CaptainChewbacca wrote:Didn't he give the coin back to the Father at the church after Lash got swiss-cheesed out of his brain? I'm only on Small Favors.
He did. I don't think it was specifically Lasciel's coin Harry was talking about so much as "I will make contact with Nicodemus and he will give me a coin and also lend me his personal support and that of his network."
This might be a moot point since the chances are quite good that Nicodemus has already reacquired Lasciel's coin, but either way Nicodemus is sure to have at least one to spare.
And given how much of a heavy-hitter a Denarian who started out as a fairly powerful wizard would be, Nicodemus would almost certainly destroy one of his less-effective underlings to get access to a coin on short notice.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
He may or may not know the spell to call the coin to his hand, or such was the implication I got. And he may well be able to contact Nicodemus. It's been said, but Harry could be really, really scary if he decided to grab every power-up he can easily access regardless of cost. And the threat to Maggie seems to have pushed him exactly that far.
And for a night at least, there were once more three Knights of the True Cross. A part of me hopes Murphy keeps up with the gig, particularly as her career is unlikely to survive 'fleeing' the attack at FBI headquarters and whatever spin Rudolph puts on those events.
Heh, and Harry is Sam. Classic.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Hell, Nicodemus outright said, "Hey Harry, why don't we team up to destroy the Red Court? They're annoying and a threat to my plans. I totally won't ask you to do anything you think is immoral" a couple books ago.
Really? This was in his latest appearance? I might want to look that up...
Though I now think I remember what you're talking about and it was more The Other Guys, the Black Council of Ominous Vagueness and their Red Court/Denarian catspaws
Scrib wrote:Really? This was in his latest appearance? I might want to look that up...
Though I now think I remember what you're talking about and it was more The Other Guys, the Black Council of Ominous Vagueness and their Red Court/Denarian catspaws
Partially, but I'm pretty sure he specifically said something like, "The Red Court is annoying and needs to be dealt with at some point. Surely you don't have any qualms about working with me for that purpose?"
The Black Council is a threat Nicodemus clearly took seriously. The Red Court he talked about like it was a distraction that they should get around to addressing.
And yeah dude. Haven't you noticed that the Denarians appear every five books?
Started Ghost story, and hoo boy things got different in a hurry. Murphy is out of a job, but hasn't taken up the sword for some reason, is working with Marcone and the Raith to keep the situation from spiraling further out of control. I don't even know what's up with Molly, I sort of doubt the worst that people keep implying.
Butters and Bob are pretty funny though. And I did chuckle at Harry's Obi-Wan impression when Molly first sees him.
I'm not really sure how this Winter Knight business works, except that Harry got tired less easily and could sling around ice to an extent. Slightly annoyed that his powers do not seem to have survived his death, which I suppose makes sense it was sort of an important plot point in book 4.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Now you're past Changes can I bitch about how much I dislike it? Because Boy do I dislike it. I mean I guess you can applaud Butcher for being gutsy enough to shatter his status quo into itty bitty pieces. And the parts of the novel that are about that are decent enough. But I just found it utterly lacking in pay off.
And Harry walks into a duel with red court member and actually seems to genuinely expect them to play by the rules when he wins. You weren't this stupid when you duelled the white court man.
There's just so little follow. Maggies rescued and Harry immediately sends her away 'to safety' again, plans meangingless sex with Murphy and dies. The following books do address some of the issues but still I felt cheated they weren't in that book.
Exactly how titanically huge did you want Changes to be?
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
White Haven wrote:Exactly how titanically huge did you want Changes to be?
it could have a couple of chapters longer and it wouldn't have been longer than Ghost Story.Or it could have the action climax earlier in the book and a longer denouement to deal with at least some of this stuff. A good Harry and Maggie scene or something.
Put it this way, Changes was the first Dresden Files book I finished put down, and seriously wondered if I even wanted to read the next book. Side Jobs reminded me how fun DF can be but the following two books are ones I've read thinking 'I'm not sure I like this new direction...' and they've managed to throw enough stuff in the end that makes me wonder where its going.
One other bitch I've just remembered about Changes...
