Harry Dresden : Cold Days

[LadyTevar]

Yes,the newest Dresden novel will be out this month, and Jim Butcher is posting the opening Chapters on his website: jim-butcher.com

So far, only chapter 1 & 2 have been posted. By the release, he will have the first 4 posted. However, in true Dresden manner, the chapters only whet the appetite. :)

[Steve]

Loved it. Think it was made of awesome. NEED MOAR DRESDEN FILES.

[LadyTevar]

It's here. In the house. Temptation is cruel.

[White Haven]

So...give in and read it? Not seeing the quandary, heheh.

[LadyTevar]

It's supposed to be an Xmas gift.

[Steve]

I'm glad you liked it, Tevar.

My favorite pop culture reference was the Firefly one. The one Bob made and that Harry didn't get and was annoyed about not getting it.

[LadyTevar]

Ah yes, the Special Hell.
Poor Dresden, finally getting some payback for all those quips. And Poor Bob, losing his Internet P0rn.

[Charon]

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I did Ghost Story, which no more than a year later I am occasionally having to wrack my brain to remember anything that actually happened in that book. This one was what Ghost Story should have been and I am pretty content to just forget that Ghost Story happened and simply go "He was dead for awhile, then he got better".

Anyway, Cold Days was very interesting, and finally managed to tie up the Athame plot in a good way. Leaving only one loose end from Bianca's little Masquerade that still needs to be looked into.

I did have a question though.

Spoiler: show

I thought one needed to be a Changeling or Fairie blooded in some way in order to become a Lady. Molly was not a Changeling, so how the heck did she get the power? Is just hanging out enough with Fae enough to make you a potential host now?

[B4UTRUST]

I'm not sure on that point. I could offer a few ideas but nothing concrete and it's open for discussion.
1) She is part fae somewhere down the line on either side of the family which though very diluted is enough to give her the title.
2) We find out that wizards are somehow some crossbreed offshoot of human and fae which makes all wizards at least part fae somewhere in there. They don't live nearly as long as fae races do or are as strong in magic as most of them, but they're longer lived than baseline humans and have the gift of magic.
3) During one of her battles she got splashed with some fae blood and some of it got in an open wound and 'infected' her.
4) The whole fae blood requirement was all a lie by the Queens to somehow screw with the Ladies and the rest of the Summer/Winter courts.
5) It's an outright public lie by the fae to give false information to the Outsiders so they don't know what the real requirements are, thus leaving a pool of potential non-fae replacements ready to be drawn on if the need arises.

[LadyTevar]

Charon: what loose end are you talking about?

B4: I'd buy #5.

[Charon]

#1 maybe... but I might just have to put this in the same category as I put the Deus Ex Vampire Killer.

As for the loose end:

There was one more gift that was given out at that party. Whatever was given to Ferrovax.

[LadyTevar]

oh fuck Other-influenced Dragon
Just what we need

[Comrade Tortoise]

Spoiler: show

I thought one needed to be a Changeling or Fairie blooded in some way in order to become a Lady. Molly was not a Changeling, so how the heck did she get the power? Is just hanging out enough with Fae enough to make you a potential host now?

Spoiler: show

Well, in #4, Vessel of Summer was specified. However the Queen Mothers did not specify what that meant at all. Butcher loves using the false narrator during foreshadowing to make us think one thing, and have it be something else (He is not, afterall, using an omniscient narrator. His narrator is just a dude. An unspeakably powerful dude. He can and is often wrong. He draws useful conclusions from incomplete information, but they can be both wrong and useful if they are correct enough to let him get the job done). So we, like Harry, might draw the conclusion that faerie blood is required, but perhaps that is not required at all. Perhaps one must simply be one who is influenced by the fae enough to be receptive to the mantle of power.