Ghost Story (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher

I think, had Ghost Story been to the book to be entitled Changes, it would come across better. The entire book was Butcher redirecting the series toward a new stage in Harry's life.

It certainly wasn't a bad book, but it did come across as a kind of reboot for the world, or a jumping on point, for newer readers. It was like Butcher needed to make it clear the world could go on without Harry so he could move on.
 
Tim Marquitz said:
It certainly wasn't a bad book, but it did come across as a kind of reboot for the world, or a jumping on point, for newer readers. It was like Butcher needed to make it clear the world could go on without Harry so he could move on.
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But Murphy and Molly seemed to be having some trouble coping (or they were headed more towards the "dark side"). Someone needs to help them. :p
 
LaserWraith said:
But Murphy and Molly seemed to be having some trouble coping (or they were headed more towards the "dark side"). Someone needs to help them. :p
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I know you're only somewhat joking, but those two are mainstays of Harry's world, greater than the rest. To push them to the side would hurt the series so Butcher was making sure to keep them in Harry's life. However, the Alphas and Thomas, the priest (suddenly can't remember his name) as well as the rest of the Carpenters are clearly defended and safe. Even Mister and Mouse.

I like what he did with Changes and Ghost Story, I just think he could have been a little more subtle in the shift.
 
Tim Marquitz said:
I know you're only somewhat joking, but those two are mainstays of Harry's world, greater than the rest. To push them to the side would hurt the series so Butcher was making sure to keep them in Harry's life. However, the Alphas and Thomas, the priest (suddenly can't remember his name) as well as the rest of the Carpenters are clearly defended and safe. Even Mister and Mouse.
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I see. Though I wish he could keep his dog, but whatever. :rolleyes:

Tim Marquitz said:
I like what he did with Changes and Ghost Story, I just think he could have been a little more subtle in the shift.
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"Hey, I was killed, gone for 6 months, and then came back as a spirit. The power grabbing from the lack of red court vamps is making everyone magical crazy. Molly is crazy too, and Murphy is darker as well. Now I'm suddenly back for real and off to become a slave of a cold master." Maybe Butcher likes shocking people. As someone has said before, somewhere, Harry isn't good at being subtle. :o
 
I loved this book. Yes, it was very different from the other Dresden files. Much more introspective. Harry had to learn that he can't just run into things fires a-blazing, and being a ghost did that rather well. Don't get me wrong, he still does the "hit first, think later" quite a bit, but he did start doing a bit more "think, hit, think more."

This book had all the parts of the Dresden Files that I love: snarky Harry, big explosions (okay, ghostly, but still big) and epic good vs evil. And I must say, the pop culture allusions, which are getting more and more prevalent as the books go on, are fantastic!

Harry has learned some pretty big lessons about himself and his situation. I think he's prepped and ready to go to be the next Winter Night. I just wonder how on Earth he's going to face Murphy and Molly now? After all, they think he's really dead, suddenly he's not? Yeah, I can imagine him avoiding that one for a while.
 
KatetheGreat said:
I loved this book. Yes, it was very different from the other Dresden files. Much more introspective. Harry had to learn that he can't just run into things fires a-blazing, and being a ghost did that rather well. Don't get me wrong, he still does the "hit first, think later" quite a bit, but he did start doing a bit more "think, hit, think more."

This book had all the parts of the Dresden Files that I love: snarky Harry, big explosions (okay, ghostly, but still big) and epic good vs evil. And I must say, the pop culture allusions, which are getting more and more prevalent as the books go on, are fantastic!

Harry has learned some pretty big lessons about himself and his situation. I think he's prepped and ready to go to be the next Winter Night. I just wonder how on Earth he's going to face Murphy and Molly now? After all, they think he's really dead, suddenly he's not? Yeah, I can imagine him avoiding that one for a while.
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I'm glad to see someone else really liking GS...I was wondering if I was the only one who thought it was more than a "okay" Butcher book. :)

What really upsets me is that it is so hard to find more books as good as these. Too many urban fantasy books are about females obsessed with some male (or worse, multiple males). These females have some power than can get them into the paranormal world, but are constantly needing saving. Blah :rolleyes:

Of course, I could read some epic fantasy (complete with the powerful tough characters I like), but those often have too many PoVs. Ugh.


So I sometimes wonder if I enjoy The Dresden Files because Butcher is a good writer - maybe it's just because I like fantasy from the PoV of a powerful magical guy. :rolleyes: (And the next book should feature an even more powerful Harry, I hope.)
 
LaserWraith said:
I'm glad to see someone else really liking GS...I was wondering if I was the only one who thought it was more than a "okay" Butcher book. :)
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I think what it comes down to, especially for me, is that Butcher has set the bar so high for this series that any shift in direction or quality, however slight, is like being hit in the face with a hammer.

I'm no longer comparing his books to other books in the genre, but solely his own, which is probably unfair. I certainly didn't hate the book, and loved being back in Harry's world, but I had a few nitpicks that I probably overstated because of my own expectations as to what I thought Butcher should/would do.

That said, my interest in the series isn't remotely diminished. I will continue to buy and read every book he puts out because he has created an amazing world and can't humanly be expected to maintain its perfection for every reader.

I think people are disappointed due to my last point; the book didn't live up to their expectations regardless of how good it was.
 
