The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
!!!SPOILERS!!! PEACE TALKS !!!SPOILERS!!!
magnuskn:
I just finished the book. Got it on Thursday and had work and social commitments until today, so I am days late to the discussion. Ugh. Most things already have been recounted, so just a few things:
- The book obviously is incomplete and ended kind of out of nowhere. It's too bad that Jim still is not in the top tier of writers who can just make his publisher bring out a novel at whatever length he decides to (i.e. GRRM).
- Jim kinda went the professional wrestling route of making Ethniu a real threat, i.e. he made one of the top wrestlers job to her, so that she is instantly put over as a threat. I hope he puts some serious character work on her in Battle Grounds, so that there is less of a "villain of the week" feeling to her.
- Obviously things have been left completely hanging with multiple plot threads (i.e. the feds being after Murphy, the council vote). This book really should have just been Peace Talks Part One, the next book doesn't really deserve its own title. It's just the second part of the same book.
- I am very happy with Harry and Murphy, but at this point it seems to me to be pretty obvious that Murphy is going Valkyrie very soon'ish, with Freydis just hovering over her and Harry. Of course I could be reading things I want into the situation, so who knows?
- There were multiple moments where I went "Aaaaah, just stop and talk to the people, Harry!" Ivy, Sarissa, Fix. I really wanted those conversations to happen. And I am quite unhappy that the Merlin hasn't shown up, I really wanted that conversation between Harry and him.
I am overall quite happy with the book, but feel left hanging quite a bit in the middle of a plot. It's only two months, but until we get the next one, it's difficult to really judge this part, because it's one single story.
Mira:
--- Quote ---- The book obviously is incomplete and ended kind of out of nowhere. It's too bad that Jim still is not in the top tier of writers who can just make his publisher bring out a novel at whatever length he decides to (i.e. GRRM).
--- End quote ---
They didn't put any limits on his past books..
magnuskn:
--- Quote from: Mira on July 18, 2020, 04:55:08 PM ---They didn't put any limits on his past books..
--- End quote ---
He was pretty explicit in the interview/Q&A where he announced Battle Grounds, that the original Peace Talks was too big for his publisher and would have been very expensive as books go, so he split the book and expanded both halves of the story.
Second Aristh:
Yeah, Jim talked about that conversation with his publisher. To get PT/BG out as a single book would have put the price over $50 for a hardcover, and he didn't want to do that.
I would imagine not having the machinery to publish hardcovers that thick and having to subcontract them out would be pretty expensive.
Mira:
--- Quote from: Second Aristh on July 18, 2020, 05:10:15 PM ---Yeah, Jim talked about that conversation with his publisher. To get PT/BG out as a single book would have put the price over $50 for a hardcover, and he didn't want to do that.
I would imagine not having the machinery to publish hardcovers that thick and having to subcontract them out would be pretty expensive.
--- End quote ---
The cost of publishing really must have gone up because Cold Days was over five hundred pages and the cover price was the same as Peace Talks approx $28.00. Skin Game was four hundred and fifty pages, cover price cost roughly the same as Peace Talks $29.00.. I bought a Diana Gabaldon book from the Outlander series, over 800 pages for $35.00.. If Battle Ground four hundred and fifty pages for the cover price of $28.00, the total for the two books is $56.00! Not to mention shipping, taxes, etc... So my friends which would have served us better? One longer more satisfying book that is a little more expensive or two shorter ones that in the long run we are paying more money for and are less satisfied?
Also since a lot of us purchase the book from Amazon or Kindle, we never pay the full price anyway..
When they were done discounting Peace Talks I think I was charged around $14.00 more or less, and roughly the same for Battle Ground.. The only way you pay full price is if you buy it from Barns and Noble or another bookstore, but if you belong to one of their clubs you also pay less.
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