The Dresden Files

[Pandora 77]

Ahhhhh! Ok! I will buy the damn book tomorrow!!!!!

[Pandora 77]

Okay, I'm like.... a fifth of the way through Ghost Story....

THERE'S AN EVIL BOB?!?!?!?!!?!?

[Princess 35]

Remember from Dead Beat when Harry told him to never bring back those memories?

[Pandora 77]

Yeah I just read that! But that's as far as I am so no more hints!!! lol

I totally cried like a baby when Harry revealed himself to Murphy and Molly. Especially Molly.

[Princess 35]

Just wait, it gets even better. I loved how he revealed himself to Molly with the cheesy Star Wars quote

[Pandora 77]

YES! I was crying and laughing at the same time! My heart was breaking but it was so HARRY! Gotta love how "Did you ever find that reasonably healthy male?" didn't work but "Go to the Dagobah system" was a home run.

[Princess 35]

I have to re-read it, I was in a rush to figure out what happened

[Pandora 77]

So I had insomnia last night and sat up reading...

I just KNEW that Harry's death wouldn't make a lick of difference to Mab!!! What a biotch!

[Princess 35]

What do you bet that the next book is named Winter Knight?

[Pandora 77]

I dunno yet! But I will not be surprised to find out that Mab is playing both sides of the field.

[Pandora 77]

So I read through the scene with Molly at Denny's... it is absolutely ASTOUNDING what people will say to a person when they're dead. I think my reaction was the same as Harry's when she said she felt like she should offer him a cigarette. :lol:

[Pandora 77]

FINISHED! GAH! the ending was maddeningly predictable! At least the cliff hanger wasn't as bad as Changes.

[Pandora 77]

I can't believe that Harry arranged his own murder with Kincaid in an attempt to get out of his deal with Mab. And then have Molly do some mind mojo on him so that he'd forget about it and so that Mab wouldn't know what he had set up. I teared up when Harry got to see Maggie and I can't wait to see what happens when Harry starts his duties as the Winter Knight

Now that I've read the book I can peek at what you said, lol!

(Anyone else reading this that might want to pick up on this series at some point should NOT click "show me." This ain't a little spoiler, this is the entire plot dissected.)

It was pretty obvious that Kincaid was the trigger man; after all, Harry died exactly the way Kincaid said he'd kill him if he ever had the opportunity, it was just a matter of being hired to do it. I was not surprised at all when Lea said his murderer was but a proxy, then it just came down to who that proxy was. In the back of my mind during Molly's scenes I was thinking... okay, something isn't right. Yes, she's a sensitive, yes, she was exposed to piles of death and destruction, but she'd certainly matured enough in her use of magic that she wasn't quite as suceptible to the psychic effects of death. Not to mention she's her parents' daughter, more to the point, she's Charity's freaking clone--she's tougher than she seems. So it made sense that it was Harry's death specifically that had her so effing bonkers. There relationship had an interesting dynamic and in retrosepct it just seemed to jilted-teenager for her to be so angsty about the death of someone she knows full well is constantly in mortal peril (and laughing at it no less). Her "weirdness" as Will put it early on fit well with the circumstances of Harry's death to which only she was privy too. For me, it started coming together when she started talking about the "Omega Bomb." She had a great role model and all for that self-sacrifice angle (thanks, Harry) and it would have to be something pretty darn serious to change the mind of a senstive raised in a smiling Catholic household who got nothing but love to suicide without some sort of model. I sure hope Harry has the opportunity to continue her training in the next book, because that kid is still obviously impressionable and will do damn-near anything her Obi-wan would do, or at least her 20-something interpretation of it. This relationship has the potential to be super interesting because she's about the age that Harry was in Storm Front so it'll be fascinating to see how he handles a hot chick version of himself.

