Zoo Day spoilers

[huangjimmy108]

Molly did perfect. She could have been a raving warlock messing with peoples brains left and right and now she fullfills a necessary role in the protection of this reality against the outsiders. She is a useful member of this reality.

She is also heavily traumatize and half way insane before becoming the winter lady. Not voluntarily, I might add.

Unless you are insane, an adrenalin junky or has an over developed sense of responsibility and righteousness, it is best not to be involve with Dresden unless you are at least 30 years old if your are vanilla and 100 years old if you are a wizard.

Associating with Harry is bad for a child's development phase. The child tends to turn rebellious and tends to get into trouble with Harry around. And not your ordinary trouble too.

[groinkick]

She is also heavily traumatize and half way insane before becoming the winter lady. Not voluntarily, I might add.

Unless you are insane, an adrenalin junky or has an over developed sense of responsibility and righteousness, it is best not to be involve with Dresden unless you are at least 30 years old if your are vanilla and 100 years old if you are a wizard.

Associating with Harry is bad for a child's development phase. The child tends to turn rebellious and tends to get into trouble with Harry around. And not your ordinary trouble too.

Molly without Harry would have become a warlock, then decapitated.  Her becoming the Winter Lady was based on her Choice to get involved with Leanansidhe.  As Jim said, the deals Sidhe make with you are designed to get you more, and more tangled up with them. 

It's not that Harry Dresden the man is a problem, it's that the world he lives in is so dangerous, and complicated.  If you spend time with someone like that you're bound to get dragged into that dangerous world.

[huangjimmy108]

Molly without Harry would have become a warlock, then decapitated.  Her becoming the Winter Lady was based on her Choice to get involved with Leanansidhe.  As Jim said, the deals Sidhe make with you are designed to get you more, and more tangled up with them. 

It's not that Harry Dresden the man is a problem, it's that the world he lives in is so dangerous, and complicated.  If you spend time with someone like that you're bound to get dragged into that dangerous world.

And why does Molly idolize magic so much? Who is the guy that gave the impression that wizardry is a cool job during Molly's childhood?

Harry obviously does not mean any harm and the DV world is not a very nice place as well. But Harry's track record with his first apprentice is not very good. Can't really blame him though, for a wizard Harry himself is still very young.

In my opinion, With the exception of little Maggi, it is better that children stay away from Harry if they want a normal life. I don't know weather it is a blessing or a curse, but those who stay around Harry for too long have a hard time staying normal and ordinary. Extraordinary things always happened around Harry and that in turn, tends to turn those around him into extraordinary people.

It is not all bad, but for children, well, I feell it is a bit much.

Little Maggi though, her fate is sealed. The blood of Dresden run in her veins. Her father is Harry Dresden, her grandmother is Maggi Lefay and her great grandfather is Ebenezar McKoy. Her mother is a journalist who dares to steal an invite to a vampire party. Normal is no longer a part of little Maggi's life. It is best for her to stay with Harry and turned extraordinary as fast as possible.

[Carl]

Mouse is definitely a canine Harry but with better sense.

Thats not a hard bar to pass. Also Mouse is adorable.

Jim has confirmed in a recent signing Austin is just a minor character with no plans to use him in the future... as yet.

I love that Jim has this outline of the series but has kept it loose enough to allow additions and  changes to the smaller details.

As someone who loves to engage in personal worldbuilding i doubt it's that hard for him. Then again i don't know exactly what his worldbuilding and storybuilding process looks like. But if it's anything like mine it's rather easy to juggle things because each scene and each story serves a storytelling purpose, but there's room to change how that purpose is fulfilled by quite a bit. Squeezing extra bits and pieces in isn;t trivial bu it's not as difficult and first thought might make you think. For me the hard part is often filling in the necessary gaps between important scenes. Things need to happen there for the narrative to not be disjointed and thats hard as hells bells.

Mouse's section was such an amazing intersection of hilarious and adorable and so fundamentally Dog that it had me on the verge of tears.

I know. Daaaawwwwww.

Molly without Harry would have become a warlock, then decapitated.  Her becoming the Winter Lady was based on her Choice to get involved with Leanansidhe.  As Jim said, the deals Sidhe make with you are designed to get you more, and more tangled up with them. 

It's not that Harry Dresden the man is a problem, it's that the world he lives in is so dangerous, and complicated.  If you spend time with someone like that you're bound to get dragged into that dangerous world.

Lea didn't exactly give Molly any choice from what we know. Lea even pointed it out to Harry in GS that she was required to sub for him by winter law. That said it's not entierly Harry's faulty, he only ended up in the position that got Lea involved because of lasciel.

And Harry is well known for having seen more for his age than is normal.

Probably a combination of being Starborn and especially the fact that he's a open wizard as it where. Most wizards spend their time in their own little strongholds protecting themselves and other wizards. They don't do much to help your average joe. Harry does, that put shim in a position to be in conflict with the bad guys a lot more.

[toodeep]

I recently noticed a mistake in Zoo Day, it isn't a big one, but shouldn't Maggie's primary language have been Spanish?  We see her thoughts, they are in English, and she never appears to experience language barrier, confusion, or to search for words.  She may even still have a Hispanic accent.

