#lara raith

[raccoonodysseus]

Thomas and Lara have a chat.

I’m still not entirely happy with how I draw Thomas-

[lightofraye]

The Dresden Files

Second quote of the day, from the 9th book of The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. Unlike the first quote, which spoke of love, this speaks of how terrifying evil can be when cloaked in "goodness" and "purity":

She faced me, her face all shadowed, the light of slowly growing fires lighting from behind. "I am glad to see you survived, wizard. You who destroyed my father and secured my own power. You have now destroyed my enemies. You are the most marvelous weapon I have ever wielded." She tilted her head at me. "And I love peace, wizard. I love talking. Laughing. Relaxing." Her voice dropped to a husky pitch. "I will kill your folk with peace, wizard. I will strangle them with it. And they will thank me while I do."

[whyohwhydoris]

Lara Raith, and the monsterization of the other.

With Twelve Months in the "preparing to drop" phase, I've been thinking a lot about what morality means in the Dresden Files.

I feel like within the books, and likely unintentionally, there is a tension between two broad models of morality.

On the one hand is prescriptive, deontological model of ethics and morality we get implied by the White Council. They have specific rules, specific categories. They divide the world between human and non-human. They give special rights to humans. They have little willingness to tolerate any transgression of the rules. We see it in how Ramirez and Ebenezer increasingly treat Dresden as the "other" and the "threat" even though they both know that he is trying to fight a battle that the Council itself is both unwilling and incapable of fighting. And we see it in Dresden. And Dresden himself seeks suicide - and while pushed was vitally capable of being pushed - after taking the Winter Mantle because it transforms him from "Human" to "Monster".

On the other hand is a more consequentialist, utilitarian model that is often implied by Dresden himself in conflict with his deontological White Council background. In the first book, Dresden is abusing the grey-space in the rules, and straining against them to do what he believes to be necessary to do what is "right". We see this when he has grace for Susan - on the precipice of becoming a Red Court Vampire for so long. We see this when he accepts Thomas as his bother, and Molly as his apprentice and later as the Winter Lady. We see this when he plays the part the rules require to control the Wild Hunt. We see it when he strains against Winter in himself. At each turn, he exists in a system of rules, but discards those rules to do that which is correct.

And that brings me to Lara. The books - the main ones - are from Harry's perspective. And Harry is caught between these two systems of morality. But when it comes to Lara, he seems to retreat behind the former. Often, he is draconian in his treatment of her. He intentionally "others" her to make his life easier.

Harry knows, for a fact, that White Court Vamparism is a form of demonic parasitism. But with his bother, he sees the man bound to the demon, while with Lara only sees the demon.

Harry knows that the White Council will summarily execute children if they break laws of magic to which they were never initiated. Yet, when Lara tries to construct consensual structures by which she and her kind can feed, he calls her a monster.

When Lara hires fully aware and competent mercenaries and feeds only upon those who will never recover from their injuries - effectively using them as organ donors to save the lives of herself and her family, who these men were hired under the understanding they are risking their lives to protect these people - she is "monstrous". But if those men died in combat that would just be the job, and Harry wouldn't think twice about a doctor using a donated organ.

Harry has this supreme arrogance when it comes to Lara. He proactively chooses to read her actions in the worst possible light. And this is especially damning when you contrast his treatment of Lara with how he treats Ebenezer or Thomas.

In the case of Ebenezer, the man himself claims responsibility the Krakatoa volcanic explosion. That event alone killed at least 36,000 people in the immediate aftermath while the subsequent volcanic winter lead to crop failures and shortages in various locations around the globe. And Harry is shaken by this. Yet, because it's within the rules of the White Council - and even more so because it's his grandfather and the man who raised him - he can forgive that?

He never calls Ebenezer a monster. We don't know how many people Lara has killed to stay alive since 1883, but if it's less than 270 a year since then, she'd still have killed fewer people - never mind fewer innocent people - than Ebenezer. And that's assuming the Blackstaff hasn't killed innocent people since, which we know he has. Ebenezer claims at least 100 innocent victims at Casaverde, and he says there have been at least a dozen other times he's played hatchet man at scale.

