Dresden Files Catch-All (possible spoilers)

Tanglebones wrote:

Finished it over the weekend; some stuff I expected, some I didn't:

Spoiler:

I thought that Nick's big play was to get the Grail so he could redeem himself from Anduriel on his own terms.

Oh, and ongoing theory:

Spoiler:

McAnally is Merlin

Spoiler:

I thought that Nick's big play was to get the Grail to somehow heal the damage that Harry did when he almost killed him, and that Harry would end up using it to heal himself instead so he could get rid of the Winter Mantle without becoming an invalid for the next 30 years. And heal Michael, too, while he was at it.

And I thought maybe Merlin was the guy trapped in the crystal at the beginning.

Spoiler:

So Butters is now a Jewish Jedi Knight of the Cross, who moonlights as Magic Skateboard Batman. Hells yes.

Also I can't wait to see how Bob reacts to Dresden's new brain-baby.

Keldar wrote:
Spoiler:

And I thought maybe Merlin was the guy trapped in the crystal at the beginning.

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure he is. When Dresden asks who he is, he just says "someone who needs to be here." I think he needs to be around for Armageddon and since wizards don't live forever, he used the prison to put himself in suspended animation.

Regarding Mac, he was clearly involved in the war with the Outsiders somehow, as the Walker recognized him. I think he's an immortal of some sort who struck a deal to put the war behind him. For one, he seems almost as limited to act as Uriel. I think he doesn't speak because by doing so he would violate his claim of non-involvement. His physical health kind of confuses me though. At one point it seems like Mac recovers inordinately quickly from an injury and at another point I think Harry and Molly (?) point out that he takes injuries like a normal human. There has to be some trick there that we haven't been let in on yet, and like the mantle of the Winter Knight, it only works under certain circumstances. Perhaps he bound to the pub in some way, as I think the injury that throws him for a loop is when he's hurt on the island.

Spoiler:

Merlin being trapped in a cave also fits in pretty well with traditional mythology

muttonchop wrote:
Spoiler:

Merlin being trapped in a cave also fits in pretty well with traditional mythology

I hadn't even thought of that, but it fits in nicely,

Spoiler:

and introducing whoever it is, then walking away from it is a huge warning flag in Butcher's writing.

muttonchop wrote:

Also I can't wait to see

Spoiler:

how Bob reacts to Dresden's new brain-baby.

Definitely. It seems that it was a

Spoiler:

female spirit. So naturally Bob will want to see her naked, do the "your skull or mine" pickup and generally get it on spiritually. ;)

I'm reminded of this, suddenly.

Hahahaha, Parkour!

I'm fairly certain one doesn't shout Parkour.

WRONG!

Quintin_Stone wrote:

WRONG!

It's a wizardly invocation..

FUEGO! FORZARE! PARKOUR!

Tanglebones wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

WRONG!

It's a wizardly invocation..

FUEGO! FORZARE! PARKOUR!

Please tell me that James Marsters does the same wizardly inflection when he says it...

Gremlin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

WRONG!

It's a wizardly invocation..

FUEGO! FORZARE! PARKOUR!

Please tell me that James Marsters does the same wizardly inflection when he says it...

Nah, different scream - equally awesome, though

Retweeted by Jim Butcher today:
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/rDKvTEU.jpg)

Oh my crap. What an awesome book.

For me, the best part was

Spoiler:

"dada"

The others mentioned in the thread made me tear up as well, especially the

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I think I am lost

I did it.

I caught up.

All of the books since the Amazon sale.

The monkey is off my back.

Magic spider-man is awesome, as is parkour.

Also,

Spoiler:

I'm really glad how Butters ended up. Frankly, I was surprised Harry or Butters hadn't attempted to get Bob to help them make an actual lightsaber at any point. i've been wondering that for the last 8 books or so =)

The River Shoulders stories are in the short story collection I assume? I don't think I missed a novel.

oilypenguin wrote:

I did it.

I caught up.

All of the books since the Amazon sale.

The monkey is off my back.

Magic spider-man is awesome, as is parkour.

Also,

Spoiler:

I'm really glad how Butters ended up. Frankly, I was surprised Harry or Butters hadn't attempted to get Bob to help them make an actual lightsaber at any point. i've been wondering that for the last 8 books or so =)

The River Shoulders stories are in the short story collection I assume? I don't think I missed a novel.

Yeah they are in 4 separate books I think.

The River Shoulders stories aren't in Side Jobs, they were originally in other fantasy anthologies. There's apparently plans for a tentative second short story collection that may include them. There's three of them: "I Was A Teenage Bigfoot", "Bigfoot on Campus", and "B is for Bigfoot".

