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A few itemized thoughts on Dresden Files #11: Turn Coat
1. AAAAAA THOMAS AAAAAAAAAAAA
2. The skinwalker ... hmmmm. When I was reading the preview chapters online and got to the skinwalker reveal, given Butcher's tendency to come across kind of well-meaning but extremely heavy-handed with anything other than white characters and Western mythology, I remember thinking, "Ooh, this has massive potential fail written all over it..." It wasn't as bad as I had feared from its first appearance, which basically came off as "pseudo-Native American monster cribbed loosely from generotribal lore menaces heroes"; you did get the feeling that he'd done at least some research (as opposed to just hearing about the general concept and going, oh, skinwalker=cool) and thought about how it would fit into the overall magical picture of his world and how the skinwalker-ala-Dresden was derived from the Navajo concept. And I liked that Listens-To-Wind was ultimately the person who defeated it while Harry just got the shit kicked out of him, as usual. *g* Still, as much as I enjoyed the menace of the thing within the context of the book, I'm uncomfortable with the whole idea of taking the skinwalker and then doing that much of a non-traditional spin on it without the originating culture being involved in the story, if that makes any sense.
I could probably do a whole post on how Butcher handles the non-Western supernatural, actually. I was bothered in the first few books that it seemed like the only magic in the whole world was Western/fae magic, but once he started dealing with other parts of the world, it was -- well, ham-fisted and kind of discomfort-inducing, really. I'll give him big props for dealing with it at all, because as the series goes on he's basically dealing more and more with a whole world of different, mutually incompatible magical systems and mythologies, rather than just sticking to one small geographical circle, which would have been a lot easier. Some of what he's done, though, makes me twitchy, like trying to make all magic fit into the Western-style model of the first couple of books, or the way that characters from other cultures often come off as one-dimensional stereotypes, like Mai and Listens-to-Wind. (In the latter case, I like him and I think Butcher is trying, but let's face it, the guy is a big frikkin' stereotype when he shows up and though he's gained some depth later on, it doesn't change the fact that he's a wise old shaman from some generic, still-unspecified tribe somewhere or other.)
But then he throws in things like the fact that the Council being dominated by Western practitioners is a big sticking point with magic-users from other countries, which is actually a pretty cool way to take the accidental bias in your books and use it as a plot point. I get the idea that he started out world-building a universe that was very Western-centric and is increasingly trying to expand it to reflect other worldviews, and while he's stumbling a lot as he does it, it's really fascinating to watch him do it, and I do think he's getting quite a bit better at it as he goes along.
3. Molllllyyyyyyy! :D I really liked her when she was first introduced, long before she became a major recurring character, and I just keep loving her more and more. As well as just enjoying her as a character, I love her mentor/student relationship with Harry, and I love how she struggles with the gray areas of magic, and how the books make interesting points about personal responsibility and bravery through her. Actually, this has always been something that I really like about these books: the characters' ongoing struggle to be decent people and do the right thing in the face of temptation, ugliness and evil. It's a recurring theme throughout the series, and I like how we've seen different people handling it in various ways; Molly, contrasted with Harry, contrasted with Thomas (*wails*), and so forth.
4. All in all, I don't think I enjoyed this book as much as some of the others, in large part because the White Council and their politics really aren't as interesting to me as some of the other areas of Harry's universe. And the reveal on the Black Council plot really felt like an anti-climax after all that buildup. I didn't expect it at all (though in retrospect, I feel like I should have -- I was just too busy suspiciously eyeing all of the main Council members, which was probably the point) but after all of that, I felt like a few pages of fighting with a bureaucrat and the revelation that, wait, there's another traitor! (THE END) was kind of a let-down.
5. I adore Harry's incorrigible smart-assitude.
6. The scene where they took the bullet out of Mouse made me tear up. *snivels*
7. I do sometimes get tired of every woman in Harry's world being unbelievably gorgeous. Just sayin'.
8. Thomas. You know, I didn't really like him in the first book in which he appeared (was it 3? or 5? something like that). Vampires are a hard sell for me. But he won me over hook, line and sinker over the next few books, in large part because he was so adorably devoted to Harry (and vice versa). Now ... I don't know how to feel, really. I'm honestly not sure where they're taking this. One of the things I really love about this series is the uncertainty -- the characters grow, and change, and sometimes they die, and I really have no idea what the next book has in store (and we probably have to wait a year or so to find out!). The thing is, I think it's pretty obvious that Thomas is at least partly deluding himself right now, because Harry soul-gazed him back in the beginning (didn't he?) so Harry knows that there's more to Thomas than just the demon side of him. But he's the only one of the White Court that we've seen show more than the barest scraps of decency, plus everything that everyone keeps saying about vampires being unable to change, and ... I want to believe that Harry is right, rather than Thomas and the whole rest of the world being right, but I'm not sure where this is going. I don't expect easy answers, because this series doesn't really give them and that's one of the things I like about it, but I really hope there's some kind of rescue and/or redemption coming up in the next book. Preferably the sort that doesn't end with the redemptee proving it by dying heroically. I really want to know if Thomas's newly rediscovered evilness can withstand Harry needing his help, because I suspect the situation is going to come up. At least, one can hope it does...