And then there is the fact that Ebenezer tried to kill Thomas, his own grandson. And all Harry feels is sadness. Not anger or blame or any kind of outrage that he would strive to kill Thomas for nothing more or less than being a White Court Vampire. Just sadness. At least when Lara wanted to kill Thomas, it was to spare him the slow and painful death she was certain was in store for him. For Ebenezer though? Just Thomas's existence was reason enough. On the one hand Lara, who has moved heaven and earth to protect Thomas, and on the other Ebenezer whose first and only impulse was to kill him, and who would have killed Harry to do it.

And speaking of Thomas, we see someone who is in so many ways a mirror of Lara. He's a White Court vampire. Hell, he was feeding on women - even if taking sips - without their consent as a hair stylist, and using the emotions he conjured in them to make them return again and again. How is that meaningfully different than Lara having sex with people to the same end, so long as it is consensual? Yet, when Lara says there are those who would choose to be used, Harry spits at the idea. Never mind his own brother's twisted relationship with Justine, one founded in that same supernaturally questionable consent structure. It is Lara who is evil.

And Thomas is every bit the murder machine Lara is - he is frequently paralleled with her in battle. He conducts clandestine acts. He was in part responsible for Susan Rodriguez's tragic fate, literally pushing her to the Red Court Vampires in exchange for Justine's safety!

And Thomas's love? His seemingly un-White-Court behaviour? It almost started a war between the White Court and the Svartalves, killing a personal friend of Harry's in the process. And yet, Thomas isn't forgiven, because he cannot be forgiven when Harry refuses to blame him to begin with. Two of the strongest and most stable and trustworthy members of the Accords were set at each other's throats as part of a plan to destroy creation, and Thomas permitted himself to be a pawn to that out of his need to have Justine and their unborn child "safe".

But when Lara sacrifices people she is vilest evil. When she questions whether she can save her brother because of the risk of that war, Harry questions her love for Thomas! When Lara allowed a partial plan to go ahead and kill a number of low-power magic users so that she could stop far more evil members of the White Court taking over, when she made the decision to do what was required to keep the White Court from entering the war against the White Council and to prevent a tyrannical White Court from coming into power? She was a monster.

At every turn, Harry is othering her. He is choosing to treat her with less mercy and grace. Even when she, time and again, chooses the softer and kinder and weaker option, the more peaceful option, the option which allows some coexistence Harry will ascribe to her the most vile of motivations.

I see people talk about her speech at the end of White Night.

"And I love peace, wizard. I love talking. Laughing. Relaxing. I will kill your folk with peace, wizard. I will strangle them with it. And they will thank me while I do."

And they ascribe such vile intentions. Never mind that this is a direct response to Harry threatening to murder Lara in her own home after they have just saved each other's lives. Never mind that this is literally no different to what the White Council intends as their ultimate end goal - the eradication of all other supernatural beings, which is inherent in their laws of magic and their attitudes towards working with or dealing with anyone who isn't a Wizard.

But what does this actually mean? But, more importantly, what has Lara done?

Lara advocates for consent. She advocates for contractualism. She has no intention of letting herself or those who she leads just die to convenience Harry and his lot. But she actively purged her most dangerous factions and actors. The moment she truly understood the entire picture, she usurped her father. And she fantasized for centuries about killing her most ravenous and callous cousins. She keeps her word. She has a moral code. Hell, she celebrated Dresden's happiness with Murphy and empathized with his loss!

But, time and again, we are told she is a monster. That she is the other. Because this is Harry's world view, we are imbibing it. But it is just that: because she is Other, she is suspect. Because Harry sees her as Other, she is a monster. Harry's own grandfather has murdered tens of thousands as collateral damage. Harry's own brother threw Susan to be tortured to death by the Red Court and almost started a civil war on the precipice of an invasion to save Justine. Hell, Harry himself broke Molly by using his position of power and trust to have her assist in his suicide against her will - manipulated her emotions to make her the instrument of his death. But it is Lara who is the monster. These others are allowed to leave bodies in their wake and break people's souls, and they shall be forgiven or not reckoned with. But not Lara.

