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The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => GS Book Club => Topic started by: SkinsFanVJ on July 22, 2011, 02:59:10 PM
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Welcome to the Ghost Story Book Club!! This is intended to allow us to theorize and discuss as we read through Ghost Story. Discuss whats happened and how amazing it is. Discuss what you think is happening in the current set of chapters. Or even theorize about what may be about to happen.
The rules are simple...
You can discuss anything you want about Ghost Story, so long as it does not exceed the chapter limit set for this particular thread.
Chapter Limit -- Do NOT discuss anything after chapter: 15
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Right now I'm wondering what Thomas is up to. ???
And I'm worried about the spec that someone will die so Harry can live. I feel like Daniel has the mark of death. :P
Because I'm reading it on Kindle I'm not sure of the chapter at the moment, but I'm going to check to make sure I don't pull any big screw-ups on the book club. ;)
I know I wasn't going to read this today because I'm leaving for MegaTrip tomorrow but I couldn't help myself. It's a sickness. :D
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Just breezed through chapter 15.... I could barely put the book down long enough to post here
I don't even know where to begin, sooooo much stuff just happened!!
A few thoughts...
YAY MISTER!! I know that was a big discussion after Changes
Sir Stuart is/was an awesome character, I was really looking forward to seeing some more insight from him. But I do understand what happened, he would have made it too easy for Harry and Jim would never let that happen!
Fitz sounds like he's got a pivotal role in this story, and sounds like a character we are being setup to root for - almost a newer billy. But I think in the end something is gonna happen that makes it turn out vastly different than billy and the alphas
WTF is this Eternal Silence -- I hope we get more answers!!
MOLLY!!! I MEAN SERIOUSLY MOLLLLLLYYYYYY!!!! I really hope she doesn't go completely darkside on us, but wouldn't that be something!!
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I loved the check in with all the characters we've been wondering about. Which, I guess, is why I felt Thomas was conspicuous in his absence. Also with the other White Court vampire there I had to wonder again why Thomas isn't involved.
Daniel Carpenter is a strange wild card to me. What's he doing there? I mean, does he have weapons training? He doesn't have magic. He's still so vague. I think that's why I feel like he has the death mark. I hope I'm wrong. :(
Fitz is a very interesting character. I can't wait to see what happens with him. Unless it's bad ...
RE: Molly -- JB did say she'd have it rough in this book. :o
I also love that Mouse is with Maggie. That's comforting.
Murphy: um ... buzz cut? :-\
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Yeah, Daniel is a bit of an odd one. I think he may do something foolish to put people in jeopardy. Now that is an amazing bit of writing to make you feel like you know a character so well after just one scene with them!! I may be totally wrong in the end, but it surely feels like he's got like you said - that death mark.
I agree about Thomas, its curious that Felecia would be there instead of him representing the white council. However, it isn't that curious considering his close ties to the justice league...
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Im just got through reading chapter 9...Murphy is my type of woman....WOW :o :o :o :o
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OK, am I the only X-men fan who's totally geeking out so far? Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are my three favorites... (my dream is to get Jim to write the X-men someday, even if it was just a novel like <i>Darkest Hours</i>
I can totally see Peter Rasputin in his writing of Sanya and Michael...
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wow... just wow.
Molly... poor Molly, though she seemed to perk up when talking to Harry, she must have been through a lot in the past 6 months.
Murph, still kickin ass.
Thomas, where is he? Why isnt he out trying to find Harry's killer. Something isn't right there.
Cool to see Abby and Toto again, and WTG paranet, warding Murph's house for her.
Daniel is weird to see here. My only thought about his apperance is that he is there in place of his Father and Sister. I agree that something bad is going to happen to him.
Can't wait to read more. Cant put it down.
Awesome work by JB as always.
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Daniel Carpenter is a strange wild card to me. What's he doing there? I mean, does he have weapons training? He doesn't have magic. He's still so vague. I think that's why I feel like he has the death mark. I hope I'm wrong. :(
Daniel's parents are both master swordspeople. I'm sure he's picked up at least the basics (I.e., he's already better than Harry ever was :P ). However, I suspect he's got a lot in common with the priest from the short-stories (The Warrior? Can't remember the name) regarding the role of the Swords. He probably feels that he's entitled to it, as Michael's heir.
