Review: Ghost Story
Thanks to 
sunnyskywalker, I've begun reading the Sister Fidelma mystery series, which is set in Ireland of the seventh century. (Your mind will boggle at the difference between the Celtic Church and the Roman one. Positively boggle.) I started by reading a book of fifteen short stories called Whispers of the Dead, just to see what the books were like. Sister Fidelma is a nun who's trained as a dálaigh, or advocate of the law. As such, she can operate as a detective, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney or, if the Brehon due to hear a minor case chooses to recuse himself, a judge. She's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; she's frequently obstinate, proud and doesn't always get along well with people. But she's a believable person. And she tries. And the mysteries are intriguing.
I recently finished Jim Butcher's Ghost Story, which is fantastic. I hated the previous book to the point where I nearly gave up on the series. Fortunately, a friend convinced me to read this one...and I'm very glad that I did, because everything that I hated about Changes is dealt with in this one. There are consequences to Harry's actions. God, are there EVER. Even one thing that seemed remarkably good has created a disastrous power vacuum and the rise of enemies far worse than those Harry had fought before. The Council of Wizards is scrambling for survival against more enemies than they know what to do with. Chicago is a battleground (to the point where ordinary humans have pretty much had to admit that magic and monsters are both real). Murphy--Murphy, of all people!--is turning into a cold vigilante just to keep Chicago going. Molly Carpenter is suffering the mental and emotional fallout from her own bad choices with mental magic, from Harry's poor teaching, and from Harry's abysmal choices in the last book...such as having an empath at Ground Zero during a genocidal war and Harry's own death curse. And I don't mean that she's stressed to the point of breaking. I mean that she's gone insane and that her own allies are scared to death of her. And those are just a few problems.
Harry, tasked with solving his own murder, has to deal with all of this. He can't fix it; what's done is done. Magic does not heal all wounds; the film does not run backwards. The point here is for Harry to realize that his tendency to react when pushed instead of pausing to think about what might happen has caused a lot of damage, both to himself and to others. For the first time--and in a lasting way--Harry has to grow up. And oh, yes, it does matter, even post-mortem.
Two more things came up in this book which I was very glad to see. First, Susan Rodriguez's death. This is a heavy burden on Harry's soul, and the universe does NOT give him a free pass for it; feeling bad is not enough. His guilt in this matter alone could send him to Hell, and in this series, that's not a metaphor. Moreover, Harry admits that if he'd stopped to think and plan at the beginning--before his decisions had narrowed his options to a frightening degree--there's a good chance that Susan would still be alive.
This was so similar to what I'd been saying since Changes--for I did not accept that Susan's death was tragic but inevitable--that I felt personally vindicated. It's canon now: Susan's death was evitable.
Second, Marcone. Well, he's not in this one much, having sojourned to Italy...but he's built a place that's a combination home, armory, headquarters and day care (heroes sometimes have families, and Marcone wants the kids somewhere SAFE) for those fighting the supernatural forces trying to claim Chicago. A fortress, you might say. This is both characteristic of the man and reminiscent of a fanfic series that I love. So that made me happy.
Also, I have to mention the secondary characters--like Mort Lindquist, ectomancer. Mort has gone from being a supernatural con man to the Neville of the series, and he gets not one but two Crowning Moments of Awesome. Waldo Butters is back, being so logical about how to work with magic when you have none of your own that I think Harry should take him on as a partner. The Leanansidhe is back...and mentoring Molly. (Yeah, you KNOW that won't end well.) And there's a cameo by an eerie, implacable, yet not unkind angel of death.
We also get to see some of Harry's background with Justin DuMorne and Harry's first confrontation with He Who Walks Behind, which both explain a LOT about Harry; much of what he's done in the series has been due to the lessons he learned from both. And for fans of the TV series, Harry not only makes a comment about a necromancer's ghost not seeming THAT scary, but we get solid proof that the ghost of a necromancer is powerful beyond belief and dangerous in ways that are scarcely imaginable.
There's so much more. A Creepy Child in a graveyard. A Xanatos gambit. Harry being brought up short by an archangel. The inside of Bob's skull. Bob's evil twin.
Bottom line: it is incredible. It is every positive superlative that I could possibly think of. I love this book. This has restored my faith in the author and the series. Go to your nearest online bookstore and order it NOW. You won't be sorry.
