I hated Fool Moon. Hell If it wasn't for awesome take on of werewolfs I would have dropped the whole series there. Why? Because Murphy thats why. Harry says she is his best friend several times but we never see it. She constantly lashes at Harry for no reason several times.

Weakes book IMO.

 

Yeah... Seriously, the scene where she punches him was just WTF. Should've sent her flying through the room with magic. We should write this whole essay on how Harry's friendship is just a big Stockholm syndrome thing.

I liked the werewolves and Marcone is always a big plus... But as a whole, the book was pretty weak.

 

I like how everyone who bitches about Murphy in the early books just brushes over everything Dresden did wrong. It's not like trust is a two-way street or anything; it's fine that Harry covers up details of murders, works behind her back without telling her anything about why, publicly associates with the mafia without giving her any reason, takes actions that result in deaths without explanation, burns down buildings, and keeps her ignorant of major league dangers 'for her own good.'

People bitch about how Murphy wasn't a good friend* as if Harry was a shining paragon of trust and friendship himself.

*Ignoring the multiple times she saved his life in FM, despite everything.

 

Well, he's not allowed to tell her about lots of the magic stuff. She acts like her authority is the only one that is relevant, which I find to be pretty arrogant. Plus, Harry sure as hell never lashes out physically at her.

Obviously this is all colored from the fact that we read from Harry's point of view.

 

Keeping in mind that, at that point in the books, she knew sweet, sweet fuck all about the White Council and such, she had no reason to believe her authority, as a fucking police officer investigating numerous murders, was not the only one he was answering to.

That aside, it was poorly written, and even JB admits that. It was not organically told; Jim shoved in things he wanted to do and show, and built a more-or-less awkwardly structured story around it.

So, yeah, Fool Moon, bottom of the list for me, too. Dead Beat probably comes out number one, because zombie dinosaur (see the avatar?). Most of the early Fae adventures sit lower on the post, too, like Summer Knight, though the more recent ones like Proven Guilty sit higher. Every tale with Denarians is near the top.

As for Ghost Story, which I think we can agree is just about the most divisive piece of the canon... I liked it. I enjoyed the change of pace, I liked seeing the actual impact Harry has had on people (and conversely, the lack of Harry) and the details of the backstory with Justin. I liked seeing other people stepping up and growing a few pairs, and "Be" is my favourite spell in the entire series.

 

Ghost Story isn't bad, as such, it's just different. The parts with Sir Stuart were boring as hell, but there were some really great stuff too. The book I'm most disappointed in is still Cold Days, which for all it's awesome reveals kinda left me cold (heh) for all the stuff in between.

 

I know what you mean. Cold Days felt like a call back to the early books, for some reason... like Harry had just started a New Game +. He was being manipulated by bigger forces that hopelessly outclassed him, he was on the outs (or at least not super-friendly) with the law, and was back to keeping secrets from his friends...

I think that's what was most frustrating about it: for all the development he went through in the last bunch of books, it felt like a reset of his character, which, especially after Ghost Story, I did not want to see.

 

I didnt mind Cold days. When Harry froze and blew up the Winter Noble... win, showed he can play the big games.

 

I really wanted to see a follow-up to all the character development Molly went through in Ghost Story. Seriously, that girl needed a hug so bad. Then it just kinda skipped over that, which I thought was bad.

And obviously Harry needs to hook up with Molly and stop going after fucking Murphy.

 

You know, the main guy doesnt have to be in a relationship. Its perfectly fine for a guy not to have a partner.

 

I'm not saying Harry will never fuck Molly, but...

Just out of curiosity, Zeel, how into fucking your best friend's daughter would you be? I mean, I'm not making a suggestion here, I'm truly curious. Especially if you had 15 years or so on her? Would you ever be able to? Or would it just be a countdown to her 18th birthday? That is the dilemma facing Harry, and his way of dealing has been to never even consider it.

 

Well, none of my friends are old enough to have kids. They've only just started. As such, I can't really say, but obviously, it's a huge no-no.

Unless you're Shezza. And I'm not.

So obviously I understand why Harry wouldn't do it. It's icky as hell and I doubt it'll ever happen. Mostly, I just feel sorry for Molly and I've always been a sucker for doomed romances.

 

Interesting theory, bro.

 

Having just reread the entire series over the past few weeks, I can put the entire series in order, from best to worst.

1. Turn Coat
2. Small Favor
3. Dead Beat
4. Death Masks
5. White Night
6. Proven Guilty
7. Ghost Story
8. Cold Days
9. Changes
10. Grave Peril
11. Storm Front
12. Blood Rites
13. Fool Moon
14. Summer Knight

Yeah, I stand by Turn Coat easily being my favourite of the series, mostly because I've always really liked Morgan as a character, I thought the plotting was very tight, and that ending... damn.

As for the worst... yeah, I stand by how much I can't fucking stand Summer Knight. It's a really miserable book and it's always been a chore to read through, at least for me. And really, Cold Days and Changes bounce around when it comes to books I like but ultimately have way too many problems with them to be ignored. I'll admit part of it is because I really can't stand the Harry/Murphy ship, but as books they feel really rushed, cramming too much into plots that are already overloaded.

That's one of the reasons I like Ghost Story as much as I do - it was a breath of fresh air, it kept a reasonable pace, and I dug the flashbacks. More importantly, it kept Harry vulnerable and forced him to rely on his brain rather than increasingly ridiculous power-ups.

 

I can't thumbs up this post, so I'll requote it with this gif: