Only read if you have read the book:

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The one Question that I have is the following. The 7 seven words: And it is all your fault Dresden came from an Fallen Angel. Was it Lashiel? (and if so, the coin one or the one in Harrys head(Lash)?). Or an other fallen Angel? I not sure because while somethings speak for Lashiel, like that it is a lie and she is the master of deception and the only Fallen Angel that had direct contact with Harry, and that it would be difficult for an other Fallen Angel to speak to Harry without him having contact with his/her coin.There a few things speak against it:
Lashiel is described as a loner, with nearly no ties the other Fallen Angels. And while Turn Coat suggests that Nicodemus has some control over her (why else would he order her to stop Dresden) there are no signs that she has/had contact with the Black Council. It could be also possible that a other Angel/Demon was responsible for the lie because they somehow cheated and lieing doesn´t seem like a cheat for me, especially not if it came from Lashiel.
There is also the thing with the parasite that helped to keep Harry alive because i think that this description would pass ideally to Lash.After all she was/is living in his body and also has some strange connection with his soul.
What do you think... possible that we hear more from Lash in the next book or is it all wishful thinking of my part?

 

Well i tried to word so open as possible because I did not want to spoil the story if somebody like you read it.

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First, fear not the whole thing isn´t terrible important to the story it is more of a subplot and appetizer for the next book. The thing with the bold words was an accident: And it was all your fault, Dresden , is the correct phrasing.
And parasite is the wording from the book, which is why I am not sure if it means Lash or not. Like I said i think it does because it seems plausible but I could also project my wishes into that.

 

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"I will be the Winter Knight. I will be the most terrifying Knight the Sidhe Courts have ever known. I will send your enemies down in defeat and make your power grow. But I do it my way. On my terms. When you give me the task, I'll decide how it gets done - and you'll stay out of the way and let me work. And that's how it's going to be."

 

In a few books, he'll get out of being the Winter Knight,

 

Just finished the book - not the best Dresden, by far, but it introduces a LOT of new stuff in terms of spirits and what have you.

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There is somewhat of a loophole - Dresden forces Mab to accept him on his terms, which are pretty awesome.

As for your speculation, Erandil:

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I like to think it was Lash, as well, but why would Lash want him dead? Well, there are a few obvious reasons, but wouldn't Lash be more inclined to persuade him to take up her coin? I forget what happened to her coin, but Dresden dead is her done, isn't it? There's no reward in it.

 

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She wouldn't necessarily have to be trying to get him to kill himself - he's obviously a little less pure than he was, which is saying something, which would presumably be viewed as a good thing by any Fallen Angel. I doubt it was Lash - Lasciel, maybe. It would certainly be easier for her, although it seems more Nicodemus' style somehow. He's not definitively dead, is he? And his Fallen form was a shadow, if I remember correctly...As for the ultimate aim, there are possibilites, I think. Trying to get Dresden to kill himself is one, although that seems a little unlikely. Trying to get him to take up Lasciel's coin and miscalculating seems more likely to me.

So, more general statements. The big reveal was great, but something did feel off about it.

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I want to say a little retconnish, but that feels harsh.

As a whole, it felt strange - good, but strange. It was far more introspective than previous books;

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he reassesses pretty much his entire life, one way or another.

Tons of character development, although I'm not sure how much of it I like yet. I'll need to see where it goes from here.

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Harry learnt to kick ghostly ass pretty quickly, although I guess that can be handwaved by intuition and the fact that he's, y'know, a wizard. At least he still fucked up spectacularly on occasion though.

I think it's a grower, really. Not the best in the series, but far from the worst. I think I'll do a Changes/Ghost Story reread soon, see how it all matches up.

 

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Well there could also be two different Angels. The one who lies to Harry (Nicodemus?! or another Fallen because he seems also to be against the Black Council and would probably like Harry alive) and the Parasite (And like I said, I strongly suspect that this is Lash) who helps his body. What Uriel says makes me believe that Dresden's death was the goal of the lie.

 

Nasty spoilers.

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One thing of consideration is that according to Word of God, Nicodemus is still alive and scared of Harry. We also know that Nicks fallen takes the form of a living shadow, and the fallen that was responsible was described as a shadow like that. Not entirely sure how Anduriel could have gotten to Harry's head though.