Lara is only a "monster" because the prescriptive dogma of the White Council says so, and because Harry hides behind that like a moral coward whenever he is faced with a real test of his worldview. She is only a monster because she is the "other" and its is easier for Harry (and given we see the world through his POV, the reader as well) to paint this Other as a monster than to actually sit down and ask himself tough questions about right and wrong, about free will, and about what it means for morality when two different types of being literally cannot coexist or even worse what it means when their coexistence is possible but personally something he is not fond of, even if it means other people engaging in their own lives consensually and with eyes as open as possible.

Lara isn't a monster. Lara is a person afflicted by a condition, and it is only Harry's intolerance and unwillingness to dig deep and finally draw his own lines unequivocally that makes him cast her as a monster.

[drawsdenfiles]

"Lady Lara, upon due consideration, your third favor is granted..." -The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher

[dresdenfilesincorrectquotes]

Lara: Ugh! How do you even eat without listening to hardcore pornography?

[yetanotheraspiringwriter]

My Dresden FanCast V2

Most of these are the same, but some are different. Part two coming soon, maybe.

Enjoy.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden ~ Glenn Powell

Karrin Murphy ~ Hassie Harrison

Morgan ~ Hugh Jackman

Leanansidhe ~ Jessica Chastain

Lara Raith ~ Serinda Swan

Susan Rodriguez ~ Adria Arjona

Thomas Raith ~ Matt Bomber

Michael Carpenter ~ Alan Ritchson

OR

Henry Cavill

Molly Carpenter ~ Giorgia Whigham

Charity Carpenter ~ Emily Blunt

Johnny Marcone ~ Neal McDonough

Father Forthill ~ Paul Giamatti

Waldo Butters ~ Jay Baruchel

Nichodemus Archelone ~ Patrick Dempsey

Anastasia Luccio (Pre Body Swap)~ Salma Hayek

Anastasia Luccio (Post Body Swap) ~ Naomi Scott

Lasciel ~ Christna Hendricks (?)

Still Unsure about this one

AAAAAAAAnd that's all for now. I know for a fact some of these might be controversial (Look at you two Marcone and Nichodemus) But I'm hoping a lot of my picks are either interesting or at the very least entertaining.

[alwaysanovice]

Lara: Dresden and I are getting married. Lord Raith: He's asked you? Lara: Oh, he doesn't know it yet.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Now Reading: White Night by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files, Book 9)

[whyohwhydoris]

I'm really looking forward to Twelve Months. I think the name suggests an interesting premise ... A story that takes a year or so. A needed slow down after the crazy of the last two books.

But, I have some specific hopes. Like, sure, Harry Dresden's life is supposed to be cosmically rubbish. But he needs a break. Which we saw a bit after Changes. Just the foot easing up off the accelerator.

Harry knows he has a mission - a responsibility. Freedom from the White Council, and under the aegis of the Winter Court he seems like he wants to build something for himself.

I also want some people to call him on his (understandable) selfishness and shortsightedness.

I want Mab pointing out how she cannot keep him safe as Winter Queen because Winter is cold and callous and he is on his own, but Lara is different. She will keep him safe. Keep Maggie safe. Because her White Court will not suffer insults. Will not suffer attacks against it.

I want Molly to point out how Harry is overly judgemental. How he will call Mab and Leanansidhe all these horrible names, and treat them with such callousness. But now Molly is one of them, and she's wondering when she will lose Harry too. And now she has to manage the marriage of a man she cares far too deeply for to a woman he apparently hates except for all the times he doesn't.

I want Lara to call Harry out when he accuses her of buying him off Mab. To point out Mab's exact words. How Mab said Lara asked for permission to court Harry, not for him outright. And how she has honoured every one of their deals. How she has worked with him at cost to herself because she respects him.

I want Michael and Harry to have a heart to heart. For Michael to sit him down and tell him he can't keep tearing himself apart. Maybe a chat with Uriel?

I want to see Castle Greyskull turned into both a fortress and more importantly a sanctuary.

I want to see more of Demonreach - and to see something built there. A little home away from home.

I want to see Bonnie growing up and becoming more capable. Want to see her get a new skull - Harry still owes Bob a spare, after all. Want to see her beginning to understand all the magic of the Castle.