Tim Marquitz said:
I think what it comes down to, especially for me, is that Butcher has set the bar so high for this series that any shift in direction or quality, however slight, is like being hit in the face with a hammer.

I'm no longer comparing his books to other books in the genre, but solely his own, which is probably unfair. I certainly didn't hate the book, and loved being back in Harry's world, but I had a few nitpicks that I probably overstated because of my own expectations as to what I thought Butcher should/would do.

That said, my interest in the series isn't remotely diminished. I will continue to buy and read every book he puts out because he has created an amazing world and can't humanly be expected to maintain its perfection for every reader.

I think people are disappointed due to my last point; the book didn't live up to their expectations regardless of how good it was.
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I did start the book knowing that there would be a huge change (dying does that to you), and was wondering if Harry was just going to be an observer this time and fight some spirits. I was glad to see that he was involved a bit more than I thought he would be.

I've seen people rate books badly because they had high expectations (not that the book itself was bad), so maybe the opposite happened to me.
 
LaserWraith said:
I've seen people rate books badly because they had high expectations (not that the book itself was bad), so maybe the opposite happened to me.
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You probably went into it with more realistic expectations than a lot of folks, myself included. When it wasn't as bad as the reviews/commentary made it out to be, it landed right up there with the rest of them.

I expected what happened at the end of Ghost Story to actually be the start of it, so I think that helped to skew my perspective.
 
I went into this book knowing that some people were let down with it after Changes.
Changes, for me, was the reset switch Butcher needed to progress the story arc further (and did anyone else wonder on the significance of it being the only single word title?). I think Butcher is progressing the series from the personal, humdrum life of Harry into an epic, fate of the world confrontation between Harry and "The Big Baddy" - no points for guessing where it takes place, but I'd like to hear your theories on who it is, because I'm thinking my prime suspect is too obvious. So, for those who think Harry is getting too powerful, I can only see this progressing.
Back to the rest switch though - by removing most of Harry's possessions in Changes, and then somewhat wrapping up his emotional connections in Ghost Story, Butcher has created room for Harry to grow/move. Where? I suppose that's what we'll see in the next book. His failed attempt to dodge being Winter Knight leaves him in an interesting position - he's got extra power, a lot of self-hate over the pain his failed attempt has caused, and has little of his former life to return to.

Another thing I've found interesting is the progression of time - while it does little to effect Harry, I wonder what will happen to characters like Murphy as they start "getting too old for this ****". Phased out for the likes of Daniel Carpenter? (Surely he's gunning for his Dad's sword???)

At any rate, I wasn't too disappointed by this book, I think it's moved the series to an interesting place.
 
I don't think there's much disappointment on the direction, but more on Ghost Story as a book itself, the pacing, the book centric mystery, those types of things. At least those were my main issues. I love where the story is heading, full of possibilities.
 
Here's a question with major spoilers:
Why did Harry have to do any of the work to find his killer in order to return to his body? A fallen angel 'cheated' thus allowing Uriel to give Harry a choice to return to his body. But why did Harry have to go back in 'soul form' to help his friends and find out the truth of what happened in order to return to his body? I never made the connection. It just seems like Uriel should have just been able to let Harry choose to "go through the door" at the end and return to his body without requiring him to destroy the Corpsetaker.
 
Because there wouldn't have been a book otherwise. ;)

Or, because that "voyage of self-discovery" was important in preparing him for everything that's coming next.
 
Contrarius said:
Or, because that "voyage of self-discovery" was important in preparing him for everything that's coming next.
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That. After about the fourth or fifth book I started thinking of this as a journey to a final confrontation, not a series of inter-related vignettes. Harry needs to level-up along the way.
 
Harry had to face who he was, the choices he made, and what he really wants in order to be able to
Refuse mabs assertion of control
 
Guys, for those of you who liked this book, was it because you had read all of the other ones?

I got this one compliments of not responding to SFBC's monthly selection. And I have decided to finish reading everything in the house that i can read before dropping trousers, bending over and getting a Nook.

This book was just not for me. Maybe its because I started in the middle of the series and haven't read the other books?

I can see how Jim Butcher has potential though. And I can't say I would never pick up another one of his books. However this was just not what I expected from an urban fantasy / mystery novel.

It could have been a great mystery novel - very Guy Noir, Private 'I'. And I applaud Mr. Butcher for not taking himself too seriously. The book never really gripped me. I never fell in love with the characters.

And guys, I rarely publicly complain about an author's work. I wrote a fantasy novel about 3 years ago and it was so incredibly bad I never let a single sentence be read by a soul and destroyed every reference I had to the work. It was BAAAAD. And I came away from that unfortunate experience seeing that so many authors out there struggle and that MANY of them are GREAT writers who never get anywhere.

So even with a successful author like Mr. Butcher, I am hesitant to criticise. Fame doesn't last forever and he may or may not get enough cash from this latest venture to live off of forever. God, I wish him the best, but Ghost Story is just not for me maybe.

Now, thats not to say it wasn't well written. It was very well written. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I could have gone for more character development but I suppose that's what the earlier books are for.
 
Starting the series by reading Ghost Story wasn't the best place to start. While many of the books are somewhat stand-alone, this one really isn't.
 
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