'm not opposed to her being involved or anything, I just would've liked it if I could have developed my own connection to her character before she became the primary motivation for Harry's path of destruction in Changes.
Imagine Harry and Susan had the fight from the beginning of Changes in, say, Dead Beat, and Harry's experience with the Darkhallow and zombies literally beating down his door led him to believe it would be best for Maggie to be raised apart from him. He comes to precisely the same conclusion at the end of Changes, and has Maggie brought to Father Forthill, except as a baby. Susan is in no position to be around infants because of her bloodthirst and her own militia activity, Harry realizes his home isn't safe, and Maggie left to foster care. Harry could have received updates throughout the series, or have it be a frequent source of pain for him. Then when she's taken in Changes, it would have significantly more impact; she would have grown up, at least partially, within the context of the series, and we might've had a stronger connection to her.
I don't know; I'm not Jim. If it had gone down the way I say, then I very well might be complaining that there wasn't enough characterization, or something else entirely. I just know that I'm not too fond of the way Maggie was introduced to the series, and can't help but think it could've been handled in a more interesting, impactful way.
And yeah, I get that it provides a reason for Susan to be gone from the series, but I never really saw her as particularly important. I think her half-vampire struggles were enough reason.
I think Harry's response to a child he didn't know was that he could relate to being alone with nobody to protect him. Although I cannot relate I'm wondering if anyone raised in foster care or something similar found themselves loving Harry even more because he loved his child so much even though he hadn't met her.
Yeah, his desires make character sense, which is what I alluded to earlier; my issue was just that I didn't have anything to latch onto. My hook was that
Harry was motivated; I didn't have a particular reason to care about the outcome, except how it would impact Harry and His Superfriends. I use Molly as an example; I cared about what happened to
Molly in Proven Guilty, not just that Harry Was In a Pickle.
