The book I thought we were going to get was going to be mostly about the wedding with Lara. Heroes and villains a plenty as all heck breaks loose during the ceremony with treachery and double crosses and double double crosses. Something fun and a little comic book-ish as our hero has to navigate complex and a little silly diplomatic kerfuffles with the supernatural community. Summer must be invited for it is an insult not to and how they demand to bake the wedding cake! Is this some sort of ruse? Lemongrass frosting!?! WINTER HATES LEMONGRASS.
It did not come to pass. What we got in the aftermath of the two book Battle of Chicago is Harry Dresden has PTSD and will spend a whole lot of the book with a case of the sads.
There's only two sections of Ghost Story that I like. One is when he's at his grave telling Leah the story of Justin and in doing so realizing that there's no way that two-bit punk was calling the shots. The other is at the very end where he stands up to Maab after an archangel balances the scales back out. "Lies. She cannot change who you are." This is right after Changes where a whole mess of bad shit happened and now he's back alive and was pretty sure fifteen seconds ago he was COMPLETELY fucked but he's still able to muster up -
"“I will be the Winter Knight,” I told her. “I will be the most terrifying Knight the Sidhe Courts have ever known. I will send your enemies down in defeat and make your power grow.” I smiled again. “But I do it my way. On my terms. When you give me the task, I’ll decide how it gets done—and you’ll stay out of the way and let me work. And that’s how it’s going to be.”
After a long silent moment, she said, “You dare give commands to me, mortal?”
“I can’t control you,” I said. “I know that. But I can control me. And I’ve just told you the only way you get what you want out of me.” I shrugged a little. “Up to you, my queen. But think about whether you want another thug to command or an ally to respect. Otherwise, you might as well start cutting on me right here, right now, and get yourself somebody with less backbone.”"
And then Cold Days, the book after, is pretty good. He's getting back in to fighting shape and gets the mission to kill the Winter Lady. How's he going to handle this one? Not by being sad that's how.
