One of the most annoying things about the DF series is all the short stories, spread across multiple anthologies. Some of the stories have vital plot points, others are just fluff. Over the last two months I have read all of the DF series, books and short stories. Full spoilers below, with rating, important plot points, read time, world building points ect.


In summary, I feel most of the short stories are pretty poor, not very interesting and don’t have much world building. But a few of them, are very good, and some are vital to understand the story… which is not great.


Fell free to ask any questions or details. In my opinion where is only 4 must read stories. A Fistful of Warlocks, as it is really good. Even Hand, Aftermath and Bombshells as they give A LOT of info on the Formor, more than is in the real books. I am making another post with everything we have on them in a bit.




* Fistful of Warlocks, 9/10, 30 min read, Prepreprepre Storm Front

Set in mid 1800's in the “Wild West”, featuring Warden Luccio while she hunts down a warlock. Teams up with the dark Faere and a Venatori. Ends up fighting 5 necromancers, encounters Kemmler and Grevane (From Dead Beat). Great story, well-paced. Good world building but not vital to the core story.


* Restoration of Faith, 2/10, 30 min read, pre Storm Front

The first time Harry meets Karrin. Some mild back story to the both of them and this is the story Harry mentions in Ghost Story when he meets up with Nic Angle. Story is Harry and his PI mentor trying to find a kidnapped girl who ends up being a run away from rich parents. There is a WOJ that the girl Faith will show up again in the last trilogy, so maybe important later. Overall weak story.


* Welcome to the Jungle, Graphic Novel, 30 mins, 4/10, Pre Storm Front

Harry goes to the zoo and story a trio of Hags from doing a fairly high-power ritual (kinda like a Darkhollow) that would give them a significant power boost. Harry saves the day and the life of a Gorilla that had been framed for murder. No Big relevance to meta story.


* Ghoul Goblin, Graphic Novel, 30 mins, 4/10, pre Grave Peril

Harry goes down to the South to investigate some going-ons. Runs across a family of Ghouls (The ones we see in Peace Talks). Average story, no huge impact to meta story aside from introducing Ghouls.



*** Big foot trilogy +1*** First *B is for Bigfoot* set pre Grave Peril, second *I was a teenage bigfoot* is Pre Proven Guilty, Third *Bigfoot on Campus* is Pre Changes, with a micro story set pre Peace Talks.

2/10, 2.5 hour read.

Story follows the BigFoot River Shoulders (Seen in Peace Talks), hiring Harry to watch over his half human son on three different occasions. Good kid, huge, strong, very nice. Ends up with a pre turned White Court GF who can feed on him all she can without killing him due to his half/half nature. So, she hasn’t turned into a full WC vampire much to her Dads displeasure. Last we hear is the micro story with them taking a job and moving to Chicago. So far no relevance to meta plot aside from introducing River Shoulders and seeing a bit of just how badarse they are in terms of magic and power. Although hinted they will show up later. Very weak stories.


* Publicity and Advertising, 1/10, 5 minutes, pre Blood Rites

A very short blurb story, Harry and Bob writing Harry Yellow Pages add. Pointless.


* War Cry, Graphic Novel, 30 mins, 4/10, Pre Proven Guilty

Harry and some Wardens are on mission and under attack by some RC vampires, they are trying to get to an outsider to use in their war. Gives a bit more depth to the RC war but not vital reading. Some Carlos and Harry action taking on a fairly high ranked RC noble.


* Something Borrowed, 30 mins, 3/10. Pre Proven Guilty

Billy and Georgia (Alpha Werewolves), are getting married. Maeve sends her side bitch Jenny to abduct Georgia and pose as her to marry Billy and ensnare him. Gets serious, Murph gets drowned and needs CPR from Harry (she even mentions this in Small Favor). Billy and Georgia kill Jenny. Harry settles the debt with Maeve in Small Favor. Not hugely important to meta story, but builds on the characters.


·* Mike, 5 minutes, 2/10, Pre Small Favor

Harry brings the Blue Beatle into Mike for repairs after a giant own tears holes in it, shows Mike doesn’t believe any of the shit Harry says happens to him.


* Downtown, Graphic Novel, 30 mins, 4/10, Pre Small Favor

Harry and Johnny Marcone end up in Undertown together working the same mission. Not relevant but some interesting interaction between them.


* Its my Birthday, 30 mins, 8/10, Pre Small Favor

Starts off silly with Harry getting something for Thomas for his Birthday, ends up with a new BC vampire attacking a group of her old friends/bullies. Not relevant to meta story at all, but a fun read and I love anything to do with the BC. A bit of world building as well.


*Heorot, 30 mins, 8/10, Pre Small Favor

Harry gets called by Mac that a young bride has gone missing from Beer festival. Harry ends up teaming up with Ms Gard to take down a Grendelkin, a halfblood child of A Bigfoot and Human. Very nasty fight, some cool scenes with Ms Gard and shows what she can do and her history. Also gives a bit of insight to what happens in Peace Talks.


