It's cool. I feel like a tool now - Fuego might have been the wrong word for Butcher to use there.

Any Spanish-speakers here? What is the right word to use when you telling someone to shoot a gun? I'm linguistically impaired.

 

I'm in denial, I want TimeTraverler!Dresden damnit!

 

Honestly, when I heard "Fuego" I figured it was some young wizard fresh out of his Apprenticeship who idolized Harry and went with his incantations.

The other thing makes more sense, though.

 

Hm. It'd be predictable if Mab pulled a Artemis from GoW.

I wonder how the Supernatural and the Accords are going to handle the Vacuum of power the Red Court had.

 

I was fully in love with the book from page 1. Almost every chapter was a callback to something from the past, and we got to see tons of old faces. It was like a high school reunion or something. This was almost my favorite Dresden novel until we got to the climax and he took up the mantle of the WK. That was something I never wanted him to do. I've just never been big on that idea. At least he held out for eight years on saying yes, I guess. Not too big on the cliffhanger either. It would've been fine if another book was coming out this year, but to wait another year for a conclusion blows.

Favorite character, hands down, was Lea. The godmother brought the funny. She was killing me when they were in Mexico.

And I'm glad the war with the Reds is over. It's telling that Harry started this entire war over protecting Susan, and it ended by her dying at his hand. He's come a long way. I wouldn't have said it before Changes, but I can easily see him going darkside now.

 

Got it today. Read through it.

...

I don't even know. I'm just fucking... that last page. God dammit, that last page. I don't know what to think.

 

The only thing I didn't like about it was the little hints sprinkled throughout the early pages of him taking up the Winter Mantle. I feel like it would have had more of a 'brought on by desperation' feel to it if it had come out of nowhere. That cliffhanger, while awesome, sucks. It's fairly obvious he'll live somehow, so what I'm really curious about is who fired the bullet.

Murphy and Lea were both the shit, but I've never got into the whole Murph-hate thing. Always liked her. Props to Butcher for making me feel something when he killed off Susan. I hated her, but when Harry did his thing, I actually felt sad.

 

Amazing job even though the cliffhanger is a bitch. Serious question though:

Spoiler

Iirc, after the death of a Knight, the power of the mantel is returned to the queen. If he was killed by a mortal, as it appears was likely with a gunman, would he even have the chance to fulfill his end of the bargin? I'm going with the assumption that he actually dies, and pulls a Deus Ex. Thoughts?

 

While possible, it's much more likely that he simply doesn't die. We'll find (probably) in Side Jobs, but it's much more likely that something about the train sound at the end will allow him to survive. No ideas on what though, beyond a vague guess of it being related to the gem and his mother's final gift.

 

Awesomeness. Picked it up today and read it straight through. Overall I'm happy with it, but it will take some more time for me to digest it before I come with any actual criticisms of it.


:awesome/:awesome

 

What do you mean by vessel? A strange term.

According to Bob, the power snaps back to where it comes which generally means only a queen of that court, though the end of SK tells us that all the powers of the 4 major figures of a court are close enough to qualify.

So normally when a knight dies, the power just goes to the nearest queen, and no one else. Which makes sense since otherwise each time a knight dies, your average random faery could suddenly get a major promotion. Can you imagine Toot-toot the winter knight for instance.

So since Harry is the winter knight, upon his death the power would go back to either Mab, Maeve or Mother Winter and no one else.

What is interesting that apparently this works with the power of the queens too, and the knight who is carrying power basically the same (if in far lesser quantity) is also a candidate for the power transter. We saw this in SK when Aurora (Summer Lady) died very near to Lily (the summer knight) and her power went to Lily (who at that point had not yet chosen and was still a changeling) rather than Titania. I bring this possibility up because it suggests that if either Maeve or Mab were to die right next to Harry while he still had the title, then Harry would get ALL that power.

Harry Dresden, King of Air and Darkness has a nice ring to it.

 

Got it yesterday, read it yesterday promptly fell asleep.

Amazing, easily the best book in the series in my opinion.

I loved the part in the limo with Lea, Susan, and Harry. But I think my favorite part is when Dresden and Mab meet at the table and he pretty much said sure, dont make me Winter Knight after begging all this time, Nicodemus and Lasciel wont turn me down, Dark Hallow might be a bitch to accomplish in this state but Ill find a way.

This book also managed to do something I would have never thought possible yesterday when I woke up. Redeem Murphy. Murphy kicked as much ass in Mexico as anyone and did it with a fucking sword, not big spells or a fancy staff.

This might have been said before but I dont wanna read through 4 pages of the thread.

 

I'm going to say this much: I have to hand it to Butcher for having the balls to actually change things for his main character. 11 books of the same basic formula... suddenly gone. Not that it was ever a bad formula, but it seemed Harry's life moved in a fairly consistent cycle. Now, though... it's like Crisis on Infinite Earths: "Things Will Never Be The Same!"

So, kudos to Jim.

Also, ending = epic.

Dammit, just realised what was bugging me about this book: a teeny, tiny inconsistancy with Proven Guilty. Here, Harry says he's never crossed over to the Nevernever saide of his lab before. In PG, while Charity is waiting in his apartment, after Murphy arrives, he says he tried scrying for Molly from the Nevernever side. Unless I'm getting my books confused...

 

He doesn't actually use a tracking spell from within the Nevernever, just says that he'll have to once they get through the movie theater screen.

 

I's not Proven Guilty I'm thinking of, then... Damn. I just know there's a passage somewhere that has Harry coming out of the lab and telling someone that tried a spell from the Nevernever side.

Fuck, this is going to bug me until I find.

 

He could mean he hit up some contacts from the Nevernever.

 

Turn Coat when trying to magically track Thomas who has been kidnapped by the skinwalker. This discussion with Murphy happens in a police station.

However it is never said that he goes to Nevernever from his lab. He could easily have used any of the more common places to enter NN, such as the one he uses when he intents to go to Edinburgh. So unless this is not the one you are thinking off, there is no inconsistency.

 

Just found it myself, and yes, it's what I was thinking of. And while we could get technical, back on page 210, Chapter 29 starts with: "Two hours and half a dozen attempted tracking spells later," Harry is still in his lab, trying to find Thomas. While he could have up and left, I have no idea why he would have - especially with Ana, Morgan and Molly upstairs.