I want to see McCoy and Ramirez eating crow. I want to see Chandler return. Preferably safely.

I want more Vadderung. Especially - I want to see him giving Harry and Lara a brilliant wedding gift.

I want Freydis have a heart-to-heart with Harry. And see Harry supporting Sigrun and vice-versa.

I want therapy or a support group.

So. Yeah. Kinda want the moon on a stick.

Oh, and as I ship White Winter, I want Harry to genuinely care for Lara when all is said and done. I want them married in a way that works - with all the adjustments and compromises that entails.

[drawsdenfiles]

Yaaas!

[jedimaesteryoda]

Fans arguing for Lara Raith as Harry's partner are missing the point.

Lara's offer was, to Harry, another version of Marcone's in the early books. Marcone made a generous offer for Harry's services which would be appealing to an impoverished P.I. struggling to pay rent, but Harry refused out of principle. Harry made it clear he'll die poor before taking a dime of his money.

Lara, being explicitly Marcone's rival, is as much a gangster as he is but is an exceptionally attractive women offering more to Harry: "freedom from your burdens of responsibility and conscience." On paper her offer is appealing to a guy who just lost his partner as she would be a lot of guys' dream girl, being "sexier than a Swedish bikini team hiking up a mountain of money." She checks a lot of boxes being extremely beautiful, extremely rich, intelligent, charming with a dark, seductive allure and a badass martial artist who's also (supernaturally) amazing in bed for spice. However, Harry knows she isn't the kind of partner on the inside he's looking for anymore than Marcone was the boss he was looking for. Hence, why he briefly considered suicide.

The contrast in their values can be seen in their treatment of the Wee Folk with Harry forming a symbiotic relationship with them while Lara imprisoned them to be used as lanterns.

Whenever he does take these kinds of deals, it's usually because his hand is forced. Even then, he does not go all in, he names conditions and uses what advantages it gives him before he manages to get out. He didn't want Lash in him, but he didn't give in to her offer of becoming a Denarian. He took Mab's offer of being Winter Knight to save his family, but even then he put in conditions so he wouldn't harm his loved ones and become solely her soulless killing machine. He didn't want the grey cloak given by Luccio, but he ultimately used his position to save a teenager from losing her head. He doesn't want to marry Lara, but he'll likely bite the bullet like with the rest and get out of the marriage eventually.

It's possible he may even refuse her offer of sex as he did Marcone's money. He still may keep a candle for Karrin as her true love mark makes Lara unable to touch him, and if he avoids the kiss at the wedding which Bob pointed out seals the deal, then the protection could remain. At the end of the day, Harry won't sell out. He walks at the edge of the abyss, but never jumps in.

[whyohwhydoris]

Okay, but I'm just waiting for Harry and Lara to Soulgaze. Because, yes, Lara is kind of "evil" but she isn't evil-evil. The outsiders are evil-evil. The Nickleheads are evil-evil. And much of the White Court is evil-evil. But Lara is more complicated than that. When you look at her entire "killing you with kindness" speech to Harry. And Harry often has this sense within himself that he is a monster who is choosing to be good. That he is not like other people. This is a sense which is reinforced by the White Council's special (and speciesist) rules around killing people; by the Doom of Damocles that they placed over him as a child; by the way that McCoy raised him; by the responsibility he feels about Elaine and Susan and now Murphy; by his fairy godmother's existence; by the Winter Mantle; in short by almost everything in his life. And there is an element of self-definition in a soulgaze. We know that Harry and Marcone exchanged a look, and we know a little of that look. We know how controlled and steely Marcone is. That he is a predator, and in a way a monster playing by his own rules. That Marcone is, in his way, capable of literally anything. And we know that Marcone respects Harry. Not in terms of cordiality, but in the way that one respects a sword. A thing capable equally of great danger.

And so, I wonder what happens when the other character we have met for so long will react. Because Lara is different from Marcone. In a manner, Harry is family. He is her half-brother's half-brother. And they share no blood. But he is family after a fashion. And whatever others see, I think there is a real chance that she can accept him. Just as Thomas did. As Marcone did. As Molly did. Because it is weighing on him. It will break him if someone doesn't help him. Because he is laughing it off. Compartmentalizing. And bottling it up.