* Harrys Day off, 30 mins, 6/10., Pre Turn Coat

Fun silly story. A day off for Harry but a bunch of small annoying things happen. I enjoyed the wanna be Goth kids pretending to be wizards throwing a smoke ball at Harry. Also a scene with Kirby and Andy, giving a bit more weight to his death next book, is also reference in Skin Games when Mister doesn’t like Andy.


* Backup, 20 mins, 3-7/10, Pre Turn Coat

Odd story, from Thomas POV. Turns out he and Laura are REAL Venatori, fighting the Oblivion war. Destroying all reference to the truly bad Old Ones. Once they are forgotten, they lose power. The Venatori that is mentioned in the book, is another group, founded by these guys as a smoke screen. The story is Thomas saving Harry from a plot by some evil coven of lizard women without getting caught. Shows Thomas can actually do some low-level magic (Tracking spells). The story itself is poor, but I get the feeling it could be very relevant later.


* The Warrior. 30 mins, 5/10, pre Turn Coat

A rouge member of the Church tries to take Harry out and kidnaps one of Michaels Kids. He thinks the Swords have been given to Harry wrongly and Harry is tricking them with Black Magic. We see Michael post his injuries. We get a nice conversation with Harry and Uriel about how he works. An ok story but not great.


* Curses, 30 mins, 4/10, Pre Turn Coat.

Harry is hired to investigate the Billygoat curse on the Cubs. He ends up traveling to meet the king of Tylwyth Teg (Who's head is thrown at Mab in Peace Talks). These are one of the ancient enemies of the Formor. Harry chooses to leave the curse up, and watches a game with the King. Some interesting world building and kinda relevant to Peace Talks.


* AAAA Wizardry. 20 mins, 4/10, Pre Turn Coat

Harry is teaching a class of Wardens about how to investigate. Follows him telling the story of one of his cases fighting a Bogart. Not hugely relevant.


* Last Call, 30 mins, 4/10, Pre Turn Coat

A Spell is put on Macs beer causing a massive fight, and it is about to be served at a big sporting event. Turns out to be ancient Greek people wanting to bring back the good old days, claim they are responsible for soccer riots in Europe and want to bring the fun to USA. Harry tells them no.


* Wild Card, 2/10, Graphic Novel. Pre Turn Coat

Puck (A midsummers night dream) Comes to Chicago to cause chaos with Marcone and White Court. Harry says no.


* Dog Men, Graphic Novel, 3/10, Pre Turn Coat

Harry and Listens to Wind team up to take on a group of wolf/dogmen and Ghouls. Aside from the interaction with Listens, it’s not that great.


* Journal, 1/10, 5 minutes, Set during Turn Coat

Warden Donald Morgans last journal entry, and first in several decades. Left as evidence for Luccio, stats he was a cunt to Harry on purpose to keep testing him, to see if he was good or bad. I hate this as it makes everything, we know about Morgan void. He did what he did as a test, and he was kinda friends with Margret LeFay. Also said he tried to get to Harry when his Dad died, but someone got to him first (Probably Justin) and made him disappear into the system. Shows why no one from the Council went to get Harry, they couldn’t.


* Even Hand, 8/10, 30 mins, Pre Changes

First real look at the Formor, I consider this a must read. I am doing another post on everything we learn about the Formor.

Justine escapes the Formor, asks Johnny Marcone for sanctuary. He grants it as there is a child involved. The Formor attack in force, patchwork beasts and a top level wizard. Johnny and Ms Gard/Hendricks win but only just. Some cool bits with Ms Gard and Marcone.


* Love Hurts, 2/10, 30 mins, Pre Changes.

Harry and Murph investigate a series of odd murder/suicides. Turns out a Red Court Vampire is fucking with people to force love. Keeps the herd strong and fucks with the WC vampires. Harry and Murph have some relationship moments.


* Goodbye, 5 minutes, 5/10, Set during Changes.

Shows Kincaids side of the call when Harry asks him to kill him. Ivy fires him when he leaves on the mission.


* Aftermath, 8/10, 30 mins, set hours after Changes.

Georgia (Who is pregnant) and Andy are kidnapped by the Formor, Marci is first mentioned as coming back. This is actually pre-shadowing to the love triangle in Peace Talks. Murph, Billy and Marci assault the Formor, Murph takes out a fairly high-level guy and several others. Ms Gard offers Murph a job, she says no.


* Bombshells, 8/10, 30 mins, post Ghost Story. (Most details in my Formor post)

Molly POV. Lea tricks her into infiltrating the Svartelves HQ to save Thomas along with Andy and Justine. She ends up stopping a major Formor attack that may have killed hundreds of thousands and everyone there. ITs what got her the apartment and credit with Svartelves.


