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jedibuttercupSo, I bought Ghost Story at lunch on Tuesday and had a reading party with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
maevebran....
I'm not going to go into any great detail, but...
If Changes was about, well, changes? This one was about closure. It was very well done, and less difficult to process than its predecessor, however... I still felt kind of grief-stricken when I finished.
Harry just said goodbye to Chicago. For now, at least. And Chicago, more or less, said goodbye to him. So many threads and characters, even some only mentioned before in short stories, were drawn together in this one. We all knew he would establish a residence outside the city eventually after his Sight started coming in during Small Favor, but still... this was very much a "passing the torch before moving to a larger stage", and it stung. *bites lip*
It's not even hard to understand why Mab let Uriel liberate him as a "ghost" for awhile: until Harry had a chance to see for himself that the Justice League was maintaining things without him, he'd never be happy leaving his stomping grounds behind. And until his nearest and dearest had a chance to really register that he was gone and not coming back, they would be hampered in that defense, and no one wanted to let Chicago devolve entirely into chaos.
I'm really not happy with the Answer to the Question, but it does make in-universe sense, and underscores a couple of things: Harry can't get rid of his new title; he now knows he can hold it without dooming himself to a "southbound train" in the end (per Uriel); and even the enemy thinks this will make him more dangerous rather than easier to turn -- attempting to make him despair is their only angle. I foresee fireworks on a much larger scale in books to come.
Still. It feels like... we just left the human-scale world behind. I hope we do continue to get glimpses back at the Justice League, but given that they all now think he's D-E-D dead, and we only get things from Harry's POV, I find that unlikely. He'll probably let things sit that way awhile to "protect" them, like he always does.
I liked where we saw some of them: Butters, Bob, Maggie, Mouse, Mister, Daniel, Father Forthill, Mort, the Leanansidhe. I was kind of frustrated with some of the others, three especially: Murphy (though I get why), Molly (I get why, but where the hell is Ebenezar, why didn't he do something for her?), and Thomas (ugh, seriously?). Though I smirked about the absence of Marcone: yeah, no chance he'll be needing closure with that guy just yet.
Hopefully the change in venues will mean more curtains being pulled back instead of more avenues closed off. But I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway. I'll probably reread it and dissect in more detail later just what I did and didn't like, and did or didn't see coming, and where I see it going, et cetera... but I want to post before LJ crashes again, so. What did you think?
maevebran....I'm not going to go into any great detail, but...
If Changes was about, well, changes? This one was about closure. It was very well done, and less difficult to process than its predecessor, however... I still felt kind of grief-stricken when I finished.
Harry just said goodbye to Chicago. For now, at least. And Chicago, more or less, said goodbye to him. So many threads and characters, even some only mentioned before in short stories, were drawn together in this one. We all knew he would establish a residence outside the city eventually after his Sight started coming in during Small Favor, but still... this was very much a "passing the torch before moving to a larger stage", and it stung. *bites lip*
It's not even hard to understand why Mab let Uriel liberate him as a "ghost" for awhile: until Harry had a chance to see for himself that the Justice League was maintaining things without him, he'd never be happy leaving his stomping grounds behind. And until his nearest and dearest had a chance to really register that he was gone and not coming back, they would be hampered in that defense, and no one wanted to let Chicago devolve entirely into chaos.
I'm really not happy with the Answer to the Question, but it does make in-universe sense, and underscores a couple of things: Harry can't get rid of his new title; he now knows he can hold it without dooming himself to a "southbound train" in the end (per Uriel); and even the enemy thinks this will make him more dangerous rather than easier to turn -- attempting to make him despair is their only angle. I foresee fireworks on a much larger scale in books to come.
Still. It feels like... we just left the human-scale world behind. I hope we do continue to get glimpses back at the Justice League, but given that they all now think he's D-E-D dead, and we only get things from Harry's POV, I find that unlikely. He'll probably let things sit that way awhile to "protect" them, like he always does.
I liked where we saw some of them: Butters, Bob, Maggie, Mouse, Mister, Daniel, Father Forthill, Mort, the Leanansidhe. I was kind of frustrated with some of the others, three especially: Murphy (though I get why), Molly (I get why, but where the hell is Ebenezar, why didn't he do something for her?), and Thomas (ugh, seriously?). Though I smirked about the absence of Marcone: yeah, no chance he'll be needing closure with that guy just yet.
Hopefully the change in venues will mean more curtains being pulled back instead of more avenues closed off. But I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway. I'll probably reread it and dissect in more detail later just what I did and didn't like, and did or didn't see coming, and where I see it going, et cetera... but I want to post before LJ crashes again, so. What did you think?
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 05:10 am (UTC)As far as closure goes and the Justice League being able to stand on their own, I wonder if JB is going to branch off another book series, or many short stories, at the very least, focusing on them until Harry is operating primarily in Chicago again (if he does).
By the way, I've been wanting to ask you what you thought of Molly and Harry. I can't help but get a bad feeling that Molly is going to wind of being Harry's Nimuë, whether for good or ill, at some point in the future. She is most definitely in love with Harry and I can't help but wonder if that love is going to cross the line to hatred at some future point or not.
Don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but what did you think of Fitz? I couldn't help but think that JB named the character that because of the name's meaning: "son of". I've a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.
ETA: Also, I have to wonder at what point Harry is going to be mucking about in the time stream. JB did mention that at the signing last year and it is bugging the snot out of me wondering!
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Date: 2011-08-05 04:14 pm (UTC)I'd love to see more short stories about the Justice League; I'm extremely fond of Even Hand and Aftermath. He did say he'd have to write enough more of them for at least one more collected volume, right?
Since Nimuë doesn't even show up in the Merlin legends until the French cycle of stories, which are also the source of all those incesty complications I totally hate and which I hope won't show up either, I'm just going to assume Butcher won't go there with Harry and Molly. Besides, he'd have to be fascinated with her in order for that to fit, and she'd have to be putting him off in an effort to seduce more secrets out of him, and he keeps saying every time he consciously notes her attraction that he just can't see her that way. Maybe that's another reason for subbing in the Leanansidhe-- so Molly's not dependent on him anymore for her learning.
Anything could happen, I guess. But I'd never forgive Butcher for that. And his last heroes got to be happy after surviving the worldwide apocalypse. So. I'm just going to picture him sitting in his little tower on Demonreach writing each one of these books to add to the collected volumes he inherited from Ebenezar, living wizardly and at least contentedly ever after. =)
Fitz should be interesting! I liked seeing Daniel included, and a greater role for Mort and some of the lesser-known Alphas, but it was about time we had some new blood to add to our secondary cast. I'm definitely curious to see what Butcher does with him.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 08:38 pm (UTC)I agree, I'd love to see more stories in the vein of "Even Hand" and "Aftermath". Stories like "Backup", on the other hand, I can definitely do without. The very last scene of that story downright horrified me and put me completely off of Thomas for good.
Regarding Nimuë, I sincerely hope you're right. No, Harry isn't infatuated with Molly and loves her more like an uncle or big brother, but I just have a bad feeling where Molly is concerned, mostly due to her actions in "Turn Coat" (she's still a little too willing to futz with someone's mind).
I'm just going to picture him sitting in his little tower on Demonreach writing each one of these books to add to the collected volumes he inherited from Ebenezar, living wizardly and at least contentedly ever after. =)
That's exactly the way I'm picturing things shaking out and I sincerely hope we're right!