Jim Butcher Peace Talks (Dresden Files) NOW WITH SPOILER ALERT!

[Broomstick]

I think there's a high probability Ivy knew something about what Mab was up to.

[Ralin]

Official video trailer: https://youtu.be/F17zuaRJG0U

Holy shit. Especially that bombshell at the end.

[The Romulan Republic]

WOW, two books in one year?

Found it a bit hard to tell who was who at points in the trailer, but... well, that's a nasty conundrum for Harry. And it looks like we'll be getting Spoiler

Marcone as a major antagonist, and Harry vs Ebineezer.

[Ralin]

After a hiatus like that it makes sense that he would want to start strong.
Spoiler

Whatever happens it involves people trying to kill or harm his brother. Given that we know Harry's tendency to react violently and irrationally when family is threatened that's going to put him in a state of mind where he won't back down no matter what. Especially given what we know about Justine from previous teasers.

Also the trailer does seem to imply Lara finally getting into his pants. Just as he and Murphy are finally agreed on being in a relationship

I do wonder if Kincaid will still be caught up in all this.

EDIT:

Also, did anyone else catch that Ramirez seemed to be limping?

[Lost Soal]

He did get royally fucked up by Molly, don't know how well he healed after that.

[The Romulan Republic]

He did get royally fucked up by Molly, don't know how well he healed after that.

Well, if he lives long enough, wizard healing ought to take care of that.

[Ralin]

Mostly, yeah. Just noticed the detail.

[LadyTevar]

He did get royally fucked up by Molly, don't know how well he healed after that.

He was still fucked up in the last book. Poor guy, Molly had no idea that was going to happen, and she feels horrible about it, while Ramirez is now terrified of her.

[Lost Soal]

I don't recall Ramirez, or any of the council, appearing in Skin Game. Did someone tell Harry he'd been injured?

[LadyTevar]

I don't recall Ramirez, or any of the council, appearing in Skin Game. Did someone tell Harry he'd been injured?

.... Maybe it was the book before...
I just remember Ramirez being in the room, Molly coming in, and BOTH of them getting Very Awkward about the other being there, and Harry having No Clue Why (because it happened in a short story about Molly's First Job as Winter Lady, in Alaska.)

[Lost Soal]

That was before all that. End of Cold Days she becomes Winter Lady, then the short story takes place between that and Skin Game. The three shorts that take place after, off the top of my head, cover His day at the Zoo, beating up on the White Court and Butters first quest as Knight of the Sword.

[LadyTevar]

That was before all that. End of Cold Days she becomes Winter Lady, then the short story takes place between that and Skin Game. The three shorts that take place after, off the top of my head, cover His day at the Zoo, beating up on the White Court and Butters first quest as Knight of the Sword.

His day at the Zoo? I don't think I've read that one. Or Butter's First Quest

[Lost Soal]

That was before all that. End of Cold Days she becomes Winter Lady, then the short story takes place between that and Skin Game. The three shorts that take place after, off the top of my head, cover His day at the Zoo, beating up on the White Court and Butters first quest as Knight of the Sword.

His day at the Zoo? I don't think I've read that one. Or Butter's First Quest

"Zoo Day" A Rashomon type story told from three POV's, "Day One" for Butters first quest and "Jury Duty" where he's just started living in the city again. There all in "Brief Cases"

[Ralin]

I think Butters mentioned in Skin Game that Ramirez got fucked up in action and still hadn't recovered when he was giving Harry the whole "Things have been going to shit while you hung out on Spooky Island" spiel. At the time readers would have assumed that happened in combat somehow.

And that particular short story was about Molly's debut mission as Winter Lady. She was on a mission Mab dispatched her on during Skin Game that involved her being under a giant fucking glacier and thus unable to return quickly, which didn't happen in said debut mission. So clearly Ramirez was injured pre-Skin Game.

[Ralin]

First chapter: https://io9.gizmodo.com/check-out-our-e ... 1842415798


Spoiler

“Yeah,” I said darkly. “That was all him. Tell me that the Council doesn’t want me to be our emissary.”

Ramirez blinked. “Wait, what? Oh . . . oh God, no, Harry. I mean . . . no. Just no.”

[Mr Bean]

To be fair to Harry, that is the kind of thing they would do in the past when the Merlin was still looking for an excuse to get Harry dealt with, it got worse when he became a symbol for anti-Merlin sentiment among the younger Wizards. Nowadays? Harry to much of big time player and he's already died once and returned.

[LadyTevar]

"The supernatural world had been kind of topsy-turvy lately. Some lunatic had managed to wipe out the Red Court of Vampires completely, and the resulting vacuum had destabilized balances of power that were centuries old."

GEEEEEEEEE... Wonder How THAT Happened?

[The Romulan Republic]

Not happy with the bit about Spoiler

Justine being in danger due to the baby feeding on her in pregnancy, especially not when Blood Rites established years ago that the feeding doesn't start until the White Court vamps take their first lover. It feels like just an artificial way to raise the stakes with a clumsy retcon, because (mostly male) authors can't resist death by childbirth as a trope. To be honest, it smacks more than a little of women in refrigerators, which this series already has problems with. At best, its lazy plotting and poor continuity.

