[amphibian]

Putting the two together is about 800 pages. Would make the hardcover above 40 dollars.

[Cause]

400 pages seems short for a book? I though 800 was pretty standard. Wot, game of thrones, masks an all have these numbers. Even Dresden I’m sure is longer. Than that usually?

Random thoughts, more will keep coming I’m sure.

Corner Hounds, Hounds of Tindaloos: interesting. Outsiders. However the hounds of tindaloos are supposed to be attracted to and attack people who time travel. As outsiders I doubt they would care about that or protecting the fabric of reality.

Conjuvitus: I feel like this is not an accident. Someone gave Harry this, because this is excavtly what he needs to win the day eventually. Sneezing out the bucket for the fuel was one time it helped. It won’t be the last. Time travel shenanigans?

Thomas: okay we need to know why he did it but the book almost ignored this question. It will be important. Has Harry been ignoring this, or will we suddenly learn he has been running a background game the whole time? Won’t be the first time. I feel like we heading in the direction of a cure for Thomas. Can Thomas being trapped in the prison, but his hunger starving but unable to feed on him, could the hunger die but his human body live?

The heist: I’m glad it wasn’t such a huge deal because immediately after skin game was too soon for another big best book but that’s kinda what it was. Still amazing that they pulled it off so easilly. Only Ferrovax and Odin could see through the disguise? In a room of the most powerful beings in the magical world? Plot power it seems

Power: what the hell. No answers but lots of questions. Mab is not the supreme limit of power? Or was what happened more complex than it seems. I thought mab was essentially supposed to be invincible but limited in the use of her power. She can’t kill a mortal, she can’t lie, she must perform here function. But a titan bitches slapped her? Where did the others go? Is Vaderang as strong as the dragon? Doesn’t seem likely but they seem rivals? Based on his cunning now or his power in the past? Vadderang has the titans respect out of all the beings there? Why? Was he that powerful? That bloodthirsty? What were the past gods and titans? If Odin has weakened from lack of worship why is the titan still strong?

Mab: okay who was she? Did she become the faerie queen by choice or circumstance? Who killed the last one, it can happen then, has happened then and the world didn’t fall apart. Mab was angry with king corb but it was like she didn’t notice the titan until it was too late? Was she that distracted?

Ghouls: Harry will have to fight beside them next book. Foreshadowing seems to have locked it in. Will he control himself? What’s the lesson? How the hell does a ghoul know what titan bronze is?

The Za lords Guard: where were they? Where was toot? Where is his girlfriend? Why didn’t they help mouse defend Maggie? Why didn’t Harry have them watch Justine? Help grey? Help him? Too big an absence unless we learn something that was kept from us next book

Thresholds: shouldn’t Harry’s apartment in svarrhelm still have had a threshold? How did the svartelves Gary past it? Possible since Harry was their guest it won’t block them? Also mouse is powered by a threshold? He cheats but still weakens his power if there isn’t one?

Fomorians: Balor was king of the fomorians so makes sense his daughter would be the leader after his death? So who killed balor? Why is corb king? Why did no one know the daughter was alive and in charge? Corb showing up on a leash seemed odd. Made me first think it was to prove that some new power had conquered the fomorians and was showing off but I suspect that the power dynamic has always been this way. So why do it this way? Why kill the billy goat elves? I can’t spell the name.

The summit: where is the erlking? Surely he is in the accords? Why was the billy goat kings absence not noted? Surely he is in the accords? The jade court? The black court? Interesting Mavra was name dropped.

Macs: I just realized Macs bar is accorded neutral ground. Surely at some point in history a human paranetter has got drunk and punched another human? Shouldn’t the punishment be gruesome?

Bigfoot: woah he offered to train Harry. Big deal I think.

The warden: the role seems to be forgotten or unknown to many. Can Dresden imprison the titan secretly? Doubtful. What happens when Dresden is revealed to be THE WARDEN. A potential threat to every power.

The accords: I find the idea of a mutual defense pact in the accords to be odd? It wasn’t triggered between the white council and red court war. That was seen as ordinary and completely normal. It can’t be triggered every time a non signatory attacks a signatory because than you would have to sign I up? Did I miss something here?

