Am I the only one that doesn't like the way Dresden is going.

[Coffeedrinker88]

The Dresden Files is my favorite series... by far.

Outside of his sense of humor, one of the best aspects of Dresden was he had a strong moral compass and he didn't sway from it and he surrounded him with others that have strong morals; Murhpy, Michael, Susan, McCoy, The Alphas, even Thomas.

Harry, and various combinations of the above fought all sorts of supernatural evil; Vampires (Red Court, White Court, Black Court), werewolves, Mab, Marcone, Order of the Blackened Denarius, etc.

But now, there is no Murphy, Michael is out of the game, no Susan, no Thomas.  And he is doing jobs with Mab, Nicodemus, Marcone and plotted with white court vampires against the White Council, Carlos and Ebenezer.

I realize this may be part of the overall storyline.  But, right now, it seems that one of Dresden's best attributes, his moral compass, has flipped 180 degrees.  Am I the only reader that is bothered by this?

[Ed0517]

Sort of yes and no....it's well written, I think, and imaginative... but the earlier ones were urban fantasy, but mostly set in a fairly normal world. Now we are spending a lot of time in the Never Never or the wreckage of Chicago. I miss the "normal" settings a bit. 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Largely we are seeing a bigger picture. Mab the evil Faerie Queen, is actually Mab the defender of the Gates, reality and humanity. The White Council are shown at best to vacillate at worst to have actual designs to maintain their elite at the expense of general humanity. The White Court under Lord Raith is very different to that under Lara, they are more aware that they don’t have to take, because out of the mass of humanity there are so many willing to offer themselves up.

We are being shown that picture with Harry. Skin Game was a con job all along, Nicodemus set up to fail to show Harry was smart enough to warrant the trust being placed upon him by the big players.

[UncommonSense]

I think Harry had a very simple world view in the beginning of the series.  He could see everything in easily defined terms, he was the good guy and the others were the bad guys.  Murphy, Michael, and the Alphas were the right allies because they were all good.  Monsters were bad.  Then he meets Thomas, who's still questionable, but then, lo and behold, it's Harry's brother.

Harry is growing up and realizing that the threats are getting larger, and the lines are blurred.  Mab isn't evil, she's just cold, but she's also the one who is responsible for keeping the outsiders away from humanity.  Michael's the best man he knows, but he's not immortal, and has had to retire.  Murphy was the one who most aligned with his young worldview, and even she realized that the police aren't always right or good, and sometimes you need to step outside the lines to protect the innocent.

He's acquired power and what seem to be questionable allies, but at his core, he's still choosing good and protecting the innocent.  It may seem like we're equivocating, but Harry's a big boy with big threats and hey he hasn't gone over to the Denarians, so he's still good.

[g33k]

**EEP!**
**Deleted**

Sorry, I thought this was in the "DF Spoilers" subforum.

I definitely posted spoilerific content to the no-spoilers zone, sorry to anyone who got spoiler'ed!

[Regenbogen]

Honestly, this is exactly what I like about the books. It is character development. Bad things happening and Harry is changing. Good or bad, doesn't matter. Actually, I think a change more into the grey or darker area is more interesting than always being the good guy, always the hero. Never doing something wrong. Always knowing what exactly is the right thing to do. Never in doubt of oneself or one's friends or allies. Always sure, who the bad guys are. A world in black and white. Those kind of stories tend to be boring.

When Mab had her first appearance in Summer Knight, I immediately fell in love with the character and I was very pleased that she obviously was planned to play a big role in Harry's life.

When he noticed Lasciel's shadow in Dead Beat, I thought "oh dear, but cool.. Will he get free or will he have to learn to live with it?"

When he became the Winter Knight I knew, this will make the story more interesting. I like the struggle, the winter mantle brings.
I honestly don't want him to break free of the mantle. Only if there is something at least equally interesting coming after it.

I even like the change and new and different problems, little Maggie brings, though I think, she is not well written, but I can ignore this, if the rest of the story is interesting. Nobody is perfect. Maggie herself might not be important, but she was an ideal tool at that time to force Harry to make a new interesting choice, he otherwise wouldn't have done.

I am also not pissed that he killed Murphy or about how he did it. Come on, she is a fictional character. And I think Harry living in a healthy love relationship would be kind of boring in the long run.

I look forward to how JB continues the story. I do hope that he lets Harry find his humour again and that he gets better. This is what I miss about the last two books. There was less fun but more bitterness and now there is a lot of sadness, too. And in Battle Ground there was an overwhelming amount of action. It was not bad, but exhausting to read.

Sometimes it is a bit frustrating, because there are still so many questions unanswered. And so many secrets still in shadows. But all in all I am pleased with the writing.

[whitelaughter]

No you're not, not by a long shot.
I will not be getting any future books.
The only bit of Peace Talks worth keeping is the practice duel between the knights at the Carpenters. That was glorious, and can be read in its own right as a short story - I'd recommend adding that to future reprints of the short stories.
But otherwise?

I Don't Care About These People.
Everyone in the last two books has been mutilated beyond repair. Including Murph; her death is a secondary problem. Both she and Marcione were awesome because they were mortals dealing with the supernatural.
Both refused direct supernatural power. Now she's a Valk and he's got a coin.
She refused a Sword of the Cross and is supposed to be a devout Catholic. Now in the service of Odin? Nuh.

