Ghost Story Book Club - Chapters 1-15 **MAJOR SPOILERS**

[Razil]

I'm loving the book so far, and love the Justice League Murphy has formed. Daniel worries me, in that he does strike me as way too similar to the nutty priest Michael beat with a baseball bat.

And he has no restraint, as shown by his outburst with Felicia present. So, unless his attitude changes, I don't see Daniel surviving this story.

And speaking of Felicia, while I was surprised to find that Thomas is so far MIA (which I suspect may be a result of his mindset after Harry got shot on HIS boat), I was more surprised to find the WC representative wasn't Justine or Lara. Seems to me Lara would go herself, or use Justine as proxy, out of respect for Harry and Murphy.

I'm also a little disturbed by Molly's attitude and change. It strikes me that the extent to which she required Harry was extremely underplayed until now. Her Batman-esque crusade fits what she would think Harry would want (particularly with all the references Harry makes to comics), but it strikes me as her also completely missing the point.
 
Yes, Harry was responsible for wizard vigilanteism, but he also relied on his friends quite a lot, whereas she seems to be pushing them all away. To continue with the Justice League metaphor, if Harry is Batman, Molly has become Red Hood. Instead of responding with enough force to stop, she is responding with, what she sees as, force enough to deter.

I can easily believe she has PSTD due to her psychic sensitivity, but she is making it worse with her own violence. Hopefully just knowing Harry is around in some form will help her to begin healing.

Also, I would love to read stories about this new Will. He is standing strong with one trick and, from the brief description afforded so far, he's kicked some ass in the past six months.

[Glorificus]

This is hard, because I read it all, but I'll be careful. I missed Thomas, too. But Daniel, WOW! I like that other Carpenter kids are showing up.

I found the first few chapters slowish, because the new world was being built. The spoon thing confused me, because I haven't seen The Matrix, but Mickey helped me out. THANKS, MICKEY!! 

Molly and Murphy are way harder, possibly with more brittleness. Butters, imo, is a God. Sort of.

Fitz is a great new character, I think.

[Scott Drummond]

Hi all,

In Chapter 10, there's a phrase "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead".  A couple of paragraphs after Mister runs into Harry.
Would the "Black Court was dead" mean that it no longer exists?  I have to think it means something else as there wasn't a major action against the Black Court...

Thanks

Scott

[Glorificus]

I saw that also, and really didn't understand it. More questions for Jim!!!

[ccalvert]

In Chapter 10, there's a phrase "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead".  A couple of paragraphs after Mister runs into Harry. Would the "Black Court was dead" mean that it no longer exists?  I have to think it means something else as there wasn't a major action against the Black Court...

The point was that while not every single member of the Red Court may be dead, the organization itself is gone and no longer has any influence on the world except through its absence.

[Glorificus]

But the Black Court still has heavy hitters like Mavra, doesn't it? It may not be in the Top Ten - although after Chicken Itza it might - but it's still a danger.

[bobtailcat]

you cant keep a good cat down i loves it when mister runs full tilt into harry and my thoughts were right he would go to murphys home had he ever been there before??, love the lady vampire and her swingers, jim is right and man who says [oh i dont like big bouncy bazookas] must have an itty bitty titty girlfriend, hope mister and bob can work together his pad is a neat idea just because he is a spirit dont mean he wouldnt like the finer things in life,if molly was there all along why didnt mister see her ?. just a thought great book and i hope big foot joins the jla next or maybe odin could be like charile and be the head shed.

[Scott Drummond]

Marva and others in the black court are still out there and a danger to the world - so "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead" still needs some analysis or answers....

Cheers!

Scott

[Skip6235]

Marva and others in the black court are still out there and a danger to the world - so "But the Red Court was dead, the same way the Black Court was dead" still needs some analysis or answers....

Cheers!

Scott

I think the "Black Court" as an orginization is entirely dead. True, there are Blampires out and about, but not many, and Marva may be the strongest. I think that that line sets up a simmilar senario for the Rampires. The Red Court of Vampires is gone. Eniterly. End of Story. they have no more power, no more organization. they are no longer a nation. That does not mean, however that every single Rampire is dead (just most, probably). who knows, some of the strongest that somehow avoided the curse may be out and about, but they will be forced to operate in small cells (scourges) instead as a supernatural superpower nation. Just my interprataion of that line.

[Scott Drummond]

I'm not concerned about the Red Court - they're finished for now...However, I've seen nothing in the books that implied that the Black Court got reduced, whacked, disbanded, etc.  That's what I'm really asking about - did I miss something....

Cheers!

Scott

[MalcolmD]

Well, figure this is as good a place as any for my first post.  I don't think there is anything to be said so far on the book itself that hasn't been said so far: a little slow at the start, though not unecessarily so imo, and otherwise fantastic.  I have a feeling we're in one hell of a dark, gloomy, and engrossing tale here.

As for the Black Court, page 251 of GP states "The Black Court was nearly wiped out, Thomas said."  It then goes on to reference that a big root cause for this was Bram Stoker publishing Dracula, his Big Book of Black Court Vampire Slaying.  I believe there was also a similar reference in BR which also indicated that the White Court payed Stoker to write it, thought I didn't have time to check for a page number on that one.

And as a parting note, I was reading this late at night, and that exchange with Molly scared the crap out of me at first, though that quickly faded in favor of real sadness.  Damn it Jim, I'm not supposed to care about fictional characters this much!

(I kid, keep up the good work).

[Scott Drummond]

Thanks MalcolmD....I do remember that reference to Stoker...But it seems to me that with the the Black Court would of rebuilt to some degree...Think of Marva's nest where Dresden got his hand burned...and the nest that he battled at the shopping center...   I suppose they might not have many older Black Court vampires, but they seem to be able to generate newbies quite well...<grin>

Cheers!

Scott

[Arjan]

Felicia. A new wild card like Daniel Carpenter. Guess there had to be a White Court connection somewhere, and it had to be someone we didn't know. Otherwise, why the big set up about the Swords and Daniel's loose lips and Murphy's bad-a$$ take down of a vamp? Oh -- and I don't believe Felicia will keep quiet, regardless of Murphy's threats. The Swords would be too sweet a temptation.

Maybe not that sweet. Lara can not use the swords. She can not even unmake them so she can only keep them or sell them. She probably has more than enough problems without making new ones.

Maybe Thomas would object. 

It was careless to let it slip but the consequences may be minimal.

[Glorificus]

It was careless to let it slip but the consequences may be minimal.

There is no such thing as a "minimal" consequence in the Dresdenverse.

[Teck Loh]

I am surprised no one has asked one very obvious question...

Like "What happened to Hendricks?"

Before the Justice League meeting, Murphy met up with one Jack Childs who was, as we found out shortly during the meeting, Marcone's top troubleshooter.

I thought Hendricks was supposed to be Marcone's right hand man? What happened to him? How did this Jack Childs get the promotion to Hendricks' post? You would think Marcone would send Hendricks out to represent his interests at Justice League meetings, wouldn't you? Especially when you think about how Hendricks was more actively involved in the supernatural scene than any of Marcone's enforcers.

I was hoping to see some Hendricks and Ms. Gard love scenes...

Teck