jedibuttercup (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedibuttercup) wrote2009-04-06 03:21 am
jedibuttercup) wrote2009-04-06 03:21 am
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Reading List 2009: # 14 - 16
So. Not going to finish all 4800-some-odd pages of the series by Tuesday. I'm still going to buy #11 the instant it comes out, avoid spoilers, and read furiously until I get through it all of it.
14. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 371pp. 4th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
15. Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 374pp. 5th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
16. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 372pp. 6th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
There's a scene two-thirds of the way through Blood Rites that resonates with my persepective on this portion of the Dresden series: Kincaid, a mercenary and sometimes ally with a longer past than Harry knows about, faces Ebenezar McCoy, Harry's mentor, who also has a longer past than Harry knows about, with a gun each and Harry standing between them. Harry's surprised and upset by the fact that they already know and heartily despise one another, and is trying to talk them down. The two men spend quite a while talking over Harry's head and referring to him as "the kid" before agreeing to a temporary truce on Harry's behalf.
Harry really is still the kid in this portion of the series, more or less going through magical warfare boot camp. (Before, he was primarily the magical P.I. getting mixed up in bigger issues; now, he's primarily facing bigger issues, with magical P.I. interludes). He's not really in the main thick of the war between the wizards and the vampires yet, despite the fact that it was his actions in late Grave Peril that started it. He encounters various individual players on the fringes of the conflict, and gets involved in some plots that would affect its outcome, but he's not really on the front lines. He's still collecting supernatural allies; he's facing progressively more powerful, but still barely manageable, baddies and building up his knowledge, arsenal, and tactical know-how as he does so. He's making waves, making a name for himself, testing his strength and getting stronger.
But most of all, he still has a firm grasp on all the black-and-white principles he started the series with. He's still young, in the sense of the term that implies naievety rather than physical age (I think he's roughly thirtyish, thirty-one maybe, around the time of Blood Rites). Kind of remarkable, considering that his life had been pretty rocky before he even set up shop in Chicago. He does lose a few people over the course of these three books, and is forced to take some actions he'd rather not have, but nothing that really challenges his world-view.
Until the events at the end of Blood Rites. A number of his fundamental beliefs have been drastically shaken by the end of that particular adventure; he's taken his first major crippling wound; and he's been saddled with the constant corrupting mental influence of an evil supernatural entity.
Thank goodness he also acquired a puppy, a family member, and a number of friends who care about him, or he might not have survived the next few books as a recognizable hero. All the good intentions and common sense in the world don't mean much if you don't have any kind of support to get you past the rough spots of the growing-up process, and Harry has enough power to make them really rough.
Grown-up Harry, here we come. *reaches for Book 7*
~
14. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 371pp. 4th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
15. Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 374pp. 5th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
16. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Paperback, 372pp. 6th of the Dresden Files. Reread.
There's a scene two-thirds of the way through Blood Rites that resonates with my persepective on this portion of the Dresden series: Kincaid, a mercenary and sometimes ally with a longer past than Harry knows about, faces Ebenezar McCoy, Harry's mentor, who also has a longer past than Harry knows about, with a gun each and Harry standing between them. Harry's surprised and upset by the fact that they already know and heartily despise one another, and is trying to talk them down. The two men spend quite a while talking over Harry's head and referring to him as "the kid" before agreeing to a temporary truce on Harry's behalf.
Harry really is still the kid in this portion of the series, more or less going through magical warfare boot camp. (Before, he was primarily the magical P.I. getting mixed up in bigger issues; now, he's primarily facing bigger issues, with magical P.I. interludes). He's not really in the main thick of the war between the wizards and the vampires yet, despite the fact that it was his actions in late Grave Peril that started it. He encounters various individual players on the fringes of the conflict, and gets involved in some plots that would affect its outcome, but he's not really on the front lines. He's still collecting supernatural allies; he's facing progressively more powerful, but still barely manageable, baddies and building up his knowledge, arsenal, and tactical know-how as he does so. He's making waves, making a name for himself, testing his strength and getting stronger.
But most of all, he still has a firm grasp on all the black-and-white principles he started the series with. He's still young, in the sense of the term that implies naievety rather than physical age (I think he's roughly thirtyish, thirty-one maybe, around the time of Blood Rites). Kind of remarkable, considering that his life had been pretty rocky before he even set up shop in Chicago. He does lose a few people over the course of these three books, and is forced to take some actions he'd rather not have, but nothing that really challenges his world-view.
Until the events at the end of Blood Rites. A number of his fundamental beliefs have been drastically shaken by the end of that particular adventure; he's taken his first major crippling wound; and he's been saddled with the constant corrupting mental influence of an evil supernatural entity.
Thank goodness he also acquired a puppy, a family member, and a number of friends who care about him, or he might not have survived the next few books as a recognizable hero. All the good intentions and common sense in the world don't mean much if you don't have any kind of support to get you past the rough spots of the growing-up process, and Harry has enough power to make them really rough.
Grown-up Harry, here we come. *reaches for Book 7*
~