Will Harry get back to basics?

[Rasins]

Thanks Q.  That's what I thought.

[Kindler]

I'd imagine that Harry was able to tweak things to increase their efficiency; that seems to be the main utility of his bag o' tricks (his blasting rod and shield bracelets are foci that let him efficiently use his magic with less waste and greater precision, for example). I wouldn't be surprised if Harry was figuring out ways for the glyphs (or whatever they are) to better store and release the energy he invests in them.

What I always wanted to know was...how on earth did Harry keep track of when the spellwork ran out? Did the enchantment gradually weaken, or did it suddenly just stop working? Because if it just stops working, that's pretty bad if it crashes at a critical moment.

Man, I'd be the worst at maintaining this stuff. It's one thing if it's a weekly task, because that can become routine, but how often do I remember to change my smoke/CO2 detector batteries? (The answer is: I don't. I always forget.)

[Lost Merlin]

I imagine that he can feel the effect weakening like he could feel his emergency wards coming down in DM. 

[Talby16]

I imagine that he can feel the effect weakening like he could feel his emergency wards coming down in DM.

I agree. He can probably feel when his gear starts to become less effective. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a schedule of maintenance set-up of renewing his enchantments to prevent them getting to that point.

[Kindler]

I agree. He can probably feel when his gear starts to become less effective. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a schedule of maintenance set-up of renewing his enchantments to prevent them getting to that point.

I guess he used to have Bob around to remind him. Kinda more useful than a calendar.

I'm just thinking about how awful it is (for me) to schedule maintenance six months out. There's just no way I'm ever going to remember that. I can write it down... but I'll forget to check that I wrote it down. I might remember eventually, but probably not.

[forumghost]

I mean there's also this:

In Blood Rites, Harry uses this bear shaped belt buckle, and it just gives him an instant recharge; it never came back!
He used it, and then it left him semi-comatose, so it’s not the kind of thing you want to rely on in a life and death situation.  All of the stuff he has like that takes him months of work to upkeep, he spends two days a week – his weekends are just staying at home and making sure his magic items still work. He’s such a nerd; he’s a magic nerd. So he doesn’t get out a lot

So yeah, Dres is a loser that spends a bunch of his time just fiddling with his trinkets in his basement.

[Rasins]

I mean there's also this:

So yeah, Dres is a loser that spends a bunch of his time just fiddling with his trinkets in his basement.

LOL ... Yeah ... like many of us ...

[dspringer1]

My logic is as follows.   Harry has the staff which is a general purpose foci for manipulating elements.  It also has "ok but not great' shield and force ring capability.  Harry is a bit paranoid right now, so he is going to build some additional foci pretty quick.   The key question is "what do I build first?"

1) Does he build "better" versions of what is just ok in the staff -- ie force rings/shield bracelet.

2) Does he instead build new capabilities.

Harry has had loads of time to think through this, so we can safely assume that he has a well though out plan.   My guess is that he will do the following (in priority order)
1) New "spelled" leather coat to protect him against bullets and blades.  Basic always on protection is essential and saved his life many times. 
2) A blasting rod that can handle either fire or ice type attacks.  He needs a good focused attack foci for ranged combat. 
3) he will create a custom shield bracelet, simply because that capability gets heavily used and his staff is clearly inferior to his old shield bracelet. 

After these three items, the possibilities really expand and become almost impossible to predict. 

[mentallooser]

Maybe, but I'm not really hoping for it.  He's a young wizard(relatively) with a ton of horsepower, and not a lot of finesse.  Looking forward to seeing him just get better and more refined as time goes on. 

[Rasins]

Maybe he'll take a clue from Butters and make some of those mind fog grenades?

[groinkick]

I wonder if the Winter Knight Mantle will influence him in such a way that any magical gear he makes will aid in ice magic or something like that?

[KurtinStGeorge]

The ideas of what kind of magical foci might come up with for Peace Talks or down the line is a worthy discussion, but I really hope the basic thing Harry is forced to do in Peace Talks is be a detective again.  Aside from political maneuvering and fighting people and things that want to take him out, I'm hoping something happens that creates mystery and Harry has to sleuth it out, or else. 

