Dresden Files 15: Skin Game (Possible Spoilers)

[Topomouse he/him]

I just finished the book. It was pretty awesome, but above all:

 

I was pretty touched when Harry discovered he was "pregnant" from Lasciel, though Murphy's reaction was fun as hell.

And I am not ashamed to say that I shed a couple of tears when Maggie asked harry to be her father and he said yes, that moment was just too much.

[The Rooster he/him]

I agree with everything you've said. This book hit me especially hard as I've had a daughter in the time between the last book and this book. I was tearing up sumpn' fierce in his scene with Maggie. This series just gets better and better. I hope it's not at a peak right now but it's hard to imagine me liking them any more.

[cem he/him]

Nicodemus cried. I mean, seriously, that happened.

[Argent he/him]

I liked it a lot - which is not surprisingly for a Dresden Files book. I felt the plot was not as impressive as the one in, say, Cold Days, but the characters themselves, their relationships, were more solid. To name a few:

• Harry and Maggie. We didn't see as much of them as I imagine we will, in the future, but what little was in this book was beautiful. I am happy Harry didn't have to save her from anything (directly), or involve her into the action - he just spent some quality time with his daughter, and it was good.
• Harry and Michael. Seriously, Michael is Very. Well. Written. It's obvious to me that his conviction is true, he feels like a real person, not a book character. What he believes, the way he acts, those are all things that could belong to a real person. His dialogue with Harry early on, when Michael was telling him how arrogant he was, this was some good storytelling. It got to me.
• Harry and Murphy. Finally.
• Nicodemus Archleone. I am glad we got to see a more human side of him. He was never going to accept redemption, but it was good to know that he is not just a practical force of destruction, he does feel the feels. 

Other than the characters, in no particular order...

 

I liked the Faerie Queens are, collectively, Hecate. It's always a happy day in the Dresdenverse when elements from different mythologies overlap. 

 

Archleone thinks he is out to save the world. Interesting.

 

Mab, Marcone, and Hades - Hades! - screwing Nicodemus over and getting Mab's cold pretty hands on 80% of Hades' secret armory. This was good. It fit Marcone's unforgiving nature and Mab's love for deep schemes. The way Hades was portrayed also made me happy. I will need to find out whether the whole "Cerberus is Spot" thing could be possible. 

 

The trip to the Underworld. I must admit, I was mildly disappointed that almost no references to classical Greek myths were made. I was waiting for Harry to comment on how impressed he was with Orpheus (for example) for getting through the three gates on his own - or something like that. 

 

And the five artifacts / weapons. We have the Holy Grail ("a clay cup"), the Shroud of Turin ("a folded cloth"), and Crown of Thorns ("a circlet woven from thorny branches"). Those three are pretty much certain, and are all tied with the myth (devout Christians, don't stone me for this one) of Jesus' death on the Cross. If 3/5 are linked not only to the same religious figure, but to the same event as well, it's possible - even likely - that the other two also are. So the "ancient wooden placard, its paint so faded that the symbols could not be recognized" could be the sign (John 19:19 claims) Pilate wrote, whose inscription read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Finally, the "knife with a wooden handle a leaf-shaped blade." My best guess is that this is not really a knife, but a part of the Holy Lance / Spear of Destiny, the spear that pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the Cross. Knives don't usually come with leaf-shaped blades, but spears kind of do; the wooden handle could be the part of the spear's shift the blade was attached to. If the spear was broken sometime in the past, its tip part along with the blade could have be repurposed as a knife.

I am a little concerned at the incredibly strong presence Christianity has in this book, however. If the reason those objects are as powerful as they are is because of people's belief in them, then Islam should have power objects of its own - and other than the Gatekeeper (who, if I recall correctly, is from Arabic descent), there is nothing. Admittedly, I wouldn't recognize aspects of that mythology even if they were present, but either Dresden or the Internet would've remarked on something... So that's either coming in a future book, or Jim personally favoring Christianity over the other modern religions. Which seems like the kind of thing to cause outrage in the community.

[Swimmingly he/him]

The thing about that is that there is just as much reason to put Buddhist, Hindu, and every other major-religion relic in there as there is reason to use Islamic relics. So, might as well stick to a theme. Those relics probably have a whole lot of power too, Hades just doesn't hold on to them. Nicodemus is probably interested in Christian artifacts because he works pretty exclusively with figures from that mythology. Everyone else is interested in them because Nicodemus is interested in them.

[Topomouse he/him]

I was starting to think I was the only one that read Dresden FIles around here. Glad to see I'm wrong.

 

@Argent: About the weapons from the armory, I had the same idea about the placard as soon as I read that passage, but I was stumped about the knife. Now I agree with your theory, after all it seems strange to go as far as mention the placard without using the lance of Longinus.

