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Finished Ghost Story
... so obviously my guess about this book -- well, all my guesses, actually, were COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WRONG. Oh well! Actually, I realized by the time I was about a third of the way into the book that it would have made all Harry's character growth in this book utterly pointless if I'd been right, so it's probably just as well that Butcher didn't go that direction after all.
*breathes* I think I need to digest the book a little bit before I'll have coherent reactions to it. I've got to say that it's completely unfair that the ending makes me want the next book so bad, though.
Okay, apparently I do have things to say, as it turns out:
-I really loved that this book, for the most part, took the heavy hitters out of the picture and put the second-string magic-users and normal humans into the limelight. Even though I was disappointed (at first) in the six-month time-jump, the slowly unfolding picture of how things had changed in Harry's absence turned out to be really awesome.
-Bob! Not evil after all! squeak! I loved Bob in this book - that he really is a friend of Harry's, albeit an amoral one, and seeing corporeal!Bob in his spirit-world hideout was a fantastic treat.
-I've always really liked Molly and I loved how this book developed her. She's really turned into a marvelous, complex character - I love how her better nature and dark side are in perpetual struggle, and how she is as powerful a wizard as Harry, if not as developed, but in a completely different way. (Also, the battle on the Enterprise bridge in her head -- that should have been too cheesy for words, but instead it was AWESOME. In a totally cheesy way.)
-Did not see the ending coming. AT ALL. But I am a total sucker for unreliable narrators and tight POVs of characters who've had their minds messed with, so I loved that.
-In fact, I read the last couple of chapters with my hand over my mouth, squeaking.
-I did miss Harry's interactions with most of his friends in this book. He was so isolated, and it looks like he'll be very isolated in the next book, too. (Also sort of a bad guy. Or at least, stuck in some truly horrendous moral quandaries. There are more ways to turn a person into a monster than by directly manipulating their thoughts. Eeps.)
-Also, I really missed both Thomas and Mouse in this one, even though there were plot reasons for their absence. I started figuring about halfway through the book that there was some plot rationale for the fact that Thomas had not been mentioned yet - that something was being held back in reserve regarding him. On the other hand, I am deeply, DEEPLY disappointed that he's basically spent the last six months, while everyone else is ponying up and getting their asses kicked protecting Chicago, in an emo funk. Really, Thomas? REALLY? You'd better be damn badass in the next book to make up for it, that's all I've got to say.
-I'm glad that Maggie (and Mouse!) are with the Carpenters, not shuffled off to some remote corner of the globe.
I don't want to wait another year for the next book; waaaaaaah!
*breathes* I think I need to digest the book a little bit before I'll have coherent reactions to it. I've got to say that it's completely unfair that the ending makes me want the next book so bad, though.
Okay, apparently I do have things to say, as it turns out:
-I really loved that this book, for the most part, took the heavy hitters out of the picture and put the second-string magic-users and normal humans into the limelight. Even though I was disappointed (at first) in the six-month time-jump, the slowly unfolding picture of how things had changed in Harry's absence turned out to be really awesome.
-Bob! Not evil after all! squeak! I loved Bob in this book - that he really is a friend of Harry's, albeit an amoral one, and seeing corporeal!Bob in his spirit-world hideout was a fantastic treat.
-I've always really liked Molly and I loved how this book developed her. She's really turned into a marvelous, complex character - I love how her better nature and dark side are in perpetual struggle, and how she is as powerful a wizard as Harry, if not as developed, but in a completely different way. (Also, the battle on the Enterprise bridge in her head -- that should have been too cheesy for words, but instead it was AWESOME. In a totally cheesy way.)
-Did not see the ending coming. AT ALL. But I am a total sucker for unreliable narrators and tight POVs of characters who've had their minds messed with, so I loved that.
-In fact, I read the last couple of chapters with my hand over my mouth, squeaking.
-I did miss Harry's interactions with most of his friends in this book. He was so isolated, and it looks like he'll be very isolated in the next book, too. (Also sort of a bad guy. Or at least, stuck in some truly horrendous moral quandaries. There are more ways to turn a person into a monster than by directly manipulating their thoughts. Eeps.)
-Also, I really missed both Thomas and Mouse in this one, even though there were plot reasons for their absence. I started figuring about halfway through the book that there was some plot rationale for the fact that Thomas had not been mentioned yet - that something was being held back in reserve regarding him. On the other hand, I am deeply, DEEPLY disappointed that he's basically spent the last six months, while everyone else is ponying up and getting their asses kicked protecting Chicago, in an emo funk. Really, Thomas? REALLY? You'd better be damn badass in the next book to make up for it, that's all I've got to say.
-I'm glad that Maggie (and Mouse!) are with the Carpenters, not shuffled off to some remote corner of the globe.
I don't want to wait another year for the next book; waaaaaaah!