Anyone else... disappointed? [PT/BG spoilers]

[SerScot]

I’ve enjoyed the DF for going on 20 years.  PT/BG is the first time since Fool Moon that I’ve been disappointed.  The book is not “bad” it’s just so so.  In particular BG.  The most interesting parts were the preparation for the battle.  Then it is one “standard Dresden Files slugfest” after another. 

The division of the book into two is part of the problem but only part.  There weren’t any really good character defining moments for Harry and felt like stuff we’d seen before written “up too eleven”

In some ways it felt like a reversal of Changes.  Putting Harry back where he was before Changes with a slightly supped up version of the things he lost.  I thought the point of this book was that the magical world was going to be thrust in the face of the “real world” in a way that could not be ignored.  Mr. Butcher even tries to walk that back. 

Murphy’s death, while well written and impactful seems lost in the noise.  It didn’t have anything close to the emotional heft and weight of Susan’s death.  Thomas was criminally under used given the hook we saw for almost five years and the revelation about Justine was both “meh” and seems, to me, to clash with the tone set for the renewal of Justine and Thomas’ full relationship at the end of Ghost Story.

The entire thing seems somewhat... under developed given the length of time Mr. Butcher had on the story.  I sincerely hope Mirror Mirror will be more of a return to form.

[Mira]

 The book or both books have a bit of a "kitchen sink" feel to them.  Stuff thrown in like Drackol and Mavra, to what purpose?  I'd have loved to have seen a scene where Murphy makes her choice to join the fight and maybe Mac trying to talk her out of it.  While the Senior Council voted Harry out, none of them in Chicago seemed to have a problem with him.  Then suddenly he is voted out when at least three Senior Members, I am counting Rashid in because he most likely is still at the Gates are missing.  Where was the Merlin in all of this, Harry should have at least been able to face his accusers.  Using the magical death of a couple of Turtlenecks as a violation of the First Law, then suspending the death sentence?  Carlos suddenly blaming Harry for everything from what happened to his fellow Wardens when Drackol showed up to the sixty thousand lives lost in Chicago?  Because Harry failed to talk to him?  Would it have mattered?  And there was stuff that Harry couldn't talk about... All smells of set up, perhaps for future books, I just hope we don't have to wait another six years...

[SerScot]

 The book or both books have a bit of a "kitchen sink" feel to them.  Stuff thrown in like Drackol and Mavra, to what purpose?  I'd have loved to have seen a scene where Murphy makes her choice to join the fight and maybe Mac trying to talk her out of it.  While the Senior Council voted Harry out, none of them in Chicago seemed to have a problem with him.  Then suddenly he is voted out when at least three Senior Members, I am counting Rashid in because he most likely is still at the Gates are missing.  Where was the Merlin in all of this, Harry should have at least been able to face his accusers.  Using the magical death of a couple of Turtlenecks as a violation of the First Law, then suspending the death sentence?  Carlos suddenly blaming Harry for everything from what happened to his fellow Wardens when Drackol showed up to the sixty thousand lives lost in Chicago?  Because Harry failed to talk to him?  Would it have mattered?  And there was stuff that Harry couldn't talk about... All smells of set up, perhaps for future books, I just hope we don't have to wait another six years...

I agree.  It feels... disjointed.  The first person PoV made it near impossible to show Murphy’s decision to fight.  But I agree Harry should have been present for his “trial”.  I cannot believe Lucco didn’t speak out for Dresden and Ramerize’s flip to “enemy” is weird.

I still find the Butters “wish fulfillment” sceen in PT eye roll worthy, at best.

[Mira]

I agree.  It feels... disjointed.  The first person PoV made it near impossible to show Murphy’s decision to fight.  But I agree Harry should have been present for his “trial”.  I cannot believe Lucco didn’t speak out for Dresden and Ramerize’s flip to “enemy” is weird.

I still find the Butters “wish fulfillment” sceen in PT eye roll worthy, at best.

Yeah, stuff like throwing Ferrofax in because fans asked for it, but then he does absolutely nothing with him on page that didn't happen in Grave Peril.  I feel he did the same with the Black Court, so Drakul is another star born?  One turned bad or is the the future for Harry?  He never established whether the Black Court is an ally of the Fomor and the Outsiders or just saw an opportunity to gain some wizard recruits?   

I think it would have been better if after everything was over Harry returned to Mac's place only to find Murphy not there and then Mac explaining what happened and that she was dead.  That is another thing, they all gathered at Mac's place after, but not a word about Mac being there or to Mac, and what of the Placard?  We know the Spear along with the Eye was returned to the island, but not a word about the Placard.

[SerScot]

Yeah, Harry “saving the day” to return to Mac’s and discover Murphy had gone down swinging would have been an interesting choice.

[BrainFireBob]

I agree.  It feels... disjointed.  The first person PoV made it near impossible to show Murphy’s decision to fight.  But I agree Harry should have been present for his “trial”.  I cannot believe Lucco didn’t speak out for Dresden and Ramerize’s flip to “enemy” is weird.

I still find the Butters “wish fulfillment” sceen in PT eye roll worthy, at best.

It's either a full Council vote, or a Senior Council vote.

If it's a Senior Council vote, these are the members:

Martha Liberty
Joseph Listens-to-Wind
Ebenezer McCoy
Grigori Christos
Arthur Langtry
Ancient Mai
Rashid "I am the Gatekeeper" Gatekeeper

Rashid would have been at the Outer Gates.
Ebenezer and LtW were in surgery.