Lasciel is the second and more obvious option. Harry implied in Changes that he could still summon the coin even though Lash is absent. If so, there is presumably somekind of link between the coin and Harry still. If so, that link could have allowed Lasciel to whisper to Harry. I doubt it was Lash. We know from WoG that Harry did "change" Lash in some way so whether she still exists or not, I doubt she would want Harry dead (corrupted maybe, but not dead). If anything, I would put Lash as the parasite that helped Keep Harry alive and say she is now completely separate from the actual Lasciel. Though I don't entirely understand the whole flow of blood thing. Maybe with Harry's soul missing, Lash was able to take over his brain sufficiently to keep the heart pumping or something.

As for the end itself, I hate the fact that its in many ways a cliffhanger again. What happens to all of Harrys friends who now think he is dead. If Mab is going to take him to the winter court in NN, how long is it going to be until Harry can tell everyone that he is alive. I could see Mab being spitefull and preventing Harry from contacting them due to his "disobedience". I also wonder about Mouse and Bob. Will Harry get them back, or are they going to stay where they are permanently. I like Butters and all but I wish Harry were to get Bob back.

More questions about Demonreach. It is pretty obvious now that it is going to have somekind of big role to play yet. I wonder what.

One rather odd thing was the evil!Bob. While I speculated that this was the case before I got the book, it does present a contradiction I think. In book 7, Harry gives the order to Bob to get rid of those memories permanently. Afterwards, Cowl gets access to the skull and turns Bob back to necro!Bob (countering Harrys earlier command), which could not have been an act since necro!Bob was able to instruct Cowl on how to perform the Darkhallow ritual. And yet here Bob claims that he permanently cut that piece off when Harry gave the order. If he had truly done so, there would have been no Kemmler memories for Bob to recall and he could not have told Cowl how to perform the Darkhallow. A mistake from Butcher? Or was Bob lying or something.

 

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I actually think that overall, this book would be a win for team evil, sure Corpsetaker had been killed and Harry was able to get Mab to let him work as the Winter Knight his way and not hers, but at a massive cost. Chicago got fucked up whilst he wasn't there, the Fomor are still around causing trouble, and of course, the many, many consequences of killing the Red Court.

Molly is almost at breaking point and although Harry coming back did help, she's gone through a lot in the 6 months he was gone, such as getting training from Lea and having to kill all of those people with magic. Sure they all deserved it, but as was stated in early books, killing with magic messes with your soul, and the fact that the only person she had to turn to afterwards was Lea...

And of course, who can forget the fact that Molly had to live with the guilt of helping to kill Harry and having to hide it from everybody. Harry meant everything to her, and what he did messed her up badly.

And the worst part of all of this is that Dresden now has to go back with Mab and he can't go and he can't go and help fix Chicago and his friends, or even go to them, to let them know that he's back. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Lea told Molly eventually, at a cost of course.

 

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It's 8 o'clock in the morning and I've just spent my whole night reading this book, so only a few thoughts.

Well, Kincaid as the killer was a good guess, but Dresden as a guy who hired him? Didn't see that coming. I liked that what Lea said to Harry about an identity of the killer was technically a truth about both of them.

Also, a big question? What Parasite? Lash? Or subconscious Dresden is really more than just fragment of his own mind?

Uriel is a boss. Screwing Mab in seven words or less.

Not surprised that he had problems with his name shortened to Uri, because El part of it means that he's from God. Which makes me wonder of that's what happened with Fallens, since they don't have a free will. Someone renamed them.

What I disliked was ending with Dresden once again dead in eyes of his friends. Dammit, I wanted to see their reactions when he is back alive and now I'm not even sure we will see it in the next book.

 

Is it worth dropping 15 bucks on or should I just wait until I can get it from the library?

 

Ghost Story rocks, if it is not my favorite it is close. I think we get more world building and thread tying together exposition then any book so far. The central mystery isn't as tightly plotted as some of the others have been (I think Summer Knight is still the best one on that score), but the reveal kicked me in the balls. Though in hind sight maybe should have seen it coming.

