Current Events > Dresden Files: Peace Talks is less than a month away

(+) Yeah! (+)

This book just doesn't fucking stop.

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So, just finished the first read-through last night. And... while I really liked it, I think I need to read Battle Ground before I really form a solid opinion of it. Because it really does feel like this was only the first part of a bigger book, and I want to see how the two flow together. Or, more importantly, play the "okay, what got added in this book that wasn't there when it was all one thing?" game. (I'm leaning towards the stuff with Murphy and Rudolph the Brown-Nosed Cop-Cop.)

But beyond that? I really did enjoy it, and why isn't it September already? >=/

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Yeah I would agree with that. There's quite a bit left hanging even beyond the obvious Battle of Chicago that's about to happen, and I wonder just how much of Battle Ground will be after that battle. Unless it's a real short book I don't see the battle taking that long one way or the other so I think you're right on the Murphy IA plotline, and I imagine we'll find out who's controlling Rudolph

Gonna be a long wait...

I get the feeling that the six years between Skin Game and now wasn't just setting up Peace Talks and Battle Ground, but the eventual end of the series as well. This is clearly the opening of the final act of the Dresden Files. I mean, heck, Harry just about says as much once Ethniu appears.

Also goddamn Marcone keeps his cool in the presence of a literal goddess. There's only one thing that shakes that man, isn't there.

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Just finished.

Uh.

Holy

Shit

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Finally finished ghost story. Way too much inner monologue book could have been 200 pages shorter. What wasnt inner monologue was good though. Id still rank it ahead of storm front and fool moon; on par with grave peril.

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What are the theories on (Skin Game and Peace Talks spoilers) what the artifacts are that Harry got from the underworld vault, and what they do? Obviously the Holy Grail was there and Nicodemus has that still I believe. Harry's got the Shroud of Turin and Crown of Thorns for sure and the Shroud's effect is most likely healing/resurrection considering we already had a book about it, albeit a fake. But the dagger/athame and the placard, what would those be and what purpose could they serve, particularly since, IIRC, he's bringing them with him to fight Ethniu

cheese_dragon posted...

Finally finished ghost story. Way too much inner monologue book could have been 200 pages shorter. What wasnt inner monologue was good though. Id still rank it ahead of storm front and fool moon; on par with grave peril.

I'd agree with that, it's a little overly long for the plot it has but the character development is pretty good at least.

DarthAragorn posted...

What are the theories on (Skin Game and Peace Talks spoilers) what the artifacts are that Harry got from the underworld vault, and what they do? Obviously the Holy Grail was there and Nicodemus has that still I believe. Harry's got the Shroud of Turin and Crown of Thorns for sure and the Shroud's effect is most likely healing/resurrection considering we already had a book about it, albeit a fake. But the dagger/athame and the placard, what would those be and what purpose could they serve, particularly since, IIRC, he's bringing them with him to fight Ethniu

I think the Athame/dagger is actually supposed to be the head of the spear of Longinus, which could certainly pack enough of a punch to get through Ethniu's armor or even drawing her blood - a way to hurt even the Divine/Titans, perhaps (though what the effects of using that will be is... interesting). As for the Placard, I don't have the foggiest idea. Heck, I would not be shocked if Harry has no idea what the heck it'll do.

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The athame is definitely what he's going to use to try to imprison her in Demonreach.

He used a regular knife for Thomas but this bitch is about twelve orders of magnitude beyond that.

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Holy balls this book is like Jim Butcher bringing a warhammer to a knife fight.

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1/4 of the way through Peace Talks

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Cowthief posted...

Holy balls this book is like Jim Butcher bringing a warhammer to a knife fight.

I think the Patrick Rothfuss quote summed it up pretty well. Something like "Peace Talks isn't the book I was waiting for. It's better."

Shit was insane, I need Battle Ground.

Does anyone know if Butcher has begun writing the second Cinder Spires book yet? I like both Dresden and the Codex books, but I'm really hungry for more of the Cinder Spires' world.

No idea. How are they, compared to Dresden?

I really like The Aeronaut's Windlass but I'm a sucker for Butcher.

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DarthAragorn posted...

No idea. How are they, compared to Dresden?

There is actually only one so far. It's set in a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy world where everyone lives in these giant towers called Spires because the surface of the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable. There are flying ships, magic (very different from the Dresden files), talking cats, and lots of monsters. The writing isn't as advanced as later Dresden books are, but I loved it.

darkmaian23 posted...

Does anyone know if Butcher has begun writing the second Cinder Spires book yet? I like both Dresden and the Codex books, but I'm really hungry for more of the Cinder Spires' world.