I also feel that through the books(sometimes more and sometimes less) Christianity is has been "treated particularly well", but being a Catholic myself I can't say I find that's a problem.

On a partially related note, I also like Michael's character very much. He is actully one of my favourites in all the books I read. Among other things, I think is almost the only exemple of a Paladin(in the D&D sense of the word) played completely straight I have ever seen, and I have always been fond of Paladins.

[ChocolateRob he/him]

Fidelaccius: "You cannot win Nick. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine".

[Swimmingly he/him]

Butters, soon: "I find your lack of faith disturbing. Allow me to introduce you."

[Topomouse he/him]

I forgot to mention, there was a bit of greek mythology reference hidden in palin sight:

According to the myth Athena, goddess of wisdom and intellect, was born directly from the head of Zeus. And how was Harry and Lash child, the spirit of intellect, supposed to be born? By bursting out of Harry's head!

[cem he/him]

By the way, Molly creeped the hell out of me in this book. I mean, she was so obviously faking it with her hugs, and giggles, and smiles. Molly was never really like that, even when she was a kid, and certainly not after Changes. Add to that the Winter Lady mantle... She just felt wrong from the second she appeared. It made me sad, the possibility that she might just be... gone.

[Kasimir he/him]

I loved it, and most people have already picked out scenes and things I enjoyed (for some reason, I do like Binder, and Goodman Gray was awesome) but I'm still pretty confused about whether Murphy was or was never meant to be a Knight. The dialogue towards the end seems to indicate that wasn't the case, but at the same time, I could've sworn Harry said in an earlier book that she had a job offer.

[Argent he/him]

The fact that Fidelachius reacted to Murphy back in Changes, and the archangel speaking through her, are what the suggested a "job offer" - both the sword and at least one archangel agreed that Karrin was good enough for some Knighthood. She never actively accepted the offer though, she only used the sword on a few rare occasions and acted mostly as its keeper. 

[Chaos he/him]

I would tend to agree--I loved Skin Game, but thought Cold Days was stronger. But there were a lot of very emotional heart to hearts that I loved. It was great.

[Swimmingly he/him]

I think that Murphy's chance to be a Knight passed when she refused the offer. She's not getting that chance back
 

[TheArcanist he/him]

Can we just bask in the awesomeness that is Sir Waldo Butters, Jewish Knight of the Cross, wielder of the Lightsaber of Faith, and magically empowered Batman? Seriously- very few things will now be standing in his way now.

 

In other news, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is back, baby! He spent a few books moping around and being angsty- admittedly not without cause -but hey, he's back to being the bullheaded, heart-in-the-right-place heroic wizard we know and love. Evil things that crawled out of the shadows in Chicago, you picked a very bad moment to get cocky. He's back to his old self, he's free (He fulfilled all three of Mab's requests, so unless some official Winter Knight business comes up, he's free to do what he wants), he's got a new sidekick- who happens to be his daughter -and more backup. I can't wait for the next book, because the Apocalypse Triology approaches. And Butcher has promised us Zombie Sue, Tara West, and Ferrovex the Dragon will come again.

 

The situation with Molly is... strange. She's not Molly, not really, but she isn't Maeve either. She's simply the Winter Lady. I'm guessing that, like Harry, she's drawing on the mantle for strength and stability, but isn't letting it get to her- I'm just going to guess that most of the 'weird' coming off her has to do with the fact that she's more or less one of the Sidhe now.

 

The Hecate reveal got me thinking- since the Formor are ancient enemies of the Fae cast into the ocean, and their enemies in mythology were the Tuatha De Danann, that would make the Faerie Courts the Tuatha De Danann- ergo, the Queens would be the triple goddesses of Celtic Mythology. The Summer Queens are Brighid, and the Winter Queens are the Morrigan. They're probably also the Moirae [Greek Fates] and the Norns [Norse Fates]. That's a whole lot of mojo there.

[Argent he/him]

I was under the impression that the Tuatha were, essentially, another court - or unaligned with Winter or Summer, if you prefer it that way. 

[TheArcanist he/him]

Really? Huh. So you think that the Tuatha are the Wyldfae, or as a different Pantheon they exist as a group all to themselves?

[Argent he/him]

I keep thinking of them as a former court whose remnants are now (part of the) Wyldfae. But I really have no idea where those impressions came from, a couple of quick searches just now did nothing to refresh my memory. According to lore they were kind of banished, so maybe that's why.

[Shivertongue he/him]

Edited the topic title to include mention of possible spoilers. I haven't read it yet, and honestly I didn't read the thread at all in case there were any.

 

(Keep in mind, I'm including any mention of anything to be a possible spoiler; I prefer going into Butcher's books without knowing anything beyond what the back cover copy would say )

[Argent he/him]

Might as well get rid of "possible" - this is a thread discussing the content of the book, almost everything will be ridden with spoilers.