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As for the lie, since it takes place on Holly Ground (St. Mary of the Angels, previously relied upon to stop Denarians) I'm a little skeptical of it having been any of the Fallen of the Order of Blackened Denarii. Besides if Nicodemus had the major league talent of slipping thoughts in unnoticed, I think the Order would be much more like the major nation states of the White Council, then the mayhem causing pricks they are now. To my mind that leaves Lasciel, since Harry already let her in or some other Fallen like say the Prince of Lies. If it is Lasciel, perhaps by doing what he did to Lash Harry trapped some of the power that she needed to interact with the world?

As for the parasite, I'm in agreement that the best guess is Lash. Also how major league is Deamonreach? It certainly seemed like he is in the ball park of Lea if not Mab herself.

 

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Just finished and its now 6 AM so I'll only comment on one of the things that really stood out to me. Mab refers to Demonreach as "the old monster". Mab called something an OLD MONSTER. Oh Shit!

 

Why are you guys writing in spoiler tags? The thread is sitting in a forum marked "Spoilers".

Anyway, I think some people need to remember that Fallen =/= Denarian. The Fallen whispering in Harry's ear is, I think, a more generic Fallen. A rank and file fallen angel in the business of temptation and meddling. Like the angel of death was for the good guys.

It seems impossible that it be a Denarian, as they are tied to the coins.

 

Also, where in the books does it mention that holy ground gives protection against Denarians? I was under the impression that the human host acted as a meat shield for Fallen, or perhaps there is no need for it at all (doubt this due to holy ground's proven evil-fighting abilities).

Secondly, did no one else have the idea to have someone shut the graveyard gate and then ambush anyone who came to open it?

 

In previous books the plot has been about a driving mystery, with sub-plots about Harry changing and maturing. I think in GS the A-plot was Harry coming to terms with his past, his mistakes and his successes, and the B-plot was about protecting his friends - which turned out to kind of have nothing to do with finding who killed him.

The end has Harry in a much better emotional place, ready to argue with Mab and dictate terms to his theoretical mistress. He understands that he has a much greater role to play than as just one scruffy wizard-investigator-for-hire: everyone, right back to He Who Walks Behind, is trying to control or change him. GS ends, I feel, with Harry stepping up to the plate and accepting his destiny and agreed service as Winter Knight but refusing to surrender his character or humanity - the opposite of what he did last book (though we only found out about it this book) when he tried to cheat out of the deal.

Harry is displaying a new variation of courage and sacrifice: not only is he willing to die for his friends and the world, now he is taking up a role that threatens to warp him irreparably. In Changes Harry seemed to prefer oblivion to being Mab's servant and took the job only for a limited time (and with an escape clause) to save his daughter. Now, having seen his path behind and before, he sees he has more to give and more to do.

That's my feel of where GS ended. This book was about Harry rather than Harry's world. It wasn't the best DF book so far, but then it was quite a change in formula and I think it's a sign of Little Chicago growing as a writer that it worked at all.

 

Gah, yes, yes! Why didn't Harry tell anybody to close the fucking gate? I get that he was all wrapped up in himself this outing, but still, if the evil army is coming out the door... you close the door, no?


It wasn't the best DF book so far, but then it was quite a change in formula and I think it's a sign of Little Chicago growing as a writer that it worked at all.

:facepalm

A final side note: According to WoJ, Nicodemus doesn't have an alternate form; the whole shadow thing I made up for Broken Spirit.

 

I've several considerations about the Lash debate.

If she had whispered those words to him then maybe it was because she wanted to push him over the edge so he would choose a power to wield, she just thought it would be her Coin before the Winter Mantle.

Also, Wizards' bodies heal over time, nearly to perfection. So why wouldn't his brain, and thus the part that housed Lash, heal over time? Seems like you could make the argument that in time Lash should be reappearing.


Frankly I don't think it's Lash though. She's housed in his mind semi-willingly, or was at one point. And had been whispering to Harry's subconscious for years. Didn't seem as if she was breaking any rules there. But Harry willingly took up the coin, even if only to protect baby Harry. Not sure Uriel could've fought the choice Harry made there. So I don't see how it could be Lash who whispered.


As far as the parasite bit, I'm still pretty undecided on what I think that is.



Overall this was probably the only Dresden book I could put down and break from for hours without really worrying about wanting to read it right then and there. But I still really enjoyed the book. It opened up a lot. I'm disappointed in the White Council's handling of everything in this book but that's not too shocking I guess.

The Kincaid-hired-by-Harry hit was brilliantly done. I didn't see it coming from Harry at all.