You know what I really, really don't have time for right now?

[sholio]

... Reading the new Dresden Files book. Which still didn't stop me from staying up 'til 3 a.m. doing exactly that. (Sleep. Who needs it.)

I'm halfway through the book, and NOT READING ANY MORE 'til lunchtime, but I have a (spoilery) comment on the part read so far.


... well, actually a *squeeflail*. *squees* *flails*

So, all the reunions that I DIDN'T get in "Ghost Story", that I was all looking forward to, because Butcher usually delivers in quite a satisfactory way on the fangirl-fodder? Having been disappointed once, I went into this book with relatively low expectations, AND THEN I GOT EVERYTHING I WAS HOPING FOR AND MORE.

Thomas: HARRY DOPPELGANGER! KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Harry: Nononowaitaminuteit'sreallymeACK! *strangles*
Molly: Oh good, you found each other.
Thomas: ......... *drops Harry*
Molly: *empathywallop* Oh ... wow, that is a lot of emotion, most of it bad. I think I'll go lay down. Somewhere far away.
Thomas: .........
Harry: Thomas. Looking hot as always.
Thomas: Dresden, you're a lying sack of shit.
Harry: ... er, harsh. But probably true. *rallies* In my defense, I was turning into a monster and just wanted to protect all of you by getting myself killed.
Thomas: A monster huh? Like, oh, I don't know, ME?
Harry: .... hoshit. *feels about two inches high*
Thomas: Dresden, you're a lying, INSENSITIVE sack of shit.
Harry: ... yeah, I'm starting to agree.
Thomas: I hate you forever. Jerk.
Harry: I sort of hate me too.
Thomas: *TACKLEHUG*

... pretty much exactly like that. :D

This book has been the Thomas + Harry snarkfest that I have been desperately missing since Turn Coat (temporarily) put an end to it. I have missed this so much! And there is also awesomesauce Molly, and we just got Murphy, and ... okay, I really need to go do ACTUAL WORK and not natter on about this book, because assuming it stays strong to the end (and nobody important dies) this is rapidly shaping up to be one of my favorite books in the series.

Please do not spoil me for the second half of the book! Especially if anything major happens. Work to do! Aarghhelp!

Comments

[schneefink]

You went to sleep before you finished the book, that's a sign of your self-control!

Harry&Thomas, their reunion was perfect :D Good summary. I hadn't even thought of the parallels, great catch, Thomas. They insult each other because they care <3

[settiai]

*carefully avoids reading your post*

Gah. I really don't have time for it either right now, but I actually can't start reading it until at least tomorrow after I get home from work.

[winter_elf]

LOL! I'm glad you finally got a copy.

I got my copy last night at my local bookstore event/signing in LA (they had a bus that took us to LA since Jim was only doing 4 stops on this tour). It was fun. No bookplates or I would have gotten one for you. Jim talked for about an hour - answered a number of questions. It was recorded by his 'handler' or friend? agent? (not sure what she was), so maybe they'll put it on the website.

The most interesting answer - was someone asked if he had the book series planned out. He said yes. That when he was in a writing class his instructor said 'this is good, this will get you published. Know where you want to go with it'. He said he went home and wrote up a 20 book full outline with a trilogy capper and when he showed it to the intructor she was like. uhm.. yea, okay (in not having the heart to tell Jim that no way in hell was he going to sell a 20 book series) LOL. Someone else asked if he was following the outline/if it had changed and he said that no, he was pretty much on track with what he'd planned out.

Jim was also talking a lot on what he's writing now- a Steampunk story with a talking cat. Mainly he talked about how much he was enjoying writing the cat and that the cat was fun and snarky. (I'm afraid it sounded WAY to close to Girl Genius to me - but hopefully not)

[sholio]

Their reunion was EVERYTHING that I wanted! Snarky and sweet and bantery and a little bit painful -- because yeah, I hadn't thought about the parallels, but I'm really glad Thomas brought it up. In a way, this was a resolution to certain things that have been brewing ever since Turn Coat ... for both of them. I think this is going to end up becoming one of my favorite scenes in the series. :)

[sholio]

I'm glad you have it, though! Something to look forward to. :)

[sholio]

Oh, cool, thank you for the info! I absolutely love "writing process" stuff -- all the little ins and outs of how authors work! And that is so very fascinating to me. :D One of the things I love about the series is how each book builds on the ones that have come before, and I think it's incredibly cool that he really did have all of this planned out beforehand. (It's also a good lesson in aiming high, because he DID sell that 20-book series and it's selling all over the place!)

Fun + snarky ... sounds like his writing style to me! :D

[winter_elf]

:) Yea, I had heard before he had 20 planned, but not the whole story.

And yea, I think that teacher is right - if you know where you want to go, you'll be more successful - instead of 'oh my god, it's popular, what do I do NOW' and it all falls apart.

I should have taken notes. He did say that in #16 something shows up that was from Stormfront and I forget what he said about #15. argh! So yea, you have all the clues laid out to tug on books and books later :)

[sholio]

It is just FASCINATING to me to know that he's sticking to his original plan! Because, yeah, I knew that he had it plotted out to roughly 20 books with an apocalyptic trilogy on the end (I seem to recall reading somewhere that he had to expand it, so now it's more like 22 or 23 books), but I had no idea that there was THAT much planning that had gone into it (especially before he'd even sold the first book!), or that the plot was worked out in that much detail. But it really does hang together remarkably well. I noticed on my whole-series reread a couple of years ago that there is a ton of stuff that's obviously planned out several books in advance; the clues are there, if you read the earlier books after having read the later ones.

[sheron]

♥

[sholio]

This is the most embarrassingly "2000s-era me" post of all time. XD