The Dresden Files

The Huntsmen of Annuvin also always come 13 to a pack, with each fallen pack member giving its strength to the rest.

Thirteen seems to be a fundamentally important number in DF. Not sure why - it's the first metastable number, and there are thoughts that it became associated with bad things because there were thirteen people at the Last Supper (guess who was #13?), but it's just speculation.

It's not as significant or frequent as 7 or 3. Aside from the Cornerhounds, the only relevance to 13 I can think of is Mc Anally's Pub, Colin Murphy's precinct, the number of coins in the Church's possession, and the Lords of the Outer Night. Recurring certainly, but really not on the same mystical level of importance as 7 or 3.

Edited by allfictions on Mar 28th 2024 at 8:14:58 AM

(Might be a bit behind as I haven't read this thread in a bit, LOL)

I think 'Dead Beat' is actually a triple pun, not just double (on deadbeat and 'beat' as in music). I think it's also referring to a regular part of a job (a policeman's beat, a journalist's beat) as a beat. So, what sort of beat is the Private Magical Detective working in this book? A dead beat.

Agreed. This is also the book where he gets the Warden’s cloak, becomes an actual magic cop, and is assigned Chicago as his beat officially.

Changes done:

• A gripe right from the start of the book: the "fuck subtle" segment doesn't work in Polish, because apparently the translation of Lord of the Rings used does not actually use a word even remotely close to "subtle". As for "fuck subtle" itself, this is just an amateur translator in me, but it could have been done more elegantly (and I understand the hypocrisy of discussing the elegance of a phrase "fuck subtle"); the phrase "pierdolić subtelności" is much too long for what this is supposed to be.
• ...anyway, the Red Court. It took us twelve books to have them come to the forefront as antagonists, even though the RC-White Council War's been ongoing since the end of Grave Peril, the end of book three. This is also the first book since Storm Front to have only one real antagonist (well, a group, if you will; I'll get to that); all others would have had had some kind of secondary antagonist (i.e. Parker and the Streetwolves in Fool Moon, Mavra in Blood Rites and Dead Beat, the White Council itself in Proven Guilty etc.). I mean, you could count Rudolph, but even he is just another cog of the Reds.
  • And boy, does Red Court lack any redeeming qualities to its name. They brain us over the head with that fact over and over, it's surprising that the supernatural tolerates the Reds to begin with. Of course, we've heard that they've done some foul things before (i.e. the Kongo incident), but this book has it all front-and-center. What they do in-book, Susan and Martin's relations, the wagon full of human sacrifices... And, you know, the whole "kidnapping a twelve year old to kill The Blackstaff with" thing.
    • This is a thread discarded fairly quickly, but I do wish there was more doubt on Harry's end about whether Maggie is actually real or not. I guess most of the plot would be lost and the book would be about something else entirely, but the fact that he immediately goes "time to kill everyone to save my daughter" in a turn so quick it surprises even Susan is kind of a missed opportunity. Of course, the Reds give us absolutely nothing to believe this might be a ruse of some kind, because they have all the puppy-kicking skills and zero subtlety. Ortega might have been their sole person with brains.
  • And I keep saying "Red Court" and "The Reds", because... honestly, they are an interchangeable blob of characters batting (ostensibly, in Arianna's case) for the same team. The Eebs and Ick, Arianna, the Red King and his goon squad - they come and go. It's a weird feeling, because these characters do have distinguishing qualities that tell them apart; at the same time, it really does feel like they're just one Harry-hating blob.
    • Speaking of Eebs, what is up with the lady in the villain group always being the crazy one? Benn in the Hexenwolves, Kelly Hamilton, Corpsetaker... well, the Eebs are fine, even though it's pretty obvious that Esteban is in charge and Esmeralda is more of his bloodthirsty pet than a wife. They do a really good job of harrying (heh) Harry throughout the book, though; you'd have to wonder why The Reds (or anyone with a bone to pick with Dresden) didn't try these tactics before (well, Binder talks about it in Turn Coat, at least).
    • Arianna is... utterly inconsequential, and that's no small feat when you're the one kickstarting the plot to begin with.
    • The Red King... well, the whole "posing as ancient Mayan gods while also being narco cartel-coded" is a big oof. I like that he's just a guy compared to Lord Raith's majestic airs or Drakul (who's not really a Black King, but is the closest thing to it) being this larger-than-life creature. Red Honcho is just an asshole with a (possibly faked) blood addiction and delusions of grandeur. Anti-shoutout to Lords of the Outer Night who get hyped throughout the book as unstoppable juggernauts - and then they just start dropping like flies when characters actually get to fight them.
• This is only Susan's second (and last) appearance as a half-vamp; for someone who's been such an important character in early Dresden books, it's astonishing to me how small her screentime actually is. It makes sense, since she would be focusing entirely on the Reds, but you'd think she'd at least get passing mentions or cameos or what not. She does good for herself for most of the book, but then gets a dramatic death scene to squarely put Harry into a "sad dad" mold and... that sucks...
• Rudolph, meanwhile, only debuts as an IA weasel in this book (unless he makes an earlier appearance in one of the shorter stories). I am surprised by this one; I thought he would be an overall bigger thorn in Harry and Murphy's sides. (although he does enough damage, to say nothing of Battle Ground...)
• You know, Dresden, maybe you shouldn't have promised Molly you'll always be there for her if the next thing you do is talking Kincaid into killing you. Aged like fine milk, that one, even if I get why he would do that. [at least, I think that's what happened? It's not explained anywhere in this book, so I'm guessing it will be in Ghost Story]
• Well, at least Lea gets to enjoy herself throughout the book, and she'll enjoy herself even more in the next one...
• I understand the book's purpose was to less shake and more uproot the status quo with due diligence - at the same time, I really wish Harry was actually allowed to start anew and not die at the very end of the book (even if it didn't take). It's a hell of a cliffhanger if you would be waiting for the next book (or sit there scared this might be how it ends and we timeskip to Maggie being an adult or something), but now it just feels really mean-spirited.
• Small shoutout to Merlin for not being dumb enough to fall for the Reds' peace offer, even if not much comes out of it. Cristos is discussed as a possible Black Council plant, but he's probably just a moron (and I think he learns to do somewhat better in later books)

