Ghost Story Spoilers

So, naturally, having said so little before, there really is more I've thought about the book. It's just that I can't get into much of it without spouting spoilers left and right. So for you view who read this and have read the book, I have more to say.


Perhaps the thing I admire most about Jim Butcher's writing in the Dresden Files is his ability to evolve characters and setting. It's so comparatively easy to fall too far to either side of the spectrum and end up with "major events" that don't have major impact (which you see often in long-running, episodic TV shows where a status quo has to be maintained) or to lose the essence of what made a story good in the first place (seen in how sequels to "buddy movies" often flounder because the characters had to resolve their differences in the first movie). Butcher has, for some 13 novels now, managed to retain the essence of the characters while introducing changes pretty much every installment. I'm constantly worried that things might go too far, but I'm constantly amazed when they don't.

The characters are hit with all sorts of things, but for the most part they evolve without losing their charm. Some characters have fallen along the way, which is a sad thing, but perhaps needed. Ultimately, though, Butcher does such an incredible job I remain impressed, especially this late in the game.

So Ghost Story is two main things.

First, it depicts the fallout from Changes. The Red Court vampires were pretty much wiped out by a super bloodline-based ritual, and that power vacuum has led to major changes in the world. Of course, the story focuses mostly on Chicago and the implications there are, perhaps, not as extreme as elsewhere, but still very noticeable. We see what most of the main characters have become over six months and while it's not all pretty it does pretty much all fit.

Second, it's an elaborate setup to get Harry Dresden to find his way. At the end of Changes and through most of Ghost Story, he's convinced (though he may not consciously realize it all the time) he's made a monster out of himself finally. In trying to find his killer, he is forced to... well... find himself. Literal and metaphoric, that.

Interestingly, I can't help think of this in RPG terms now - where Ghost Story is an adventure set up by the GM in order to give an opportunity for Harry to do enough to justify an increase in Refresh so he can pay for the fae knight powers he adopted at the end of Changes while still remaining human/a player character.

The Plot...

Good all around. As I touch on elsewhere, it addresses many things and continues the story well. Plenty of development is shown and more is hinted at. The enemy is one of several possibly recurring villains and is handled well. As is pretty usual, though Corpsetaker is apparently killed with finality, there's at least one more baddie introduced, with the now-masterless Evil Bob.

The killer twist is good. The use of memories to paint in more of Harry's past (without the failings of mental memory) is good. The reveal of He Who Walks Behind as a player in his past is interesting, and this outsider is sure to make more appearances as time goes on. He is interesting too because his motives are unclear (if not utterly alien).

It's a little disturbing, but doesn't seem unrealistic, to see how the major supernatural players influence things by nudging mortals. Uriel's explanation is quite powerful, highlighting just how dangerous a simple sentence can be if delivered at the right time in the right way. That's what really makes ageless, immortal beings so very scary.

The Characters...

Karrin Murphy was clearly broken by Harry's death, and in denial about it. In Ghost Story, she's hanging on by a thread, and just about willing to cut it if given a chance. It's hard to see one of the most principled characters in the series on the verge of losing herself to vengeance, but with all she's gone through it isn't unrealistic. She's in the middle of a war, and with Harry gone, she's pretty much the figurehead and front line for the "good guys." All this without supernatural powers. This is doubly rough considering she was widely accepted as someone who would take up one of the Swords, because she's not even remotely in a state to do so in this tale.

But... I think she can come out of it and be better for it. She doesn't quite go over the deep end, as seen when she talks with one of the gang members in the final assault. The Murphy we "know and love" is still there, so there's still hope for her to turn away from the dark side as it were. I don't doubt that she's strong enough, though I do keep fearing Butcher might push her too far. Ultimately, it'll be important to see how she handles Harry's not-death after finally being forced to face his death. That's harsh.

Butters has been solid help for a non-combative mundane, and his new partnership with Bob is further helping. He's taking an active role and I can see him becoming almost a Batman of the supernatural world - no powers himself, but a lot of knowledge and potential gadgets. Sure, he's only just starting that way now, but he's sporting a spirit-seeing flashlight and a ghost-talking radio. And with Bob's help, I have no trouble seeing him coming up with more stuff. I wouldn't even be surprised by a spiritual lightsaber. Butters is cool, and still growing.