EDIT: He's also hopelessly naive, which I like about him. I suspect that he'd come down with Harry on a lot of issues. I don't see Harry being willing to terrify their own people so they stick to groups, for example.
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Love Sir Stuart!
Poor Molly! I don't think she is too far gone though. I just think she is so hurt from loosing Harry that she is scared to trust anyone again. But she is still fixable.
Love Mister! He proves it all, Harry wuz there!
I think Karrin is taking it a lot harder than she is letting on.
Boy I LOVE these books!
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*blows dust of the old keyboard*
Wow. . .been a while since I posted here. Brings back memories. . .or something. . .
A NEW DF NOVEL!!!!!!! SO EXCITED! I wish I didn't have to work all the time so I could read this un-interrupted.
So, I noticed most of the things you guys(and gals, maybe. Need to be PC) have, namely the absence of Thomas and the entrance of Daniel. What I also noticed was the name-drop of Elaine in the same sentence as the wardens! Is she with the White Council now?
The book started a little slow, I think, but I'm really liking it as I get into it. It looks like the series is really taking a turn towards becoming further and further from reality, which I suspected it would for a while now. Jim has set up a great magical world that could belivably exist within the confines of the real world, but I knew it wouldn't last forever ;D
Can't wait till I get the opportunity to read more tomorrow!
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okay
1) x-men references FTW!
2) Where is Thomas?
3) beating the crap out of Felicia AWESOME!
4) Sir Stuart was really cool
5) every time harry met someone from the gang i really wanted to cheer
so far really damn good
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also MAGGIE'S WITH MOUSE! and apparently they're close by ( she must be with the Carpenters)
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Felicia. A new wild card like Daniel Carpenter. Guess there had to be a White Court connection somewhere, and it had to be someone we didn't know. Otherwise, why the big set up about the Swords and Daniel's loose lips and Murphy's bad-a$$ take down of a vamp? Oh -- and I don't believe Felicia will keep quiet, regardless of Murphy's threats. The Swords would be too sweet a temptation.
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OK, am I the only X-men fan who's totally geeking out so far? Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are my three favorites... (my dream is to get Jim to write the X-men someday, even if it was just a novel like <i>Darkest Hours</i>
I can totally see Peter Rasputin in his writing of Sanya and Michael...
I was geeking out HARD
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I'm loving the book so far, and love the Justice League Murphy has formed. Daniel worries me, in that he does strike me as way too similar to the nutty priest Michael beat with a baseball bat.
And he has no restraint, as shown by his outburst with Felicia present. So, unless his attitude changes, I don't see Daniel surviving this story.
And speaking of Felicia, while I was surprised to find that Thomas is so far MIA (which I suspect may be a result of his mindset after Harry got shot on HIS boat), I was more surprised to find the WC representative wasn't Justine or Lara. Seems to me Lara would go herself, or use Justine as proxy, out of respect for Harry and Murphy.
I'm also a little disturbed by Molly's attitude and change. It strikes me that the extent to which she required Harry was extremely underplayed until now. Her Batman-esque crusade fits what she would think Harry would want (particularly with all the references Harry makes to comics), but it strikes me as her also completely missing the point. :P
Yes, Harry was responsible for wizard vigilanteism, but he also relied on his friends quite a lot, whereas she seems to be pushing them all away. To continue with the Justice League metaphor, if Harry is Batman, Molly has become Red Hood. Instead of responding with enough force to stop, she is responding with, what she sees as, force enough to deter.
I can easily believe she has PSTD due to her psychic sensitivity, but she is making it worse with her own violence. Hopefully just knowing Harry is around in some form will help her to begin healing.
Also, I would love to read stories about this new Will. He is standing strong with one trick and, from the brief description afforded so far, he's kicked some ass in the past six months.
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This is hard, because I read it all, but I'll be careful. I missed Thomas, too. But Daniel, WOW! I like that other Carpenter kids are showing up.
I found the first few chapters slowish, because the new world was being built. The spoon thing confused me, because I haven't seen The Matrix, but Mickey helped me out. THANKS, MICKEY!! ;D
Molly and Murphy are way harder, possibly with more brittleness. Butters, imo, is a God. Sort of.
Fitz is a great new character, I think.
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Hi all,
In Chapter 10, there's a phrase "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead". A couple of paragraphs after Mister runs into Harry.
Would the "Black Court was dead" mean that it no longer exists? I have to think it means something else as there wasn't a major action against the Black Court...