Mab. Mab, Mab, Mab. What a cold hearted bitch (pun emphatically intended). Remember at the end of Changes that woman's voice Harry heard right before the train? The one that said, "Hush now"? Totally been haunting me for a year, lol. I could only think of three people that could be (because, let's face it, the plots are all so convoluted and itnertwined it would just plain cruel if there were another set of villains: his mom, Lea, or Mab. Mab seemed more likely, since they'd just, you know... "bonded." It only made sense that, if Mab could fix his broken spine in the space of one freaky imaginary romp on the Flinstone table, she'd be able to cheat his death. Especially since he tried to cheat her. Only fair. Oooh how pissed would SHE have been if he'd taken the job Uriel offered him? But that would have driven Harry crazy--he likes the perks of essentially being his own boss. But that does show an incredible amount of courage and strength of character on his part to willing accept the--let's face it, very good--possibility that he'd get hit by a southbound train. I mean, there were all those times that he "yadda-yadda-d the Lord." Couldn't have boded well for him in the Hereafter, right? Either that, or it shows a complete lack of trust in Uriel, or perhaps more accurately, a complete trust that Uriel wasn't telling him everything. I am excited to see how that plays out with Mab. She obviously wants him to retain his will, like he said. Why would she spend six months breathing for him (granted not all that long to an immortal, but still, she gets bored easily) if she just wanted to make him a puppet? He's so much more dangerous on his own. It'll be fun seeing him explore his new powers. He's quite the artillery whiz now... insane magic on the kaboom level that's all his, Soulfire, and now Winter Court powers. He'll be able to simultaneous incinerate and freeze anything he wants. Bring it on, He Who Walks Behind.

And that has to be coming up in the future. He Who Walks Behind. The detail Butcher payed attention to is exquisite. It was so fulfilling to FINALLY have some loose-ended questions at least put in the same couple of chapters, if they weren't addressed directly, in the form of his various trips down the Memory Superhighway. But there were what, like five chapters devoted just to that? And remember the Third-Eye junkie in Storm Front that saw the shadow, so it's still following him.

Butters and Mort. Totally coming into their own. I see bad-assery in Mort's future, for sure. And Butters is the keeper of the port-o-geek. I wonder if Harry will take Bob back? Or decide that it's safer if Butters keeps him. There is the whole potential for catastrophic dark-side turning on Harry's part, which has always been a bit of a struggle for him, but I don't have any doubt that that's about to take on a whole new level of angst. Violent angst.

Murphy is breaking my heart. What's she going to do when she finds out Kincaid was a willing accomplice to Harry's ill-planned suicide? She's going to go batty. I also can't help but wonder if she and Harry will ever get to go on that date-- this tension between them has been killing me for YEARS. I come on! Poor guy gets lucky once in ten years and look how THAT turned out! The least the universe could do is let him indulge in a little honest tail once and a while. Timing?! Seriously?? OBVIOUSLY either one of them could die at any freaking moment, how about we stop worrying so much about TIMING???? GAH! Morons! I swear! And Murphy's got some serious Zen-work if she's going to take up the sword of faith.

And Daniel Carpenter... think he'll take up Ammorchius? He's got the potential, if it is a little raw.

I do not like how Thomas is getting thrown to the wayside. I don't think it's particularly out of character for him to be all angsty-Vamp about Harry's death, but I can't help but think that it felt cheap and like an afterthought. My only criticism.

Going back to the point that Harry's going to be engaged in this violent inner (sometimes outer, probably) conflict with his own super-sized demons, where's Maggie going to fit in? The Carpenters' is truthfully the safest place for her, but how's Harry going to live with her being an orphan, for all intents and purposes? He'd obviously never be able to be a normal dad. EVER. Even if he weren't the Winter Knight. His profession just doesn't lend itself well to being a single parent. But he should at least get to be a part of her life. Do you think that, with the love and support from the Carpenters, she'll be able to handle and understand who Harry is to her and why it is that he can't always be there? She seemed to handle it okay with Susan. I know that Susan got to spend a little time with her, but I don't remember, did Maggie know Susan as Mom? I think finding some balance with Maggie will, one, be very gratifying to me as a selfish reader that wants to see the undeniable cuteness that will inevitably come from Harry trying to be Mr. Mom; and two, it'll be a way for him to get some sort of cyclical closure about his own orphan baggage.

So uh... when's the next one coming out?????

I love how those spoiler tags condensed my essay into a single line, lol! :lol:

[Princess 35]

Wow, quite the essay there Pod

[Pandora 77]

...

...

...

Gee. Thanks for the enthusiastic commentary.

but thanks!

[Princess 35]

I had just woken up. That was pre-coffee

[Pandora 77]

Okay, now we're postcoffee. And I have begun rereading Storm Front for the... fourth(?) time. Trying to pay more critical attention to it so I can do another "essay." Yeah. I'm the nerd in English class that got excited about book reports.

