That is creepy, and I cannot see a counterargument, though I do not like it at all.

Yeah, that was just something that was tumbling around in my head while I was out with the dog. But, like you said: There's no counter argument.

Of course, it could also be explained by Raith's Hunger being ohmygoddity strong (so strong it simply absorbs ambient magic within a certain radius, or that could be Maggie's smothering curse), and he's freakin' old and has been hording knowledge in case it became useful, and the spell to summon HWWB is a part of it.

Without reading the previous 6 pages ('cuz who has time for that!?)

1. We have been told that Nicodemus has a very specific target in mind, ostensibly kept in the Labyrinth of Daedalus.  What is Nic trying to get his hands on and why?

I'm going to go with Pandora's Box. As of now, the only Sword with a wielder is Esperacchius (The Sword of Hope). Inside of Pandora's Box is Elpis, the spirit of Hope. I'm pretty sure that Nick would like to take one of the swords out of play permanently, and capturing/destroying the spirit of Hope, might do that for The Sword of Hope.

2. Nicodemus apparently called in a marker from Mab to get Harry on the team.  Does he have a specific plan for using Harry or did Mab twist his request?  Which of Harry's capabilities will he admit to needing, and (given that this is Nicodemus after all), which abilities is he scheming for Harry to use?


I'll agree, I think that Harry being "Mostly Dead" will be necessary to go down below. But, it could also be that Thorned Namshiel is out of play (or playing for The Other team) and they need somebody who can work forces, and Harry fits the bill.

3. Jim has mentioned that the book will be "Ocean's Eleven".  Who else did Nicodemus recruit?  How will they interact with Harry?

Well, we know the remaining Church Mouse will be involved. I think I might go out on a limb and say that she's the new bearer of Lasciel's coin.


4. Harry's general method of operation is to call on his friends for help.  In this book, Harry is (initially) allowed one extra backup member on the crew.  Who will it be?  Which of Harry's other allies will "interfere" before the plot is over?  9/10/13 an interview was published that answers the first half of this question. 

Okay, so we know who Harry's backup is... But there's going to be swerves. I was really hoping Ivy would turn up in this book. Not only because The Archive has roots going back to the Classical Period, but also because she and Kincaid have a big honkin' score to settle with Nick... Which could threaten The Archive's neutrality and seriously unbalance things. Which would be fun.

As for additional help, we'll see Mouse, and I REALLY want to see him and Cerberus (either with a hilarious 4-headed "doggy hello" or an epic throw-down).


5. This is a Denarian book, so (unlike the last "end of the world" showdown), the Swords will almost certainly be present.  In fact, there have been various hints...  Which Sword wielders will appear in the next book and how will their interference/help affect the plot?

Not sure. We've heard that Michael is coming off the bench. I don't think he takes the sword back up though. I'll go out on another limb and say that Thomas takes up a Sword. My instinct here is that it will be Hope (given that Thomas has used sabers in the past, and his character seems to embody hope and has fought despair) which is depressing because I really like Sanya.


6. Mab is apparently against Nicodemus succeeding in this heist.  In the Cold Days, we found that Mab had complex reasons for wanting Harry to kill Maeve.  What are Mab's reasons in this book?  Is it simple thwarting or is there something deeper?

Mab's schemes have schemes. Thwarting is probably an end, but also I have a feeling that whatever Nick is after would upset the balance enough that she can't allow him to get away with it. Also, there's revenge for the attack on Arctis Tor. She's probably counting on Harry's distrust of Nick, and his skills as an investigator to root out whoever the traitor/attacker is, and deliver frosty vengeance.

Not to mention its a further test/training for Harry. He's going to have to work with people he'd rather kill, and possibly kill people he'd rather work with. That works to Mab's ends

7. At the end of Cold Days, Harry needs to stay on the island to keep his growing headaches at bay.  The start of Skin Games implies that those headaches will need to be resolved by the end of the book.  Who or what is causing those headaches, and how will the whole thing get resolved by the end of the book?

I'm going to go with my theory of The Parasite is causing the headaches. The Parasite is Lash, and Molly performs an emergency Lash-ectomy. From there, Lash gets a new home in "Persephone" (Helen Beckit's daughter). Lash comes out and turns the tide against Nick, throwing down with Lasciel's new wielder in an epic cat-fight.

8.  One of the key components of the "Ocean's Eleven" movie is that there is a final twist/reveal.  Given that we've got Nicodemus, Harry, Mab, and potentially Hades (and who knows who else) all trying to get the better of each other, if there's one thing you can count on it's some sort of last minute quintuple-cross.  What will be the nature of the twist and how will it all fall out?

Welp, I'm going to guess that Nick is going to try to set Harry/Mab up as patsies for the robbery. Also, like I said above, I think that Lasciel is going to reappear in this book with a backstab of Harry. Also, in a fun turn of fate, I think Nick is going to go back to the well and offer Daniel a coin as one final dig at Michael/Molly/Harry... And he's going to take it after Murph/Michael/Harry refuse to let him take up Amorracchius.

Random Thought: I wonder if Mother Winter losing her walking stick is related to the increase in human longevity and rise in population? I doubt she lost her walking stick and immediately became a homebody. She probably slowed down over the centuries.