When Marcione was offered a job by Nicodemus, Marcione responded by offering *Nick* a job! That was classy.
Given his nature through the previous books, rather than taking a coin, Marcione should have calmly given it to a twisted but loyal sidekick.

Likewise the other characters. Probably the most relatable character was Mab!

I get the impression that Jim didn't even bother to read his own books before returning to the series.
He'd have to declare the last book - which is one story stretched across two volumes - noncanon for me to return to the world.

[Dina]

I am a mix. I agree with many of what CT and others said about things becoming more complex and that making things more interesting. But I particularly dislike (PT/BG spoilers}

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what happens with Marcone, both the fact that in summary he is a wizard now and the fact that he is quite chummy with Harry. I prefer when Harry keeps the moral high ground, especially about Marcone.

Besides that, I never liked Maggie and the changes she introduced.

And, as Ed0517, I also miss the more normal setting. I have enjoyed many of the epic development along the years, so I am not really complaining, but I joined the series because it was about a detective. One who dealt with supernatural things, but a detective. Now he is much more epic than that.

[angus]

I like that the world becomes a more complicated place as Dresden grows older and less naïve, that there is character growth, but there's too much of it, in directions which don't interest me, for my tastes.  I liked the small scale focus of Harry being a wizard detective in the normal world. I don't like 'only one person can save humanity' stories and that's what the series is turning into.

I also feel that characters have been made to do things for plot purposes rather than because these actions spring from their developed characters. Marcone, Ramirez, Eb. Their characters are all being changed and distorted just so Harry can be misunderstood and alone.  Not my cup of tea.

[Dina]

I get it, and you probably read what I posted before your post. The only additional thing I will tell you is that I was more or less disappointed with she series after Changes and then Skin Game came and I loved it. I also like PT/BG even when I have a lot of critics. So I still have faith in the series.

[The_Sibelis]

Eh, I understand. It's the same as missing the monster of the week on supernatural. You get lost in the bigger storylines and it feels different without it. Honestly could read random "files" like that forever. But on the other hand, I am really caught up in and liking where the DF is headed. It's not directionless, there's a destination for sure. It's just gonna get a lil bumpy along the road. Course, I liked GS and the silmarillion is my favorite LOTR so 🤷‍♂️ take that as is lol.

[Dina]

The Silmarillion is my favorite LOTR too (disclaimer: I have not read the Hobbit). There are parts I actively dislike, but the parts that I like, I loved 

[g33k]

... I don't like 'only one person can save humanity' stories and that's what the series is turning into ...

That direction has been clear ever since Hagrid showed up saying, "Yer a Starborn, Harry!"
Wait, have I confused 2 plotlines?       Hmmm.
Orphaned
Wizard
Misunderstood
Rebel
In over his head
Trying to figure stuff out that his elders could just tell him.

Nope, right story!   

I also feel that characters have been made to do things for plot purposes rather than because these actions spring from their developed characters. Marcone, Ramirez, Eb. Their characters are all being changed and distorted just so Harry can be misunderstood and alone.  Not my cup of tea.

Harry was convinced that Marcone was too much "his own man" & taking a Denarius too much a threat to that; but maybe Marcone doesn't realize the scale of the threat, evaluated the risk differently.  Or maybe our Unreliable Narrator was unusually unreliable here.

I still hold out hope for Ramirez.  He has understood for a long time that Harry was going to be working "undercover" with the murkier elements, trying to work his way to the Black Council, while Ramirez was going to be working the "White Council" side of things.  Ramirez' actions since then *could* just be an act, for the benefit of keen eyes watching them... it's just, Harry is too caught up in his Warden-Persecution-Complex to realize it, and so he's feeling all emo & genuinely betrayed.

Eb was a pretty shallowly-portrayed character, before.  I think what we're seeing now is entirely within the scope of what might have been there before (just not in the spotlight).

[The_Sibelis]

Mmm so on the topic of Ramirez

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pretty sure he's been tampered with. Why? Mainly because of the distortions of memory coming from PT. Comparing to Thomas and his torture at Shagnasty's hands that mysteriously just stopped being a thing. Or the possible TT shenanigans all over PG changing Molly's ultimate fate. I think this shows direct meddling in the timeline, by future/alt Harry to save specific people from their particular fates.

and definitely agree with you on EB, he's been carrying the black staff for at least a century now. It might be insulation from being directly corrupted by dark magic, but he's still been USING this thing by his own choices. It's changed him in the same way classical magic does. More of what you are/choose.

The Silmarillion is my favorite LOTR too (disclaimer: I have not read the Hobbit). There are parts I actively dislike, but the parts that I like, I loved 

I just had sooo many questions after LOTR I had to check it out. While I find Tolkien's method of describing all things like a rich and important tapestry annoying when applied to things like mountain scenery. History and lore it does quite well with.

[Dina]

I just had sooo many questions after LOTR I had to check it out. While I find Tolkien's method of describing all things like a rich and important tapestry annoying when applied to things like mountain scenery. History and lore it does quite well with.

Exactly! *high five*