I think all that's known is that it is probably going to happen. His website says Cinder Spires #2 is a thing but there's no other information on it.

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Fucking hell this book is insane

I feel like I might read it again soon. Then again, Battle Ground is still 2 months away so maybe I'll wait a bit.

Halfway through cold days now. Enjoying it a lot. Probably on par with Small Favor for me.

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Yeah Cold Days is crazy, man.

It's the first one I ever read.

I was suck and my father grabbed it from the library. Didn't know it was a series.

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DrizztLink posted...

It's the first one I ever read.

I was suck and my father grabbed it from the library. Didn't know it was a series.

Id be confused AF haha. They still do explain some stuff but would be missing out on so much stuff.

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It took me a while to figure out Karrin and Murphy were the same person.

Another Peace Talks spoiler.

Dunno if anyone has talked about it, but we all agree that it's like 95% that Mab is Morgana? Like, Arthur and Merlin and Morgana.

Still makes me think Merlin is in Demonreach, and apparently people sharing a similar punishment can communicate. So Thomas can have some chats with Merlin.

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DrizztLink posted...

It took me a while to figure out Karrin and Murphy were the same person.

Another Peace Talks spoiler.

Dunno if anyone has talked about it, but we all agree that it's like 95% that Mab is Morgana? Like, Arthur and Merlin and Morgana.

Still makes me think Merlin is in Demonreach, and apparently people sharing a similar punishment can communicate. So Thomas can have some chats with Merlin.

That sounds very believable. Does that flow with what was said to Mab before she got Sparta'd from her throne?

RadiantAdolin posted...

That sounds very believable. Does that flow with what was said to Mab before she got Sparta'd from her throne?

Yeah. Corb was talking shit about remembering her as a mortal and in love with Merlin.

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I did not make that connection at all but I think you're completely right

Finished Cold Days. Was very good but end was a bit too much set up for next set of books. Interesting to see where they go with Molly as the new winter lady. Butcher did a good job on this one keeping it high stakes but injecting a lot of humor into it. Overall Id rank it as my #4 behind Changes, Small favor, and Turncoat.
Will start Skin Game tomorrow.

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Try to read Cold Case, the short story, before Skin Game. Or at least before Peace Talks.

It's not essential but I'd recommend it

DarthAragorn posted...

Try to read Cold Case, the short story, before Skin Game. Or at least before Peace Talks.

It's not essential but I'd recommend it

I'd say do both sets of anthologies before PT if you haven't yet.

Brief Cases at least.

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Alright Ill check them out, thanks

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That is true, I'd try to read as many of them as you can. The ones in Brief Cases are definitely more relevant for Peace Talks though. A handful of them take place after Skin Game though, Jury Duty, Day One and Zoo Day.

Oh, my bad. Forgot those.

I think Zoo Day is the only one that outright needs to be read post Skin Game but I don't remember Day One from the title.

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DrizztLink posted...

Oh, my bad. Forgot those.

I think Zoo Day is the only one that outright needs to be read post Skin Game but I don't remember Day One from the title.

Day One deals with (huge Skin Game spoilers seriously don't read if you haven't read it) Butters's first solo job as a Knight of the Cross

So needless to say it 100% has to be read post Skin Game lol

Oh, ok.

I was thinking it was Molly's first job as Winter Lady.

DEFINITELY finish Skin Game before reading Brief Cases, @cheese_dragon

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DrizztLink posted...

Oh, ok.

I was thinking it was Molly's first job as Winter Lady.

DEFINITELY finish Skin Game before reading Brief Cases, @cheese_dragon

Hah, got it, thanks.


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Omg when i quoted the message on mobile the spoiler tag showed text wtf. Thankfully the only thing I read was Molly and job. So not spoiled.

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That one didn't have any info you don't know already, fortunately.

Definitely don't quote anything else on this page though.

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Cold Case is the book about Molly's new job she gets in Cold days.

Also one short story that isn't in Brief cases that you might want to read between Skin Game and Peace talks is Monsters it's in Parallel Worlds: The Heroes Within.

I just finished reading Peace talks. I agree that it's absolutely incredible. Probably the best in the series. I don't even mind that it ends with essentially a major cliffhanger.

DrizztLink posted...

Another Peace Talks spoiler.

Dunno if anyone has talked about it, but we all agree that it's like 95% that Mab is Morgana? Like, Arthur and Merlin and Morgana.

Still makes me think Merlin is in Demonreach, and apparently people sharing a similar punishment can communicate. So Thomas can have some chats with Merlin.