Spoiler
McCoy turns out to be Harry's grandad. What shit. Kinda wrecks the character from me. Before he was a decent upstanding guy taking a moral stand when he spoke for Harry, now it's just nepotism.
That reminds me, Ahriman, you went straight on to Ghost Story? The Side Jobs anthology was actually good and I recommend reading it. It even has stories from non-Harry point of views.
Making too good progress through Ghost Story, soon I will have once again run out of books.
Right, I can buy that Amoracchius is Excalibur. Durandel? Fine. Kusanagi no Tsurigi, no.
I thought we were done with Evil Bob. Harry, in the future be more specific in instructing Bob to dispose of his hidden dark side? Not that it's likely to come up in the near future.
Damn, Morty's been hiding some skills.
This still feels a bit like some dark future Harry will be sent back in time to prevent, just because everything is terrible and tinged with a vague hopelessness. Particularly Molly, apprentice to the Leansidhe.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
All finished with Ghost Story. And the murderer of Harry Dresden was... Harry Dresden. Gotta admit, I didn't see that one coming. It makes sense in context, Harry arranged for Kincaid to kill him and had Molly erase his memories, so he wouldn't do too much damage as the Winter Knight.
And it didn't work, Mab and Demonreach kept Harry alive for six months mending. The whole goodbye routine was still touching though. Maggie will have a great home with Mouse and the Carpenters, still concerned for Murphy and Molly.
So we end on Harry as the Winter Knight, but told that Mab can't change who he basically is, and his pushing Mab, finding his own balance. That's a lot more hope than the situation probably deserves.
Molly's TOS head-space was enjoyably crazy.
At first I didn't really like all the flashbacks to his time with DuMorne, I'm still annoyed that didn't end with his confrontation with his old mentor and his trial before the WHite Council. But the fight with He Who Walks Behind did a lot to redeem it.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Ahriman238 wrote:Maggie will have a great home with Mouse and the Carpenters, still concerned for Murphy and Molly.
I tear up every time I read the scene where Harry finds out where Maggie has been living. Not even anything he says or does; you just know how much it means to him.
Here's something I've wondered for a few years now about the Dresden Files world. I wonder if you could stick some tech in a legit Faraday Cage with Dresden. Some tech outside. Have him hex. And if the tech outside would still work. That way if it's more a mess of legit physics fields that they toy with with their minds and it just messes with modern tech that actually manipulates that stuff. It occurred to me as a thought in the scene in Changes when he went to Monoc Securities and they're using computers he can't just hex there.
Possibly, Dreseden mentioned at some point the technology thing is relatively new. There's always something to distinguish practioners of magic, but that can change over time, now it's technology dying, once it was a visible mark, for a time fire would change colors around wizards etc.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Ahriman238 wrote:Possibly, Dreseden mentioned at some point the technology thing is relatively new. There's always something to distinguish practioners of magic, but that can change over time, now it's technology dying, once it was a visible mark, for a time fire would change colors around wizards etc.
Milk curdling was another example.
From the context, I think it was implied that the previous effects do not happen anymore, being replaced rather than overlapped.
It would be interesting to see the metaphysics of the Gnosis (Sorry, I mean magic) dealt into more. Why black magic corrupts (besides the "Butcher really likes Star Wars tributes" reason) to such an intrinsic level, why all magic effects a reaction from the natural order of things but only when used by humans (and not when by supernatural beings or even half fey), etc'.
Photography Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
The Grim Squeaker wrote:Milk curdling was another example.
From the context, I think it was implied that the previous effects do not happen anymore, being replaced rather than overlapped.
It would be interesting to see the metaphysics of the Gnosis (Sorry, I mean magic) dealt into more. Why black magic corrupts (besides the "Butcher really likes Star Wars tributes" reason) to such an intrinsic level, why all magic effects a reaction from the natural order of things but only when used by humans (and not when by supernatural beings or even half fey), etc'.
That's an odd reference for this thread.
Fey magic doesn't affect things? Strange, I don't think that there's much to it tbh, just different methods. But the two forms of magic seem to intersect everywhere else (they are as vulnerable to thresholds, bind the user to their contracts, though that second one is probably stronger for magical beings since they're...y'know, all magic).
