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I agree. But I wasn't expecting anything more, so no big disappointment Cannoli Send a noteboard - 27/07/2011 11:02:45 PM
Fancy giving a review?


Its easily one of the weaker Dresden novels, it's not that it's a bad story, it's just not particularly good, fair to middling. This isn't surprising, indeed a lot of people had been speculating that Cold Front the next book is when things would hot up again (ha, i made a funny) long before Ghost Story was released. It's a transitional novel after the climatic ending of one of the series big arcs in Changes, yet for a transitional book it seems strangely without purpose.

I'll try and write something bigger later if I get a chance.


One of my main problems with the book was the predictable resolutions of a lot of things left hanging from "Changes." Except for Molly's story, I had actually guessed at most of them and the identity of Harry's killer and the one who ordered it, while surprising to me, only left me a little contemptuous and seemed to clash with the main theme and lessons of the book. Most of those dangling plot lines I mentioned were also addressed in an expository fashion, rather than incorporated into the narrative, and in a predictable manner, from Harry's to Maggie's to the solution to Thomas' & Justine's problem. There was no satisfaction at having worked any of them out, either, just disappointment in having hoped for more or better from Butcher, including reasons why those particular solutions could not have happened. But that's being a little too meta, I think. Those are issues with the writing and not the story. They were so easily predictable and disappointing, because they were satisfying, and as Wibble notes, this is a transitional novel, and I think those resolutions were necessary to clear the decks for the next phase of the series. The very final bit, the part that hints about what comes next was VERY satisfying in terms of the character and story, and I'm really looking forward to the next book. Probably because it seems the story will be getting back on the track it was headed down before the cliffhanger ending to Changes derailed it.
Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
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Ghost Story is out - 26/07/2011 09:44:33 AM 1589 Views
What did you think of it? - 26/07/2011 04:56:26 PM 1737 Views
The short version? - 26/07/2011 11:12:10 PM 1139 Views
I agree. But I wasn't expecting anything more, so no big disappointment - 27/07/2011 11:02:45 PM 1381 Views
Having thought about it for 24 hours *we're into SPOILER territory here on in folks* - 27/07/2011 11:22:15 PM 1358 Views
Yeah, it also suggests future books will have less of some characters - 28/07/2011 03:09:04 AM 1436 Views
Chinese Democracy - 29/07/2011 06:06:23 AM 1544 Views
Here There be *Spoilers* Quasi-Review - 29/07/2011 06:25:36 AM 1397 Views
Re: Here There be *Spoilers* Quasi-Review - 31/07/2011 03:13:38 PM 1314 Views
Nah... this wouldn't have gone well with Changes at all - 31/07/2011 05:07:13 PM 1280 Views
Hmmm.... thats a good point *NM* - 31/07/2011 05:39:54 PM 592 Views
Woohoo! Finally finished it! ...not bad. I have two major questions about the plot (spoilers) - 31/07/2011 05:24:44 PM 1237 Views
As I understand it - 31/07/2011 06:02:39 PM 1301 Views
As to point 2... - 31/07/2011 06:16:17 PM 1214 Views
Fair enough. Though I'm pretty sure your second paragraph is wrong - 31/07/2011 11:34:05 PM 1118 Views
Nah... - 01/08/2011 12:42:00 AM 1154 Views
Eh. I think you're projecting what we know to be true as readers - 01/08/2011 03:59:04 AM 1168 Views
Not really... - 01/08/2011 05:13:36 AM 1356 Views
Re: Not really... - 01/08/2011 02:33:58 PM 1260 Views
Well - 31/07/2011 08:45:17 PM 1143 Views
How would that do that? - 31/07/2011 11:37:08 PM 1223 Views
A non specific title - 31/07/2011 11:51:59 PM 1564 Views
Probably correct about the first one - 01/08/2011 04:01:54 AM 1173 Views
Some things I liked: (Butters is basically Neville Longbottom, btw) - 31/07/2011 06:08:39 PM 1376 Views
Re: Ghost Story is out - 31/07/2011 06:22:40 PM 1168 Views
Re: Ghost Story is out - 02/08/2011 02:16:19 PM 1212 Views
I'll be honest, I was expecting a different interpretation of next book's title - 02/08/2011 02:29:10 PM 1122 Views
that would be cheating wouldn't it - 02/08/2011 02:56:03 PM 1181 Views
Meh. I don't really care about the "power" - 02/08/2011 07:24:09 PM 1161 Views
Completely agree - 02/08/2011 11:35:11 PM 1165 Views

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