The black staff: woah! Guy has got some moves! Gravity magic on the fly. Speaking of, he can basically fly! Defensive wards took a pounding from the hounds and he stayed alive. Still didn’t seem like he could have won without Harry? Did the hounds want him over Harry? He never pulled out the black staff itself either. That seems important still. If the goal is to weaken winter they may have wanted the staff itself if it is indeed mother winters walking stick. Wizards! You have to both wonder every time how they didn’t smash the red court in an hour and how they manage to not be killed by the super predators at the same time. Powerful and weak by turns. The fight between Harry and Ebenezar seemed railroaded some, also like so much of what happens to Harry I can’t help but think if he just said a few words different things wouldn’t escalate so far.

Molly: Harry asked for a favour and she demanded the scales be balanced. The gift was the ring, at first I just assumed the ring was a force ring like he used to own, and the suit was patterned after his own defensive wards. Okay so I didn’t know what Harry asked made but I figured a suit wasn’t it. So how did molly give the suit, the fae can’t give gifts? Or did she give the ring and the suit as a combo? Fae magic in changes was powerful but impermanent. Yet I got the impression from the way the suit was made with runes etc it was a parrmanent object?

Bob the skull: I really hope harry takes it back at some point! Bob is as powerful a tool or weapon as anything else harry has I think. Demon reach, winter knight shenanigans, athame included. Bobs watser with butters!!!! I guess Bonnie is like a replacement in the making but she is no bob!

Lara: what was Harry thinking. Having sex with Lara being the illusion disguise? Word will get out. Once that happens the white council, never mind his grandfather, has to assume he has been partly or fully suborned.

Favors: okay mab is a master at the game and knows what she is doing. The mab Marcone thing for instance. I’m sure man and hades were the real masterminds and needed Marc ones help to do it. Still the scales must balance but she seems to make Dresden do the impossible for simple things. Lara helped her people with visas? What? The fae can use the ways? They can kind control people with faerie glamour. They needed visas? And mab couldn’t think of no better way to get them than to use Lara and offer her a favor of indeterminate size. Knight Dresden do whatever she asks. So did mab set this up too somehow? Also I forget already what it was but Lara seemed to waste the first flavor. She made Dresden tell her some pretty useless information as I recall?

This post has been edited by Cause: 22 July 2020 - 03:37 AM

[Cyphon]

On Lara she'll touch him to prove he's immune and thus not under the thumb. That's why that was highlighted in the book.

[D'rek]

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Corner Hounds, Hounds of Tindaloos: interesting. Outsiders. However the hounds of tindaloos are supposed to be attracted to and attack people who time travel. As outsiders I doubt they would care about that or protecting the fabric of reality.

Or Butcher just pulls random names from things and aside from the name they aren't actually related to their role in Weird Tales/Lovecraft (or rather, in the Dresden universe Lovecraft simply got it wrong when he wrote about them).

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Conjuvitus: I feel like this is not an accident. Someone gave Harry this, because this is excavtly what he needs to win the day eventually. Sneezing out the bucket for the fuel was one time it helped. It won’t be the last. Time travel shenanigans?

It's magic chicken pox. Just like some few people never get chicken pox as a kid and then wind up getting it as an adult, Harry never got Conjuvitis as a kid and is getting it now. Probably because he didn't hang around any other magic kids when he was a kid. So most likely he got it from Maggie, now that he's hanging around a magic kid who was playing with magic svartelves and whatnot.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Power: what the hell. No answers but lots of questions. Mab is not the supreme limit of power? Or was what happened more complex than it seems. I thought mab was essentially supposed to be invincible but limited in the use of her power. She can’t kill a mortal, she can’t lie, she must perform here function. But a titan bitches slapped her? Where did the others go? Is Vaderang as strong as the dragon? Doesn’t seem likely but they seem rivals? Based on his cunning now or his power in the past? Vadderang has the titans respect out of all the beings there? Why? Was he that powerful? That bloodthirsty? What were the past gods and titans? If Odin has weakened from lack of worship why is the titan still strong?

