I would probably agree with you, but I have gone to great lengths to eliminate the existence of all three prequel movies from my memory, so I cannot honestly do so.

 

Read the whole thing in one go yesterday. Gave it a day to digest.

This was my favorite of the series so far. Mainly, mainly, because I never got bored and legitimately did not know how it was going to end. I LOVE the ending, and am really freaking excited about the next book. I have more to post, but it's late and I'm tired. So I'll leave it with that - this, IMO, is the best Dresden book in the series so far.

 

So, first post here, though I've been lurking for quite a bit. I was gonna post (eventually) in the Intro section, but then it had to go and get closed...pity, that.

Anyway, there seem to be a number of differing opinions here on Ghost Story but honestly, I loved it. My first impression was that it was a much needed catharsis after the adrenalin-fueled apocalypse that was Changes. I mean, in the grand scheme of the Dresden Files, the "villain" was relatively small compared to the faerie wars, vampire throwdowns etc. we've become used to; Harry might not have even come to Chicago if Jack Murphy hadn't slipped in that half-truth about the whole three deaths thing. This book was a lot more introspective and FINALLY, to me at least, had Harry grow up mentally, not just his powers (like taking the time to think about his strategy instead of just rushing in).

This book did seem to be a bit more of a "bridge" novel - I mean, Cold Days is going to be so epic on so many levels I can hardly think about it, but it was only thanks to the buildup of this book. Winter Knight Harry is going to be awesome and the way he dealt with Mab was :awesome, though for a second there I thought she might just decide 'to hell with it' and pull a Lloyd Slate on him (torture wise, that is). Also, regarding her "starved insect" appearance: I couldn't decide if that was due to the "madness" we've been hearing about for the past couple of books or just the strain of keeping Harry's body alive. Or maybe both..?

Other points: this book did seem to put the final kibosh on Harry/Murphy; there's just to much between them now, though the "You are not Patrick Swayze. I am not Demi Moore" think did make me laugh. I was against Harry/Molly in the past, mostly cause the whole age-difference thing kinda grossed me out, but I am now a true believer. After all, if "heroes know better than to hand the universe lines like" the one Morty gave to Dresden, than Harry should know not to say things like "I'm never going to be in love with her." Just sayin'

I was glad to see Thomas, if only for a minute, and that was an, uh, creative way on Justine's part of getting around the love protection thing. Kinda missed seeing Ebenezer during Uriel's whirlwind tour, though. I'd liked to have found out Bob's fate too, but ah well.

All in all, great book, glad to see some introspection on Harry's part...now just the year's wait til Cold Days.

 

WoJ says she's not mad, she's injured. I mean, sure she's mad as in pissed, but not mad as in crazy.

 

It might be one of those mab-as-reflection-of-her-realm injuries. That seems in line with the story. Remember in book 8, where Harry rescued Molly from Arctis Tor? There was a large army that had attacked them, it couldn't all have been from the...scarecrow guy. What was he called again? Argh, I wish that book was more prominent in my head. There was also the brimstone smell. Seems like the Nevernever is still rife with chaos and uneasiness.

Speaking of speculation, is it time to start up a Dresden 14 spoilers/speculation thread?

 

Cold Days isn't even up on jim-butcher.com yet, we may want to hold off until then at least.

 

I say this is the best book in the series, it's very fresh, interesting, and never bored me. I also laughed hard when the random red-dressed Molly fell dead, as happened often in the original Star Trek.

Mab calls Demonreach Ancient One and seems to consider him an equal?
Mouse is like an Archangel's little brother? These two are definitely the most interesting characters in the book.

The little brother raises as many questions about Uriel's nature as it does Mouse's. So it's established that mouse is an ice-demon far from his place of power, and he is a foo dog. Are the two one in the same? Or did Dresden come across the one-in-a-million creature that seems be capable of delivering credible threats to Winter's number two? It seems like Dresden would have heard of the type of ice-demon that Mouse is supposed to be if one can weild such power. Note that I don't mean one of Mouse's liter-mates, as they would not have a Wizard companion to help them "cheat".

Also, what about an Archangel links Uriel to Mouse? It may be that they are both powerful entities in different religious beliefs, with Tibetan buddhism being the less popular of the two religions, or it could just be a reference to Mouse's age and weak stature when compared to Uriel.

Or, and I find this incredibly unlikely but still interesting, Butcher could be hinting that the Archangels are beings of great power that have been around for a very long time and just fell into or were suitable for the role of being a Christian Archangel. Instead, they are some sort of separate sect in the Nevernever just as powerful as the Queens who were. I know I'm grasping at the sad, faded shadows of straws, but I still find the idea intriguing.

My main point is that Demonreach is the shit and I want to learn more about it.

Edit: May have been previously stated, anf may be a dumb question, but who was the angel who told harry to kill himself supposed to be? First thought was Lash is REALLY fucking evil, but now that I've had time to process I'm not sure at all.

 

It could simply be that Uriel was just speaking, you know, figuratively. All the creatures are God's children and all that. I doubt we'd find see any more abilities from Mouse. He's a dog that can rip plenty of evil shit to shreds, can wake an entire building with his bark, and can live for hundreds of years.