Thanks
Scott
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I saw that also, and really didn't understand it. More questions for Jim!!!
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In Chapter 10, there's a phrase "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead". A couple of paragraphs after Mister runs into Harry. Would the "Black Court was dead" mean that it no longer exists? I have to think it means something else as there wasn't a major action against the Black Court...
The point was that while not every single member of the Red Court may be dead, the organization itself is gone and no longer has any influence on the world except through its absence.
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But the Black Court still has heavy hitters like Mavra, doesn't it? It may not be in the Top Ten - although after Chicken Itza it might - but it's still a danger.
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you cant keep a good cat down i loves it when mister runs full tilt into harry and my thoughts were right he would go to murphys home had he ever been there before??, love the lady vampire and her swingers, jim is right and man who says [oh i dont like big bouncy bazookas] must have an itty bitty titty girlfriend, hope mister and bob can work together his pad is a neat idea just because he is a spirit dont mean he wouldnt like the finer things in life,if molly was there all along why didnt mister see her ??? ?. just a thought great book and i hope big foot joins the jla next or maybe odin could be like charile and be the head shed.
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Marva and others in the black court are still out there and a danger to the world - so "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead" still needs some analysis or answers....
Cheers!
Scott
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Marva and others in the black court are still out there and a danger to the world - so "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead" still needs some analysis or answers....
Cheers!
Scott
I think the "Black Court" as an orginization is entirely dead. True, there are Blampires out and about, but not many, and Marva may be the strongest. I think that that line sets up a simmilar senario for the Rampires. The Red Court of Vampires is gone. Eniterly. End of Story. they have no more power, no more organization. they are no longer a nation. That does not mean, however that every single Rampire is dead (just most, probably). who knows, some of the strongest that somehow avoided the curse may be out and about, but they will be forced to operate in small cells (scourges) instead as a supernatural superpower nation. Just my interprataion of that line.
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I'm not concerned about the Red Court - they're finished for now...However, I've seen nothing in the books that implied that the Black Court got reduced, whacked, disbanded, etc. That's what I'm really asking about - did I miss something....
Cheers!
Scott
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Well, figure this is as good a place as any for my first post. I don't think there is anything to be said so far on the book itself that hasn't been said so far: a little slow at the start, though not unecessarily so imo, and otherwise fantastic. I have a feeling we're in one hell of a dark, gloomy, and engrossing tale here.
As for the Black Court, page 251 of GP states "The Black Court was nearly wiped out, Thomas said." It then goes on to reference that a big root cause for this was Bram Stoker publishing Dracula, his Big Book of Black Court Vampire Slaying. I believe there was also a similar reference in BR which also indicated that the White Court payed Stoker to write it, thought I didn't have time to check for a page number on that one.
And as a parting note, I was reading this late at night, and that exchange with Molly scared the crap out of me at first, though that quickly faded in favor of real sadness. Damn it Jim, I'm not supposed to care about fictional characters this much!
(I kid, keep up the good work).
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Thanks MalcolmD....I do remember that reference to Stoker...But it seems to me that with the the Black Court would of rebuilt to some degree...Think of Marva's nest where Dresden got his hand burned...and the nest that he battled at the shopping center... I suppose they might not have many older Black Court vampires, but they seem to be able to generate newbies quite well...<grin>
Cheers!
Scott
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Felicia. A new wild card like Daniel Carpenter. Guess there had to be a White Court connection somewhere, and it had to be someone we didn't know. Otherwise, why the big set up about the Swords and Daniel's loose lips and Murphy's bad-a$$ take down of a vamp? Oh -- and I don't believe Felicia will keep quiet, regardless of Murphy's threats. The Swords would be too sweet a temptation.
Maybe not that sweet. Lara can not use the swords. She can not even unmake them so she can only keep them or sell them. She probably has more than enough problems without making new ones.
Maybe Thomas would object.
It was careless to let it slip but the consequences may be minimal.
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It was careless to let it slip but the consequences may be minimal.
There is no such thing as a "minimal" consequence in the Dresdenverse.
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I am surprised no one has asked one very obvious question...
Like "What happened to Hendricks?"
Before the Justice League meeting, Murphy met up with one Jack Childs who was, as we found out shortly during the meeting, Marcone's top troubleshooter.