Seems like maybe Odin had to put aside some of his former power in order to keep interacting with mortals (and pretending to be one in some circumstances). I guess by redefining so much of who he is as a CEO, Santa Claus, etc, he watered down his own former power... or at least made some of his former power inaccessible to himself. The latter would make sense, actually, considering the whole "equalish to Ferrovax" thing - not sure if it was in a book or an interview but it was said before that dragons are immensely powerful but only a small part of it manifests in the real world sort of thing. And I guess since Ethniu never watered herself down she isn't so limited like they are? Maybe?

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Mab: okay who was she? Did she become the faerie queen by choice or circumstance? Who killed the last one, it can happen then, has happened then and the world didn’t fall apart. Mab was angry with king corb but it was like she didn’t notice the titan until it was too late? Was she that distracted?

Yes, it would seem there have been at least one, probably many Mabs before.

Some people have a big speculative conspiracy theory that Mab intentionally acted angry and let Ethniu knock her through the wall because if Mab went full toe-to-toe against Ethniu there and then it will kill a lot of the meeting in the collateral damage. I don't buy it, but it's not impossible.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Thresholds: shouldn’t Harry’s apartment in svarrhelm still have had a threshold? How did the svartelves Gary past it? Possible since Harry was their guest it won’t block them? Also mouse is powered by a threshold? He cheats but still weakens his power if there isn’t one?

Nah, its the svartalves' building and the apartment is like a gift-lease from them to Molly so it's not really "hers" in the same way. It's not Harry/Maggie/Mouse's home, Molly is just letting them stay there for a while. Plus they've only been there a matter of months. Plus Molly isn't necessarily human enough to have a threshold on her home at all anymore.

Since when is Mouse powered by a threshold?

Though the other question is why did Harry put a super-charged barrier on the walls but not think to protect the floor with the same?

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Fomorians: Balor was king of the fomorians so makes sense his daughter would be the leader after his death? So who killed balor? Why is corb king? Why did no one know the daughter was alive and in charge? Corb showing up on a leash seemed odd. Made me first think it was to prove that some new power had conquered the fomorians and was showing off but I suspect that the power dynamic has always been this way. So why do it this way?

In the mythology, Balor was killed by his grandson (Ethniu's son) Lugh.

Ethniu leading the Fomor isn't new. The earlier short stories with the Fomor separately referenced a King and an Empress. So Ethniu's been around since at least around the time of Ghost Story.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Why kill the billy goat elves?

Because the Cubs won the world series.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

The summit: where is the erlking? Surely he is in the accords? Why was the billy goat kings absence not noted? Surely he is in the accords? The jade court? The black court? Interesting Mavra was name dropped.

There's a ton of little wild-faerie nations like that which are isolationist and don't deal with the rest, no? They might not be signatories of the Accords themselves and just fall under Summer or Winter or both, so why bother sending their own representatives?

Either way, lots of known Accords members weren't there. No Drakul. No Denarians. No other dragons than Ferrovax. No Ukrainian shapeshifter. Seems like this was less of a "ALL MEMBERS MANDATORY" meeting and more of a regional "show up if you feel like it" thing.

Jade Court are, apparently, not signatories of the Accords.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Macs: I just realized Macs bar is accorded neutral ground. Surely at some point in history a human paranetter has got drunk and punched another human? Shouldn’t the punishment be gruesome?

Human paranetters aren't part of the Accords either. But if they did, I'm sure Mac would gruntingly tell them to take it outside.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Bigfoot: woah he offered to train Harry. Big deal I think.

Definitely, but it'll never happen (in the series, at least). Pretty sure training with the Forest People is one of those "go into the forest, come back in 20 years" things, and no way is Harry going to be able and willing to leave his friends, enemies, and obligations for long.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

The warden: the role seems to be forgotten or unknown to many. Can Dresden imprison the titan secretly? Doubtful. What happens when Dresden is revealed to be THE WARDEN. A potential threat to every power.

Or, conversely, if Ethniu/the Fomor do know about Demonreach, it's rather strange that they would choose to focus their assault on everyone in Chicago where a vulnerability is right there. What's wrong with Rome or New York or Beijing?