[Pandora 77]

According to Jim-butcher.com, the next book is called Cold Days. Apparently, Changes, Ghost Story, and Cold Days are part of what Jim's calling an "apocolyptic trilogy" and then he'll get back to "case" books, like the first 11. *shrug* Not really sure how one goes back to life as usual after all this, lol.

[Princess 35]

Interesting. Anyways....

I knew that Kincaid had to be involved because of the way that Harry died, it was exactly how he was supposed to kill Harry. What I couldn't figure out was the how, which is why my jaw dropped and I had a HOLY sith! moment when I read the end of Chapter 49 and found out that Harry had arranged for his own murder and then had Molly erase his memory. Hopefully the council never finds out about THAT bit of mind mojo that Molly did.

[Pandora 77]

I don't think that they will find out. Granted, the Council has been half-assedly sniffing around for her; I guess they suspect her of being connected to Harry's death, but the Wardens are OBVIOUSLY really busy. I also can't see her punishment being that harsh with Morgan out of the picture now. If he was still alive, Molly would have already fallen to literal pieces. Once Harry comes back though, no harm no foul, right? But how are they going to react when it comes out that Harry's the Winter Knight? It's not against any of the laws, but it just won't sit well with the Merlin.

[Princess 35]

He's a crotchety old man with a stick shoved too high up his ass :p

[Pandora 77]

Well yeah. And now that

Harry's the Winter Knight

that stick is going to start spinning. Against the grain. Then he'll be a crotchety old man with splinters in his rectum AND a stick up his ass. He's going to be trigger happy. Which is probably a poor choice of words in reference to Harry. I bet he NEVER uses that phrase again....

[Pandora 77]

Found this on Butcher's blog...

I have to wait until Small Favors comes out in paperback. But I am catching on the first nine books. Tell me, Jim, why do I get the impression that by the time book 20 comes out Harry Dresden is going to be a wizard, warden, Knight of the Cross, head of the Chicago Police Department's Arcane Forensics Division, Guardian of at least 5 different fallen angels, friend to foo dogs everywhere, mommy to the Prince of the Cats, healer of vampires, King of Faery, a saint in three flavors of Christianity and two of Islam, a prophet of God, a bhodavista, an avatar of five different Hindu gods (including two different versions of Krishna), and understudy to the Archangel Michael?

Probably because Harry Dresden is just that awesome.

Also, by book 20, he will still not have gotten laid.

Poor guy, has to make do with sex instead.

[Princess 35]

LOL!

[Pandora 77]

Golly gee I'm such a nerd. One of these days I'll find something normal to self-medicate with, like booze. Till then...

Storm Front, analyzed.

Harry's Character

The overall portrait of Harry in his introduction is a tall, skinny man who is (apparently) beginning to feel his age; as a wizard we see he's been trained and seems to have a bit of raw power but isn't particularly confident in his abilities. This general lack of confidence also translates into some low self-esteem (he really beats himself up for things that weren't necessarily his fault). He's also established as socially awkward in his interactions with Susan. He's selectively secretive about his powers and the arcane in general, especially to Murphy. It's obvious he's a fairly simple man in more ways than one (tastes and intelligence). We also know there's more to his past than we see right off the bat. He's killed before (with magic), yet he clearly sees black magic as repulsive and perverse. We also know that the wizard that trained him was evil and that is who Harry killed in self-defense (supposedly). Practically speaking, he's obviously down on his luck; being a private investigator that advertises himself as a wizard can't possibly be great for business. He is, however, attracting all kinds of attention; the dabblers and such know him by sight and reputation, Chicago PD finds him useful if a bit of a PR liability, and the mob is evening taking notice. The White Council is established as the elite of the elite when it comes to magical ability, and we know that Harry is a part of the Council for his power and skills. This doesn't really track with his low self confidence levels; we can expect to see his power grow as his character develops and unfolds.

Significant Other Characters

Murphy - Every good mystery needs a hot shot cop. Karrin Murphy is Dresden's precise physical opposite: cute, short, blond, in excellent shape, totally normal. Pretty much everything that Harry isn't. She's set up as the director of Special Investigations, a job, we're told, is like the last step to career demise. We're not sure what's happened, but we know she's either messed up in the past or gotten on someone's bad side. It is Chicago, after all, so neither is a stretch. Her partner is Carmichael, who we see does not like Harry at all. Murphy obviously works very long hours, probably a symptom of her job's impending doom. We also know she's been married and divorced at least twice. We're not sure if she has kids, but there's no reason to assume so. On the contrary, she seems so career-driven, she probably doesn't have kids; she may not even want them.