Thinking about the soulgaze in the Dresden Files.

That people have strong reactions to soulgazing Harry makes sense; a lot of them have never done it before at all which likely makes their reactions stronger, and there's plenty of things to plausibly make it a frightening experience in Harry's head in particular: soulgazes have been shown to reveal trauma (of which he has much), psychic damage (of which he has much), residues of dark magic (of which he has plenty), and the kinds of things a person is capable of (of which Harry has a wider and broader variety than he is proud of).

And, to top it all off, I increasingly suspect that this starborn thing means that anyone who soulgazes him is getting a little peek of the Outside.

All that said, I think it's remarkable that people have, after looking at the representation of Harry's soul, repeatedly thrown up, fainted, or outright fled, and Harry's reaction to this has just been, "Haha. Yeah. I try not to think about that too much!"

Because. These are not normal reactions! Harry has soulgazed some frightening people and not reacted this way! How does it not do terrible, terrible things to your self perception to have people react this way to your soul!

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

Some Dresden Files predictions:

I've been listening to The Dresden Files audiobooks again, and based on the foreshadowing that riddles the series, I'm gonna call some shots here and now (this post is more for me than anything else).

Spoilers ahead:

1 - Twelve Months is gonna be a bit of a slog, and Harry will still be depressed at the end, but he'll learn to live with it or something.

2 - His arranged marriage to Lara Raith is gonna be called off on a technicality.

3 - Mirror, Mirror is gonna be the last filler novel, set in an alternate timeline (thus the name, a reference to a classic Star Trek episode of the same name). The differences between it and the main universe will be:

Harry was raised by Donald Morgan, per Harry's mother's request.

Harry became a die-hard, Kool-Aid drinking White Council member

Harry never moved to Chicago, leaving the city undefended, and

The war with the Red Court of Vampires never happened, as the inciting incident never occurred

4 - Jim Butcher has said that there are gonna be 20 mainline novels and the series is gonna cap off with an additional three novels, which he calls the Badass Apocalypse trilogy (confirmed to be titled Hells Bells, Empty Night, and Stars and Stones). Every 5th novel so far (Death Masks, Small Favor, and Skin Game) has revolved around the conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell, and the last mainline novel will center around that conflict.

5 - The unnamed 20th book and Hells Bells will be a duology, like Peace Talks and Battle Grounds were.

6 - The apocalypse will be triggered by the death of Sanya, Knight of Hope (thus fulfilling the prophecy that "Apocalypse is the Death of Hope") at the hands of Nicodemus Archleone, the tentative leader of the forces of Hell on Earth, using the Holy Grail that Nicodemus swiped at the climax of Skin Game.

7 - The Black Council, the organization that is attempting to bring about another apocalypse (referred to by the White Court of Vampires as "Empty Night") will consist of the following members:

Drakul (father of Dracula, Black Court Vampire, confirmed in Battle Grounds)

Mavra (Black Court Vampire, confirmed in Dead Beat)

Cowl (necromancer, personal enemy and foil of Harry Dresden, confirmed in Dead Beat)

Tessa (wife and archrival of Nicodemus Archleone, theorized by Archleone himself in Small Favor)

A member of the White Council of Wizards, probably on the Senior Council.

8 - We're going to find out a LOT about Harry's mom, specifically that she knew what was coming (the Stars and Stones, the Empty Night, what Nicodemus was up to) and that any child she had that was Starborn (a being immune to the possession of Outsiders, the main threat of the series) would be the perfect counterpoint to the threats ahead. She planned as much of Harry's life as possible but her plans failed when Harry's father died and Harry wound up in the clutches of Justin DuMourne. And finally,

9 - Justin DuMourne was on the Black Council, and in addition to mind-controlling Harry Dresden and Elaine Mallory (the first love of Harry's life) into being his private army, he would have attempted to breed two Starborn (Elaine is widely theorized to be one as well, as she is Harry's age and his match in magical talent) in order to create some sort of weapon.

