So yeah, apparently Murphy, with careful physiotherapy, will in 9 months be up to less then half as physically able as she was before. If she's lucky. And yet she's beating down supernatural warriors with decades to centuries of experience on her. Somehow.

Tbf, it's not like Murphy is beating down Freydis into a crater. The first time was because she was quick with the gun. The second time she had grenades prepped to deal with the situation and didn't need to move much. That's very different than if she was sparring like she was before her injuries and even after she made Freydis take her seriously, she still needed help holding things and adjusting herself after.

She's not going to be running around with a sword but she can still point a gun and act within limitations if she fights smart. We see that with things like her having gun in position while she was waiting on the boat.

I hope Murphy never dies, and lives a long and happy life with Harry and Maggie.

Tbf, that's my preference too. If she does, it won't surprise me if she still keeps ties to Odin's side though.

Before this book, I was leaning against the Murphy->Valkyrie route but Murphy's priorities and thinking makes me think that even IF she doesn't go that way, she's more than primed to continue to be aligned with that group in some way. It's like Arjan says about Molly getting primed to be aligned with the Fae.

Murphy's always been respected as a warrior and for her heroic spirit. Freydis doesn't go "Wow Murphy you're so dumb and useless and you're just going to get yourself killed or weigh Harry down lol". The one acknowledgement we get is Murphy proving herself to be a warrior in their eyes and being called a Warrior by a Valkyrie herself. Her path might not be right for some people (or some readers), but it's a path acknowledged by the narrative to be a valid one.

In another story, sure, those traits would possibly be setup to something tragic and Bad. Within PT and the Dresden-verse, the narrative respects Murphy for it and it's pretty unlikely the narrative will suddenly turn around and go Murphy's just selfish and stupid, especially when she continues to contribute in significant ways to what's going on than if she'd just stayed in her house and healed. If she goes, it won't be because Oh No, Hubris — it'll likely be She Did the Right thing.

But I doubt Jim will just off her for cheap angst, either, at least not permanently at this point. Jim's usually not trigger happy for the sake of it and is pretty good at finding other ways to make use of characters (Michael and iirc he acknowledged somewhere Molly could've gotten the shank at some point before she developed the way she did).

Weird, my Amazon copy shipped right on time and came in today. I wonder if it's dependent on what country you're in?

Agree that customer service is worth knocking up. They've been pretty good for me about delays.

... or get her into the FBI. I mean, since agent Tilly was introduced in Changes, he wasn't seen since then. He is an acquaintance who could at least get her some kind of liaison status with the FBI, maybe leading to membership in the future.

I was rereading Changes and I feel like this could be a good place for Murphy, honestly. Battle Ground looks like it'll drag the supernatural into the mundane world in a big way and even though Tilly got some knowledge in Changes, Murphy's still got the best knowledge of the current vanilla humans and she's been in law enforcement and she knows people like Tilly. It'd also put her in a place Randolph can't easily mess with her. Heck, with Randolph and law enforcement breathing down her neck in this chapter, that might be a good way to cut off future incidents and give Murphy a sort of powerup that doesn't have to do with the supernatural in a direct way.

I don't see Murphy making a Faust deal after this chapter (and the coin is super unlikely imo), but I wouldn't be surprised if something happens in the same way Michael briefly got healed in Skin Game. There's been speculation that Murphy appearing to be thinking of cutting off her cast in the trailer is to saddle up and that'll lead to her being reckless and cause doom. However, if something healed her - even temporarily - then she's not cutting it off for funsies. She's cutting it off because she can now physically help out.

-Harry adjusting to new relationships with Maggie, Bonnie, and Murphy.
-Harry having some stability before it gets wrecked.
-Harry and the White Council.
-Seeing more of Molly's new Winter Lady duties in a professional setting.
-The Masquerade getting broken.
-"Murphy's funeral", which I'm still assuming to be metaphorical or not Karrin Murphy.

Mind turning on your location? I swear I just wanna to talk...

Well dang. I guess I have an excuse to finally listen to the audiobooks for a reread...