[Abyss]

NOV 23 EDIT TO ADD...

Rolling comments below, Review at post #21 .

ENTIRE THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ALL DRESDEN BOOKS UP TO COLD DAYS.


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Nov 20...

Ok you all know the drill by now....
SPOILERS spoilers SPOILERS
Rolling thoughts and comments while reading, no unblocked spoilers for anything beyond where I'm at, review and discussion in thread when I'm done and if youre finished the book and want to discuss before i am, start your own thread and get to it.


Now then

Last warning: SPOILERS



I do so love a new dresden book

Chapters 1 - 16, to about page 160....

Covering the recovery and training time like an almost montage was new for these books.

Only Mab could come up with that kind of physiotherapy.

I like cat sith for no good reason.

Sarissa seems a bit too good to be true. And/or likely not to survive this book.

Oh Maeve you skanky hosehound you.

Elder Gruff!

The Erl King!!

SANTA?!?! !?! Wait.... Seriously?

Heh... Redcap.

Thought they were going for a tug of war for a second there. This was better.

Back to Chicago already?

Andi finally not useless!!!!!!!

Oh hey, Butters.... Score.

Bob!!!!!

Toot and the Winter Pizza Guards!!!!!!!!

Ok. Harry almost taken out by little people... Clearly we're going for a sligthly lighter tone this book.

Molly! And i was tempted to say too soon, but of course Lea would tell her absent any reason not to and protecting Molly would not be a reason.

The Molly reunion was nice enough but that coversation with Tomas.... BRUTAL. In a good way.

Demonreach is a what? Full of who????? ...and the skinwalkers are just the easy part.

Fuck. Me.

[Abyss]

Ch 17-18

Oh, we are in classic Dresden territory here...

a rediculously short time in which to act (Demonreach blows in a day!);
multiple problems with multiple players (Mab v Maeve, Demonreach, the parasite, possibly the White Council...);
a personal health issue (i knew Butcher wouldn't forget the parasite);
AND a sort of personal emotional issue on the Sarissa and Murphy fronts.

All that with BoB, Molly and Thomas (so far) along for the ride....

While perhaps not as massively compelling as CHANGES or novel as GS, this is shaping up to be a fun ride.

A Lasciel byblow seems like the obvious explanation for the parasite. I can't remember if the headaches line up with Lash-related events.

Molly is clearly not well but WAY better. Would love to hear the story behind how she got the apartment.... 'honor'.... huh....

I hate you, Thomas.

I like how Thomas has this penchant for old school weapons... the Winchester he gave Harry actually echoes the cover for a change.

Can't help but think the power discharge Demonreach is worried about is related to whatever Harry is going to do to Maeve.

"the special Hell"... Bob just ref'd Firefly! And Harry didn't get it!! ...which just goes to prove my point that no one watched that show...

Alec Guinness and Carrie Fisher and Jenna Jameson... Butcher, you are wrong in the skull.

[QuickTidal]

Re: The parasite.

My guess.

....

Defo Lasciel. The real one. But we won't find out till the end and that will lead into the next book....where the Denarians usually show up.

I'm thinking the Molly "honor" thing will be a Butcher Short story....seems like that type of territory.


Yeah, about the Demonsreach thing linking to Maeve thing...but my guess is Butcher won't make it as simple as all that.

[Abyss]

Lash is the most logical thing to be living in his head, but it almost seems too obvious. Tho' a 'new' Lash independent of his headparts could be the basis for the Denarians in the next book,sure.

Interesting that whatever the parasite was, it was able to keep his heart beating. That's not really in keeping with Lash, unless she was able to take over the nervous system while his 'mind' was off being a ghost.

I'm thinking Lasciel is wherever Denarians are when they don't possess a host. Unless of course she now has a host and that's why Lash is resurfacing.

Unless it's not Lash.

[QuickTidal]

Oh man, Chapter 24 ending (Page 244) just changed the fucking game, HARDCORE.

I just spent the first half of this book thinking one thing, and Butcher pulls out the stop and throws me for a loop.

Oh well played Butcher, very well played indeed sir.

OF COURSE Butcher wouldn't be so obvious.

God I love these books.

Keep reading Abyss.

[Abyss]

Am all over the motherfuckah (but avoiding your spoilers because you're about eight chapters ahead of me).

[QuickTidal]

Catch up, it will only help your addiction to read faster.

[Abyss]

You had a six hour head start.

[QuickTidal]

 Abyss, on 20 November 2012 - 08:23 PM, said:

You had a six hour head start.

Pffft. A REAL Dresdencrack addict would not let something like a head-start stymie him.

[Abyss]

It's why you're six chapters ahead of me. Just means you'll be jonesin' sooner.

[QuickTidal]

Point Conceded.

Sad Panda.

[Abyss]

Bloody hell, barely managed 40 pages last night.... twitches starting again.... can't focus on work... need another hit....

up to p220ish...

The boat chase was a nice touch. I especially liked the bit with Molly..... "I need mist." "I'm not strong enough." "It doesn't have to be real." "oh, ok, no problem."
Nice way of reminding us that she's still new at this.

Really like the use of the wizard-anti-tech field as a weapon.

Thomas discussing predator pov with Harry was seriously fucked up. And their chat about Lara and Marcone was hysterical.

Tho on some level i'm wondering how much of what's going on in Harry's head is Winter and how much is the parasite.

Knew Fix was going to show up. Also knew he was going to be a dork. "I have to fight you on principle unless you leave town.". Seriously? Someone please knock him unconscious.

Maaaaaybeee sending cat sith as a messenger to the Summer Lady wasn't the bestest of ideas...

Vadderung!!! I'm liking this semi-mentor thing he has going with Doughnut Boy. Just don't block his way...

Every time Butcher writes a description of Mac's beer and steak sandwiches, i desperately want.

Mac with a shotgun!!!

MAC WITH A SHOTGUN!!!!

[QuickTidal]

KEEP READING!

Seriously. don't go to work...just read.

[Abyss]

Seriously I'M TRYING.


Tho as usual with a dresdencrack i fight an internal war between blasting through it and wanting to drag it out. with some authors it's easy because they'll break to another storyline or pov and it's a logical place to stop reading. With Butcher it's always Harry and he's an evil bastard master of laying a hook in at the end of every. single. chapter.

[Abyss]

p380ish... ch 36 or so....

WARNING WARNING MAJOR HUGE MASSIVE
DRESDENCRACK SPOILERS UNBLOCKED
AND WIDE OPEN BELOW HERE

IF YOU'VE BEEN EVEN GLANCING
AT THESE POSTS I AM SPOILERS
WARNING YOU SPOILERS
DO NOT DO NOT DO FUCKING NOT
KEEP READING SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T
READ THE BOOK SPOILERS

SERIOUSLY
THIS IS LIKE
LUKE I AM YOUR FATHER AND
LEIA IS YOUR SISTER AND
CHEWIE IS YOUR DOG AND
ARTOO IS THE ROOMBA HUGE
SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

OK YOU WERE WARNED SPOILERS




The ragdoll outsider was impressive but not really impressive. Obviously a lesser outsider.

Mac.... wtf????

The scene w Lily.... ooooooo,.... it's even worse, and bigger, and longer running... than we thought. And then.... MAEVE?????????

Ace and the wyldfae.... that just sounds like a bad folk metal band.... but annoyingly effective. Maybe a little too much so, but i liked how Harry fell back on the 'no body can take a beating like i can' tactic that we last saw in SMALL FAVOUR.

MURPHY!!!!!!!! "Okay. You." BOO-YAH.

Nice touch how Harry sends everyone on their very important tasks and Molly figures out it's just to get them out of the way.

...and then we have CH 33-34....
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I expected a game changer.
... 'NEMESIS'...
I expect to learn more about Winter and the Fae.

i did NOT. Expect. THAT.