As the books come out, I will update this post with whether or not these predictions were true. Any comments/additional predictions are welcome.

[friendly-books]

Dresden files Blood Rites live blog

Blood Rites live blog

“The building was on fire and it wasn’t my fault” pg. 11 Ha and I highly doubt that 

Puppies!

Thomas!

“If so, it's a sloppy one. But strong as hell.” pg. 24 Ha Harry being critical of other people doing magic 

“Thomas was an annoying wiseass who tended to make everyone he met want to kill him, and when I have that much in common with someone, I can’t help but like him a little” pg. 30 Ha

“He was at Bianca’s masquerade. Only he was alive back then.” pg. 42 It all comes back to that party

Justine! 

“Since I’d stolen him from Justin DuMorne, my own personal Darth Vader” pg. 62 So Bob belonged to Justin before Harry?

“I don’t expect you to under-“ pg. 77 Ouch Murph 

“He was tall and built like a statue of Hercules” pg. 86 Bi Harry 15

“His face didn’t match the Olympian body” pg. 86 Bi Harry 16

“You always a wiseass?” “No sometimes I’m sleep” pg. 86 Ha

I like Jake 

I like Joan Dallas 

Harry you’re broke, how are you going to pay Kincaid?

“Every time I thought I had gotten through my orphan baggage, something like this came up” pg. 137  aw Harry :( 

I like Inari 

“The next time I saw Thomas, I was going to punch him right in the nose” pg. 153 Ha

“I hit him solidly in the nose with my right fist” pg. 173 Ha

“Empty Night,” she murmured, her tone one of someone speaking an oath” pg. 177 Strange curse word. Why are the first two words capitalized? None of the other curse words are. And none are described as speaking an oath there’s something here 

“Don’t feel bad. I cleverly concealed my identity as Harry the Production Assistant” pg. 177 Ha 

Thomas and Lara casually discussing patricide 

Why would Lara shoot Thomas? they’re siblings 

“So that the next time you start talking I can shoot your wise ass” pg. 186 Ha 

Inari why did you attack Harry he’s trying to help

Inari doesn’t know?!? What a rude awakening to the supernatural with Black Court vampires

“By an entire frozen turkey. A twenty ponder”

“For my next trick anvils” pg. 200 Ha 

Cool that Harry is using his amulet as a symbol of faith 

 “Thomas writhed sinuously” pg. 201 Bi Harry 17

“He was better looking than Thomas” pg. 218 Bi Harry 18

“He didn’t have Thomas beat when it came to smiles. Thomas’s grin had so much life to it was practically sentient” pg. 222 Bi Harry 19

Inari you ok there? Maybe back away from Harry 

“Our mother” pg. 247 Way to drop that bombshell Thomas

“Sank my teeth into his arm” pg. 248 Ha

“You mean he feeds his own” pg. 250 Papa Raith just as bad as Nic. Why was Margaret friends with these people? Did she know what  they did to their kids? Margret needed better friends. This circle of friends is a bad influence 

“I never celebrated Christmas as a kid, after my dad died. It hurt too much. Hell it still hurt too much. But if I had a real family, then maybe things could change” pg. 254 Don’t worry Harry you’ll get a brother and two kids 

Harry’s mom?!?

“He took it, and I drew my brother to his feet” pg. 265 Aw 

Are Bob and Harry friends? I can’t tell with Harry threatening to smash Bob’s skull

“Not now kitten” pg. 276 Well it was nice knowing you Kincaid 

“I took a small but prudent step back from them” pg. 277 Ha Glad to see Harry have some self preservation 

Kincaid keeps digging his grave deeper and deeper 

“It doesn’t count as chivalrous courtesy if you’re only doing it to a wiseass” pg. 279 Ha

Why can’t Harry do the sunshine handkerchief? 

 “Turns out that you’ve got to be genuinely happy to be able to fold sunshine into a hankie” pg. 287 Sobbing 

So the three ex wives did it for the money

“I have a bad habit of turning into a real wiseass when someone makes me nervous. It’s just a reflex” pg. 300 Ha 

No Emma :( 

“That talent had been refined by the harsh lessons of life and even harsher lessons of Justin DeMorne” pg. 331 Justin sucks! Boo hiss 

Ebenezar! 

