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DF Spoilers / Re: !!!SPOILERS!!! PEACE TALKS !!!SPOILERS!!!
« on: July 20, 2020, 11:40:53 AM »
It didn't really make much sense to me, either, but we gotta take Jim at his word, I'd say.
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77
DF Spoilers / Re: !!!SPOILERS!!! PEACE TALKS !!!SPOILERS!!!
« on: July 18, 2020, 05:05:36 PM »They didn't put any limits on his past books..
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.
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DF Spoilers / Re: Christmas Eve and Peace Talks theory (spoilers)
« on: July 18, 2020, 12:43:02 PM »As Malcolm told Harry, paraphrasing, "everyone dies alone." We may have family around us, but we walk through that final door solo.
So, if Christmas Eve does indeed take place after Peace Talks/Battleground and Murphy isn't present, which considering the events that seem to be happening in the chapter five drop, she should be...
So here is what is possibly the reasons why she wasn't;
1] Murphy re-injured herself big time and is in the hospital.
2] Murphy made a Faustian bargain to get into the fight, and alienated herself in the process from Harry.
3] Harry made a Faustian bargain to cure Murphy and alienated himself from her.
4] Somehow whoever it is that was trying to frame Harry and Murphy succeeded. While Harry got
off because of his various connections, Murphy couldn't or may have even take the fall for Harry and is serving 15 years to life in prison for murder.
5] Murphy finds out that she will be crippled for life and wants to go through it solo, her way.
6] While it is possible she became Summer Knight, I don't see that fact keeping her away at
Christmas. Don't think Sarissa would demand that of her, Titania might, but it would have to be really important.
7] Murphy was killed.
7a]... and is away on Valkyrie duties.
79
DF Spoilers / Re: !!!SPOILERS!!! PEACE TALKS !!!SPOILERS!!!
« on: July 18, 2020, 12:35:36 PM »
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.
- 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.
80
DF Spoilers / Re: Chapter 6 Drop
« on: July 08, 2020, 05:24:27 AM »
It's kind of amazing how much tools Jim now has to get Harry into trouble at the start of the book. Compared to the early books, where there was a main threat and maybe one or two side things to complicate things, nowadays the list of things which go wrong (and do go wrong, as seen in these early chapters) seems endless.
81
DF Spoilers / Re: Chapter 5 Drop
« on: July 01, 2020, 06:50:02 PM »One of the things her fans seem to like the most is that Murphy is a simple vanilla human. Making her suddenly Summer Knight or an Einherjar kind of goes against that, and her own religion as far as that goes.
See Sanya and Butters how much that matters for supernatural powers. Also, Murphy being catholic hasn't featured for quite some time into her character.
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DF Spoilers / Re: Chapter 5 Drop
« on: July 01, 2020, 11:53:21 AM »He has done it before, so who knows? All I am saying that if she dies and it fits the story line
it is no more disrespectful that when Susan died. Now I want to know, is he
having unprotected sex yet again?
I don't think there are any magical wizard cures for Murphy. LTW's medical degrees are all from
vanilla medical schools if I remember correctly. Wizards heal more quickly because of their make up not because of any magical medicine.
I don't see the build up for such a "final storyline" for Murphy, though. Susan had a lot of things going on which led to her ultimate act of self-sacrifice. Murphy, at this time, is reconvelascing from her wounds and needs to adapt to her current situation. Her and Harry difnally being able to have a romantic relationship is still building up. I just don't see her character arc making her be someone to be taken out of the story.
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DF Spoilers / Re: Chapter 5 Drop
« on: July 01, 2020, 05:44:06 AM »Depends on the story line, would it be more disrespectful to kill off Murphy than it was to kill off Susan or even Morgan? If she dies, it all depends on the context of her death, heroic saving Harry and having a lot to do with saving the world? Good death.. And sadly characters do outlive their utility and have to move on, and that doesn't mean killing them off.
I mean, just as she and Harry are really getting together? This would be so cliché that I just can't believe Jim would do it. Not to mention his little tweet from a few years ago, where he said that he just wrote Murphy's funeral. There's this little trope where writers troll their audience when they set up the expectation that a cliché would happen and then subvert that expectation. I strongly feel that this is one of those times.
We'll know in two weeks, anyway.
84
DF Spoilers / Re: Chapter 5 Drop
« on: June 30, 2020, 08:49:43 PM »
I also don't think that Marcone would use the cops to go after Harry. That's simply not his style, he's a hands-on man.
I also feel bad for Murphy, but I somehow don't see this state lasting for long. It would be profoundly difficult for her to adapt to a role where she is kept on the sideline from the action.
I also don't see Jim killing her off, because that also would be deeply disrespectful to the character ("Outlived her utility? Off she goes, for a bigger guilt trip for Harry!") and this isn't the style of writing Jim uses. Although I still suspect that employment with Vadderung may be in her future, to pay off the set-up in Ghost Story.
At least she and Harry are getting some action. It's pretty much time after sixteen books!
I also feel bad for Murphy, but I somehow don't see this state lasting for long. It would be profoundly difficult for her to adapt to a role where she is kept on the sideline from the action.
I also don't see Jim killing her off, because that also would be deeply disrespectful to the character ("Outlived her utility? Off she goes, for a bigger guilt trip for Harry!") and this isn't the style of writing Jim uses. Although I still suspect that employment with Vadderung may be in her future, to pay off the set-up in Ghost Story.
At least she and Harry are getting some action. It's pretty much time after sixteen books!
85
DF Spoilers / Re: Power Creep
« on: June 03, 2020, 06:26:04 AM »
Jim has been pretty explicit about this when asked at conventions. Harry is getting the basic tools to deal with the increased threats he is facing as time goes on, but just so that he'll always be the underdog and have to use his wits to defeat them, instead of just overpowering them.
86
DF Spoilers / Re: Is Harry Senior Council Level?
« on: May 26, 2020, 03:53:27 PM »
Oh, come on. You know if Harry were to get on the Council, it would be against his will and in a way which would screw him over in a variety of ways. That's just how his life goes. 
87
DF Spoilers / Re: "Job placement" microfiction
« on: May 10, 2020, 09:41:04 AM »
My big points of contention were that Fitz' story was a completely useless waste of time for a throwaway character, which could have been used to flesh out more what happened in the year Harry died, also where the other important characters were in their character arcs and that Murphy's character development in Ghost Story was pretty much completely reversed in Cold Days and hence also a big waste of time. The other stuff was good. But those two points soured the book for me.
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DF Spoilers / Re: "Job placement" microfiction
« on: May 09, 2020, 07:12:15 AM »I must admit though, Skin Game and Ghost Story were unfortunately not very strong novels as compared to much of the series and I am excited about Peace Talks and Battle Grounds getting Harry back in the world.
That's interesting. I also thought Ghost Story was a let-down in many aspects, however Skin Game was, IMHO, fantastic in about everything it did. Fascinating how people view such things so completely differently.
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DF Spoilers / Re: "Job placement" microfiction
« on: May 05, 2020, 08:59:10 PM »
Honestly? With the way things are going, I'm worried about their safety. That's perfect placement to get them to be part of the casualties of whatever is going to happen.