If she's "Death", and isn't getting out as much as she used to, could be related. Don't think it really means anything. Just a thought.

I've been doing something similar, rereading the series in order, looking for missed clue-bats in preparation for CD. I don't think I'll finish it in time (barring a few all-nighters, which is possible, but I need my beauty sleep lol), but I'll be happy to throw in anything I find.

I've had a thought on the "Who Fixed Little Chicago?" question, and my current front runner is...

...
...Bob

Of everybody/thing that we've seen by that point, Bob fill the Means/Motive/Opportunity requirements the best.

Means:
We have from Bob that building Little Chicago is something very few individuals could do. Whoever fixed it needed to have a lot of magical/thaumaturgical knowledge as well as an intimate, working knowledge of LC to know that there was a flaw, let alone fix it. That eliminates most of the Mortal world, and Nevernever.

Bob, however, helped Harry build it and was there every step of the way. He probably even had a direct "hand" in some of the really fine, fiddly bits.

Opportunity:
Anything that would want to fix LC would have to be able to cross Harry's threshold AND circumvent his wards... and a very stubborn steel door. We also know that Harry doesn't have any mirrors in his apartment, denying easy access to those who can/do use them. They'd also have to know about Harry's lab (all things considered, not a HUGE hurdle, but the trap door IS cleverly hidden by a throw rug).

None of that matters for Bob, as he is already inside, in the lab (where, by the by, he would have seen anyone who came in).

Also, Bob knows about LC. At this point in the story, very few people know about it... Basically limited to Harry, Bob, and maybe Thomas & Mouse. If you don't even know about it, how can you know that it has a fatal (literally) flaw that needs to be fixed, or how to fix it?

The "Means" part eliminates Mouse (no thumbs) and Thomas (doesn't know enough). Harry didn't fix it because he didn't know it was broken.

That leaves Bob.

Motive:
This one is sticky. I can't come up with a clear motive for Bob, other than he likes Harry, and doesn't want Harry or himself to get blowed up.

Now, here's the sticky part.

Mab

She's the queen of Air and Darkness. Bob is an Air spirit. I'm WAGing that perhaps Mab was able to speak to Bob, whose nature and history puts him in her domain, and told him that LC would or could go BOOM! if Harry tried to use it, and had (commanded) him to fix it.

While I'm WAGing I'll throw out two more:
1) Mab did this while tending to Lea's "garden" during Lea's "Reeducation", and fulfilling Lea's duty of watching out for Harry.

2) All beings on the order of power that Mab is don't see time in the same manner as mortals. I'm guessing that she has a similar perspective as Uriel (ie: time isn't linear, like driving in a car, but laid out to see in its entirety, like a street map). She either saw that it would explode, or looked in and saw that they missed something.

Now, as to why Bob doesn't seem to remember this. I think that it was actually another aspect of Bob's personality that we haven't seen onscreen yet, that Bob may not know about himself (like Evil Bob), and Mab was talking to THAT Bob.

We know Bob has a significant history in Winter, and specifically with Mab. We also know that parts of him are hidden, even from himself (like Evil Bob). I think it could be possible that there's a "Winter Bob" from his time in Winter.

One more possible cluebat: When talking about it afterwards, Bob repeatedly refers to whoever fixed it as "He". Bob could have said "They" to account for the fact that it could have been female (or identified itself as such), or could have been plural.

The repeated "he" could have been Bob's subconscious (or however that works for spirits) way of telling Harry that he did it.

Thoughts?

Probably:
1) When ghost-Harry has to leave Mouse.
2) The ending of Turn Coat. You spend the first 3rd of the series hating Morgan, then you start to gain respect for the bastard, then he dies a suspected traitor on a road in the Nevernever. Felt a lot like the ending to The Dark Knight to me.

This is something I've thought about a lot:

Dresden: Tough... I think Brendan Fraser could work (he's tall, but not thin... but I think he could do the character)

Murphy: Either Maggie Lawson from Psych

-or (going on body type)-

Jamie Eason (girl next door, and all springy muscle that doesn't preclude feminine curves)

Thomas: Brad Pitt (I'm thinking Fight Club vintage), but Matt Bomer could work too.

Lara: Angelina Jolie. And she does "wanton, predatory sexuality" really well (and with Mr. & Mrs. Smith/Tomb Raider/Wanted, audiences would believe the action sequences)

Kincaid: Christian Kane (Eliot on Leverage... he may also work for Micheal)

Justine: Megan Fox (if she can do vaguely innocent)

Ebenezar: Sean Connery. Old, badass Scott... yep.

Marcone: George Clooney

Hendricks: Some pro wrestler (Triple H?)

Gard: Lucy Lawless

Bob's Voice: Hugh Laurie

Micheal: dunno

Sanya: Micheal Clark Duncan (a voice-over could fix the accent if he can't do a decent Russian accent)

Butters: Steve Buscemi (with some makeup to make him look younger).

Nicodemus: I want to say Alan Rickman (because everything's better with Alan Rickman), but while he could certainly do "souless evil", I'm not sure if I could buy him as a neigh invincible engine of destruction. Maybe Hugo Weaving?