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

The accords: I find the idea of a mutual defense pact in the accords to be odd? It wasn’t triggered between the white council and red court war. That was seen as ordinary and completely normal. It can’t be triggered every time a non signatory attacks a signatory because than you would have to sign I up? Did I miss something here?

The Red Courts didn't walk into an Accords meeting, break the peace, and declare war on EVERYONE.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Bob the skull: I really hope harry takes it back at some point! Bob is as powerful a tool or weapon as anything else harry has I think. Demon reach, winter knight shenanigans, athame included. Bobs watser with butters!!!! I guess Bonnie is like a replacement in the making but she is no bob!

Bob only worked because Harry was stupid. Now that Harry is getting more involved in all the things and has a bigger picture of the world, if he had Bob back for any amount of time there'd no longer be any excuse for Harry to not know all the things he doesn't know, which the author almost certainly wants to keep doing.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:09 AM, said:

Favors: okay mab is a master at the game and knows what she is doing. The mab Marcone thing for instance. I’m sure man and hades were the real masterminds and needed Marc ones help to do it. Still the scales must balance but she seems to make Dresden do the impossible for simple things. Lara helped her people with visas? What? The fae can use the ways? They can kind control people with faerie glamour. They needed visas? And mab couldn’t think of no better way to get them than to use Lara and offer her a favor of indeterminate size. Knight Dresden do whatever she asks. So did mab set this up too somehow? Also I forget already what it was but Lara seemed to waste the first flavor. She made Dresden tell her some pretty useless information as I recall?

Yeah, the first favour was just for Harry to introduce her to Etri. Pretty lame. I don't see why, plot-wise, it wouldn't have been better for Lara to just only have one favour from the start and not need the supernatural favour for the introduction with Etri. But whatever.

It does seem like getting Thomas free was unusually easy, so that does lead to perhaps the idea (conspiracy?) that Mab and Marcone wanted Harry and Lara to break Thomas out for some reason. If that's the case, I sure hope Mab has a better reason than it being "If Harry broke Thomas out he'd take him to Demonreach and that's the only way he'd learn that Ethniu can be imprisoned there" because holy hell is there a lot of flawed logic with that.

[Cause]

@Drek your point about bob is a good one. Was nice to see Harry has spent some time actually learning how to use his power at demo reach. That’s some character growth. However it similarly follows that’s it’s unconscionable that Dresden who know recognizes he needs to get ahead of these threats would not consult Bob who is the literal Paranet!

I think it’s clear bob is partly the reason Kemmler was so dangerous!

In changes I think it comes up that temple guardians are powered by thresholds. When he fights the leansidhe she mentions he is far from his power, the threshold and he mentioned he cheats and he is a big enough threat that she relents. Dresden might also word of godded it. However there is also a further mention that because mouse was in the carpenter home whose threshold is stronger than Harry’s ever was he could be an even stronger protector for Maggie there.

[Cause]

That reminds me, I dislike how important the side stories and comics are maybe becoming? I have read all the Dresden I can find but I’m clearly missing some. I know who Bigfoot is, I know about bombshells but if you haven’t read the short stories seems like big chunks of info would be missing.

I think i have missed the latest Bigfoot case and it seems there were hints at a few other stories I don’t know. No clue who the Asian warden was for instance.

[D'rek]

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:50 PM, said:

@Drek your point about bob is a good one. Was nice to see Harry has spent some time actually learning how to use his power at demo reach. That’s some character growth. However it similarly follows that’s it’s unconscionable that Dresden who know recognizes he needs to get ahead of these threats would not consult Bob who is the literal Paranet!

I think it’s clear bob is partly the reason Kemmler was so dangerous!

Yes, even though Harry will probably never "own" Bob again, there's no reason Harry shouldn't still take the opportunity to consult him (or the Paranet) when he's at Butter's apartment/etc, even if it has to be a "there's not enough time to ask much so I'll only get the answer to 1 or 2 things" sort of thing.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:50 PM, said:

In changes I think it comes up that temple guardians are powered by thresholds. When he fights the leansidhe she mentions he is far from his power, the threshold and he mentioned he cheats and he is a big enough threat that she relents. Dresden might also word of godded it. However there is also a further mention that because mouse was in the carpenter home whose threshold is stronger than Harry’s ever was he could be an even stronger protector for Maggie there.

