The True King of Urban Fantasy - The Dresden Files

[John At Dawn]

I am really not liking Ghost Story so far. It keeps trying to tell me that Harry did something wrong in Changes, but that's just not going to happen.

[forumghost]

It's not about how Harry did something wrong, it's about how the mindset of "Fuck the Consequences, let the World Burn for all I care" that he has throughout Changes has a tendency to come back and bite people that use it in the ass.

[Tobias]

yeah, he spends a lot of time trying to account for that particular way of thinking. He did save his daughter, but there are more people then his daughter that he cares about. it may not have been precisely a mistake, but he now has to own up to the consequences of his actions

[forumghost]

Exactly. Saving his daughter=Good. Killing the Red Court=Good.

Doing so in a way that leads to the rise of the Formor, the world generally going to shit, and Murphy, Molly, and Thomas sinking into depression=Bad

[John At Dawn]

Except none of that is his fault. He had no idea about the Formor, Laciel is the one who drove him to suicide, and if he had taken a moment to think about what killing the Red Court would do, he probably would have assumed that the void would be filled by the White Court.

The only reprehensible thing he did in Changes was bringing Molly- who he knows is a sensitive- to a fight where he knew a lot of people could die.

Plus, is there ever any reason given why it took six months for him to come back?

[forumghost]

Except none of that is his fault. He had no idea about the Formor, Laciel is the one who drove him to suicide, and if he had taken a moment to think about what killing the Red Court would do, he probably would have assumed that the void would be filled by the White Court.

The only reprehensible thing he did in Changes was bringing Molly- who he knows is a sensitive- to a fight where he knew a lot of people could die.

Which was not the point. The point was '"fuck the consequences you say? Here's how that works out".

It was about teaching him a life lesson, telling him what people have been trying to tell him since about book 3- that he needs to consider his actions, because Harry is in a position where if he goes "Fuck the consequences" it's gonna get real ugly for everybody. Also, while Lasciel messing with his head wasn't his fault, bringing Molly into his suicide-by-Kincaid plan was all him, and it was a total dick move.

Plus, is there ever any reason given why it took six months for him to come back?

something-something non-linear time, something-something, Uriel fucking around.

[John At Dawn]

something-something non-linear time, something-something, Uriel fucking around.

I can't help but feel that so far, the whole point of waiting half a year was specifically to let things get fucked before Harry shows up. Which makes it feel bullshit and artificial.

[eddyak]

something-something non-linear time, something-something, Uriel fucking around.

Time passes pretty quickly when you're dead, and don't really have anything tying you to the world.

That, and Uriel probably figured him coming back six months later would be better than him coming back a month later, not noticing Corpsetaker's ghostly nonsense and then getting blindsided by a combination of the Fomor and a newly reincarnated Corpsetaker five months after that.

[Tobias]

actually there is a reason for that, now that I understand your concern, but it is a major spoiler, read the book

- - - Updated - - -

Time passes pretty quickly when you're dead, and don't really have anything tying you to the world.

That, and Uriel probably figured him coming back six months later would be better than him coming back a month later, not noticing Corpsetaker's ghostly nonsense and then getting blindsided by a combination of the Fomor and a newly reincarnated Corpsetaker five months after that.

pretty sure thats not it. do keep in mind what else is happening at the time.

[John At Dawn]

actually there is a reason for that, now that I understand your concern, but it is a major spoiler, read the book

Allright then, I'll get on it.

[forumghost]

I can't help but feel that so far, the whole point of waiting half a year was specifically to let things get fucked before Harry shows up. Which makes it feel bullshit and artificial.

That may well have been part of it- From a Doyalist PoV, Butcher needed Harry gone for a while to set up several things, in particular with Murphy, Molly, Butters, and the BFS.

From an in-universe perspective, I agree that he was sent back to that specific moment in time for a reason- part of which was to teach him that lesson. But as Harry said, Uriel ain't the type to try and achieve one goal at a time. He is veeery tricksy.

[eddyak]

pretty sure thats not it. do keep in mind what else is happening at the time.

Hm?

Spoiler:

I thought keeping Mab off the field for a while, keeping Harry from getting his face murdered off by the Fomor, and setting Molly, Butters and whatshisfacemediumguy up for their respective stuff was the gist of it.

[forumghost]

If Harry had been alive, he'd probably have been the one fighting the Corpsetaker. And Harry is nowhere-near as good as Molly at mental stuff.

Corpsetaker wearing a Harry suit would not be a good thing.

[eddyak]

Not only that, the first badass Fomor sorceror (or first Fomor strike team, even) to poke his head out of the woodwork would handily break Harry in half, depending on how little Harry got to cheat in that fight.

Fomor are pretty damn good at what they do. See Even Hand or Aftermath.

[Tobias]

Hm?

Spoiler:

I thought keeping Mab off the field for a while, keeping Harry from getting his face murdered off by the Fomor, and setting Molly, Butters and whatshisfacemediumguy up for their respective stuff was the gist of it.

stop writing spoilers without making a large enough post that it shows up in the whats new tab. Anyway

Spoiler:

anyway, in my book, harry needed to be there at that time was because uriel wanted to make sure the lessons got through when he needed them most, IE, when he woke up and had top face mab as the winter knight in her service.

[eddyak]

That spoiler nonsense should've been fixed years ago.

Yeah, that was a reason, but it wasn't a main reason for those specific six months.

[Mattias]

So, I recently re-read the series because Corona, and checked the website to find out if Peace Talks has a release set yet. Good News! Apparently it's set for July 14 (provided society hasn't collapsed by then). Even better, there's a second book out in the Fall set for September 29, Battle Grounds, Which is Harry vs one of the female Titans.

So six year's then two books with three months. Now if Only Scott Lynch could get back into the swing I'd be set.

[forumghost]

Technically it's more like 1 1/2 Books with some padding, because Butcher apparently wrote too much for Peace Talks (either that or he's decided to take notes from Sanderson and split up his stories so he can charge people for half a book).

[Mattias]

Ugh. Why not just make a longer book? Tom Clancy was regularly putting out 1000 pagers towards the end. I'd rather have a complete story, than a two parter in a series where everything has been stand alone thus far. Cliffhangers are fine (well, tolerable) but at least Changes has it after they've resolved the main issue with the story.

[forumghost]

Ugh. Why not just make a longer book? Tom Clancy was regularly putting out 1000 pagers towards the end. I'd rather have a complete story, than a two parter in a series where everything has been stand alone thus far. Cliffhangers are fine (well, tolerable) but at least Changes has it after they've resolved the main issue with the story.

Apparently it was a choice between upping the price of the Book or Splitting it, so he opted for the latter:



He describes it as having 2/3 of one novel and 2/3 of another, so he said he'd rather pump out enough to make them separate books then have the publisher charge $50+ for it as it was.