Thank you, Jim Butcher, for not killing Harry. Thank you, thank you, oh ...just thank you! Whew. (or at least, for not keeping him dead.) I have to explain- I have never been to this or any other forum concerning the Dresden Files... I am just an avid fan who had no idea if this was the last book or not. No interviews, no tidbits from other readers- nada... just the books. And I have been dealt horrible blows when other fictional characters I've loved have just been -poof-gone (Hello... both Spike and Angel??? At the same time??? If you get the reference, you know the sorrow of which I speak). I have experience the old, "Well this character is done and I'm anxious to move on to another series, so let's just finish this one up, hmmm?" of other authors. So I really had to come online and express my gratitude in the only way I could, short of going to Mr. Butcher's home and kissing him (which I somehow think he might not appreciate). THANK YOU. I'm telling you, I went from tears to joy in the space of 60 seconds and it was as awesome as any roller coaster I've been on. And after reading some of the posts here, I can see that there are people just as crazy about these books as I am- that aren't going to think I'm a little kooky for getting so emotional about it.
I got up at four o'clock this morning because I kept waking up, all night, thinking about Harry. I read the books on kindle and when a new one comes out, I like to do a marathon- read through them all again...which means that yes, I read the series about once a year, and Storm Front is practically memorized at this point (don't care, still love it, still chuckle out loud, still find pieces I missed the first 12 or 13 times) so I've been completely immersed from book one in the series for the past month. And I was at 88% when I reluctantly put it down last night (Battle in Molly's head)... but I needed to find out what happened so I finally gave up on sleep and got up to finish it. I never really thought this was the end- that Harry would be really dead, until I started reading it. And I still didn't think this was the end, while I was reading it..until the end...when he's crying into Mouse's fur and Uriel is explaining that Foo Dogs can live for centuries..and I got sick!My jumble of thoughts were something like, Oh no, he's going to really end the series? Harry's really DEAD? but- how is Murphy going to live with the knowledge that she dissed his ghost and now he's gone for good? How is Thomas going to feel when he finds out Harry was hanging out for a few days and never caught up with him? Has molly been driven past the PONR, and this is IT? No way, no no no!!!!! And I was sitting here, bawling my HEAD off, hardly able to keep reading and feeling a great deal of irrational anger at Mr. Butcher -May he write forever, I am sorry- and then this floodgate of sobs turned to laughter the second I read the line: A whole lot of pain.
Yay, Mab! Yay, demonreach! Yay, Uriel! Yay Jim Butcher!
I think this sums up my wordy post better then anything:

JIM YOU MADE ME CRY YOU JACK***!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, tears rolling down my face CRY! (yeah, I just finished the book) **takes a big breath** Well that does it. Already knew you were a fantastic author, you just confirmed it you P.I.A. Can't wait to see the next one!!!!!! **finishes sniffling**

amen to that.