I thought Hendricks was supposed to be Marcone's right hand man? What happened to him? How did this Jack Childs get the promotion to Hendricks' post? You would think Marcone would send Hendricks out to represent his interests at Justice League meetings, wouldn't you? Especially when you think about how Hendricks was more actively involved in the supernatural scene than any of Marcone's enforcers.
I was hoping to see some Hendricks and Ms. Gard love scenes...
Teck
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Hi guys. Been lurking a while, sorry if this bumps a mostly dead thread.
Just on the Hendricks thing, getting him to negotiate Marcone's interests doesn't really seem like his strong suit. Hendricks and Gard are to Marcone what Mouse was/is to Harry - a big freakin' attack dog to scare your enemies senseless and pop 'em in the mouth when they get out of line. The dude's a total meathead who's collectively said less words than Mac in the series. That right there sums up his alliance building and negotiating skillset. It would have been funny to see him sit down for tea (and sip with his pinky raised), but not so believable. Wherever Hendricks is, it's going to be at Marcone's heels.
The more intriguing question right now, with so much happening in HIS town, where the fudge is John?
The fact that Childs actually has the ability to speak for Marcone is freaking EPIC. Think about it, Marcone's reputation and his empire mean everything to him. Chicago isn't his playground, it's his legacy. The fact that he allows someone to cede his territory by proxy... That isn't insignificant. I think Jim has some big plans for Mr Childs. Minnows don't get to do that stuff.
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The more intriguing question right now, with so much happening in HIS town, where the fudge is John?
Well there is a theory that Mr. Hendricks picked up Thorned Namshiel's coin in SmF after Michael was shot while being lifted into the helicopter. Furthermore, Marcone went to Rome in an attempt to get the Fallen exercised from his associate.
I'm not saying I agree with this idea, but it is a possible explanation for both what happened to the coin and Marcone's absence. On another note, it was revealed in one of the short stories which focused on Marcone, that Mr Hendricks has a PhD; I'm not sure in what discipline, so we shouldn't judge Mr. Hendricks' intelligence by his appearance and lack of dialog.
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Ah, thanks for that. Hadn't seen the PhD reference...is that in "Even Hand"? That and "AAAA Wizardry" are the only Dresden stories I haven't read. I'm still a fairly new fan to the series, ate up the case files and side jobs in one stretch without spending a day not reading at least a good chunk of chapters. It's both weird and fun how much stuff you pick up rereading when you're not fatigued.
Interesting theory for Marcone's absence. Adds up really nicely too, but for some reason it just doesn't feel right. Can't put my finger on why and time (and JB) may well prove that intuition to be wrong, but it just doesn't seem to jive. I have no reasonable discussion points beyond my gut feeling on that one.
Just as a note on Hendrick's skill set, it's a very good point that one shouldn't judge intellect by appearance, but similarly intellect alone does not make a people person. Case in point; Butters. Yeah, his relationship with Bob makes him a great lookout, but let's be honest, in a serious negotiation he'd be pretty much useless. He's quite possibly the smartest character in the series, but he lacks many other skills in regards to the application of that knowledge.
Same thing for Hendricks. He may be freakishly intelligent, but his demeanor towards conversation, negotiation and compromise seems to make him a dubious choice as an envoy/ambassador at best. Granted, Harry hasn't seen him in that many situations and he has good reason to be on his guard with the wizard. But then, when representing a Freehold Lord in supernatural affairs or a plain vanilla crime boss, how many instances could he really not be on his guard? If the way he reacts to Harry is typical of the way he reacts to anyone who might threaten or challenge Marcone, negotiating just ain't his thing.
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Hi all,
In Chapter 10, there's a phrase "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead". A couple of paragraphs after Mister runs into Harry.
Would the "Black Court was dead" mean that it no longer exists? I have to think it means something else as there wasn't a major action against the Black Court...
Thanks
Scott
The Black Court has always been dead :)
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Completely new here but I just started reading gh and I'm still grieving over Harry dying.... Can someone please tell me why Jim killed Harry? By no means was it getting old and I know that he still ends up serving Mab. These books are awesome! Much appreciated!
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Completely new here but I just started reading gh and I'm still grieving over Harry dying.... Can someone please tell me why Jim killed Harry? By no means was it getting old and I know that he still ends up serving Mab. These books are awesome! Much appreciated!
Jim killed Harry because he wanted to write ghost story.
I think that was a good reason. ;D