Another thought on Peace Talks disappointment -- I remember being very disappointed with Ghost Story, having waited for a year to see Harry back alive and with his friends. Now, on rereads, I enjoy Ghost Story quite a bit.

I expect Peace Talks will look much better when we've read Battle Ground, and better still when we've got another book or two under our belts.

Looking forward, I expect to be disappointed at the end of Battle Ground if we see *that* the masquerade is over, but don't get to see how that falls out. I expect to be even more disappointed if the book after Battle Ground takes place entirely in a mirror universe so that we *still* don't get to see that fallout. But I expect to enjoy both books immensely anyway.

@BFB- I like it. That's an excellent layer of understanding to add to the events of Summer Knight.

I don't think the editing side had more time than usual... possibly less time in some ways depending on when the decision to split the book was made.

This is a good point. Especially with all the Covid craziness -- I'd assume editors can easily work from home, but I don't know what that does to productivity.

It feels like someone was trying the shotgun approach to distracting Harry -- throw absolutely everything at him at once. You've got Rudolph threatening Murphy, the svartalves threatening Thomas, Justine's pregnant, the Council threatening to kick Harry out, everything with Eb, cornerhounds...

I'd bet that if he started looking at any of the threats seriously, they'd melt away. He could easily prove Thomas was innocent, if he put the time in as PI; he could easily dismiss the case against Murphy if he spent some diamonds on a good attorney; the White Council vote will turn out to be a half-assed effort that he's going to win anyway; and so on.

The point of all of the subplots is to distract Harry from the real plot of PT/BG.

The main question going into BG: Is Ethniu, and the massive fomor attack on Chicago, just another distraction?

Is Mister, as a wizard's cat, different from a mundane's cat?

Is there more yet to be revealed about Justine's background?

When can we expect the first book of the Maggie Files? (And does the series have a working name better than that one?)

Did Morgan really have a partner hidden under a veil in Summer Knight when he tried to provoke Harry? Did he have a partner hidden under a veil during similar scenes in Storm Front? If so, will we ever learn who the mystery partner is?

Is Warden Yoshimo related to Knight-of-the-Cross Shiro Yoshimo, or are the names a coincidence?

If a genoskwa can take up a Denarius, could Irwin (or River Shoulders) take up a one of the Swords?

When Scions (of different lines) have children, how do the bloodlines work? Does the child inherit one or the other, both, or neither? Is it random, like recessive genes?

The description of what Thomas is supposed to have done was very vague.

There was mention of explosions (plural) going off and starting the fire, but it wasn't clear if that was the supposed assassination attempt, or whether the bombs were a distraction.

Complete description:

An assassin entered the stronghold this evening... Through treachery. The assassin reached my brother's business chambers. There were explosions, which started the fire. Several guards were wounded. One [Austri] threw himself between Etri and harm and paid with his life for his loyalty."

That is the full and complete description of the events. We never learn anything more, except that there's a video and Lara's seen it.

From what we know, it could be anything from a video of Thomas with knife-and-gun out shooting at Etri and throwing fire bombs to Thomas running into the room, then guards discovering Austri dead and Thomas beaten to within an inch of his life and leaping to conclusions.

Lydia's prophecy had Harry as the only one who could make things go another way -- perhaps there was a concrete and immediate meaning for that.

A "What If?" scenario: What if Harry had just stood there in Grave Peril and watched Mavra use Amoracchius to sacrifice Lydia while Kravos lurked in the background and the veil between life and death had been systematically weakened? What was Mavra's big plan? We know Harry wrecked it, but he never figured out what the point was.

Aside from one of the Swords being taken out of commission (perhaps permanently), what was she hoping to gain? Tons of work went into it -- training Kravos, getting him to suicide, weeks of attacks on the Veil. Was Mavra getting ready to perform an ascension ritual? Was Kravos going to gather all the ghosts of the Red Court's victims (the ones Harry calls on in the finale) and come back to life in Lydia's body (somewhat like Corpsetaker's plot in Ghost Story), only to have Mavra consume his power and become a new Black Court Elder?

(If so, it's ironic that Mavra didn't just let Harry and friends leave...)

If we see Rashid, I think it means Mab's plan comes to full fruition in Battle Ground -- after the Accords members come together to defeat Ethniu and the fomor attack on Chicago, she rallies them to come to the Outer Gates to help defend reality. (Or at least to see first hand what Winter is facing on their behalf.)

That would be pretty epic, but it seems premature. (And possibly anticlimactic -- without Vanilla Mortals being included, the raw numbers that Accorded Nations other than Winter can bring to the battle will look like a drop in the bucket out there.)