Remember that the Summer Lady and Knight are relative newbies to the Sidhe Court, with both having been Changelings upon her taking the mantle of Lady and thus lacking enormously in magical skill, while Maeve has likely been around for hundreds of years, if not more. That's a gigantic difference in experience there, which is probably enough to account for Winter's lack of a Knight.

 

Chapters are too short and devoid of much actual content =(

 

From memory Bob floated back into his Skull that Harry had tied around his waist or over his back or something in one of his older t-shirts, I think it was an Iron Maiden one or something, either way I'm fairly certain Harry had Bob when they left the massacre of the Red Court behind... Though Butcher never did say what happened to Bob's Skull after that, fair point.

Plot twists abound, somehow I can't see myself this turn in the Dresden Files, though that might just be because I'm so used to, well, physical Harry, not Etheal bullets & wraiths & so on. Still, it's different & bound to unveil something else in Dresden.

 

It has been suggested that the Bob in ch5 might not be the Bob we know, but rather NecroBob. In other words, when Bob escaped from Kemmler, he got rid of all the memories that he could of NecroBob and his life with Kemmler. It is possible that since spirits are apparently memories, those memories Bob got rid of formed a new separate entity.

So basically, the "arm" that Bob cut off is running around on its own now in the spirit world. That would certainly be a bizarre twist. I think this might actually be a possible simply because the Bob we saw did not appear all that powerfull compared to the real Bob. I mean the real Bob can counter a spiritual attack from the Red King, who in Changes was considered basically a demigod.

And that was a Bob that did NOT have access to the knowledge of the super!necromancer Kemmler. If we were dealing with the full evil Bob, I would think he would have been easily powerfull enough to destroy not just Harry but Stuart and everyone else there with a single blow. However, if the Bob Harry saw is just the memories of Kemmler, then he would presumably be much weaker. Some decades worth of memories/power with Kemmler, rather than the 600 years of working with countless wizards that the real Bob has.

EDIT: Saw another part that might give futher crederence to this idea from Dead Beat after NecroBob nearly kills Harry:

The real and full NecroBob nearly killed a LIVING Harry and scared him out of his mind, imagine what the real NecroBob could do to dead spirits like Harry and Stuart.

 

Above post is relevant because:

BOB VS NECROBOB ROYAL RUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBLE!​

 

Could be Necrobob, but if I'm recalling Dead Beat correctly, Necrobob said that he'd been trapped in the back of Bob's mind for years and years, and had destroyed some, now that I'm looking at the book. ~Retracted for being completely and utterly wrong.~

 

Not sure if this is the right thread for it but before I make a new one.

Am I the only one who just got an email from Amazon(.de) that they just shipped out Ghost Story?

 

Well, after ADWD fiasco, I will not be surprised if that's true.

 

I ordered on Amazon U.S. and didn't get an email like that. Maybe you're one of the lucky ones.

 

I just got the book. Will post a review in a few hours.

And Cheddar Amazon.de now states the publish date as 26-28 Juli.

 

Use spoiler tags for book spoilers. For the love of all that is good in the world, please, use them.

 

^ That. Now that Dance has been devoured, I'm super excited for this. To celebrate and hey, because I really want to, I'm going to be embarking on an epic reread of the Dresden Files in preparation of Ghost Story. Gonna be awesome.

And also, whoever changed LittleChicago's name to Jim Butcher and switched his avatar to a pic of Jim is awesome. 'Bout time he was revealed.

 

So I just finished it and it is great. The series just gets better with each book.
Because I can´t express my own feelings about the book in the right words, i stole one form goodreads. It is good and says pretty much what I would write.

Spoiler

Ghost Story is the thirteenth installment in the Dresden Files – and I can honestly say that each and every book has been a thrill ride. In a true testament to Butcher’s story-telling skills, the latest book opens with his hero Harry quite well and truly dead. Or is he? With more twists and turns than a switchback mountain road, Harry’s adventures as a dead man made this an even more unusual tale than previous books in the series. This book had a slightly different feel than earlier ones; Harry is a little more introspective, there are more flashbacks and recovered memories, more lessons-learned and more rueful realizations. All of which are handled with a delicate touch – this is scalpel work, not machete chaos.

The book opens with Harry being sent on a mission from God – literally. Or, again, is he? He is set on the quest to identify his own killer, in order to save the people he loves. Along the way, he is continually redefining his own post-death self as he is forced to adapt time and again to the challenges hurtled at him by the forces of evil – and of good. Butcher’s ability to reimagine Harry’s capabilities, weaknesses, and the very structure of his world-space is truly impressive. With his protagonist dead, Butcher gets to reinvent many of the operating rules of Dresden’s world, and he manages to do so without losing an ounce of the magic that has made that world such a darkly fascinating place to visit since book one (Storm Front).

Harry always manages, despite an inherent regular-guy quality that makes him aggravating and endearing simultaneously (like so many regular guys, teehee), to rise head and shoulders above his circumstances. He faces decisions and choices that are literally world-altering, and despite his own oft-expressed doubts about his nature and ability to manage those decisions/choices, we his audience always know he will manage to walk the line between good and evil as well as anyone imaginable could. Butcher sprinkles life lessons, truisms, and startling bits of self-realization into the narrative seamlessly, letting the reader glean from Harry’s experiences what s/he may.

Many a time I found myself reading passages over again, or out loud. Not because I needed to clarify a point. Quite the contrary. Because the point was so subtly made, so intricately layered that I wanted to reread to make sure I fully appreciated all of the finesse behind it. This is writing as craft, and for those who argue that only classic literature or “serious” (translation: dull, heavy, difficult) fiction contains masters of that craft, you are woefully mistaken. Butcher is indeed a master with language. He weaves subtle messages into a narrative that is often goofy, nearly always darker than Harry would like, and as fast-paced as the best action films.

There were a few surprise twists thrown in along the way that I definitely did not see coming – especially at the end. I was starting to get nervous that Butcher was tying up loose ends as a way of signaling the end of the series. Let’s just say I’m not so nervous anymore, and can’t wait to see what kind of life- and world-altering trouble Harry will manage to find himself in next!

 

Guys & Gals, if you see something that should be in spoiler tags. Pm me and I will edit the offenders post.

Usually everyone is very good about spoiler tags. But as we know there's always one douche. So just help us out, instead of a flame post chain, let us know right quick so it can be taken care of.

 

God damn it. I hate you so much. I'm gonna have to ban myself from this sub-forum now.