I think that's all I got right now. I'm sure I'm forgetting things ... :D
2. The skinwalker ... hmmmm. When I was reading the preview chapters online and got to the skinwalker reveal, given Butcher's tendency to come across kind of well-meaning but extremely heavy-handed with anything other than white characters and Western mythology, I remember thinking, "Ooh, this has massive potential fail written all over it..." It wasn't as bad as I had feared from its first appearance, which basically came off as "pseudo-Native American monster cribbed loosely from generotribal lore menaces heroes"; you did get the feeling that he'd done at least some research (as opposed to just hearing about the general concept and going, oh, skinwalker=cool) and thought about how it would fit into the overall magical picture of his world and how the skinwalker-ala-Dresden was derived from the Navajo concept. And I liked that Listens-To-Wind was ultimately the person who defeated it while Harry just got the shit kicked out of him, as usual. *g* Still, as much as I enjoyed the menace of the thing within the context of the book, I'm uncomfortable with the whole idea of taking the skinwalker and then doing that much of a non-traditional spin on it without the originating culture being involved in the story, if that makes any sense.
I could probably do a whole post on how Butcher handles the non-Western supernatural, actually. I was bothered in the first few books that it seemed like the only magic in the whole world was Western/fae magic, but once he started dealing with other parts of the world, it was -- well, ham-fisted and kind of discomfort-inducing, really. I'll give him big props for dealing with it at all, because as the series goes on he's basically dealing more and more with a whole world of different, mutually incompatible magical systems and mythologies, rather than just sticking to one small geographical circle, which would have been a lot easier. Some of what he's done, though, makes me twitchy, like trying to make all magic fit into the Western-style model of the first couple of books, or the way that characters from other cultures often come off as one-dimensional stereotypes, like Mai and Listens-to-Wind. (In the latter case, I like him and I think Butcher is trying, but let's face it, the guy is a big frikkin' stereotype when he shows up and though he's gained some depth later on, it doesn't change the fact that he's a wise old shaman from some generic, still-unspecified tribe somewhere or other.)
But then he throws in things like the fact that the Council being dominated by Western practitioners is a big sticking point with magic-users from other countries, which is actually a pretty cool way to take the accidental bias in your books and use it as a plot point. I get the idea that he started out world-building a universe that was very Western-centric and is increasingly trying to expand it to reflect other worldviews, and while he's stumbling a lot as he does it, it's really fascinating to watch him do it, and I do think he's getting quite a bit better at it as he goes along.
3. Molllllyyyyyyy! :D I really liked her when she was first introduced, long before she became a major recurring character, and I just keep loving her more and more. As well as just enjoying her as a character, I love her mentor/student relationship with Harry, and I love how she struggles with the gray areas of magic, and how the books make interesting points about personal responsibility and bravery through her. Actually, this has always been something that I really like about these books: the characters' ongoing struggle to be decent people and do the right thing in the face of temptation, ugliness and evil. It's a recurring theme throughout the series, and I like how we've seen different people handling it in various ways; Molly, contrasted with Harry, contrasted with Thomas (*wails*), and so forth.
4. All in all, I don't think I enjoyed this book as much as some of the others, in large part because the White Council and their politics really aren't as interesting to me as some of the other areas of Harry's universe. And the reveal on the Black Council plot really felt like an anti-climax after all that buildup. I didn't expect it at all (though in retrospect, I feel like I should have -- I was just too busy suspiciously eyeing all of the main Council members, which was probably the point) but after all of that, I felt like a few pages of fighting with a bureaucrat and the revelation that, wait, there's another traitor! (THE END) was kind of a let-down.
5. I adore Harry's incorrigible smart-assitude.
6. The scene where they took the bullet out of Mouse made me tear up. *snivels*
7. I do sometimes get tired of every woman in Harry's world being unbelievably gorgeous. Just sayin'.
8. Thomas. You know, I didn't really like him in the first book in which he appeared (was it 3? or 5? something like that). Vampires are a hard sell for me. But he won me over hook, line and sinker over the next few books, in large part because he was so adorably devoted to Harry (and vice versa). Now ... I don't know how to feel, really. I'm honestly not sure where they're taking this. One of the things I really love about this series is the uncertainty -- the characters grow, and change, and sometimes they die, and I really have no idea what the next book has in store (and we probably have to wait a year or so to find out!). The thing is, I think it's pretty obvious that Thomas is at least partly deluding himself right now, because Harry soul-gazed him back in the beginning (didn't he?) so Harry knows that there's more to Thomas than just the demon side of him. But he's the only one of the White Court that we've seen show more than the barest scraps of decency, plus everything that everyone keeps saying about vampires being unable to change, and ... I want to believe that Harry is right, rather than Thomas and the whole rest of the world being right, but I'm not sure where this is going. I don't expect easy answers, because this series doesn't really give them and that's one of the things I like about it, but I really hope there's some kind of rescue and/or redemption coming up in the next book. Preferably the sort that doesn't end with the redemptee proving it by dying heroically. I really want to know if Thomas's newly rediscovered evilness can withstand Harry needing his help, because I suspect the situation is going to come up. At least, one can hope it does...
I think that's all I got right now. I'm sure I'm forgetting things ... :D