There is something about Harry in a soul gaze that scares the crap out a rogue FBI agent, Susan and a kracken. We also maybe understand better why it is a good thing that Harry is the Winter Knight, and Molly Winter Lady.
No calamari joke? Harry (and Jim are slipping).
Molly has control of weather and sharks, does anyone else find that ominous? She also knew Harry had gone to the island.
But not Marcone.....
I thought the 2 chapters were awesome - definitely a good start :) I was kind of confused by the "You don't want to take on the Winter Knight in dark places" line though, considering that he didn't *do* much as the Winter Knight after that. Everyone else did, but Harry's contribution was limited to stuffing a magnesium flare into the wound made by Lara. I was thinking maybe blades of ice, lots of them, but ... no.
That depends on how you define how much he did. The soul gaze, the Winter Mantle made Harry realize something, the kracken was afraid of him! Then his allies came in and did their part. However if they hadn't I wouldn't be so sure if Harry wouldn't have done more, because with the knowledge gained he now had the upper hand, but he didn't need to do more.
Notice he didn't even attempt to use the knife, he is still keeping that knowledge from the Enemy.
No calamari joke? Harry (and Jim are slipping).It depends on your definition of soul. I think it is a bit fuzzy sometimes and the difference between soul and spirit is not always clearly drawn in all uses of the word.
I presume Kraken are mortal and sentient, hence a soul gaze. Harry could probably soul gaze a chimp, gorilla or dolphin, but not a dog (Mouse isn’t mortal) or a cat (Mister would win any staring contest though, and Harry would end up having to open a tin of tuna, having lost a battle of wills because well, cat.)
Lots of real fires in Chicago, perfect for keeping away the Outsiders.
Molly has control of weather and sharks, does anyone else find that ominous? She also knew Harry had gone to the island.
Jim has said that Clash of the Titans influenced him enormously, and now the Fomor have Released The Kraken.
Note Tor are redirecting everyone to their website this time.
I guess. Maybe I'm not reading enough into that, it just seemed an odd line to have, if there weren't immediate consequences backing it up.
Yup. Although I thought he took two of the weapons off-island. We only get to hear about the knife ...
I think something like a soul gaze is theoretically possible with a lot of creatures and you might see something.Yeah, but question becomes, do you want to see into some creatures? Take a skinwalker like Shaggy for example, I imagine a soul gaze is possible with him, but considering what just seeing him
So...There's every chance it was one of the paranetters that was grabbed. Or it could have been a scion as you said.(click to show/hide)
What are the spoiler rules for sample chapters, anyway?
There's every chance it was one of the paranetters that was grabbed. Or it could have been a scion as you said.
There's every chance it was one of the paranetters that was grabbed. Or it could have been a scion as you said.
That's a horrifying thought. Not a scion at all, but a human dragged down to the depths and exposed to Lovecraftian imagery until its body and soul were twisted into a tentacular eldritch horror itself.
No, which if you will remember surprised Harry, and actually made him a bit afraid of Marcone. However he did find a corner where Marcone was vulnerable. One has to wonder, perhaps Marcone wasn't afraid because he was trying to come up with a way to use Harry?
I guess. Maybe I'm not reading enough into that, it just seemed an odd line to have, if there weren't immediate consequences backing it up.
Crossed with what? :o
I will say I was happy with the Murphy of these two chapters.
She's still present and has Harry's back, but she didn't try to leap into the water and fight the kraken or even shoot it. She took an active role, doing things like getting out a flare and lighting it, or giving Freydis a grenade, but she's acting well within her body's limits and not blindly charging in and becoming a liability. I should have had more faith. :)
She seems to be taking over some of the best parts of Butters' role in Dead Beat. She's a mortal, in over her head, but still able to help through grit and competence. And she gets to be the reader-stand-in for much needed world exposition. (Not everyone has been researching the Ethniu myths since Peace Talks came out! And there's going to be a lot more that we don't know.)
Their relationship even felt more real and healthy than in their first chapter in Peace Talks, where it felt like they were always maneuvering through a minefield of prickly topics. Maybe it's just that they put all the small stuff to the side when things get serious, but it was nice to see. (I'm not sure if it was intentional, but on second reading I laughed at how she's now *physically* "lumpier and pointier than the dictates of romance..." where she was like that metaphorically in chapter 5 of Peace Talks.)