I do like how Harry's character has grown, how he's become more mature and frankly wiser due to being a father. He's definitely not the callow young self-loathing hothead of the early books, and yet the development has happened gradually and plausibly enough that he's still recognizably the same person, and you can see how he got from point A to point D via points B and C.

[Ralin]

I think it fits the nature of the White Court being predatory and harmful. Yeah it's creepy and misogynistic, but I'd be more concerned if that wasn't par for the course with literal rape vampires.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think it fits the nature of the White Court being predatory and harmful. Yeah it's creepy and misogynistic, but I'd be more concerned if that wasn't par for the course with literal rape vampires.

Yeah, there's a reason why the White Court are one of the few fictional sapient species I'd be completely okay with exterminating. They literally need to rape to live.

Edit: Its also the reason I tend not to enjoy White Court-heavy books, so this probably won't be one of my favorites, sadly.

(the possible exception being Turn Coat, which had a fair amount of White Court content but came out ahead on the strength of the White Council and Morgan stuff.)

[Ralin]

Vampires have been rape-y since Dracula. They're called 'predators' for a reason. If you're going to include them as a major element in a story might as well drive that home instead of sweeping it under the rug the way some people have accused Butcher of doing with Thomas.


Spoiler

The stuff about White Court vampires having extremely low fertility was already strongly implied from...well, from the fact that most of them constantly have sex and there aren't a lot more of them. The bit about them having a high maternal mortality rate maybe not so much, but it fits very well with both the aforementioned relatively low numbers of White Court vampires and the fact that vampires are in fact shitty and harmful. Since otherwise you'd expect at least some wealthy and powerful White Court vampires to go out of their way to breed large families to increase their power.

So that's a fair ball and it does fit well with the setting and established continuity. The fact that it hasn't come up before isn't surprising given Harry has mentioned multiple times that Thomas avoids talking about the details of White Court biology and powers.

[Ralin]

Also

They literally need to rape to live.

No they don't. They can also inflict stark raving terror or suicidal despair to live. All of which are just means to the end of sucking away part of their victim's life force.

That's the same thing that the Red and Black Court vampires did/do via blood. Replacing a physical substance as the medium for getting that life force with a magical transfer doesn't change what they're doing. The only reason Harry sees White Court vampires as somewhat different is because they're closer to human and that matters to Harry's prejudices.

[The Romulan Republic]

Also

They literally need to rape to live.

No they don't. They can also inflict stark raving terror or suicidal despair to live. All of which are just means to the end of sucking away part of their victim's life force.

IIRC, they all still feed by involuntary physical contact, and a form that's in many ways more intimate than sex, since they literally overwhelm your mind and manipulate and feed on your emotions.

They're rapists, every one.

That's the same thing that the Red and Black Court vampires did/do via blood. Replacing a physical substance as the medium for getting that life force with a magical transfer doesn't change what they're doing. The only reason Harry sees White Court vampires as somewhat different is because they're closer to human and that matters to Harry's prejudices.

Honestly? I'd rather have my blood drained than my emotions, although the Red and Black Courts are also of course utter monsters (and, guess what, Harry wiped out the Reds, the Blacks are all but gone, and aside from the power vacuum created by the Reds' fall, I doubt they're much missed by anyone).

[Mr Bean]

Also

They literally need to rape to live.

No they don't. They can also inflict stark raving terror or suicidal despair to live. All of which are just means to the end of sucking away part of their victim's life force.

That's the same thing that the Red and Black Court vampires did/do via blood. Replacing a physical substance as the medium for getting that life force with a magical transfer doesn't change what they're doing. The only reason Harry sees White Court vampires as somewhat different is because they're closer to human and that matters to Harry's prejudices.

Also White Court tend to leave their victims alive far more often then Reds and Black. Sure the corpse stink of Blacks and the vampire bat monster thing of Reds is off putting but at the end of the day a White Court victim tends to still be functional the day after unless your someone like Madeline Raith. Dresden has been near Black Court vampires and hated every minute, he famously has gone to three Red Court parties and the third time every Red died meanwhile he's been to a half dozen White Court affairs and while he's nearly died a dozen time he manage to have fun at two of them.

IIRC, they all still feed by involuntary physical contact, and a form that's in many ways more intimate than sex, since they literally overwhelm your mind and manipulate and feed on your emotions.

They're rapists, every one.

Are you counting Thomas hairdressing work as daily rape? Or Felicia Raith who by all accounts is just a club girl?

[Ralin]

IIRC, they all still feed by involuntary physical contact, and a form that's in many ways more intimate than sex, since they literally overwhelm your mind and manipulate and feed on your emotions.

They're rapists, every one.

Honestly? I'd rather have my blood drained than my emotions, although the Red and Black Courts are also of course utter monsters (and, guess what, Harry wiped out the Reds, the Blacks are all but gone, and aside from the power vacuum created by the Reds' fall, I doubt they're much missed by anyone).

1) Again, they don't feed -on- emotions, they feed through emotions.

2) I suspect you underestimate how traumatic being physically held down and drained of your blood (and life force, since that's real here) and in the process drugged by their narcotic saliva would be.

None of this is to say they aren't monstrous. But they're monstrous in the same way vampires are in general. The rape vampire angle just makes the metaphor more explicit.