Bob sounds just a little off to me. Now, that may be deliberate as he's supposed to be shaped partly by his current "owner." He's still a good character and contributor, and neat to see having a bit more presence in this spiritual adventure. I'm jealous that his internet connection is probably better than mine and he's a skull. I have to wonder... a spirit of knowledge connected to the internet... is that good for him (given the amount of data) or bad (given the amount of opinion and outright stupidity)?

And Evil Bob? Well that may not have been the best of decisions, as there's now a new recurring villain, but what can you do. At least there's now a new recurring villain!

The Alphas, I'm a little sad to say, have a presence, but no... well... presence. They're portrayed as being a bit older and more experienced from six months of struggle, perhaps, but the story doesn't get close enough to any of them for us to really see it well. Large cast, limited time, I guess that's just how it goes.

Thomas - What goes for the Alphas goes double for Thomas. We barely glimpse him at all through the novel. Taking Harry's death hard? Check. There needs to be more of him next time around.

Mort has gone from a sleezy ectomancer to ectomancer extraordinaire! It's nice to see someone who's a magical badass without being a -wizard-. He does one thing, he does it well, he does it better than anyone expected. While there's some implication he's been hiding his actual power for some time, it's entirely possible he's also been building on it and learning along the way. The down side? By the end of the book, he "sound" too much like Harry to me. He's overcoming his cowardice to come to Molly's aid, he's chivalrous enough to stand "protectively" by Murphy at the end, and he's making quips in the face of horrible demise. That seems to be infringing on the protagonist's place a little too much.

Other players include Father Forthill, who's still awesome and faithful. The scene with the angel of death prepared to be protector was a nice touch. Daniel Carpenter disappointed me a bit, with his argumentativeness and lack of solid role but he is new. He fights okay but not great, idolizes Murphy some, and complains about what the others want to do - that's about all I can say of him thusfar. Fitz, the ghost-talking street kid, is new, but knowing the author and series he'll likely make an appearance again. Various spirits serve their roles. Corpsetaker's return is pretty well done, all told. Lea and Mab are doing their Sidhe thing. Even He Who Walks Behind makes an interesting appearance in memory. Marcone isn't there, but he's shown to be continuing as a defender of humanity against the dark things in spite of his questionable ethics otherwise. That's a character who would have been a great and honored king in a time less fettered with morality and more concerned with survival.

Molly I come to last out of the supporting cast because her situation probably impacted me the most. The girl definitely needs a hug. While Murphy has taken things hard and put on a hard face in turn, Molly really jumped up to try to fill Harry's shoes - from threatening magical badass in town to solitary martyr. It's clear that Harry's apprentice learned a lot from him that he wasn't actively trying to teach.

It's a little hard to say what's going to happen with her upon Harry's return. She'll probably always look up to him, but I don't think she can go back to being his apprentice again. By the end of Ghost Story it's still not entirely clear just how far she's gone. She's admitted to killing people... but they seem to have been corrupt or evil and she doesn't seem to have done it with direct magic, so she might actually be okay by wizard Laws. But she also continues to use her mental magics, which are iffy even when used for good. And she may be taking blame for a few things Lea has done, which were probably more extreme. I really want to kick Harry for not taking the few seconds/minutes required to say "I'm sorry" even after he realized he made her accomplish in his own assassination. Those two really need to have a serious chat.

And Harry himself? Well, as a spirit (sorta) he gets to see several memories with clarity he didn't have. His quest for his killer leads to himself, literally, in a twist I was just sort of starting to suspect. Kincaid was a pretty obvious trigger man, but that left the question of who was actually behind it and who he would work for. I started to wonder "Wait... what if it wasn't an enemy behind it, but rather a friend," but hadn't quite reached the conclusion Harry himself would have used this as a backup plan. It does fit, though. He's sneaky enough to try something like that to get fae power and deprive Mab of him as a servant. Of course, the whole purpose of the "adventure" (from a Harry-centric point of view) was to make him realize he is not devoid of free will, even as the Winter Knight.

Really, Harry is the perhaps the person least changed from Ghost Story in my view. He regains a bit of himself, but comes out of it still as Harry Dresden, White Council Wizard, Wielder of Soulfire, Former bearer of Lash, Warden of Chicago, and White Knight. That's a whole mess of power that is difficult to plot for. Like in an RPG, an author has to be careful about what threats are applied to avoid creaming low-power allies while still challenging a high-power character. It's a tough act, but it can be done.