Susan - A reporter for The Arcane, which we're led to believe is about as good a read and reliable as National Enquirer. She chases Harry around looking for a story, so we can see she's got some sort of knowledge of the supernatural. Probably just enough to get herself into trouble.

Monica Sells - The sketchy client. She's skittish and turns out she's the batter wife of Victor Sells. We're never sure what Monica's real name is.

Bob - Bob the skull is the snarky, ghostly lab assistant that Harry keeps in his sub-basement. He is obviously a big part of comic relief and a serious horn dog.

Villains and Shady people

Morgan - Morgan is Harry's Warden, assigned by the White Council to watch Harry to catch him breaking another Law of Magic, since he was put on "accelerated probation" for killing his old teacher. Morgan is, frankly, quite the annoying psychopath. He's a terrible inconvenience and a bit of a jerk. Not only that, but his dialogue borders on the intellectually deficient. He plays the part of an antagonist but isn't a villain per se. Doesn't mean that he's a good person to trust.

The White Council - All we know is it's a "bunch of crotchety old men" that happen to be wizards, and most of whom happen to hate Harry as much as Morgan does. They don't really sound like the benevolent bunch that their name implies.

Gentleman Johnny Marcone - King of the Chicago mob. He's the guy that Chicago just hates to love. He's a bad guy, for sure, but he's the lesser of the collective evils. There is a kind of honor among his thieves that apparently was sorely lacking before he came to power.

Victor Sells - A cocky little sorcerer that developed the ThreeEye drug and tried to encroach on Marcone's territory. He got off three spectacularly gruesome kills (with some intense concentration and effort, mind you) before he ultimately bit the dust.

Key Relationships

Harry and Murphy - Rocky. We're given to believe that Murphy and Harry are pretty good friends, they kid with each other some, but there is definitely some trust lacking here. No wonder; Harry's keeping all kinds of things from her, intending to protect her (or maybe himself). She obviously likes him enough that his secrets really do hurt her. Maybe she's trusted someone before and gotten burned? Could this be why her butt's constantly on the line at work? She knows that Harry is a valuable asset, but doesn't really understand why. She's taking a lot of crap for trusting him and calling him in on cases. The obvious solution to the rockiness between these two is for Harry to just come clean. At least tell her that there are things he can't share about his side of the block; maybe he can regain her trust.

Harry and Susan - With Susan, Harry is shown to be a complete moron when it comes to women. I think most readers are pulling for Harry on this one, that Susan's not just after a story. She's obviously got no idea what she's gotten into with Harry, but she seems to take it pretty well in stride. Or maybe she does know; she was the one that fainted after soul-gazing Harry, after all.

Harry and Morgan - No love-fest here. Morgan hates Harry for reasons we can only begin to understand. That seems to be okay, because Harry isn't exactly the president of Morgan's fan club either.

Harry and Marcone - Interesting. Marcone purposefully coerces Harry into a soul-gaze, which tells us that he has some sort of knowledge of what else is out there. It's apparent that these two are going to get thrown together (as enemies or allies, still hard to tell) at some point in the future. It's also apparent that neither is particularly happy about that.

Plot Points

Storm Front is really more about introducing us to Harry and setting him up as the (basically) good guy. We've got Monica Sells who hires Harry to find her husband Victor who turns out (conveniently enough) to be the bad guy responsible for ruining Murphy's week. It's implied that doing something like harnessing thunder storms to fuel a spell is rather reckless and crazy thing to do, yet Harry does it without thinking twice. If he had thought twice, he probably would have died, and that would make for a boring story.

Foreshadowing

A few things… there's the crap Harry catches over his coat (it'll be replaced); the ThreeEye junkie that sees the shadow of He Who Walks Behind; We know the crap with Bianca is going to escalate; there's obviously more to come with Susan.

Jim Butcher - The Writing

Let's be real. This was the first novel that Butcher got published EVER. It's pretty darn good, considering. There's obvious room for improvement and development in style and language. The story reads just a little awkwardly, which can be attributed to the introductory nature of the story, finding the groove, and thus forgiven (so long as it improves later, which it does).