Midlife crisis, divorce, remarried a younger woman. Got a new house.

Basically Dresden's next few years on paper.

 

Skin Game

Okay, last one for now.

Harry's been on the island for a year now, getting occasional visits from Thomas and Murphy. He's been having headaches again, which Demonreach - who Harry accidentally names Alfred, tossing around names like balls again - can 'scare' into being quiet. But this means he can't leave the island without being paralysed with pain. He mentions this to Alfred, who tells him to talk to Molly. Mab shows up and has a job for him. He almost tells her to fuck off, but she says that if he doesn't do as he's told, he'll be dead in three days because of those headaches, no matter with Alfred does. He agrees through gritted teeth, and she stabs him in the ear with an earring that'll hold it all in check, for a while. He still needs Molly's help with the psychosurgery, but at least he can go home for a while.

But not quite! Because this book is a multiple of five, the Denarians are back! And Nicodemus is calling in a favour from Mab, who has decided to make Harry do her dirty work - which, I guess, is technically the job he signed up for anyway with the whole mantle thing.

Mab makes it clear she knows Nic is playing her, and that she's playing back, but she also expects harry to play, too. But he notes that he'll need some bigger pieces. Skipping ahead a little, we find him recruiting Murphy to watch his back. This was generally seen as a questionable decision by everyone, including her, but he reasoning is actually sound - Murph has no mantles or demons or special powers to rely on, so she doesn't rely on them. As a result, she often has a clearer picture of things than the Supers.

Anyway, they meet Nic and his crew, who includes a new woman named Hannah - she's a warlock according to the White Council, who likes to set people on fire, especially the ones who rape her - and Binder, who we haven't seen since Book 11, and Harry warned to never come back to Chicago.

Inside the warehouse where Nic's 11 are meeting, there are goats in a pen, with no further explanation. This will be mentioned later.

Anyway, Harry and Hannah go to recruit another member of the team - Anna Valmont, the thief who took the Shroud of Turin 10 books ago (the one who survived, anyway) and bring her back. Harry gets shot in the process, but doesn't notice. This prompts Murphy to take him home and call in a favour from Butters, who has been suffering the same way that Martin did in his near-hero worship of Harry, as Harry hasn't been around for a year, and the Fomor are getting grabby with practitioners - and children. He patches Harry up, and notes that he hasn't even apologised to Andi for the beat down he handed her last year, and in fact starts their conversation by handing Butters a wooden carved skull to pay a debt. Like a Fae would.

Murph mentions that Waldo's been using Bob and trying to step into the void Harry left, but it's like Night Thrasher replacing Captain America. Anyway, after a brief rest, they all head back to the Warehouse and meet Goodman Grey, who is scary and fucking awesome without trying. His job is to impersonate someone, and Harry volunteers to help him get a blood sample he needs so that the guy doesn't end up dead. Unfortunately, Tessa - Deirdre's mother and Nic's ex, and sometimes partner - shows up and kills him anyway, screaming at Harry that something he hasn't even done yet is his fault.

Confused, angry, and with literal blood on his hands, feeling useless and a little broken, Harry wanders off and looks up when he stops moving. Turns out, he's wandered to Michael's house without even trying, and the former Fist of God helps him get his head on straight.

With a renewed sense of purpose - and himself - Harry heads back, and we finally find out that the team is going after the Holy Grail, in the Vault of Hades - and yeah, we're being literal, talking about the old Greek God. We also meet th elast member of Nic's 11 - the Genoskwa, a Bigfoot from Hell (not being literal this time). After knocking Harry around - rather effortlessly - he eats a goat and vanishes under a perfect veil. Then, an itch at the back of Harry's neck turns out to be a sixth sense triggering.

Butters has gone full on magical Batman with Bob's help, and was spying on Harry and Murphy, trying to figure out WTF they were up to. Harry, having to keep up appearances, gives chase, and Butters leads him and others to Michaels' house in middle of the pouring rain. Rather walkin' in Memphis, however, they're basically walking into a trap, as Nic and the Genoskwa catch up. in an effort to save Butters, Murphy finally draws Fidelacchius, and crazy enough, beats Nic in a sword fight. However, Nic tosses his coin aside and tells Biggy Big to crush Harry's skull - leading Murphy to make a serious mistake.

Acting on a personal feeling, rather than an attempt to stop evil, the Sword stops doing its thing, and its divine protection vanishes. Nic grapples with Murphy and wins - and then shatters the Sword of Faith. Ready to kill both Harry and Murphy, everything stops when Michael opens his door and offers himself in exchange for his friends. However, Uriel stops the rain and hands Michael both Amoracchius, the Sword of Love, and his own angelic grace, healing Michael's limp.

Stepping back from the confrontation, Nic allows Michael to take Murphy's place in the heist team, and he and Gen depart. With Murphy taken to hospital, Butters now in on the truth, and Michael off the bench, it's time for the real job to start. Returning to the warehouse, Michael makes efforts to help Nic's acolytes - young men he and Deirdre recruit and remove the tongues of. Heading out, the group break into a building owned by Gentleman Johnnie, then use the connection there to Hades' Vault, where Hannah passes one gate, Harry passes another, and Nic kills a willing Deirdre to pass the last. This last thing surprises the shit out of everyone, but then they're in. Anna V fills her backpack with diamonds and helps Harry find the grail, which curiously, is on display with a few other artifacts.

As he watches, however, Harry notices two things: the power coming of those artifacts is fucking enormous, and has destructive potential - they are weapons, not museum pieces - and that time has stopped. Hades wants a word.