***
This entry was originally posted at http://gehayi.dreamwidth.org/430912.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
sunnyskywalker, I've begun reading the Sister Fidelma mystery series, which is set in Ireland of the seventh century. (Your mind will boggle at the difference between the Celtic Church and the Roman one. Positively boggle.) I started by reading a book of fifteen short stories called Whispers of the Dead, just to see what the books were like. Sister Fidelma is a nun who's trained as a dálaigh, or advocate of the law. As such, she can operate as a detective, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney or, if the Brehon due to hear a minor case chooses to recuse himself, a judge. She's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; she's frequently obstinate, proud and doesn't always get along well with people. But she's a believable person. And she tries. And the mysteries are intriguing.
I recently finished Jim Butcher's Ghost Story, which is fantastic. I hated the previous book to the point where I nearly gave up on the series. Fortunately, a friend convinced me to read this one...and I'm very glad that I did, because everything that I hated about Changes is dealt with in this one. There are consequences to Harry's actions. God, are there EVER. Even one thing that seemed remarkably good has created a disastrous power vacuum and the rise of enemies far worse than those Harry had fought before. The Council of Wizards is scrambling for survival against more enemies than they know what to do with. Chicago is a battleground (to the point where ordinary humans have pretty much had to admit that magic and monsters are both real). Murphy--Murphy, of all people!--is turning into a cold vigilante just to keep Chicago going. Molly Carpenter is suffering the mental and emotional fallout from her own bad choices with mental magic, from Harry's poor teaching, and from Harry's abysmal choices in the last book...such as having an empath at Ground Zero during a genocidal war and Harry's own death curse. And I don't mean that she's stressed to the point of breaking. I mean that she's gone insane and that her own allies are scared to death of her. And those are just a few problems.
Harry, tasked with solving his own murder, has to deal with all of this. He can't fix it; what's done is done. Magic does not heal all wounds; the film does not run backwards. The point here is for Harry to realize that his tendency to react when pushed instead of pausing to think about what might happen has caused a lot of damage, both to himself and to others. For the first time--and in a lasting way--Harry has to grow up. And oh, yes, it does matter, even post-mortem.
Two more things came up in this book which I was very glad to see. First, Susan Rodriguez's death. This is a heavy burden on Harry's soul, and the universe does NOT give him a free pass for it; feeling bad is not enough. His guilt in this matter alone could send him to Hell, and in this series, that's not a metaphor. Moreover, Harry admits that if he'd stopped to think and plan at the beginning--before his decisions had narrowed his options to a frightening degree--there's a good chance that Susan would still be alive.
This was so similar to what I'd been saying since Changes--for I did not accept that Susan's death was tragic but inevitable--that I felt personally vindicated. It's canon now: Susan's death was evitable.
Second, Marcone. Well, he's not in this one much, having sojourned to Italy...but he's built a place that's a combination home, armory, headquarters and day care (heroes sometimes have families, and Marcone wants the kids somewhere SAFE) for those fighting the supernatural forces trying to claim Chicago. A fortress, you might say. This is both characteristic of the man and reminiscent of a fanfic series that I love. So that made me happy.
Also, I have to mention the secondary characters--like Mort Lindquist, ectomancer. Mort has gone from being a supernatural con man to the Neville of the series, and he gets not one but two Crowning Moments of Awesome. Waldo Butters is back, being so logical about how to work with magic when you have none of your own that I think Harry should take him on as a partner. The Leanansidhe is back...and mentoring Molly. (Yeah, you KNOW that won't end well.) And there's a cameo by an eerie, implacable, yet not unkind angel of death.
We also get to see some of Harry's background with Justin DuMorne and Harry's first confrontation with He Who Walks Behind, which both explain a LOT about Harry; much of what he's done in the series has been due to the lessons he learned from both. And for fans of the TV series, Harry not only makes a comment about a necromancer's ghost not seeming THAT scary, but we get solid proof that the ghost of a necromancer is powerful beyond belief and dangerous in ways that are scarcely imaginable.
There's so much more. A Creepy Child in a graveyard. A Xanatos gambit. Harry being brought up short by an archangel. The inside of Bob's skull. Bob's evil twin.
Bottom line: it is incredible. It is every positive superlative that I could possibly think of. I love this book. This has restored my faith in the author and the series. Go to your nearest online bookstore and order it NOW. You won't be sorry.
***
This entry was originally posted at http://gehayi.dreamwidth.org/430912.html. Please comment there using OpenID.