Him being an ice-demon? Not sure where you're getting that from. Anything more will seem over the top, frankly.

Demonreach indeed is the shit. I look forward to his role in the upcoming books.

And finally, we can't confirm the identity of the fallen angel who whispered in Harry's ear. Theories are abound that it was Lash, Laciel, or maybe even some other fallen who isn't a Denarian.

 

By him do you mean Mouse? I'm pretty sure that the Ebs called Mouse an Ice demon and claimed Dresden cheated by bringing such a creature. Implying he is on an equal berserker status with the Ick.

Unrelated question, are the Icks an offshoot of the Red court or an entirely different species, and if so, would they have been killed off as well?

 

Enjoyed the book, nothing to say except that I noticed one thing that was odd. In this book, chapter thirty specifically, the enthrallment of Elaine and the walker attacking Harry happen on the same day. But in Summer Knight the enthrallment happens two weeks before the demon was sent after Harry. Am I missing anything here or is this a mistake in the book?

The text from Summer Knight for reference.

 

Mistake in the book, probably. It happens occasionally and if it gets past the betas there's not much you can do about it.

 

I understand where you're coming from with this, and I think it may be a little bit of bad writing, but is it not impossible that the enthrallment happened, say two weeks before Harry came home then to the scene in Ghost Story? And then, that would be the time when Harry actually KNEW that she was enthralled, is what I'm getting at.

 

That's possible, but highly unlikely. The quote from Summer Knight says explicitly "Justin caught me about two weeks before he sent that demon to capture you. That day I stayed home sick, remember?", and the memory was Harry coming home early because he was worried about Elaine, because she stayed home sick.

The most likely explanation is simply that Butcher forgot about the 2 week qualifier there and none of the betas caught it. If it makes you feel any better, just pretend that Harry was on the run for 2 weeks before he tried to knock over that convenience store.

 

It's possible that the scene in Ghost Story was a reinforcement of the enthrallment, rather than the enthrallment itself. Still slightly dodgy due to the sick day thing, but plausible.

 

When Harry got home he sensed an energy that he had never felt before. If the enthrallment was before he would have sensed the energy before.

 

Maybe Elaine has some memory issues regarding the enthrallment?

Anyway. I loved this book. I didn't find many of the pop culture references particularly annoying. :awesome @ Molly-in-Star Trek scene... but I hate the phrase "epic fail." Sooo much. Cringed when Harry said that.

Also, I didn't feel like they were very out of place. Harry gets a lot of secondhand exposure to this sort thing, even if he is walking techbane, through the Alphas, Molly and such, and he could've watched Star Trek on the TV before he started working magic in earnest. It aired in the 60's, after all, and has been rerun continually since then. Same goes for certain movies and the like. It's only around the early 90's that he would've started to make things explode.

The Christian stuff doesn't really bother me. Mostly because they're not the only set of myths being put into the spotlight. If by the end Heaven and Hell are the only relevant factions for some reason, yeah, I'll be a little pissed (well, maybe not... provided everything gets a decent wrap-up before then. I don't know.)

Great display of ghostly powers. Agree with whoever said it above, this originally worried me, but they turned out to be very entertaining.

The lack of focus on certain characters is understandable. The Dresden Files has a huge cast after all. It'd be a little awkward to fit in a dozen characters Harry might have thought to check up on in that scene. Maybe he just assumed some of them were dealing with things fine on their own.

Regarding the shift in tone from Changes to Ghost Story... we're about halfway through the series now, right? IIRC he said there would be about twenty books. So it seems logical to me for this to be a sort-of bridge between different sections of the series. The lack of explanations for prior happenings and such, as we've had frequently in the past, seems like a big hint.

So, yeah, all in all, immensely satisfied with this, and I'm expecting great things out of the next one.

Well, close to the halfway mark. Whatever. Point being that this is meant to be a transition, regarding the series as a whole, which explains why it has a more subdued style than all the rollicking adventures in Changes.

 

If memory serves, WoJ is that Changes was the halfway point of the series.

 

This is correct.

 

Yep, and the total book count is around 23 at the moment. 20 of the usual books plus the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy.

 

Just finished it, similar thoughts as what has already been posted.

Overall enjoyable, but I was annoyed by some things.

What was the point of Daniel Carpenter? Seems like a useless character. No magical ability, no special skills. And it doesn't seem to fit with the way the Carpenter's raised the kids. I just can't imagine Michael or Charity(?) allowing their son to fight evil when he's just a regular human?

How has no one used the swords yet? I would think after Dresden's death, Murphy would taken the mantle or at least someone would of by now.

Also Ghost Story overall just seemed like a pointless exercise. Dresden goes through all this trouble to avoid being the Winter Knight and ends up becoming it anyway. Just seemed very futile of a book. Everything went back to the status quo after this. Nothing really changed.

Where the hell is Ebenezer? I'd think he above anyone else would of wanted to track Dresden's killer?

Thomas got short changed.

All I can think of at the moment, though Butters and Mort were a welcome addition in this series ( I know Butters is always in it, but I liked his growing importance).