Although, Jim also says that Soul Gazes only happen during moments of intimacy. Which is curious, because that's a very recent quote.
Also, seems interesting to me that he isn't even sure he can beat Ethniu altogether.
So what is plan A?
The scene is sort of parallel with Harry's soulgaze with Ursiel in DM; Harry is attacked by surprise by a big monster and gets an unexpected soulgaze.
I also have this idea that Harry gets the eye out and turns it on the Fomor like the head of Medusa, decimating their forces, eventually taking it back to the armoury with the rest of his superweapons. I wonder if Alfred could wield it?
Butcher made a point of saying the Winter Knight was dangerous in the cold and the dark but we didn't get to see any real WK mojo. Resisting cold is fine and all but not very interesting.
Though I'm pretty amazed that kraken qualify as people enough to get a soulgaze. Do the rules of magic then apply? It's kind of alarming, to be honest.Most likely it wasn't born a kracken, the Fomor have done some interesting bio-engineering with
We know soulgazes are mediated by the recipient, Harry gets images and video but I think Ramirez get music. I think the recipient's frame of reference also affected what they experience. So everyone gets a different version of Harry. That's why the normal people who soulgazed Harry are gibbering over whatever it was that could frighten a kraken. They see the parts of Harry that matter to them.Susan fainted, the FBI agent begged him not to consign him to Hell. Everyone may see it differently depending on themselves, but I believe they still see basically what is the essence of who Harry really is, not just what matters to them. Ramirez may hear music, but as we all know music can communicate a lot of different things, mood, emotion, pictures.. However it has never been said that people at the other end of a soul gaze with Ramirez hear music.
No? It helped him to see in the dark and cold of the water. It pulled him out of that soul gaze, made him realize the creature was afraid of him. These are all Winter Knight mantle things, remember Harry's wizard powers were neutralized by the water. So though subtle, the mantle was critical for his survival, it also prevented him from being paralyzed by pain from his head wounds. Maybe not interesting but it cannot all be flash bang.
None of that made Harry particularly dangerous though. I only think it was a bit of misstep as the line led the reader in one direction when the narrative was going in another. It feels like a leftover from a draft where Harry did something a little more flashy than not drown and play back up to the ladies.
I think it's from being half a book. He's worried about being a wizard helpless in the dark with monsters, then realizes he's also a thing that goes bump in the night. He can see the creature, and is fighting with his near superhuman strength and pain immunity at that point.
To change gears, I was the most interested in Molly swooping in during chapter two. The description of her in particular: “Molly wore one of those surfer’s wet suits, with patterns of deep purple and pale green on it in the streaks and rings of a highly venomous sea snake, her mouth stretched into a madwoman’s grin. Her hair, luminous silver in the weird light, spread out around her head in an otherworldly aura.”
Her mouth stretched in a mad woman’s grin. This sounds a lot like Maeve when she was overtaken with battle lust. I worry for Molly. That lady’s mantle is an order of magnitude more complex than the knight’s. It’s changing her, and she may be too headstrong to realize. I remember Harry when he gave into the knight’s mantle in Cold Days on the island. Primitive. Wanting to hunt and screw Maeve. That’s Winter at its core: wanting to kill (Winter’s enemies) and make babies (so they can kill Winter’s enemies). Giving in to the mantle gives you a lot of raw power, but it’s easy to get lost. Is that what’s happening to Molly? If so...I hope she finally comes clean to her family, and they turn out to be a critical anchor that helps her stay her.
Oh I think it was made very clear in Peace Talks that Molly is being changed, and it isn't like the Winter Knight mantle that perhaps can be shed some day. The Knight is mortal, the Lady's mantle makes the owner immortal. However unless it drives Molly mad for some reason, I don't think she will turn out to be like Maeve. She had problems before she ever became Lady, and over time they just got worse until Nemesis finished her off.The difference is that Molly knows the winter lady is doing an important job worth doing. Her sense of duty is well developed. She is doing her job. We know that Maeve was not doing her job at all. That means that Molly as far more in sync with her mantle which probably means she won't get crazy that easily.
I don't think it was Ursiel though that he soul gazed, I think it was one of the ones Shiro killed.
Well, maybe the actual Soulgaze was with Rasmussen (Ursiel's host) rather than the Fallen itself, but that was definitely Ursiel that Shiro, Michael, and Sanya killed in the alley - the 6 legged bear form.
He shows up again in SG, but with a different host.