A polite, friendly word, as it turns out. Though he offers Harry good luck, he advises that it is not his place to interfere now. Events - Big Events - are in motion, perhaps Events that happen on a cycle, if one reads between the lines, and the outcome each time must be determined by mortals. His Vault isn't a storage place for riches - it's an armory to hold weapons until they are needed.

Heartened by this, Harry returns to the moment he left, and tell Anna V to vamoose, after hiding the artifacts that aren't the Grail on both her and himself. Nic finds them, and after Harry goads him, throws the first punch in a showdown, ending Mab's obligation to the deal and opening the door for a Royal Rumble. It looks like 3-on-3, with Nic, Gen and GG vs Harry, Michael and Hannah, but then we find out Hannah has a coin - Lasciel. And big L has missed little H, the only person to ever so no to her. And she's pissed.

But all is not as it seems, because Harry, listening to Mab, decided to get sneaky way back at the beginning, and with a little help from Kringle, who is totally not Odin, hired Grey before Nic did. Harry, exploiting Hannah's anger, manages to bury her and Lasciel under several tons of rock, while Michael comes super close to killing Nic - the sneaky bastard only wins by using the Grail itself as a shield. Grey blinds Big Genny, and in the escape, Harry manages to crush it under a huge ice block. The result is... messy.

Escaping back to the real world, Nic decides he's done not taking shit personally, and makes a play to kill Michael's family. grey helps Harry get there just ahead of Nic and his young cronies, and a full on assault happens. Advantage goes back and forth, but ultimately, Harry's headaches come back, paralysing him, and Nic gets Charity by the throat.

This is when Butters steps the fuck up. He's done half-assing the hero thing, and recognising that there is no one else to do the Right Thing, he puts on Harry's coat, calls on Bob, and in the ultimate act of Faith, steps outside. Using Bob and a few tricks and devices, he manages to make some headway, but in the end, it is hopeless. Harry, nearly insensate, sees the hilt of Fidelaccius lying on the floor, and in an act of equal parts desperation and Faith, throws it to Charity...

...who whiffs it...

...letting Waldo Butters catch it. As Nic brings his sword down, the Sword of Faith is reborn, leaping to life in the form most familiar to Butters himself - a beam of light. Yeah, it's a lightsabre, and it is fucking glorious. Nic flees, his acolytes surrender - which Uriel later admits he was hoping would happen - and Molly arrives, saving Harry's head.

As we leave off, Harry is back in town, our heroes have survived, Grey admits he is part nagloshii, with the diamonds from the heist, Harry might actually be rich for the first time ever, and the Sword of Faith is back in play (which I'm sure Sanya will be delighted to hear), Murphy is in the hospital, possibly with life-altering injuries, but she's finally willing to give dating harry a try, and Molly can use a cell phone. So, some good with some bad.

And there we leave it, until this July.

 

@LittleChicago Is there a particular reason you skipped Cold Days?

If you don't feel like doing it that's cool. Obviously. I was just curious.

 

It's there. Same post as Ghost Story.

 

Check this link. It has small excerpt from peace talks.

 

So... Peace Talks has atrailer, pretty fun all around, also first chapter of peace talks as well.
I guess I need to reread the series.


Also an interview with Jim on youtube.

 

Look at the release date for book 17: Battle Ground.

Aww yis.

 

Well damn, if he is going to release 2 books in 3 months he might get back to his once a year update rate.

I know the next book planned was originally Mirror Mirror. Peace Talks must have grown too large and required an entire extra book.

Do you think GRRM could ever learn how to split a book and actually release both parts in a reasonable speed? No. No he couldn't

 

I suppose unlike other authors he decided that if he can't finish one book, he may as well start writing the next one. But it's only possible if you have a detailed plan for the whole series.

 

From one of the beta readers over on the Dresden Files subreddit:

"Jim set out writing 1 book. It got quite large, and he came to recognize that there were 2 plot arcs in a book twice the size of most DF books. So he split it up, edited the 2 arcs so they stood better alone, and now we have 2 stories back to back with their own books.

The trailer should give you a good grasp of the main plot arc of the first, and the name of the 2nd...

Sigh, I’ve been sitting on this info for over 5 months. Finally getting to discuss it, I’m afraid I may be saying too much... so I’ll stop there."

The description for Battle Ground:


THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS FOR HARRY DRESDEN, CHICAGO’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL WIZARD, in the next entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files.

Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.

But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.

Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

 

Now hold up.

What's this Titan shit about? It sounds cool and I'm excited for it but at this stage in the series do we need another enemy?

 

We are slowly reaching the big bad epic apocalyptic trilogy. We definitely need more enemy.

 

Oh come on, it's a Harry Dresden book.

Just look at @Todeswind 's stories. He wouldn't be Harry Dresden if he didn't piss off some new monster every year/book.

 

You say that, but we've had new enemies introduced in almost every book, up to and including the latest one.

Chances are the Titan will be the big and stupid threat while the real enemy is the one pulling its strings.

 

Also is that Harry screwing Lara Raith in that trailer while Murphy sits on the sofa moping?

That's it, @Jon has killed Jim Butcher and is writing fanfiction.

 

I'm pretty sure she's sitting on the sofa with a dremel eying her cast like it sold secrets to Wikileaks.

Are we seriously just going to gloss over the shot of Dresden and Marcone getting dressed together?

 

Yes, it was a shot in the video. A very, very, confusing shot.

 

Sharing 4 GB with my wife - on a Canadian data plan - I sympathise. The trailer is 2:18, including the reveal of the title for Book 17 (Battle Ground) and the stinger with Harry mumbling the Spider-Man theme song while hanging upside down; the Q & A video they did right after is an hour.