The same thought popped into my head. The way she asked Harry if there was anything he could do stank of a bit of desperation and I could see her having the option and struggling with it. Ultimately though, her moral compass is pretty straight and she's stubborn as hell so I can see her backing out of whatever it is.

I do think that these next books will mark the end of Murphy's major presence in the series some way though.

I just hope she doesn't die because then Dresden would be even more emo for the remainder of the books.

 

Fair points about it being obvious, that said one of the things I'm going into the book expecting/hoping for is...

Spoiler

Things with Lara/White Court will coming to a head. So Rudy showing up to make trouble slots in to that nicely enough for me to jump on it. I also think that Thomas' parentage is a secret that's been kept too long as it is, and when I ask 'ok so how does that get blown open?' the answer has to be 'because they don't have the option of keeping it secret anymore.' Given Ebs scene, if Lara does do anything, he'd definitely have no hesitation in coming down on Thomas in such a way that Harry is forced to reveal to Eb just why he trusts him.

 

Only discovered that this was coming out in the last few days. I'd forgotten how much I missed this series. Given that I'd stopped checking when the next book was coming out a couple years ago, it's almost astonishing how long two more weeks seems to me.

I'd like Thomas' relationship with Harry to be revealed, but I'm certain that either he or Ebenezer would die this book if that happened. Eb is more likely, but I'm not happy with either.

As for Karrin, I'd just like her to stop being a romantic interest, but I know I'm probably asking too much here.

 

Chapter 6 is up! One week!!

 

I think we can all agree, if there is one thing the world needs, it's more Mab and Lara.

 

Right? Off the top of my head, I can't remember if they'd ever interacted in the books before, but what an eerie, intimidating and (for Dresden) hilariously terrifying duo.

 

No they've never met on screen. Mab seemed very forthcoming about Harry's shield. That's suspect. Sidhe don't give knowledge away.

 

I assume she gave that information out as it relates directly to the favor she owes Lara. She is loaning her Knight and is clarifying whether the change will affect his performance.

I'm wondering what Lara could have done that was worth 3 favors especially since she was offering calculated insults to the Faerie courts when she was kidnapping the little faes for her party in White NIght. I would think she is settling debts the same way she did for Nicodemus but it doesn't fit.

 

Perhaps, though I figure if Lara's first favor is to borrow the Winter Knight for the summit, such disclosure would more fall under rules of politeness/honor that she and other beings are bound by when it comes to favors, host/guests, etc. Kinda like if you were to borrow my car, it'd be mighty shitty for me to not tell you the tires were bald.

As for predictions/theories...

Spoiler

...considering the clip from the trailer that seems to imply that Dresden and Lara are gonna do the horizontal tango, do you think Lara saw that Thomas and Justine were having a kid, and is looking to use one of her favors to have a Very powerful and well connected wizard sire an heir for herself and the White Court?

 

I'm just gonna say it. The fire is probably his fault.

 

I'm not sure that satisfies, there's no reason Lara needs to know that Harry has a powerful guardian spirit.

 

When you say 'women like Lara and Mab', do you mean powerful, evil, sexual, or some other criteria? Like, I think I know what you're saying, I just can't phrase it properly.

As for Molly... she's going down an unexpected path, but not one I like, yet. I guess we'll see what happens. Murphy and Michael are my supoorting cast faves, along with Mouse.

 

Well good news on that front is that-

Spoiler

-cashing in a favor to borrow the services of a reluctant winter knight worked out really well for the last monster that tried it. Fingers crossed.

 

I've always loved Lara, I think that's reliant on her being used sparingly though. I enjoy how she treats Harry as food.

 

Lara and the White court in general are my least favourite things about the Dresden Files by a wide margin.

 

My prediction based on the latest chapter.

Spoiler

Harry's taking down his second vampire court.

I may be way off, but the tone reminds me a lot of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, where:

Spoiler

Locke offers the assholes fucking with him the chance to walk away. Just lays his cards on the table. 'I want you to remember that I gave you the chance to walk away.'

 

I don't dislike Lara and the White Court inherently, but I think in combination with everything else they just come across as a bit redundant - a redundancy emphasised by having Lara and Mab sit side-by-side, two completely interchangeable "powerful, evil, sexy" women. In that entire scene, Lara and Mab's character voices, mannerisms etc are all basically identical. The only thing separating them out is their membership of different supernatural camps.

This all feeds into Butcher's poor writing of women in general. His one strategy to write strong female characters is to take a fan service character and make her powerful. But giving a character power isn't the same thing as making them a strong character. It just turns them into the dominatrix edition of harem fic - where the distinguishing feature of harem fic is the fact that, apart from hair colour and breast size, the women are entirely interchangeable since they lack character voices.

 

I dislike what Butcher decided to do with Molly for the same reason why I dislike what he did with Butters. I dislike when the supporting characters suddenly get super powers putting them above the main characters, especially if additionally they get secret information he doesn't have.

While this is just my preference, in this situation it additionally takes away from their role in the books. Butters as a normal guy doing his best with no magic on his own and Molly as Dresden's student were a lot better than Knight Butters and Lady Molly.

 

The issue I have with characters that don't change or eveolve is that they cease to be characters and become plot devices, ie Mab and Lara, who have not changed much since their first appearances.