Reading roundup (including Cold Days)

[hamsterwoman]

Catching up on the last of 2012 and starting off 2013:

45. Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts -- The beginning of an epic fantasy trilogy set in Central Asia (in 12th-13th century, apparently;

Comments

[lunasariel]

the only thing I liked very much was Harry and Thomas's reunion.
OMG, this! ALL THE BROHUGS! I still can't say I follow Thomas' logic re: Harry's sorta-suicide and how it reflects on Thomas himself, but the awesomeness of everything else more than made up for it. And I can see how this novel in particular would make a Thomas/Molly shipper very, very happy, since A) very little Justine, and B) they do seem to get paired up, situation-wise, an awful lot, especially when he guards her while he does her magic thing in battle. ;)

the Za Lord's Guard in their winter-branded uniforms of toothpaste tubes and coke cans were adorable in generalLOL, this! I never thought I'd think of the Coke bear, or toothpaste, as badass

[hamsterwoman]

I still can't say I follow Thomas' logic re: Harry's sorta-suicide and how it reflects on Thomas himself,

I've been thinking about this some more, and I really do think it was way less Thomas saying, "Waah, Harry, you think I'd be better off dead" and more Thomas saying, "So, Harry, by your logic, should I just off myself, too?", knowing Harry would, of course, vehemently disagree with that and thus underlining the flaw in Harry's logic. Kind of similar to Murphy pointing out to Harry that her father always said "later" about spending time with her, when Harry is dithering over going to see Maggie. So, that's why it works for me, which is not to say that it should work for you or everyone.

even aside from me being all protective over Butters/Molly Hooper

Molly Hooper/Butters is the best Butters ship, it is known. There needs to be crossover fic of this. Harry and Sherlock can come too, looming over people in their long coats, and Murphy and John can bond over being tiny but fierce surrounded by nutcases.

I was REALLY tempted to

[lunasariel]

I really do think it was way less Thomas saying, "Waah, Harry, you think I'd be better off dead" and more Thomas saying, "So, Harry, by your logic, should I just off myself, too?", knowing Harry would, of course, vehemently disagree
Oh, okay! I was really focused on the "waah, you think I'm a monster, poor me" taking-it-way-too-personally aspect, because that seemed kind of odd for Thomas, but this makes a lot more sense. I finally get it! XD

Harry and Sherlock can come too, looming over people in their long coats, and Murphy and John can bond over being tiny but fierce surrounded by nutcases.
YES to all of this! I would pay good money to see Harry getting annoyed and hexing Sherlock's phone, and John inevitably hitting on, possibly getting hit by, and then being tiny but fierce BFFs with Murphy.

But it stacks up for an overall unbalanced feel, even if it's perfectly explicable in-universe.Exactly what I'm talking about! There's a lot of material to wade through, but it would be iiiiinteresting (if time-consuming) to wade through

[hamsterwoman]

Harry getting annoyed and hexing Sherlock's phone, and John inevitably hitting on, possibly getting hit by, and then being tiny but fierce BFFs with Murphy

Haha, Sherlock's phone is so going down in this scenario XD And a meeting between John and Murphy would play out exactly this way!

Wherever Harry pretended to be Thomas' boyfriend in order to get into his apartment

Yep. I forget the exact book, but that's precisely what I was thinking, too.

Like, I kind of feel it was intentionally buried under the flurry of other revelations, so it can simmer for a while and suddenly leap into prominence in a book or two

Ooh, interesting! That would be very consistent with Butcher's MO, so I could totally see that be the case. The Blackstaff speculation is also very interesting! I feel like I've seen that somewhere too, now that you mention it.

it's probably going to be another case of "Nemesis did it for Reasons." Aaand with that you've basically perfectly summarized my frustration with the whole Nemesis thing and what it means for the

[lodessa]

I think I mostly agree with you, other than the fact that I was way more tolerant of the justifiable but unpleasant predator/objectifying gratuitousness.

The Murphy stuff was weird. I feel like possibly Butcher has finally gotten to the point where he is messing with the arc by trying to avoid/delay resolution to maintain tension. I could not believe how long it took us to get to her and how little actual confrontation went on. I mean I sort of like that they are actually talking in theory, but in practice it just sort of felt like Murphy was being used as a tool for explaining rather than an actual character.

Also I am sort of frustrated that he is obviously continuing to drag out the need to resolve the Swords issue. Sanya needs some backup! If Butcher knows where he is going with them, he needs to get on with it. If not... he needs to figure it out.

[hamsterwoman]

I was way more tolerant of the justifiable but unpleasant predator/objectifying gratuitousness

I can't say that I couldn't tolerate it, and you are absolutely right that it was justifiable and probably necessary, but I definitely would've been equally happy with less of it.

I feel like possibly Butcher has finally gotten to the point where he is messing with the arc by trying to avoid/delay resolution to maintain tension

You might be right! It certainly felt odd, in a way that the UST between them previously never had. But, yeah, Murphy on the whole was really weird in this one, at least to me.

he is obviously continuing to drag out the need to resolve the Swords issueYeah, it does feel like that resolution is being delayed, too, and I'm not sure why -- if it's to keep the good guys underpowered, or if it's because whoever is going to take on the Swords eventually is not yet in the right place, character-wise, to do so. I would still like to see Murphy with Michael's sword, and Thomas with Amoracchius, but Murphy, at least,

Cold Days Thoughts

[ebonhost]

I just finished Cold Days, so I came back to your review here for discussion

Re: Cold Days Thoughts

[hamsterwoman]

Hi Corey, it's always so good to see a comment from you!

Your Nemesis thoughts are very cool, and make a lot of sense, especially the cocaine comparison (which would dovetail nicely with all of those things Harry was realizing about the Winter Knight mantle) -- I confess I didn't give Nemesis much thought myself because I was disappointed by the "brain parasite behind everything" aspect. I do think you're right about willing vs unwilling candidates (guessing Lea, as well as Sith, were unwilling ones), and Nemesis preferring the former. (I was sad about Sith, too... the book spent a lot of time on him, so I wonder if maybe he'll get cured like Lea did and show up again? or maybe Harry will try to cure him).

She's never had an actual adult relationship with anyoneVery true, and that sucks... Even Ginny Weasley went out and had boyfriends while waiting for Harry Potter to notice her (even though I don't like the way that relationship is handled either). And Murphy had Kincaid. It really seems ridiculous that Molly would still be

Concerning etymology

[l_vestrit]

That is what one of the authors wrote on the subject