* Cold Cases, 6/10, 30 mins, Pre Skin Games

Molly POV. Her first mission for Winter. We learn a decent amount about her job, and the winter court. She is sent to collect tribute from a tribe of Winter Fae up in Alaska. Turns out the town as been infiltrated and the Fae attacked, by a former fishing vessels crew who have been taken over mentally and physically, by some form of Old Ones locked under the ocean. Molly and Carlos take them out and save the kids. It turns out the children are the tribute. The winter ladies’ job is to replenish the ranks of winter to fight the war with Outsiders. It also is shown Molly has many of the same impulses Harry does in terms of the mantle. It physically stops her talking about anything Winter related with out striking a “deal”. If she tries to it comes out as flirty shit. At the end of the story she and Carlos go to shag, and Molly blacks out after wasting Carlos, bones showing, blood everywhere, the works. Mab tells her that being the Lady she can’t be with child and thus have sex, or so it seems. Its also shown Molly has instinctive, knowledge of Winter Law. She instantly can find info on all Winter Subjects, its laws and customs ect. Mab suggests she meditates for some time every day to learn this. I wonder if Harry has this but hasn’t realised, or since he hasn’t embraced the mantle, if that’s why he doesn’t know. Bit of a plot hole maybe? Shows off Molly’s new power and role. Must read.


* Jury Duty, 3/10, 30 mins, Pre Peace Talks.

Harry has been summoned for Jury Duty, it turns out Marcone pulled some strings to get him put on the case of one of his former guys who is set up for a crime. He killed a WC Vampire from Malvora who was taking a child. This guy stepped in and killed him, and the WC wanted him put away, but Marcone wanted justice and new only Harry could solve the case, which he does. Some minor world building and Harry/WC interaction.


* Day one, 3/10, 30 mins, Pre Peace Talks.

Butters first job as Knight of the Cross, shows his training with Michael and mentions he has been going HARD in training. Continues with his nerdy/knight thing as he literally gets a mission by a large yellow ! showing above a homeless person. He asks Harry for help who says no, a KOTC can handle it solo. He does into the hospital and takes down a manifestation of a children’s bad dreams. Tries to flesh out Butters and his position in the story.


* Zoo Day, 2/10, 30 mins, Pre Peace Talks.

Harry, Maggie and Mouse go to the Zoo for their first real day out, shown three times from each of their perspectives. Harry goes to talk to a 13 year old Warlock who is in the zoo randomly summoning things from the Nevernever, Harry goes to talk to him and mentor him a bit as he is not to far gone.

Maggie…. What a fucked up story this is, it turns out children have their own micro demons to deal with, that everyone does when little and then forgets about. We know they are real as Mouse can sense them as well but knows he is not allowed to intervene. Shows Maggie and Mouse have done their very own monster fighting and Maggies again confronts a group of them trying to torture her with bad memories. She wins.

Mouse end up finding and fighting his Big Brother. One of the other temple dogs, the biggest of the pack who Harry didn’t save. It turns out this dog has been pushing the Warlock and the children demon to attack Harry and Maggie. Mouse fights him to a draw the big brother retreats. A very very odd story. We see some more of Mouses power, animal communication and the fact that he can literally project good luck. Making small good things happen around him.


* Monsters, 6/10, Pre Peace Talks, 20 mins

Marcone Hire Goodman Grey to take out a rival who opened a Brothel in his territory, a brothel using Children. Grey and his assistant take down the Brothel for $1 to pay the rent and ask Harry for help with the children. Bit of character interaction, but nothing vital.


* Christmas Eve, 5/10, 10 mins, Post Battle Ground

Shows Harry at the Carpenter House trying to build a bike for Maggie, talks to Michael, Mab and Kringle. Shows Harry trying to deal/not deal with the aftermath of Battle Ground.

 

You are a god amongst men for doing that write up, thanks

Just have to absolutely WTF at this. I get that Butcher has set it up that powers often take the form you believe they will, but a "sidequest here" ! over a homeless dude? Thats stretching it a bit far...

 

Yeah it is very jarring. There is a scene where he talks to Michael about it, Michael said he used to get the call while in Prayer or in silence, a name or a face would appear to him. He said God sends messages to each person in their own way.

I will say after reading the story again, I find the lightsaber if the of the cross a bit less annoying. Especially after reading Butcher explain his thoughts on it. Butters is still a grating character though.

 

I loved Zoo Day personally. Mouse being fat was funny as hell.

 

Yes, I definitely got a few giggles from that too. I listened to the audiobook of that story and I really enjoyed the narration and character voice from Mouse’s perspective.

I personally thought that the most intriguing part of Zoo Day was the implication made by Mouse’s brother, his “Shadow”, when Mouse realized that

Spoiler: Spoiler

Maggie was his brother’s primary target and that he likely planned to abduct her. He tells Mouse, “I care nothing for your broken wizard” and then states, “I find her future interesting, as do my associates.”

 

I really want to see a Mouse training montage now as he gets back into shape. Even better if it's not from his perspective, just Dresden or another character walking by and doing a double take as he's pushing cars around a driveway only for him to be acting innocent as they look back.