Oh, interesting. Maybe it's a retcon or something, then, since Mouse definitely doesn't seem to have much need for a threshold to power him in Peace Talks or in Zoo Day (one of the short stories).

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:53 PM, said:

That reminds me, I dislike how important the side stories and comics are maybe becoming? I have read all the Dresden I can find but I’m clearly missing some. I know who Bigfoot is, I know about bombshells but if you haven’t read the short stories seems like big chunks of info would be missing.

I think i have missed the latest Bigfoot case and it seems there were hints at a few other stories I don’t know.

I disagree that the side stuff is becoming important. It's relevant, sure, and fills in some details, but not important. River Shoulders is a Sasquatch that Harry helped out with his kid - that's the only important info, and that info is summarized again in Peace Talks for the readers that didn't read the Bigfoot short stories. Reading the short stories themselves just gives you the extra details that aren't relevant to the main story.

Likewise:

Harry knows Riley, one of Lara's security guys. This is from Jury Duty, but literally nothing between them happens in Jury Duty except they establish a sort of wary respect. The rest of Jury Duty is all about a thug that's on trial.

Carlos has been injured recently and seems to be angry/paranoid about it. Harry doesn't know anything about it. This comes from Cold Case, but other than Carlos acting a little more paranoid/jaded nothing else came of it in Peace Talks (and this is the one that you'd think really would have lead to some scene or another in the Accords talks).

Harry doesn't know why the Svartalves like Molly so much and gave her an apartment. That comes from Bombshells, but whether you do or don't know how it happened doesn't change anything for Harry's story. Bombshells also first showed Thomas having sexcapades with the Svartalves, but it's repeated in Peace Talks rather than assuming you knew that.

The Naga witch and the LaChaise clan are from the comic books, but the witch was just a 1-time reference and the LaChaise clan were resummarized aplenty in Peace Talks.

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 03:53 PM, said:

No clue who the Asian warden was for instance.

Yoshino and Ramirez were both part of Captain Lucio's squad that came to Chicago in Dead Beat. And yeah, they plus Wild Bill (who was mentioned in main books before and seen in the training camp flashback where Harry smited the ghouls) do more stuff in one of the comic books, but none of it matters here except "Harry and these wardens have a good working relationship and past adventures" which is re-stated in the book anyways.

[D'rek]

Also, regarding who Mab could be, the "Conqueror" line is interesting - she was "pimply-faced" when she "rode with the Conqueror", implying she was still human and young at that time. Since Merlin founded the White Council and the White Council existed before the Roman Empire, that could put her being young and riding with the Conqueror anywhere from well before the Roman Empire to a couple centuries after it, depending on how long Merlin lived (I think it's reasonable to assume Merlin was an exceptional but still human wizard, so he should have lived something like 800 years tops). So The Conqueror could be, say, Alexander the Great, for example.

[Cause]

Two things I forgot:

The winter knight and the accords: should Harry have been physically able to break Thomas out? Now the accords must be followed to the letter, their is no spirit. However wasn’t Harry a guest of marcone inside the castle? As the winter knight was he allowed to act in a way that would break the accords? Isn’t this how characters in Irish myth would often fail? Conflicting geas? It makes the way he bargained with molly for an open ended payback and the idea that Mab negotiated for open ended favour suprising?