The WINTER FAE ARE GUARDING REALITY AGAINST THE OUTSIDERS!!!!!!!!!! And the Summer Fae are just there to guard against the Winter Fae. That's.... that's....
THAT'S FUCKING BRILLIANT.

Nice to finally learn a bit about Rashid.

But holy fuck, talk about lose-lose... even if he can stop the Demonreach breakout, either Harry takes out Mab and Maeve is in charge, or he takes out Maeve and Nemesis gets another pawn. Fuck me.

Oh, and Mother Winter is awesome.

Ok, i get the general point, but throwing in a kidnap plot (and a second dose of Mac wtf?) seems sort of unnecessary, even if it was a guise for a slowly-dying-of-poison plot.

Followed by a hidden bomb.

After the holy fuckitude of ch33-34, this was a bit of a ... maybe not letdown, but throttling back the story instead of plunging forwards.

[QuickTidal]

I fucking told you it was big! Probably one of the biggest events in the entire series, and it knocked me clean on my ass those chapters.

And RE: Your last comment....just wait....oh just wait.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 22 November 2012 - 04:52 PM

[Abyss]

I kind of figured it was the pause before the storm but it was 3am when the bombs went off and practicality set in (ie: i read a page for the fourth time and decided sleep won).

[Abyss]

What i particularly love is that Butcher didn't feel bound by 'Winter and Summer in perpetual balance' thing, instead throwing that aside as White Council misinformation and making Winter this mad crazy sociopathic guardians of reality force with Summer essentially there so Titania has something to do when she isn't threatening Mab.

Relatedly, the scene w Titania - You murdered my daughter! I could eat your heart!!! - was pretty awesome too.


Am wondering whether the 'keep his heart beating' parasite is Nemesis, but that seems unlikely.

Love the fact that Murphy is now keeping the two Swords, and Harry's reaction to it.

MOUSE!!!! ...and i agree with him someone really needs to just lock Andi in a garage for the rest of her life, what is this the fifth time she's been kidnapped already....?

Pretty sure the warehouse reference was to BACKUP but not certain. Pretty funny if it is.

[QuickTidal]

Yeah, I love how Butcher screws with his mythos and ideals VIA the POV looking at it. Kind of like how Harry will see an event and have an immediate gut reaction to it, only to be talked around from another character with a different POV.


Just wait, the end of the book is a humdinger sir, humdinger.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 22 November 2012 - 06:53 PM

[Abyss]

And done.

FUCK.

ME.


SIDEWAYS.



Rescue mission successful because Harry used an iceberg as a life raft. Nice touch.


Also, 'Got my head out (of my ice).' = HA!

'Get on the bike, bitch!'.... sometimes i love Murphy SO SO MUCH.

The Wild Hunt vs Harry and Murphy on a Harley may have been the BEST. CHASE. EVER. in this series. Possibly in any other.

"Tonight, the Hunt is joining ME."
Yes.... YESYESYESYES... ahem, sorry.... but that was badass. 'Tonight, we hunt OUTSIDERS!' came pretty close tho'.

Plus hey, Harry just kicked Santa's ass.

Liked the barge fight. The Water Beetle charging in to Queen was a nice touch.

AquaHunt!!!!!

Harry v Fix was even better than i expected.

Mud! Clever!!!

Oooo, Lily, ouch.

OoOOOoooo, Sarissa, bummer.

OOOOOOO MOLLY HOLY WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK DID THAT JUST FUCKING HAPPEN WHAT????????

and that chat with Mab... that was as tense as any fight in this book... the gun to the forehead, the second gun to the forehead... the big reveal re Lea and how they interpretted what Harry made...

and, of course.... 'Demonreach. if she pulls that trigger put her below and leave her there.'... and given Mab's thank-yous to Demonreach earlier, that wasn't a bluff. At all.

Now i'm exhausted.