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Cold Days. Oh my word.
Just finished reading the latest Dresden Files book, and my post-read flail is below the cut. I strongly recommend going in unspoiled, so look away now if you haven’t finished.
Well, that was a book that pummeled the reader into submission with an avalanche of revelations and momentous events, wasn’t it? I feel like I was going OH SHIT, or wait what does that mean? is it what I think it means?, every other page.
MOLLY. Winter Lady. Harry is her Knight. How will that work? The dynamic, it fascinates me.
...is Vadderung Santa? Harry got in a fist fight with Santa! (Binz, I was thinking of you and giggling all through the introduction scene in chapter 5. bless his cotton fanboy socks) HARRY GOT IN A FIST FIGHT WITH VADDERUNG? (who was pulling his punches, but still, awesome) Harry led the hunt. He straight up abducted the entire Wild Hunt, who were entirely willing to be abducted but-- Oh Harry, never change.
...Kringle and Erlking (Herne! That makes sense!) and Eldest Gruff are totally the relatives that sneak away from family gatherings to go to the pub. No, of course he doesn’t join you on the hunt guys, he’s a goat.
I very much enjoyed Harry having a murderous butler, so I’m sad he was nemisised.
I am sad that my favourite Winter Bike fanon got Butchered by the fact the Winter mantle seems to make Harry, uh, rapey. Geez Butcher, you’re so subtle. There’s a continual refrain in the books that power can corrupt, that corruption is slow and insidious but while we have a lot of characters saying this, it gets played out on page as Harry being I MUST NOT FALL PREY TO MY RAVENING LUST MONSTER. Which... what? Ok, narrative short cut, Harry’s characterisation is already wired for that but bah, I thought we were in for something different post Changes. Fascinated by Murphy calling out Harry’s tendency to compartmentalise himself though, particularly his dick/libido.
Is Mac a retired angel? Did not expect.
Look at Harry’s grown up opinion on the Council and how institutions can be corrupt, or commit evil through established inertia, but still be made up of good individuals who are worth dealing with! Kind of wanted to give him a hug there.
Butters! <3 Murphy taking Bob back! I’m pretty sure he likes Harry best though, loyalties aside.
Harry did an impressive amount of property damage in a day. Hi Chicago, did you miss me?
Fic You Should Write So I Don’t Have To
Harry’s knightly duties to Mother Winter. Basically, he gets sent round once a month to do household chores, Mother Winter style. Making things dustier. Damping down the fire. Smearing the windows. He’s terribly polite the whole time.
The next time Harry bumps into the Erlking. Is Herne still carrying a grudge, or does a night of good hunting make amends? Does Harry work out a non lethal way of making up for the insult of binding him?
The next time Harry bumps into Vadderung... no, wait, the next time Harry bumps into Marcone and tells him his security contractor is possibly Santa. So many coal jokes.
Mab and Harry working for one another's mutual benefit, and being terrifyingly effective when they aren't infighting.
Mab, Molly, Lea and Harry. Family bonding. Pictionary?
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Couple of things though. This all happened in a day?! Feel free to draw out your story-telling a bit more, Butcher! Harry's thoughts on the difference between men and women's conversational styles and his judgment on gay men? SO SHOE-HORNED IN. OMG, Mollllllllly! Michael and Charity! Even Michael's going to need time to forgive Harry for involving his daughter with this result. *Two* women killed, *two* women forced into roles they don't want. ARGH.
So many references! An original Rescuers movie reference! Really? SANTA CLAUS! I don't know if I like Odin being Santa, but I so want Marcone and the coal jokes! The Hunt, Harry taking over the Hunt and they let him. So cool. Demonreach, badass, also cool. I hope you or someone else writes all your fic ideas.
And finally: "There's a storm coming." WHY A STORM??!! WHAT ELSE CAN POSSIBLY HAPPEN TO THESE PEOPLE?!
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From the Carpenter's perspective... It just twists my stomach in knots that they're looking after Harry's daughter while he's lost theirs to Winter. But I have my fingers crossed that Molly is going to be the object lesson in free will, and blow all this the-role-reshapes-the-person stuff out the water. I go off on mental tangents wondering how Catholic she feels and whether she thinks she has an immortal soul that's owed to god and how that effects the Winter influence. Hmmm.
The stuff about women's behaviour just had me realise he's actually been reading trashy magazine's marketed at women and I really really want to know when this happened and why.
All the Outsiders! Apocalypse! Whoop! ...poor Chicago.
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It just twists my stomach in knots that they're looking after Harry's daughter while he's lost theirs to Winter.
OMG, I hadn't looked at it that way! Crap, I'm tearing up again!
Oooo, that's really interesting to think about, Molly's Catholicism verse becoming Fae. Hmmmm.
I can't decide if Chicago is one of the safest or most dangerous places to live in the Dresden-verse!
A friend texted me the title of the next book. I'm less than impressed! I really, really want to ask Butcher how much of what he writes is/has been planned out and how much he comes up with on the fly and goes "oh, that works!" I flipped out a bit when I realized that a lot of this book tied back to events in book 4!
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That's my eternal question about the Dresden Files. Playing Harry as an occasionally unreliable narrator can be awfully convenient for 'oh, that works!" writing sometimes!