The black staff: he killed Harry, okay he didn’t really, but even if he didn’t think IT would activate he killed a human being with magic or thought he did. Careless for a senior wizard! Now as the black staff he def has and can break the laws of magic but does he need to use the actual black staff to do it? Very possibly? Anyway seemed really out of character for a wizard to leave his what defense ward magic on autopilot. I also can’t help but feel the fact that this failsafe already triggered might lead to his death next book in a way he would have survived if this wasn’t triggered? I hope not

Harry fake death: who bought this? Ghost story was a cool book, Harry died and the consequences were more than a book long but still we had a whole book of him just getting his body back and the winter mantle is still an ongoing issue. If you gonna die and resurrect a character this is how you do it. Still when Harry died here, I just knew some magic would fix this ASAP. Can’t do it twice! So I didn’t spot the illusion from the start but I figured the final lunge was an illusion or that the ring would heal him or something. Also again bit suprising that the senior council enforcer could be fooled so easilly. Though since wizards must prepare appropriately I suppose it can be argued here that ebenezar just wasn’t expecting such an illusion from Harry.

[Chance]

Cause, on 24 July 2020 - 03:54 PM, said:

I also can’t help but feel the fact that this failsafe already triggered might lead to his death next book in a way he would have survived if this wasn’t triggered? I hope not

It kind of feels like they are building up for Murphy or Ebenezers death pretty much the only ones that make sense for the loss he feels in the short story. Possibly with a time travel to fix it plot which must occur at some point.

This post has been edited by Chance: 24 July 2020 - 09:01 PM

[amphibian]

I think Murphy's death is the only real motivation he'll have for time traveling - because I don't think Butcher would have Maggie Jr. die.

I do think that the time travel will give us a look at Maggie the First and maybe Harry's father because it's just too good a Back to the Future set-up to turn down.

[D'rek]

Copying from the other thread (oops):


Harry equates Ebenezer's hatred of the white court vampires to his hatred of the ghouls.

Harry has very strong opinions about how he is going to "be there" for his daughter, that that is the right thing to do, and is very upset that Ebenezer did not "be there" for him. He absolutely rejects the idea that he send Maggie away and not let her know that he is her father.

Harry thinks that because Ebenezer hates the white vampires so much, it is not correct to tell Ebenezer that Thomas is his grandson. That the hatred for the white court vampires outweighs the bond of family and such.


So I guess Butcher is saying that if Maggie was half-ghoul Harry wouldn't love her, wouldn't "be there" for her, wouldn't even want to know about her...

[D'rek]

Chance, on 24 July 2020 - 08:58 PM, said:

Cause, on 24 July 2020 - 03:54 PM, said:

I also can’t help but feel the fact that this failsafe already triggered might lead to his death next book in a way he would have survived if this wasn’t triggered? I hope not

It kind of feels like they are building up for Murphy or Ebenezers death pretty much the only ones that make sense for the loss he feels in the short story. Possibly with a time travel to fix it plot which must occur at some point.

amphibian, on 24 July 2020 - 09:06 PM, said:

I think Murphy's death is the only real motivation he'll have for time traveling - because I don't think Butcher would have Maggie Jr. die.

I do think that the time travel will give us a look at Maggie the First and maybe Harry's father because it's just too good a Back to the Future set-up to turn down.

I think Ebenezer dies, absolutely, for sure. He's so prominent in Peace Talks, and at the same time I don't see any good way for him and Harry to fully reconcile at this point. So that would either have it going back to a pseudo-status quo where they're even more bitter with each other while keeping a begrudging distance but occasional allies... or else a really forced happy family reconciliation that doesn't feel like it works at all.

One of the "microfictions" Butcher wrote earlier takes place a handful of months after Peace Talks/Battle Ground and...

Spoiler

there's no mention of Ebenezer on Christmas Eve, despite the "Maybe Great-Grandpa can visit with us at Christmas" bit in Peace Talks.

We also know from that bit that thousands of Chicagoites will die, tens of thousands more will be seriously injured. Already that's not surprising with Ethniu's magical EMP potentially knocking out airplanes, hospital generators, tons of car accidents, etc.

And we know that none of Mab, Molly, Vadderung, Mouse, or Maggie will die.

And it sure seems to imply that several people close to Harry will die.

[Chance]

D, on 24 July 2020 - 09:56 PM, said:

One of the "microfictions" Butcher wrote earlier takes place a handful of months after Peace Talks/Battle Ground and...

Spoiler

there's no mention of Ebenezer on Christmas Eve, despite the "Maybe Great-Grandpa can visit with us at Christmas" bit in Peace Talks.