4 members is a majority, so they probably had a quorum to hold votes.

If the votes are unchanged, this is:

Martha Liberty: Against
Christos, Mai, Langtry: For

And Harry's out.

[Mira]

But can Cristos be against Harry after Chicago?  Weird don't you think?  And why were no members at the meeting of the Accords in the aftermath?  Would the Merlin be against Harry?  In Changes he seemed to have changed his tune... 

[BrainFireBob]

Cristos is still suspect as a black hat.

And the Merlin is a control freak, and Harry's a loose cannon who must have pocketed the Eye of Balor

I think ultimately it's a pressure play about the Eye; but politically it worked because three of Harry's four supporters weren't available.

[Mira]

Cristos is still suspect as a black hat.

And the Merlin is a control freak, and Harry's a loose cannon who must have pocketed the Eye of Balor

I think ultimately it's a pressure play about the Eye; but politically it worked because three of Harry's four supporters weren't available.

In the end I think Mab is right, Harry is a wolf that the White Council needs.

[Bad Alias]

It's either a full Council vote, or a Senior Council vote.

If it's a Senior Council vote, these are the members:

Martha Liberty
Joseph Listens-to-Wind
Ebenezer McCoy
Grigori Christos
Arthur Langtry
Ancient Mai
Rashid "I am the Gatekeeper" Gatekeeper

Rashid would have been at the Outer Gates.
Ebenezer and LtW were in surgery.

4 members is a majority, so they probably had a quorum to hold votes.

If the votes are unchanged, this is:

Martha Liberty: Against
Christos, Mai, Langtry: For

And Harry's out.

The Merlin holds the proxies of those not there who haven't delegated them. If Eb's camp had delegated them, it would have been to the Gatekeeper because Eb's camp wasn't going to be there.

Would the Merlin be against Harry?  In Changes he seemed to have changed his tune...

Based on what Jim said about no one being what they seemed, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the Merlin shows up to Harry, acknowledges that he knows about the Grey Council and has from the beginning and gives him a speech about how the White Council can only be saved from the outside.

And why were no members at the meeting of the Accords in the aftermath?

Because they didn't want them there. The White Council no longer has a direct interest Chicago and it was about handling the fact that everyone left in Chicago was going to know about the supernatural. They were planning the next war. The one against mortals. As little as the White Council does for humanity, that would have been a step too far.

[Mira]

Based on what Jim said about no one being what they seemed, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the Merlin shows up to Harry, acknowledges that he knows about the Grey Council and has from the beginning and gives him a speech about how the White Council can only be saved from the outside.

Actually that makes a lot of sense, like when the Merlin took Harry to one side in Changes ordering him to lay off of Arianna, at the same time telling him that the Red Court must be annihilated.

[SerScot]

I would like to see Harry and Langtree forced to wotk as a team.  I’m curious to see if Harry’s expulsion from the WC means he’s out of the GC too.

For the record I would love to have seen more of the WC infighting and less of the “crack/boom”.  Nothing but fight scene after fight scene is monotonous.

[B33bl3br0x]

One of the things that really bothered me in the PT book was Harry and Eb both talking about how Etri was going to be super pissed at Harry if/when he found out that Harry took Thomas.

This bothers me a lot. We've been hearing and hearing about how responsibility for an action carried out by an entity's agent is basically deflected upwards in the supernatural community. That is, if you're acting as someone's agent, responsibility for the outcome of your actions belong to whomever you're working for. Harry was Lara's agent in the kidnapping of Thomas, and so she bears responsibility for it, not Harry.

Etri is, as we know, super old school, and is so in line with this proposition that he lets Listen and the other turtlenecks go after the events of Bombshells. The rest of the svartalves seem to be as well.

If everything works like it's supposed to, Harry should be in no danger of reprisals from Etri or any other member of Svartalfheim for taking Thomas. And so this entire point of story is just completely out of place.

The scene with the Svartalves trying to enter Molly's apartment from below to get Maggie also seems entirely out of character for them as well. Given that they granted the apartment to Molly and all the provisions of the transfer being as they are, attempting to force such an entry seems...less than honorable.

[sayyadina]

I was fully invested at the start of the book. Then I got so disgusted I almost quit reading it. Then I made myself get back into it and found stuff that almost felt like Dresden Files. Then I got more and more numb, like I couldn't possibly be reading this since 99.9% of what I was reading felt just wrong and not Dresden Files. Didn't give a damn when it looked like Marcone died and didn't really care when the reveal happened. Which is the opposite to how I normally feel. Felt absolutely nothing with the whole Ethniu's vision thing since I knee it was fake. I was pretty beyond numb, exhausted & disgusted by that point. By the time the Lara thing happens at the end I was just done and over it all. Now I just feel so damn 2020 about it, at a place beyond all hopelessness, numbness & despair.

Jim burned every single bit of goodwill I had and I am so done. I'm grateful for the books & short stories & comics I have. Not a chance I'll buy anything new. This book pretty much killed the series for me and serves as an end.

[Snark Knight]

The entire thing seems somewhat... under developed given the length of time Mr. Butcher had on the story.  I sincerely hope Mirror Mirror will be more of a return to form.

To be fair, I've been thinking for years that PT was going to be the one he has to get out of the way before telling the interesting story in MM.

Although with how vaguely off the duology seemed, I hope that assessment isn't mistaken.