I agree with both of these. In Skin game (very mild spoilers I guess) there's a random British prisoner and I assume that's Merlin, the character seemed too random to be nobody and Merlin seems like the only major enough British character to be there.

I have a strong suspicion that Mac is the second dragon that has signed the accords. Peace Talks has lots of mention of the starting between Odin and Ferrovax, but no mention was made of the second dragon. Given that Mac is "out" I think that him being the dragon would justify the lack of any mention of him. I suspected the last Titan could be the dragon when they told Ferrovax to introduce them, but obviously not afterwards.

Best in the series? Damn. Id rank PT pretty low just because its the first half of a book. I remember when I was 70% through, it felt like I was 40% through. But at 80% it was fucking awesome.

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Yeah I find it really hard to rank it. What was in there was all fucking awesome, but it very much is "part 1 of 2"

I think if Battle Ground keeps up the amount of insanity the two combined very well could compete with Changes and Cold Days for the top spot in the series.

Halfway through brief cases. Im somewhat enjoying them although at some points feels like a chore getting through. I think I like the Harry short stories over the other POV stories.

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I think my favorite short story is still the early one with the ridiculous poser group that try to threaten Harry, then shit bricks when he just whips out a fucking gun.

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Yeah Drizztl, Day Off was great, I'm not sure I'd rank it as the best though, it's pretty tough to place most of them.

Another thought on Peace Talks. I think Thomas was set up by someone in the White Court trying a Coup. If Lara lets him get killed it makes her look bad, if she fails in an attempt to rescue her it makes her look even worse.

It's not the best by any means, I just love that moment.

I'm thinking it's most likely Fomor/BC either threatened Justine or someone like that made promises to protect her if Thomas did it.

Hell, it could be that Venatori society he's in, we haven't heard mention of them since that other side job where Harry and Thomas were on opposite sides, and it's not like Butcher to leave threads dangling.

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EndOfDiscOne posted...

Id rank PT pretty low just because its the first half of a book.

I have zero issues with a book being only part of a specific story as long as I know that in advance and don't have to wait an unknown amount of time for the next one. I don't have to know the exact date, something like between one year and two is fine, if they stick to anyway.

One issue I do have with Peace Talks is all the talk about the risk Harry is taking from Mab and the Svartalf if he gets caught. Like they say neither of them will care if he's repaying the debt to Winter, but almost everything we have seen about them says otherwise. Too-toot and the Za guards kills Aurora yet Titania doesn't hold it against them because they did on Harry's orders. In the short story Bombshells the Svartalf let a bunch of Fomor servants go unharmed specifically as they are essiantally just tools to the Fomor. (Peace Talks spoilers again) Surely given Harry's position as the Winter Knight, Mabs debt to the White Court and her orders to Harry he woul also just count as tool to the Svartalf and Mab. Mab specifically told Harry that if Lara wants to use a favour to have Harry kill someone, he should kill them, which given the event almost certainly would be a violation of the Accords. Although I kinda doubt Marcone would accept it.

Now for a more general thoughts on Peace Talks. Do you think that someone will stab Harry in the back? I think the talk of it could have been a misdirect for punching him in the face. If someone does stab him in the back, I think Carlos Ramirez is fairly likely, he seems to be the person on the White Council closest to Harry, and I think Molly's thing with him in Cold Case could be the straw that broke his back. Justine is a common guess on the Dresden Files subreddit, but given that Goodman Gray is keeping an eye on her I'm not sure she'd be meaningful. Martha Liberty is another person I think it could be, as a senior councilwoman she should have the power to threaten him, and she has a lot of mentions but no real importance.

Any theories on, Peace Talks spoilers again, what Thomas was trying to say to Harry? I don't think it was actually about Justine, that's just too easy. But I can't think of anything that would fit.

Also I just realized a certain plot element really hasn't been expanded on at all since, I think, the very first book. That being who killed Malcolm Dresden and why?

DarthAragorn posted...

Any theories on, Peace Talks spoilers again, what Thomas was trying to say to Harry? I don't think it was actually about Justine, that's just too easy. But I can't think of anything that would fit.

A common theory on the subreddit (which I don't quite agree with but can understand) is that Thomas was trying to warn Harry that he shouldn't trust Justine, the idea being that she has been infected by nemisis.

I don't have any particular ideas on the second theory, other than it maybe being Lord Raith, who basically discovered that Malcolm was the dude who "stole" his girlfriend. Lord Raith strikes me as the kind of guy who would kill someone for that.