I mean, it is reasonable that she may have learned some English wherever she was, but it certainly wasn't the primary language she used.  She would only have had to start using English when she moved in with the Carpenters.  There has been no discussion of language/culture issues, which is easily explained in most books by Harry being totally unaware of them, even if they existed.  But in this book we have her viewpoint, and there doesn't appear to be any acculturation issues.

Just a thought.

[Mr. Death]

I recently noticed a mistake in Zoo Day, it isn't a big one, but shouldn't Maggie's primary language have been Spanish?  We see her thoughts, they are in English, and she never appears to experience language barrier, confusion, or to search for words.  She may even still have a Hispanic accent.

I mean, it is reasonable that she may have learned some English wherever she was, but it certainly wasn't the primary language she used.  She would only have had to start using English when she moved in with the Carpenters.  There has been no discussion of language/culture issues, which is easily explained in most books by Harry being totally unaware of them, even if they existed.  But in this book we have her viewpoint, and there doesn't appear to be any acculturation issues.

Just a thought.

Her primary language was never established, so it's not a "mistake." She was raised by a Hispanic family, but we don't know what language they used in the home. Susan was an American and corresponded with them and her, so it stands to reason they knew English and, by now, she's spent a couple years with the Carpenters.

[Con]

I recently noticed a mistake in Zoo Day, it isn't a big one, but shouldn't Maggie's primary language have been Spanish?  We see her thoughts, they are in English, and she never appears to experience language barrier, confusion, or to search for words.  She may even still have a Hispanic accent.

I mean, it is reasonable that she may have learned some English wherever she was, but it certainly wasn't the primary language she used.  She would only have had to start using English when she moved in with the Carpenters.  There has been no discussion of language/culture issues, which is easily explained in most books by Harry being totally unaware of them, even if they existed.  But in this book we have her viewpoint, and there doesn't appear to be any acculturation issues.

Just a thought.

She mentions she can still speak SPanish but it's like her Brain has to switch gears.

[Arjan]

A bilingual upbringing can have its benefits.

[Sydna]

I didn't read it yet, but I believe he made the choice when he left the box of pups that was to be delivered to brother Wang. It would mean he chose to stay with Harry, who was reluctant to keep him and trying to send him back/give him to someone else at first.
Edit: Wong. Brother Wong..

It was Wang in the original story.

[Gman]

Molly without Harry would have become a warlock, then decapitated.  Her becoming the Winter Lady was based on her Choice to get involved with Leanansidhe.  As Jim said, the deals Sidhe make with you are designed to get you more, and more tangled up with them. 

It's not that Harry Dresden the man is a problem, it's that the world he lives in is so dangerous, and complicated.  If you spend time with someone like that you're bound to get dragged into that dangerous world.

I agree, just like dating James Bond is dangerous. Not because James Bond is a bad guy, but because he has so many dangerous enemies. Lots of his lovers get killed or go through some rough times.

[zetadog]

is Austin a Sorcerer or a Wizard?  Do Wizards train Sorcerers as full apprentices? 

[forumghost]

I agree, just like dating James Bond is dangerous. Not because James Bond is a bad guy, but because he has so many dangerous enemies. Lots of his lovers get killed or go through some rough times.

As far as dating Harry goes, the bigger threat is the universe itself really.

Childhood sweetheart? "dies" to add to the Tragic Backstory.
Sexy Reporter? Critical case of Stupid causes her to become a half Rampire.
Hot Boss? Turns out it was Mind-Rape all alone.
BFF/Coworker? Jerks you around for a decade+ and then gets critically injured just as she finally ran out of excuses to continue stringing you along.
Literally every other woman he meets: Dies, is evil, or only wants him for his power.

Like, Harry's dating life is just a conga-line of tragedy and failure, and most of it isn't directly caused by all those enemies.

[Mr. Death]

is Austin a Sorcerer or a Wizard?  Do Wizards train Sorcerers as full apprentices?

The distinction is a little iffy -- from what I understand, a sorcerer is like a wizard without the formal training. A wizard means you're in some way recognized as one by the White Council -- there's mentions of trials and such; I think Jim's said that one basic guideline is they're able to do everything between evocation and thaumaturgy. They might have a specialization and/or suck at one or two, but they have the capability of doing it all.

[Mira]

   I don't think Austin can be classified as wizard or sorcerer yet...  He hasn't any training one way or  another, even if self taught as Vincent Sells was, training/research is involved to become a sorcerer... He is on the verge of becoming a warlock though if he isn't already one from misusing his awakening talents and being used not trained to those ends...

[Snark Knight]

The distinction is a little iffy -- from what I understand, a sorcerer is like a wizard without the formal training. A wizard means you're in some way recognized as one by the White Council -- there's mentions of trials and such; I think Jim's said that one basic guideline is they're able to do everything between evocation and thaumaturgy. They might have a specialization and/or suck at one or two, but they have the capability of doing it all.

Didn't GP say something about sorcerers are more limited in their range of abilities, and almost all skew towards destructive?