Next up is a book I haven't read yet: Side Jobs. This one will be in English, so I won't be frothing at the mouth at the translation, at least...

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Apr 6th 2024 at 7:24:48 PM

grah

Yeah the mystery of how/why Harry "died" is the central conceit of Ghost Story, though he doesn't really do much actual investigation iirc just immediately swept up in events.

I've said it before but I really dislike Changes, it just... unpleasant and mean? Slamming down on all Harry's buttons and breaking him down. It's theoretically good and brave to do in his status quo but well it's never really recovered since then for me.

Specifically, Harry's been in two duels that I remember in both of them there was foul play, and in the second one he showed awareness there was going to be foul play and accounted for it. Now, yeah circumstances force it on him but he shows no such savvy in Changes and doesn't even seem to consider the duel will be honoured and the Red King won't weasel his way out of it.

It's really funny how antagonistic Rudolph becomes when his first appearance had him as protective of Murphy.

Also, which other duel was Harry in again? I only remember Ortega's before Arianna's.

Him and Ramirez vs Madrigal and Vittorio Malvora

Song of the Sirens

Power corrupts, and Rudolph probably let the power of being a member of Internal Affairs go to his head fairly quickly.

I don´t think that´s the fundamental issue with Rudolph, he turned against Murphy and SI before he was promoted to internal affairs. Personally i believe he is just the archetypical vanilla mortal that could not deal with the existence of the supernatural, but was forced to have continous exposure to it.

He got assigned to SI after he slept with the daughter of the wrong person, if i remember correctly, so he´s at a low point when he first got there. But Rudolph is career focused and wants to get back on track, but for that he has to produce results and that´s easier to do if you like and are liked by your colleagues. So he tries to integrate himself into SI culture, but he just can´t deal with the supernatural, especially after the Loup Garou incident. Meanwhile the rest of SI are ok with it so he feels isolated, at the same time Harry provides a convinient scapegoat to focus his resentment on. Of course most of SI at least somewhat like Harry, especially Murphy so he starts develop resentment for them also.