I love that Ebenezar calls Harry “Hoss”

“You in over your head? It’s as if you’re too stubborn to know when to run” pg. 332 Ha

I love Ebenezar and Harry’s relationship it’s nice that Harry has at least one person he looks up to, respects, and cares about him

Aw Harry made his staff similar to Ebenezar’s

“Look, buddy, you’re scaring the kids” pg. 339 aw Harry :(

Murph in a dress :)

“I must have been feeling suicidal, because I took a step forward and placed myself in the middle of anger stares” pg. 346 At least Harry acknowledges his less than normal self preservation intentions 

“And this is Rich. My second husband” pg. 347 No! :0

Why is Rich married to Murph younger sister? He’s seriously older than her and why would he marry his ex-wife’s sister? Just why?

“Will you take care of my daughter?” “Yes, ma’ am. Of course I will” pg. 356 Sobbing 

“Murphy’s gym bag thumped onto the ground and she stared at me with her mouth open” “What?” I asked “Sir?” she said her voice incredulously” pg. 358 Ha 

“I sort of like him” pg. 372 Yay? Kincaid likes Harry 

“Justin DuMorne had taught me how to do magic. But it was Ebenezar who had taught me why” pg. 376 Cool 

Harry really respects Ebenezar. He stands up to Kincaid 

“Blazing anger had gotten me into way too many bad situations” pg. 375 Ha 

“Be vewy vewy quiet. We’re hunting vampires” pg. 378 Ha

“My dick is bigger than your dick” pg. 379 Ha

“Why do they sell hotdogs in packages of ten but hot dog buns come in packages of eight” pg. 382 Ha 

Well the vampires made the mistake of in-dangering kids 

 “I had already met my quota for burning down public infrastructure this week” pg. 403 Ha

Oh no the bad guys have flamethrowers 

Oh no Harry’s hand 

“I was sending it back to the kitchen anyway. I ordered it medium well” pg. 415 Ha

Ebenezar and Harry fighting :(

Justine’s alive!

Cool that Harry used his staff as a lance

Oh no Murph 

“I’d been in a few caves that were headquarters for dark magic and those who trafficked in it. None of them had been warm. None of them had been pleasant. And none of them had been professionally decorated. Until now” pg. 493 Ha

“Leave me alone, Mister Dresden” pg. 502 oh Murph isn’t mind controlled 

“What can I say, inspiring anger is my gift” pg. 504 Ha

He Who Walks Behind is here 

“Hell’s holy stars and freaking stones shit bells” pg. 514 My thoughts exactly 

Cool that Harry used keys to attack Raith

Awesome that Harry used Lara as a cat’s paw

“Clearly I underestimated you” I said  “Don’t feel bad I mean I look stupid” pg. 525 Ha 

Ivy mention! 

Lash mention I was wondering if she’d show up in this book

“Hey, why did you get large breed Puppy Chow?” pg. 551 Ha 

Final thoughts 

I thought this book was funny. There was so much Bi Harry in this book even without Marcone. Up to 19 on the Bi Harry counter. Sadly no Marcone, why is there so little of him in books. I’m sad that Harry and Ebenezar fought, hopefully they can make up. Nicky, Papa Raith, and Justin DuMorne can all go jump off a cliff in my opinion. I love Thomas and Harry’s relationship. I liked Kincaid and the Ivy mention. I hope to see more of Lash in the next book. I loved Mouse. Rich needs to back up and I’d like to meet him in the parking lot for a chat. I thought the fights were cool. Can’t wait to see what He Who Walks Behind brings to the story. On to the next book.

[alwaysanovice]

Mab giving Harry and Lara a speech before their wedding: Today, two families are becoming one. Harry, in an ominous voice: Two families enter, one family leaves. Lara, suspicious: That sounds...threatening… Harry, downing a shot: The Wedding Games… May the bouquet toss be ever in your favor. Lara: Are you planning something? Mab: Good Lord.

[whyohwhydoris]

So.... Is it just me, or are we gunna call these two White Winter? Because I'm certainly dreaming of a White Winter with these two.