Dresden Files

[Castel]

I finished it last week. I was a little disappointed. Felt like Butcher was pulling his punches.

It felt like a mid-season episode. At this point I kinda don't want my DF experience to be that. I know that Butcher plans to have six more books or so before an apocalyptic trilogy but I want movement.

It's nice to have Nick back and to see movement on the swords but it just kinda felt like build up for something a few books (next book in the case of the spirit and maybe Molly) down the line.

[Independent George]

I know the plan is for 20 + 3 books total, but I feel like it really needs to be augmented by some supplemental material. As much as I love this series, I feel like Harry's first-person POV became a liability after Changes, when we got cut off from some pretty significant events that Harry wasn't privy to. I'm not even referring to the introduction of the Fomor - I'm most interested is in the emotional fallout among Harry's crew.

What I love most about the series is the focus on familial relationships over romantic ones - so I feel cheated out of not seeing how Michael, Molly, Murphy, Thomas, and Ebenezer dealt with their loss. Yes, we got to see Murphy prod buttock in Aftermath, but she's still in denial at that point; I'm most interested in how she coped with her long-suppressed grief at the end of Ghost Story.

Molly in particular goes through the wringer after Changes, and we miss most of it. What did Michael, Charity, and Daniel do during her tailspin? What did she do to pull herself out of it before Cold Days? (I haven't read Bombshells, which I know occurs after Ghost Story, but I can't imagine that it captures the entire tale). It's not all grim, either - what about Butters' transformation into Batman?

There's just so much that we're missing out on in the year between Changes and Cold Days. They're not crucial to the larger storyline, but it still feels diminished by their absence. I really hope we get to revisit them at some point.

[Howdyphillip]

Upon consideration, I can see what some of you guys are saying about the advancement of the overarching plot not moving too fast with this book. I am still seriously frustrated about not having any more clues as to the identity of Cowl.

I still say that as a stand alone adventure, this book was absolutely fantastic and hit on everything that I ask out of a Dresden Files book. It is still a top 3 read for me.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Not just Cowl; who put a bomb in Murphy's car? Who got past Harry's wards to fix Little Chicago so it didnt blow up in his face?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Derfel,

Butcher said at some point Harry would break all the laws of magic. Time travel is banned. I think Harry goes back and fixes Little Chicago. He could get past his own wards. He knows whats wrong ao he could fix it. Nome of the animals would freak out to see him. Finally, he could order Bob to keep his trap shut about what he did to protect the time stream. It makes sense.

[Howdyphillip]

Derfel,

Butcher said at some point Harry would break all the laws of magic. Time travel is banned. I think Harry goes back and fixes Little Chicago. He could get past his own wards. He knows whats wrong ao he could fix it. Nome of the animals would freak out to see him. Finally, he could order Bob to keep his trap shut about what he did to protect the time stream. It makes sense.

There is also the theory that Cowl and Kumori are future Harry and Molly, but I don't buy that. I think that will turn out to be Justin and Elaine.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I think Cowl is Justine's old master, the one who was supposedly killed at Archangel. I do think you may be right about Elaine

[fionwe1987]

Cowl as Simon makes sense. But Kumori as Elaine not so much. I don't think its that easy for people to hide the kind of magic they do and how they achieve it, and Kumori would be risking a lot by not being able to let her full abilities show if Harry turned on her

[AverageGuy]

Upon consideration, I can see what some of you guys are saying about the advancement of the overarching plot not moving too fast with this book. I am still seriously frustrated about not having any more clues as to the identity of Cowl.

I still say that as a stand alone adventure, this book was absolutely fantastic and hit on everything that I ask out of a Dresden Files book. It is still a top 3 read for me.

I think the caper itself was good, though I'm not a big fan of capers generally (the narrator leaving out major parts of the plan has always felt like a cheat to me). There was plot movement, it just was minimal and peripheral with the caper going on outside of Butters's story.

Derfel,

Butcher said at some point Harry would break all the laws of magic. Time travel is banned. I think Harry goes back and fixes Little Chicago. He could get past his own wards. He knows whats wrong ao he could fix it. Nome of the animals would freak out to see him. Finally, he could order Bob to keep his trap shut about what he did to protect the time stream. It makes sense.