He likely was never a particularly clean cop, but then he gets offers that a) hurt the people he´s resentfull towards and b) will help him get his career back. It´s no surprise he accepts that with no hesitation. And once he got out of SI everyone there hates him so it becomes a matter of personal vengance, as well as an attempt to pretend the supernatural never happened now that he doesn´t need to face it anymore. Which is why he absolutely has no way to deal with it once the supernatural comes back with force and his mind almost snaps.

TL,DR: Rudolph wasn´t corrupted by power, he was corrupted by fear and is an example of what the supernatural community fears could happen en masse without the masquerade.

Not sure how I forgot, thank you.

Sure, but I think someone being corrupted by power could have had it happen much more slowly. The Errors Inconsistencies and Oddities thread on the Paranet forums is right in noting how incredibly abrupt the change is:

This sort of change feels more natural if it's gradual, like for example how Percy Weasley, to use another series with a similarly named protagonist, was always kind of snobby and self-righteous as a prefect, but nothing more than that, until, as things got worse, began to side with the government and eventually built up to selling out his own family.

There could have been something here, where Rudolph thinks of hindering Murphy as "protecting" her from these things he doesn't understand, and as she continues to ignore him and heads into danger alongside Dresden more and more, he gets more desperate and eventually completely forget his goal to monofocus on ruining her career.

Edited by allfictions on Apr 7th 2024 at 10:13:33 AM

The way I saw it, Rudolph never wanted to stay in SI because he wanted to advance his career. He might have clung to Murphy early on because she might have seemed much too competent to be running what's Cop Antarctica and therefore hoped things won't be too bad - but then he must have also seen that not only SI thinks of him as a laughingstock at best, Murphy is very emphatically trusting of Dresden, whom Rudolph designated almost from the word go as a charlatan. Admiration turned to mistrust and outright hatred, I suppose.

I mean, it could be Nemesis, but Rudy's probably just human in the worst meaning of the word. At the same time, his denial of what's in front of him gets absolutely ridiculous in Battle Ground and there's just no explanation for what happens there that will please me.

grah

Wanting someone's career to fail and not wanting them to come to physical harm are hardly incompatible.

The cops in Chicago (Dresdenverse) sell children to Deep Ones.

It's a rotten evil institution.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Sure, but you'd hardly expect someone to move from threatening to kill you if you hurt someone than sabotaging their career constantly. Bucher just seems to explain it away with him moving to Internal Affairs, because as all cop shows tell us, Internal Affairs is the devil.

Speaking of Changes, this is when the Masquerade in this series starts getting more than a little ridiculous. The idea that the Red Court could control all of South America since antiquity without being noticed by the populace at large just boggles the mind.

Edited by Chaosjunction on Apr 9th 2024 at 4:43:04 AM

Especially when the genocide includes a number of prominent South American businesspeople and tycoons and such, when you’d think people would have noticed those folks never go out in daylight. (And if they’re all old and powerful enough to daywalk like Arriana could, that shouldn’t have been something the Wardens were unaware of.)

TBF, if the Red Court really had been in charge that long, then they've had a long time to reshape that society to their needs.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Bianca as a freshly minted noble couldn´t go around in daylight, but most of the Red Court nobility can in the shadow of their own flesh masks. The part that takes age and skill is the ability to freely manipulate how the flesh mask looks like and is an aspect Harry was unsure the Wardens were aware about.

That's an acquired skill? I thought all Reds could do that by default.

Song of the Sirens

Maybe in some limited aspect, since i believe most Reds have beautiful flesh masks, but most Reds have only one look and can´t change that. Older Reds like Arianna can freely change their appearance (without resorting to illusion magic).

I can't imagine how you can reshape society to that extent while still remaining secret from most people.

Think Vampire: The Masquerade

Disgusted, but not surprised

Don't vampires actually try to keep secret in that universe? They don't do whatever with no repercussions with the surety that humans are actually too stupid to notice the supernatural exists, do they?

Nope. They also shaped and manipulated society to make it a lot easier to maintain the Masquerade too. All but the Nosferatu (whose obviously vampiric looks make it too hard to hide) don’t enjoy public lives too.

Disgusted, but not surprised