Ghost Story Yaaaaaay
So this isn’t a particularly structured or insightful reaction post, so much as a random tangle of thoughts. Quite a loooong tangle of thoughts at that.
I enjoyed it! Very much! \o/ Certain characters’ story arcs made me uncomfortable (and you get no points for guessing who!) but overall it was, as usual, a story I tore through in a fit of what next and oh Harry.
Oh Harry
I have wanted Justin backstory for aaaaaages. Here it is! Outside of fic! Unexpected bonus. And the flashbacks fit nicely, this book is kind of like a period of reflection before the changes of Changes actually kick in. The old has been torn away, but the new hasn’t supplanted it quite yet, and Harry gets a chance to take stock in his inbetween state. And maybe learn something?
I’m not sure. Those moments where he reflected on how his first impulses of rage and fire cause pain and actually end up serving purposes other than his own were interesting. Harry didn’t call on his usual go-to emotion for the big magics he needed in this story- when he marshalled Mort’s ghosts and when he manifested- he reached for the kind of thing he always preaches magic is about but hardly ever practices. It’d be interesting if the lesson stuck, but I don’t know if it’s the kind of Harry Revelation that gets overwritten with the start of a new story, like someone hit the reset button. And his rage and his fire are powerful tools.
When HWWB was toying with Harry, tempering the blade if you will, he was aiming for the big bad Fuego at the end of that showdown, teaching Harry how to go for pain and rage and fire first. Except... that’s not exactly what Harry went to first. It was humor. Insolence. And a bit of madcap improvisation (you know full well that no-one ever tried offensively pirouetting at an Outsider before).
And maybe that’s another thing Harry learned: his true value. I cheered during the discussion with Mab where HE CHANGED THE GAME. It wasn’t about digging his heels in and taking all the punishment that came his way and turning it into fire. He has more to bring to the table, and there’s no reason for him to be playing that game at all. I have another unarticulated thought on this, something further along the lines of Harry’s rage serving his enemies as much as himself, but Mab doesn’t want his rage and so isn’t exactly his enemy but I don’t know where I’m going with it.
Oh Everyone
One of the things I like about the Dresden Files is how large the cast is, and how well defined the characters are. The ensemble really shines here, (BUTTERS \o/ MORT \o/) and The Chicago Alliance! The honking great metaphor of defiance and hope built in the ashes of Harry’s former life (I’m counting down until his snit fit at Marcone over this), the celebration of different kinds of strength: stength of will, strength of heart, strength of being organised, determined and principled. Go Team Chicago!
Impersonating Wardens. You know, as it’s generally discouraged that vanilla mortals are made aware of the existence of the Council, I really hope news doesn’t get back to them that people are running around pretending to be their army/police force. But that whole ploy was awesome.
And oh my, Fitz. Everything about Fitz. Harry giving him the right words at the right time, when there was no-one giving Harry the right words at the right time right back when he made his most important, first choices. The parellels with the words of the Lieing Influence (was that supposed to be HWWB btw?) and the words of Uriel. Guidance at the right moment, and the way people are influenced by their elders, people with more experience, was a whacking great theme. How many times was Harry called young or boy in this?
MARCONE, WHY ARE YOU IN ITALY? If Things Are Bad in Chicago, then no doubt this is for stragic reasons rather than, say, a holiday, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the mention of the White Council having its roots in Rome?
I teared up for Mouse and Maggie, because I am a predictable sap, but I’m so glad she’s with the Carpenters. Between her own personal Foo dog, and the family's angelic guards, and living in a city where there are Rules about dragging kids into your fights... I hope she does ok. I hope someone in this verse gets to not have terrible things happen to them. Well. Any other terrible things, anyway.
CANON BODY IMAGE FOR BOB WHOOOOOOP.
Oh Dresden Files:
I found it difficult to take the lemures seriously, because my brain point blank refused to parse them as lay-moors, and helpfully presented me with images of random primates every time they appeared on page.
Things that made me go hm?
Farther Forthill’s bible is the King James Bible? I mean, it’s my favorite too (...worst atheist ever) but was he having a bout of Protestantism?
Harry leaping inside Molly and then killing a human(ish) person with fire, using Molly to do it, without commenting on Laws or morality or mentioning it later was odd. But maybe I’m not supposed to be reading the servitors as human.
I had a moment of LOLBRITISH at He Who Walks Behind. Oh America, why are we so creepy to you?
Harry’s “But damnit, words mean what they mean even if everyone thinks they ought to mean something else” gave me a moment of puzzlement, what with him being all down with Saussure when it comes to magic, I kinda presumed it’d carry over to his opinions on language use.
Childs seems interesting! (and slashable )
Fic that totally needs to be written by someone who isn’t me:
Childs is Marcone’s ex boyfriend, and doing him the Biggest Favor Ever by minding the store.
Murphy and Hendricks are actually cousins (no idea, popped into my head when she was fighting the Einherrjar)
Harry making good on his threat and Wilfully Obeying Orders. There’s a bit of a Winter domestic and he starts being terrifyingly obedient until Mab lets him have his way out of sheer frustration.
Harry being a kick ass Winter Knight, and having to tone it down a bit when he accidentally tips the scales against Summer.
DEMONREACH
I know I should want Fitz to straighten up and fly right and live well and happily but... I kind of want him to get adopted by Marcone and Hendricks and raised to be the next Baron of Chicago. Oops?
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