Odds are that if Harry is dead and in somekind of "spirit world" then his appreance will likely be a result of how he views himself. The staff and the duster are his standard equipment so he would likely "imagine" them into existence. Likewise with the hand, if he is a ghost and non-corporeal then burned flesh does not exactly fit.

I wonder how accurate the cover is. Usually one has to be carefull when making predictions, but the text on the headstone does suggest that Butcher himself had some input to this cover, and if so the other details might be more accurate than normal. Well, other than the hat.

 

I think Butcher's has been getting more involved in the cover process from Changes onward but seriously read nothing into Dresden covers. Never forget the months of fanwank over Proven Guilty's cover. That freaking sword...

 

Anyone else besides me find the tombstone fucking hilarious now considering when he died the only thing he was about to do was Murphy?

 

Proven Guilty had a sword on the cover...? I must've missed that one... Still, I think maybe it could be a sign, if you look at Changes cover, it has the temple, and skulls and charred corpses scattered about... could be something to read into, I can easily see Harry visiting his own Grave at some point.

 

Word of God support for Dresden/Murphy from.... the third book? Damn, he's good at this shipping thing.

 

I just found this on JB's forum.

Link

That is from one of the Beta Readers so I'm gonna go ahead and say that the blurb is pretty accurate.

 

I salute you sir. Epic

 

I for one am looking forward to a whole assload of reactions from the entire cast to Harry's FUCK YOU IT TAKES MORE THAN BEING KILLED TO KILL ME act.

 

I tip my hat to you, good sir.

Anyway, I think I've been looking forward to the next book more than all the others. Can't remember what number he was on when I started reading, think like 7 or 8, but Ghost Story's premise has just hooked me.

And Tehan is right; their reactions to his return are probably going to be the best part.

edit:

Also, I get the feeling that we're going to see Harry's dad in this one. Someone who cares about details more can tell me which book, but I believe when Harry becomes unconscious he has a conversation with his Dad, essentially telling Harry that he's back.

And I believe it's book 5 that Harry is told by Nicodemus that his father was killed, and did not die of a natural causes.

Correct me on any details I most likely got horribly wrong. It's been a while since I read 4-8

 

I think it was in Dead Beat. Also I agree that we will see Dresden's dad.

 

Yeah, and that'll probably be in book 14.

You know, just how we are waiting to see the reactions to "Holy fuck, he just took out the whole red court!"

 

Which by the way, also will be in book 14. Or never, when everybody will forget about it once Dresden will top that with his rising from death.

 

Ah but if Harry and Necro!Bob work something out while he's all incorporeal, does it really count? I mean if your dead can you really break the laws? Those pesky little loop holes he always seems to find ...

 

The Laws are writen so that they function and are enforced under the Spirit of the Law, as opposed to the Accords, which have no spirit. In fact, while it's generally accepted that they apply only to Humans, the Laws themselves don't say anything about that. If you entrall a fairy, does it break the Fourth Law? Yes, if the Warden on duty says it does. No, if the Warden on duty says it doesn't. Judge, Jury, and etc.

Long story short; there are no loop holes. If you break a Law (or they think you do), your survival depends completely upon the Councils will. Harry got out of being killed for the Necromancy only because he went on to save thousands of lives, and he had to se it to do so.

The Fifth says: Never Reach Beyond the Borders of Life. That is the entire law. And if the Spirit of the Law (where the Spirit is defined a whatever the Warden thinks it is) is broken, then a Warden can kill you, no questions asked.

 

Seems to me that all Harry needs to do is claim he was not responsible. He could easily say that Mab was the one who brought him back, since she was not willing to lose her new knight. Or Uriel if he wanted to go public with that relationship.

The White Council likely could not say otherwise, given how easily Harry could prove his connection to both (Soulfire and Winter Knight). Sure, it would mean a lot of suspicion, but Harry could easily and believably avoid instant re-death by claiming to be the "victim".

 

Actually, Harry says that the Necromancy law only applies to raising humans, and Luccio doesn't contradict him. We don't know how much give there is in the laws, because as far as I know there is not any place that we have seen the exact wording of them. I'm fairly certain that JB has mentioned on his forums that there is a lot of bias towards mortals in them. No one would bat an eye lash if someone killed a faerie with magic, but do that to a mortal and you've got some problems.

And since it's obvious you don't get it... My post was much more tongue and cheek then anything else...

 

See: The DresdenRPG. And though Luccio doesn't contradict him, she's horrified at what he did, and very angry. Morgan himself was going to kill Harry before someone explained. Also, see Morgan in the first Book. He considered Toot-Toot human enough to get in Harry's face. In addition, as the RPG said, though it is general excepted that the Laws only apply to humans, the Laws aren't actually writen that way, and Warden's are to use their judgment.