The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

Just a guess about Peace Talks

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KurtinStGeorge:
There has been a trend of the Dresden Files novels getting longer, though Skin Game had a lower word count than Cold Days.  Also, if you compare the Cinder Spires book with the first book of the Alera series; well, there is no comparison.  "The Aeronaut's Windless"  a much longer and more involved story.  Now we know Jim has had various life issues which have contributed to Peace Talks taking so long to get done, but does anyone else think (because I do) that Peace Talks is going to be a more complex story (or have more stories to tell within it) than what we usually get from a Dresden Files novel?  I mean Skin Game had a pretty basic story idea; a heist story where Harry was forced to work with Nicodemus and both of them would try to double-cross one another.  There were of course unexpected complications, but I'm just talking about the main plot of the novel.  Many of the early novels had easily identifiable A and a B plots.  For example, in "Blood Rites" Harry is trying to stop an unknown foe who is using an entropy curse to kill people on a porn movie set and at the same time he's organizing a strike team to find and kill Mavra.  These A and B plots are often related to each other in ways that Harry didn't understand, but again, I'm just talking about the basic plot structure, not how various elements might be blended into the overall story arc. 

I'm thinking that in Peace Talks, Jim has more balls to juggle than in perhaps any other Dresden Files book before it.  If you've read the preview first chapter you know that (click to show/hide)Thomas told Harry that Justine is pregnant and Warden Ramirez told Harry about the upcoming talks with the Fomor and asked him to be part of the security team guarding the talks. So if you didn't read the spoiler there are two issues that Harry will be involved with in some manner.  However, that leaves many other potential complications that in themselves may become their own, let's call them C and D plots.  Not to mention that the first issue in the spoiler is a rather open-ended one.  It's not a straightforward idea like, I want you work with Nicodemus and “I expect you to skin them alive” or "They've taken our daughter."  We can only guess where this story element may go and there is really nothing in the earlier novels that might give us more than a tiny hint of how this could play out.

Jim has said that Changes, Ghost Story and Cold Days could be described as an internal trilogy within the series, that turns it in a new direction.  I would argue that Skin Game should be added to this list and call it a quadrilogy within the overall story arc, because SG settles the issue of the "parasite" inside Harry's head we learned about in Ghost Story and it demonstrated that Harry; though at times with some difficulty, was learning to control the Winter Knight's mantel.  So we had Harry's life deconstructed in Changes and it has taken until the end of Skin Game to see that a new life is now possible for him.  So now that Jim has fully turned the ship around that means Harry will face more complicated situations to untangle and I think they begin in Peace Talks.

Just to give one example, we don't know what the future holds for the White Council and its most prominent members.  In Changes it almost seemed like a civil war was possible or that a coup was about to take place.  I suspect Jim was setting up serious complications and likely endings for one or more characters on the Council.  I won't be surprised if we see one or more of those complications or endings happen in Peace Talks.  That is just one possible avenue Jim might explore.  Think about all the other possible complications that might arise, and even if only one or two come to a boil, you've got a bigger and hopefully engaging novel for us to (eventually) read, and one that takes some effort to tie together.  All that said, I'm hoping that really soon we will read that Jim has finished or as he has often done in the past, he announces that only the denouement is left to write.   

PS: If you would like to make a guess at likely complications or plot twists we might encounter, feel free to do so.  I think it's about time we start compiling a prediction list and later see who came closest to the mark.       

wardenferry419:
I am really hoping that the book has an "And then there were None" or "Clue" type murder mystery going on. BK14 and BK15 were missing the detective elements.
Thomas as new Lord Raith.
Justine gives birth to twins, one WCV and one normal.

RobReece:
I think that we will see a representative from the Government want a seat at the table.  Maybe the Librarians or Tilly.  They've noticed an escalation of the impact that the supernatural is having on the normal world and want in or something along those lines.

KurtinStGeorge:
I think matters between Harry and Marcone will become tense, but it won't lead to open warfare between the two.  Instead, it will set up a meeting between Harry and Alt-Marcone in Mirror Mirror where Harry learns more than he ever could about the crime lord in his own reality.  That's a long-term guess.  In the short run I won't be surprised if at least one member on the White Council dies.  If it should be Ebenezer then Harry's position with the Council becomes more precarious.  Though I have to say I wouldn't be surprised if Luccio or Ramirez bought it in this one. 

Kindler:
I think you're right. I think Peace Talks is going to be a very, very complex story; it's a UN summit for the supernatural world. You have so many conflicting interests—in fact, to start, let me list what I think will be important players.

1. The White Council
2. The White Court
3. Winter (and Mab and Molly will likely have some kind of conflict)
4. Summer (Sarissa and Titania
5. Fomor
6. Marcone's Barony
7. Law enforcement
8. Wyldfae (though this may be tied to either of the above Fae courts; Wyldfae seem to have a predilection toward one side or another—although I do think that Kringle or the Erlking will be hanging around, along with the Za Lord's Guard)
9. The Circle/Black Council/Nemesis/Whatever
10. Monoc Securities
11. The Magical Have-Nots Desperately Trying to Stay Off the Radar
12. Miscellaneous others—Alphas, Elaine, Thomas/Justine (cuz I don't count them among the White Court), Mavra, Murphy (though she can be rolled into law enforcement), Mac, the Knights (mostly Butters—there is absolutely zero chance, in my opinion, that Butters doesn't play a part in Peace Talks, not after Skin Game), Paranetters (I'm separating Elaine from that; I also want to know what happened to Abby after getting gutshot in Ghost Story), and probably others I'm missing.
13. A dragon? Ferrovax or Pyrovax?
14. That shapeshifter freeholding lord Harry mentions in the end of White Night?

I do want Tilly to have a seat at the Big Kids' Table. It'll be especially interesting to me if he does it through working with Marcone. But Tilly was too cool of a character to waste, and WOJ confirmed that he'll be back eventually, so I'm thinking it might be in Peace Talks—someone's going to have to be providing the intelligence to the right people to organize a military strike against Kaiju come book 18-20something.

Anyway, with that huge array of conflicting interests, there is definitely going to be a whole swath of things for Harry to have to juggle. Add in Harry's conflicting loyalties—Winter, the White Council, his friends/Chicago, Demonreach—and you have a recipe for a great big mess. It's going to be a beautiful disaster and I can't wait.

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