Time-travelling Harry's my top choice. My second's Mab. As a Faerie Queen, she presumably has the means to fix Little Chicago. Since she was currently imprisoning Lea and therefore had a godmother's obligation to provide protection and guidance to Harry, she had a motive to fix it. Finally, since as of

Changes we know Harry's apartment goes to Lea's garden in the Nevernever, Mab would have had the opportunity to get in without disturbing the wards. She'd be my first choice except that she would've had to know about Little Chicago and that it was flawed in the first place-- I can imagine ways she'd know, but it's not as neat as Harry himself.

[burnt hound]

Read Skin Game the other day. I enjoyed it a lot. Not enough side characters though. It was nice to see Maggie, Molly and Murphy. But no Ebenezer, Thomas and very little Bob.

[Solmyr]

Finished the book. Excuse any spelling errors in the names, I've only ever listened to these books on audio, never actually seen them in text ;).

Book in general:

The recurring problem I have with Dresden novels is still alive and kicking strong. I simply can't stand it how one-dimensional each book is. We have the main plot of the book ... and that's it. Nothing else happens. Are we to believe that all the other factions are just standing idly or perhaps in a state of stasis, waiting for Harry to have another go at the Denarians? We haven't seen anything from the White Council for a while. Nothing from the White Court. Cowl has been on a vacation for a long time. So is the entire Summer Court. Hell, I can't even recall half the characters and factions that have been missing for a long time, simply because they have been missing. It seems imprudent to develop such a multilayered world only to leave it idle until you decide to tap into a particular layer.

Now that this rant is out of the way - the book was OK, more than OK actually. It told a clear story and although the main storyline did not advance nearly as much as I would've liked, the Denarians storyline was handled very well. Like someone mentioned upthread, I also believe Nicodimus is fighting against the Enemy in its own way. How could he not - if the Enemy wins the world ends and that includes him and his evil doings. Too bad Michael couldn't turn him, I think Nicodimus would've been a great asset to the protagonists in their struggles.

But hey, they now have Jedi Knight Butters, so that could suffice too :lol:. I was not really surprised by Butters becoming a hero, it was brewing for a while. He was taking more and more initiative for the last few books, using every tool at his disposal and generally messing with folks far above his weight class. But what else could one expect from a MMO raid leader (in case you don't know what I'm talking about, it was mentioned some time ago that Butters leads raids in an MMO).

Main storyline:

No idea how the relics would fit into the whole grand struggle against the Enemy, but they might end up being nothing more than powerful weapons, yet mere tools, come the final showdown. Too many factions and forces are getting involved with the struggle for it to be resolved by a few artifacts, holy as they might be. I would actually prefer if they were used earlier, perhaps to neutralize another threat and in a way that would have them play a more vital role on their own.

The parasite was resolved in a rather anticlimactic way in my opinion. Sure, it came out in the worst possible moment, but end of the day Harry did little to alter the outcome. It seemed more like a hindrance than a real threat. I'm curious to see how Bob reacts when he meets the spirit :D.

Murphy & Molly:

Am I a bad person for feeling a rush of hope and excitement when Murphy was shot and could've died (it was later explained she was wearing a vest)? Perhaps GRRM has made me a cold-hearted bastard, but I'd rather authors killed their primary characters more often. Moreover, I simply detest the whole Harry-Murphy romance. I hated it since book one (it was clumsy and half-assed back then) and I hate it even more now, because it literally doesn't make any sense. Harry, being the pragmatic that he is understands that - hooking up with a mortal like Murphy is a recipe for disaster. Not only would she have all sorts of supernatural predators going after her, kidnapping her, torturing her and etc, she'll simply die of old age long before Harry is even in his prime. If he had hooked up with her in book one it would've made more sense, as they would've had more time to spend together, but the romance was still a fledgling thing back then, and now it's too late. At this point my hope is that Butcher is keeping that angle going just so that when he kills Murphy it can have a more profound impact on the reader.