I don't think we've had a good mystery for Harry to unravel since Turn Coat.  Changes had some detective work in it, but the focus of the story was Harry putting a team together to go kick some Red Court vampire ass and get his daughter back.  In Ghost Story Harry didn't really solve the mystery of how he died, he sort of backed into the answer.  In Cold Days there was the mystery of why Mab wanted Harry to kill Maeve, but it was secondary to Harry keeping Demonreach from going boom.  Also, for me, and I bet for most other readers, why Mab wanted Harry to kill Maeve was less important than seeing Harry reconnect with friends and family.  Finally, in Skin Game there were the mysteries of what Nicodemus wanted and how Nicodemus would try to double-cross Harry, but in the end we found out Harry had his own ringer in Nic's crew, so Harry didn't have to solve anything, he had his own countermeasure already in place.  I think the Dresden Files as a whole needs a good mystery to revitalize it; to get the main character doing the thing he does best, and reenergize the fans too.   

[Quantus]

The ideas of what kind of magical foci might come up with for Peace Talks or down the line is a worthy discussion, but I really hope the basic thing Harry is forced to do in Peace Talks is be a detective again.  Aside from political maneuvering and fighting people and things that want to take him out, I'm hoping something happens that creates mystery and Harry has to sleuth it out, or else. 

I don't think we've had a good mystery for Harry to unravel since Turn Coat.  Changes had some detective work in it, but the focus of the story was Harry putting a team together to go kick some Red Court vampire ass and get his daughter back.  In Ghost Story Harry didn't really solve the mystery of how he died, he sort of backed into the answer.  In Cold Days there was the mystery of why Mab wanted Harry to kill Maeve, but it was secondary to Harry keeping Demonreach from going boom.  Also, for me, and I bet for most other readers, why Mab wanted Harry to kill Maeve was less important than seeing Harry reconnect with friends and family.  Finally, in Skin Game there were the mysteries of what Nicodemus wanted and how Nicodemus would try to double-cross Harry, but in the end we found out Harry had his own ringer in Nic's crew, so Harry didn't have to solve anything, he had his own countermeasure already in place.  I think the Dresden Files as a whole needs a good mystery to revitalize it; to get the main character doing the thing he does best, and reenergize the fans too.

While I have thoroughly enjoyed the non-mystery genre stories, especially the Heist tale of Skin Game, I do agree that this para-political pressure cooker would be a great opportunity for a High-stakes Who-Dunnit, which is my current theory-hope for it.   Either that or a full-on prison break of the Well.  Maybe...both?

[Rasins]

I agree, I think it's going to be a Who-Done-it, murder mystery.

[KurtinStGeorge]

While I have thoroughly enjoyed the non-mystery genre stories, especially the Heist tale of Skin Game, I do agree that this para-political pressure cooker would be a great opportunity for a High-stakes Who-Dunnit, which is my current theory-hope for it.   Either that or a full-on prison break of the Well.  Maybe...both?

I didn't mean to imply that Skin Game was a bad story because I think it had some really fun moments in it.  Perhaps the only thing I really, really disliked; and this has nothing to do with the storytelling itself, is it was the third novel in a row where Harry is performing or trying to perform a very specific mission that feels like a stand alone story.  I know there were some important elements in Skin Game that add to the greater story arc and character arcs for both Harry and Nicodemus, but Harry feels somewhat isolated from the rest of world as he did in both Cold Days and Ghost Story. 

Consider that from Summer Knight right through to Changes, Harry was aware that whatever task or tasks he was engaged in, there was a larger struggle going on that often intruded into his world while he was trying to deal with more immediate local issues.  I think that is why I am looking forward to Peace Talks so much, and why I'm a little more impatient waiting for this book than in the past; aside from the extra long wait we had this time around.  Let's say that Peace Talks involves some kind of murder mystery that Harry will have to solve.  He will also have to deal with the White Council, balance relationships with friends and frenemies, while dealing with outside threats from; well, who knows.  It could be the Fomer, Cowl or Mavra or someone we haven't met before like Drakul, but whoever or whatever the big bad is, the overall story should have a much more open ended feel to it.