The Setting...

It's not as remarkable to me as the evolution that goes on, but I also like how Butcher reveals more of the workings of his world as time goes on. In Ghost Story, we get a crash course in the world of spirits right alongside Harry. This also includes the in-setting distinctions between things like soul and spirit - sort of. Naturally, such big metaphysical concepts are conveyed in metaphor, leaving some room for vagueness. But it does add definition to some things. As Uriel says toward the end: "You are a soul. You have a body."

The only part that bugged me was how a big deal was made (well, hints early, a big deal later) of how Harry was not a spirit, but a soul... and yet he appeared to follow the same mechanics as for a spirit - being made of memories and diminishing himself with magic once he figured it out. Even Uriel at the end doesn't make much distinction. And yet we've received previous information that seems minorly contradictory here. Soulfire was explained as drawing on the soul, but the soul regenerates over time. Carrying that logic across, even Harry's diminished state by the end should have been able to regenerate rather than degrade into a wraith like Uriel and others seemed to indicate. Now, it's just as well that Harry wasn't led to think "life" among spirits was the way to go, but... that gives us either an in-setting lie (by an angel), an author oversight, or a kink in one explanation or the other.

Edit:A friend put forth the theory that one might need mortal experiences to regenerate soul. That's a possible answer, but I don't want it to be the true one due to Uriel's implication that a human is their soul, body or not. It also occurred to me that he might have been a ghost that was spirit+soul (rather than just soul) and, because he was taught by a spirit, was expending memories to create magic and diminishing his spirit in a way that may not regenerate even with a soul. Either way, I suppose I have to admit that soulfire has been shown to be augmentative and while it may have let him boost spell power it might not work to fuel ghost-magic even if Harry had thought of it. It was pretty reckless of him to be throwing memories around like that regardless without any attempt to recover them as Sir Stewart demonstrated.

The world is described as a mess after Changes, but we don't really see how bad it is. While the White Council was battling the Red Court, the conflict was ugly but still under the radar of the mundane world. We're told in Ghost Story that things have gotten worse, but we're really not shown that it is (at least from a mundane point of view).

Part of that is surely because things are centered on Chicago, where the fighting is still something of a shadow war. Cops and most mundanes don't seem clued-in yet. There's violence, but even the supernatural thugs still seem to appear as gang members more than anything. So while things are "worse" elsewhere, there's still no sense that vampires, giants, and sidhe are entering into normal civilian awareness with any regularity.

The introduction of the Fomori is probably good. They're still part of the Accords, but it gives a new "evil" faction to replace the vampires we've seen so much of previously. And it gives at least a little bit of a difference from the incredibly Sidhe-centric view of faerie-kind the series has had thusfar. Though they are still from Irish-ish legends. We don't see much past their "servitors" so far, and they're mostly street-level thugs with (we're told) some glamour/ectoplasm-based modifications.

One throw-away line toward the beginning of the book caused great glee and trepidation in me all at once. Rakshasa were mentioned. Again, I love this because it shows there's more than the culturally-narrow spectrum of supernatural stuff we've seen in the series. I'm a little hesitant about it because... dammit, that was my idea! ;)

Tangent: After feeling dissatisfied with my fight Dresden Files character (an FBI hedge-mage specializing in potions), I started pondering of alternatives. As part of the problem was the lack of diversity (it's hard to not overlap in a group of six or more when the main archtypes are mage, mundane, fae, and vampire), I tried to think outside the box. Sure, the RPG has a limited array of abilities, but how you put them together and with what flavor matters. I've always liked rakshasa since I was introduced to them back in D&D, so I started doing a little research on the actual legendary origins. It's fuzzy now, as I never wrote this stuff down, but based on some stories of "good" rakshasa, I came up with the idea of a quasi-superhero who was a mixed-blood rakshasa decendent with perhaps a touch of glamour and several points of variable powers as a form of self-augmentative "shapeshifting." Rakshasa hadn't been done before, so it felt like a neat idea.

Now they're official, albeit undefined so far. That makes my idea less unique. Cuuuurses!

Edit: It's been pointed out to me they were referenced in a couple one-liners in previous books too. Lesigh. I probably recognized that on some level, but consciously forgot. So I can't claim to have been first.