If Harry has to be romantically involved with anyone, Molly is the best fit. Unlike Murphy, who was right for him at the beginning, but they drifted apart as the series progressed, Molly and Harry drifted closer and not only that - they are becoming more and more compatible with each other. Back in the beginning when Molly was just a kid it would've been awful if Harry had had any romantic aspirations towards her (even tho she did). Same as when they were mentor-apprentice (she was still pretty young back then). But now she's an adult, has been for a while. She's also been through a lot and one could argue that she's far more mature and experienced than her <she was around 25 afaik> years would suggest. Oh yes, she has issues, foremost among them is that she is about to lose her humanity to the winter mantle. But that is where Harry comes in. He hated the fact that Molly got pulled into being the winter lady, he seeks a way to get her out of it, himself too if possible (although he cares more about others, selfless as he is). I can see him getting her or both of them out of it in a future book.

A final point about Molly - in Bombshells when we have her PoV for a while, she states in no uncertain terms that she is still in love with Harry, understands that he doesn't reciprocate, but is determined to work her way into his affections. It was expressed strongly enough to even sound a bit stalker-ish.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Jackson,

Regarding the Mollyship:

the fundemental problem is that Molly is no longer human as her use of a cell phone indicated. Harry and Murphy have a more equitable relationship not based on power levels but on levels of maturity. The idea of Harry/Molly still gives me the willies because I couldn't imagine dating someone who I had known as a child after they've grown fo adulthood. Way too much baggage.

[Solmyr]

Jackson,

Regarding the Mollyship:

the fundemental problem is that Molly is no longer human as her use of a cell phone indicated. Harry and Murphy have a more equitable relationship not based on power levels but on levels of maturity. The idea of Harry/Molly still gives me the willies because

I couldn't imagine dating someone who I had known as a child after they've grown fo adulthood. Way too much baggage.

Molly no longer being human is a recent thing (literally from the very end of the last book) and it is in no way conclusive. Firstly we have no idea whether Harry interpreted the evidence correctly; secondly we have no idea to what extent has she lost her humanity, if any; and thirdly we have no idea whether the condition is irreversible.

It is understandable that you cannot imagine dating someone like that - after all you aren't going to live a few hundred years while the majority of your friends and acquaintances wither and die around you. Harry's world is completely different than the one we live in - when Harry grows up to be a 100, literally all moral beings alive would have been either kids or unborn when he was an adult. So does it mean he should become celibate?

I can see why the Harry-Molly romance creeps some people out, but logically speaking there are no valid reasons against it and plenty of reasons why the two are compatible.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Jackson,

But Harry, as far as we know, sees things my way. That may change as he moves into an extended life span or he may take the Luccio ascetic route. Nevertheless the only person on the good ship Molly... is Molly.

One other thin I'm dieing to know did Harry get paid for this job?

[Solmyr]

I agree that Harry has stated, to himself in his head, similar reasons for not going after Molly, as the ones you point out. But have you noticed that he hasn't done so in a while? In the beginning she was too young and that was a good enough reason on its own. Then she was kinda young and his apprentice - still not OK. Ever since he died and came back he hasn't really thought about it. I agree it is possible that should he start exploring this concept he might shoot it down with the same old reasoning, but imo that reasoning is no longer valid.

As for Harry getting paid for this job - if you mean the job for Nicodimus (breaking into the vault) - I doubt he got the 2m guaranteed cash, but he got 1/8 of the diamonds and that seems like more than enough.

[peterbound]

I tried. I really did. I tried.

but this book is bad. Just bad. At this point the man's writing should be a little more polished, and his advancement of the plot should be a little better worked out, but hot fuck, it's just not getting any better.

I tried… I did, but i read goon and parkour one too many times. fucking bad.

[RedEyedGhost]

I tried. I really did. I tried.

but this book is bad. Just bad. At this point the man's writing should be a little more polished, and his advancement of the plot should be a little better worked out, but hot fuck, it's just not getting any better.

I tried… I did, but i read goon and parkour one too many times. fucking bad.

Hot damn did that ever annoy me.

[alguien]

Enjoyed it.

Loved what happened with Butters. Pretty much made the whole book for me.

The rest was OK-to-decent supernatural pulp, par for the course with Butcher. Looking forward to the next one.

PS. I had totally forgotten about the bloody parasite storyline. Confused the hell out of me at first.

[Lord of Rhinos]

So was the entire Parkour! thing a nod to this cold open from the Office? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ozu3U0LfzE

[peterbound]

So was the entire Parkour! thing a nod to this cold open from the Office? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ozu3U0LfzE

Maybe, but like all of butcher's humor, it's dated, over used, and cheesy as fuck.