Dresden Files Book 17: Battle Ground

[dps]

What was the Merlin doing in the book? I can't really remember if he was there or not - Cristos seemed to occupy the narrative slot of 'head White Council representative'.

Spoiler

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No, he wasn't in this one. Nor was Ancient Mai. Other characters who are still alive but not in this or Peace Talks IIRC (basically limiting to characters who have been in more that one previous full-length book: Luccio, Lord Raith (not that he matters anymore), Helen Beckitt, Mother Summer, Mother Winter, Sarissa, Fix, Eldest Gruff, Stallings, Cowl, Father Forthill, Uriel, Elaine, Abby, Toto, Binder, Daniel. Some of them were mentioned, but didn't actually appear.

[Rakaydos]

Spoiler: Apocalypse trilogy speculation

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"Love isn't the opposite of hate. Love and hate are the same thing pointed in opposite directions."
...and now Dresden has a supernatural hate-nuke... And the Sword of Love.

What are the odds, you think, that Dresden will get them to work together?

[Anymage]

Spoiler: Apocalypse trilogy speculation

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"Love isn't the opposite of hate. Love and hate are the same thing pointed in opposite directions."
...and now Dresden has a supernatural hate-nuke... And the Sword of Love.

What are the odds, you think, that Dresden will get them to work together?

Spoiler

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Harry isn't the one who has the sword. Waldo would probably disagree strenuously with Mab's take. And the sword is powered at least as much by divine mojo.

They'll probably both be pointed at the same big target because anything that's worth breaking out that big a gun is also going to get the attention of the knights. (Not to mention every other divine level force.) But they're unlikely to be in the same hands.

If you want to see Harry's version of love that might have to power something, Maggie hasn't been much more than a background figure driving him to be a better person. Force her onto the field, things get super real.

[Rakaydos]

Spoiler

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Harry isn't the one who has the sword. Waldo would probably disagree strenuously with Mab's take. And the sword is powered at least as much by divine mojo.

They'll probably both be pointed at the same big target because anything that's worth breaking out that big a gun is also going to get the attention of the knights. (Not to mention every other divine level force.) But they're unlikely to be in the same hands.

If you want to see Harry's version of love that might have to power something, Maggie hasn't been much more than a background figure driving him to be a better person. Force her onto the field, things get super real.

Waldo has the sword of Faith, Sanya has the sword of Hope. What happened to Amoractus/Excalibur after Skin game?

[Keltest]

Waldo has the sword of Faith, Sanya has the sword of Hope. What happened to Amoractus/Excalibur after Skin game?

Presumably Michael still has it while Harry gets himself settled into a new permanent place. Harry is nominally the keeper and gets final say on it.

[GrayDeath]

Presumably Michael still has it while Harry gets himself settled into a new permanent place. Harry is nominally the keeper and gets final say on it.

That.


Sadly the fact the last few books where incredibly "hurry up or die" even for Harrys Adventures (or in Peace Talks case, ignored a lot of stuff in favour of Battle Ground) we still lack 3 or 4 chapters of "Harry sits down to think and decide stuff", which, lets be honest there Jim, we deserve after the alst 4 Books of nonstop "cant leave location X" or "gets booted/ignored/attacked by allies", no?


Mind, after a reread I still think the Book suffers from trying to upstage CHanges, by being even more powerfully dangerous, but letting out the FEEL of Harry, and time/Space for more personal stuff
(still sore about Ivies treatment, grumble)...

[Seerow]

That.


Sadly the fact the last few books where incredibly "hurry up or die" even for Harrys Adventures (or in Peace Talks case, ignored a lot of stuff in favour of Battle Ground) we still lack 3 or 4 chapters of "Harry sits down to think and decide stuff", which, lets be honest there Jim, we deserve after the alst 4 Books of nonstop "cant leave location X" or "gets booted/ignored/attacked by allies", no?


Mind, after a reread I still think the Book suffers from trying to upstage CHanges, by being even more powerfully dangerous, but letting out the FEEL of Harry, and time/Space for more personal stuff
(still sore about Ivies treatment, grumble)...

If it makes you feel better, Butcher seems to agree with this. During a Q&A after BG, he mentioned that he was extending the series again, adding a new book before Mirror Mirror. It's going to be called "Twelve Months" and be basically Harry dealing with the fallout of BG, dealing with the trauma of the non-stop stuff that's been going on for months, and pulling the pieces of his life back together.

Interview here: https://thelegendarium.podbean.com/e...h-jim-butcher/

Spoiler: Transcription of relevant bit

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Transcription courtesy of reddit
Jim: ...I'm gonna have to add another book in. I've gotta write, it's gonna a take a novel to deal with the aftermath of what happened in Battle Ground. I think the next novel is gonna be called Twelve Months and it's just gonna be about Dresden-well it's gonna be about more than that because it's a Dresden Files book with the usual insanity but the actual story is Dresden coping with all the damage he's taken over the years. You know that as a writer I'm not a fade to black guy in the Dresden Files, it doesn't happen very often, but it has happened. And every time I've the fade to black and that has happened, for the most part, it fades because Harry's pulling the curtain, because he doesn't share the really bad things with anyone, not even the reader. There are /bad/ things that have happened to Dresden and when bad things happen to you it's cumulative, it adds up. If you don't face it and deal with it it keeps adding up and adding up until it starts causing you psychological problems and difficulties with your friends and issues with your family. If you're out there in the middle of it you've got to be dealing with it, and he hasn't been. And we're gonna have a book about why, and the effects of the things that have happened over the years and the cumulative effects and how you deal with them and get over them.

Todd: Especially now that he's a father, that makes it especially emotionally charged.

Jim: Yeah he can't afford to just sit somewhere and feel sorry for himself or to drive himself to the brink of exhaustion and starvation trying to find a solution to his problems. He can't do that anymore, he's a grown-up, he's got a lot of things he's handling. And yeah, Maggie's the big one, kids change everything. If you've got a kid there waiting for you you can't be the guy that's sitting on the floor wailing poor me, that's not gonna work.

Todd: It's something we've covered in several episodes, how Harry takes all the guilt on himself and how that's not healthy. To see you say that we need something to deal with it, is that something that's been in the works for a long time or is that something that's come across organically kind of as you've written through seventeen books?

Jim: No, I wasn't planning to do a book about trauma and dealing with it, on account of I was busy not dealing with any of my trauma. But yeah when you start learning about it it's like "hey, this is something people need to know." And the idea's gonna be "look, I'm gonna show Dresden coping" and coping isn't always a particularly pretty thing or a noble thing. Nobody's pretty when they're in pain but it happens to all of us at some time or another, horrible things come along. And you've gotta deal with it and how do you deal with it. So partly this next book is going to be Dresden figuring out how to deal with things that are not slobbery monsters trying to chew his face off, those he can manage, he's really good with those, that's doable no problem. All these other issues are a different thing and..

Todd: And he has a wedding to prepare for.

Jim: Yeah, no kidding.

[GrayDeath]

Ah, yes, that does make me feel much better.

So he DOES see where he left stuff out (or harry did) that we need to have happen on screen, and is aiming to solve it. Good.

As for Mirror Mirror. if its not the best book so far, my inner Blind Guardian Fan will revolt!

Spoiler: Mirror Mirror

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In case you want to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AfNOKQdY-U

Given what the songs about, and what seems to be coming/happening to harry and some other "Good Guys" a great fit me thinks ^^