That's the list. His store page also has links to Amazon if you can't wait and wanted to track down the various compilation books they are in.

nope nope nope.

I just caught up with the novels, not going to go down that road =)

oilypenguin wrote:

nope nope nope.

I just caught up with the novels, not going to go down that road =)

For the completionist, there are also the graphic novels, three of which of which are original stories with the rest being adaptations.

Yeah, Jim is on record as saying that he wants every short story he's written about Dresden somewhere else to eventually be combined together like Side Jobs, and he's released a bunch of new stuff so I'm sure we're getting near the point where there's going to be a second one. Side Jobs is worth a read because there's a lot of good stuff in there and he references a lot of the short story stuff in passing in the novels, like when he mentions Jenny Greenteeth at Billy and Georgia's wedding, Gard at the beer festival, and that "sorcerer" he fights at a warehouse. I wouldn't go out of my way collecting various anthologies just to read the new ones, though, because eventually they're all going to get bundled together anyway.

Done!!! all I am missing are the Bigfoot short stories.

Spoiler:

Now I wish I had read them for the background.

Stele wrote:
muttonchop wrote:

Also I can't wait to see

Spoiler:

how Bob reacts to Dresden's new brain-baby.

Definitely. It seems that it was a

Spoiler:

female spirit. So naturally Bob will want to see her naked, do the "your skull or mine" pickup and generally get it on spiritually. ;)

Spoiler:

I assume Bob will stay with butters as he becomes more Batman like with his tools and the new baby Lash will be Harry's new buddy. Are we assuming she has Lash's and Harry's combined knowledge? And can she learn from bob?

Is there somewhere on the internet with a timeline for when major events happen? I just read through the whole series and the timing still seems a little off to me on some things.

manta173 wrote:

Is there somewhere on the internet with a timeline for when major events happen? I just read through the whole series and the timing still seems a little off to me on some things.

Some books have bigger gaps between them than others.

manta173 wrote:
Spoiler:

I assume Bob will stay with butters as he becomes more Batman like with his tools and the new baby Lash will be Harry's new buddy. Are we assuming she has Lash's and Harry's combined knowledge? And can she learn from bob?

More importantly,

Spoiler:

will she have Lash and Harry's combined sassiness?

Okay, really, am I alone in my opinion that

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Murphy and Dresden do not belong together? The sexual tension between them just seems so forced.

Feegle wrote:

Okay, really, am I alone in my opinion that

Spoiler:

Murphy and Dresden do not belong together? The sexual tension between them just seems so forced.

Is this really a spoiler? There's been a will-they/won't-they for years.

Early on I thought Murphy and Harry were perfect. Now at this point I'm not as sure. The whole part where wizards can live a couple hundred years and normal people can't is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile Molly is going to be around for a while. Seems like a better match at this point, although way back when it seemed creepy.

manta173 wrote:

Is there somewhere on the internet with a timeline for when major events happen? I just read through the whole series and the timing still seems a little off to me on some things.

I think there's one on Jim Butcher's forums somewhere. I do know that the short stories are the most complicated to keep track of, though up until fairly recently (i.e. shortly before Changes) all the stories were written in chronological order.

Stele wrote:
Feegle wrote:

Okay, really, am I alone in my opinion that

Spoiler:

Murphy and Dresden do not belong together? The sexual tension between them just seems so forced.

Is this really a spoiler? There's been a will-they/won't-they for years.

Early on I thought Murphy and Harry were perfect. Now at this point I'm not as sure. The whole part where wizards can live a couple hundred years and normal people can't is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile Molly is going to be around for a while. Seems like a better match at this point, although way back when it seemed creepy.

I'd argue that's still creepy. Being wizards doesn't solve that.

I don't think the age thing is a big deal though, I'm pretty confident Harry is going to sacrifice himself for the greater good around book twenty. And that's only six or seven years away at the rate they're going.

Edit: Also, timeline: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/i...

Stele wrote:
Feegle wrote:

Okay, really, am I alone in my opinion that

Spoiler:

Murphy and Dresden do not belong together? The sexual tension between them just seems so forced.

Is this really a spoiler? There's been a will-they/won't-they for years.

Early on I thought Murphy and Harry were perfect. Now at this point I'm not as sure. The whole part where wizards can live a couple hundred years and normal people can't is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile Molly is going to be around for a while. Seems like a better match at this point, although way back when it seemed creepy.

Meh. I put it in spoiler tags because as of the conclusion of the book it seems like it's a "will-they."

I never thought they were perfect, and not only because of the lifespan issue.