We also know from that bit that thousands of Chicagoites will die, tens of thousands more will be seriously injured. Already that's not surprising with Ethniu's magical EMP potentially knocking out airplanes, hospital generators, tons of car accidents, etc.

And we know that none of Mab, Molly, Vadderung, Mouse, or Maggie will die.

And it sure seems to imply that several people close to Harry will die.

I kind of agree but there is also a curious absence of Murphy in that microfiction and lets face it Harry isn't going to get any happy ever afters so Murphy is very likely temporary in her current role and it can really only end one way.

This post has been edited by Chance: 24 July 2020 - 11:49 PM

[D'rek]

Chance, on 24 July 2020 - 11:48 PM, said:

D, on 24 July 2020 - 09:56 PM, said:

One of the "microfictions" Butcher wrote earlier takes place a handful of months after Peace Talks/Battle Ground and...

Spoiler

there's no mention of Ebenezer on Christmas Eve, despite the "Maybe Great-Grandpa can visit with us at Christmas" bit in Peace Talks.

We also know from that bit that thousands of Chicagoites will die, tens of thousands more will be seriously injured. Already that's not surprising with Ethniu's magical EMP potentially knocking out airplanes, hospital generators, tons of car accidents, etc.

And we know that none of Mab, Molly, Vadderung, Mouse, or Maggie will die.

And it sure seems to imply that several people close to Harry will die.

I kind of agree but there is also a curious absence of Murphy in that microfiction and lets face it Harry isn't going to get any happy ever afters so Murphy is very likely temporary in her current role and it can really only end one way.

I'm not so sure of that.

[Abyss]

D, on 25 July 2020 - 03:10 AM, said:

Chance, on 24 July 2020 - 11:48 PM, said:

D, on 24 July 2020 - 09:56 PM, said:

One of the "microfictions" Butcher wrote earlier takes place a handful of months after Peace Talks/Battle Ground and...

Spoiler

there's no mention of Ebenezer on Christmas Eve, despite the "Maybe Great-Grandpa can visit with us at Christmas" bit in Peace Talks.

We also know from that bit that thousands of Chicagoites will die, tens of thousands more will be seriously injured. Already that's not surprising with Ethniu's magical EMP potentially knocking out airplanes, hospital generators, tons of car accidents, etc.

And we know that none of Mab, Molly, Vadderung, Mouse, or Maggie will die.

And it sure seems to imply that several people close to Harry will die.

I kind of agree but there is also a curious absence of Murphy in that microfiction and lets face it Harry isn't going to get any happy ever afters so Murphy is very likely temporary in her current role and it can really only end one way.

I'm not so sure of that.

Otoh, at the end where Harry compares himself to Ebeneezer, and Murphy says " big difference... you've got me" I got chills.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I would also expect it to be Ebenezer over Murphy. It's taken so long to set up Harry and Murphy, as much as it would be a narrative gut punch it feels far too quick. It's also not that long since Susan's death either.

[Sindriss]

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 12:45 AM, said:

So many thoughts, I’ll come back and post more but for now I’ll simply ask, does anyone else feel the books were split unnecessarily? Feels more like a cash grab than an artistic decision.

Was the athame the spear of Longinus?

I also felt like it was more financially motivated. Maybe they were concerned about people buying a big expensive book as there had been a 5 year gap vs a smaller price for a smaller book.

[amphibian]

Sindriss, on 27 July 2020 - 12:40 PM, said:

Cause, on 22 July 2020 - 12:45 AM, said:

So many thoughts, I’ll come back and post more but for now I’ll simply ask, does anyone else feel the books were split unnecessarily? Feels more like a cash grab than an artistic decision.

Was the athame the spear of Longinus?

I also felt like it was more financially motivated. Maybe they were concerned about people buying a big expensive book as there had been a 5 year gap vs a smaller price for a smaller book.

It would have been a +40 dollar hard cover if one book. That's a big ask, even for ardent Dresden fans.

[Cause]

All about the kindle!!!

I have never seen hardcovers priced differently based on size but haven’t bought one in years.