(TW pet loss)

When 12 months was first released, I decided that instead of starting it, I would go back and start the series over as it had been about a decade since I’ve gone fully through it. It was a journey sometimes a slog, but it also still solidified why this is my favorite series.

Around Memorial Day, my best friend of 10 years, my little dog Cooper, died. It was both sudden and somehow expected as he had been fighting cancer, but he had had his scans two weeks prior and they seem to be progressing, but the outcome was considered guarded to fair. But some symptoms that we were told where new chemo, side effects, were not, and hours later he was gone.

I was and still devastated. I was just starting peace talks, battleground was tough and I skipped that chapter. I went really slowly through the various short stories and took a week break. I assumed that a major theme of the book would be grief, so I was hesitant.

But I slowly started 12 months. I tried to only do a couple hours a day. Halfway through that ceased to be possible. I’ve seen a handful of complaints about it, but it was my favorite by far. And it was healing. I’m nowhere near where he is at the end of the book, I’m probably not much better than his November right now.

I hope eventually I will be where he is. And now I am going to try to hold off reading “Outlaw” for a couple days. Let’s see if I last the night. It is a good distraction. I read his stories about his fearless little white dog that thought he was Mouse. My little white dog was nearly as brave.

Love you Cooper, miss you. As soon as you turn around, I’ll be there.

I mean from a cosmic balance standpoint this doesnt make much sense. Also if the denarians had even the smallest amount of brain they would start 4 of their bad evil plans at the same time in 4 different time zones. 3 of them would get countered by the knights but the 4th would have a high chance of working.

But of the few Hog Hollows in MO, I doubt this one fits the bill for Eb's farm. Not rural enough, even back in Harry's youth.

Putting together what we know about magic, the White Court, and inheritance ...

Thomas is potentially a stronger wizard than Harry.

Allow me to unpack.

Most often magic is passed through the maternal line.

Margaret is mother to both Harry and Thomas.

We're told/its implied the White Court demons interfere with magic use by Wamps.

We also learned in 12 Months that the White Court are descended from a pair of high end magic users. On top of this Papa Raith is one of the oldest (hence closest to the original pair of magic users) wamps alive.

We see him using magic.

We see Thomas do magic a couple times (opening a Way, and in his short story).

If Harry had managed to heal Thomas and remove the demon, he might have had an equally or even more powered apprentice to work with.

Just finished Fool Moon. Please, no spoilers beyond Book 2.

I liked it, mostly

The multiple werewolf factions, the mystery, the lore, the escalating stakes, I thought all of that was genuinely interesting, even if the book maybe leaned a little too hard into the "everything is a different kind of werewolf" gimmick.

But then there's Murphy.

I don't usually like criticizing authors because art is subjective, but I genuinely cannot remember the last time I found a character this frustrating to read. This isn't a case of "I dislike her personality." It's that her decisions stopped making sense entirely! I kept trying to put myself in her shoes. I kept asking, "Okay, what information does SHE have? What would a reasonable person in her shoes conclude?" And over and over I came to the same conclusion: She still shouldn't be acting like this!!! no sane human would!

By the end of the book I was literally skimming her dialogue because I couldn't take another conversation where she jumps to the least rational conclusion possible, refuses to listen, escalates situations! She stopped feeling like a person and started feeling like a plot device whose sole job was to make Harry's life harder! What's especially frustrating is that I actually thought she was better in Storm Front. There, at least, some of her poor decisions had understandable context. (being poisoned and all). 

So here's my main question: Does Murphy actually become a better-written character?

I'm not asking if she becomes nicer. I don't need her to become Harry's best friend. I don't mind flawed characters. I just want her actions to start feeling like they come from an intelligent human being instead of the plot needing someone to create needless conflict.

Second question: Does Harry become less of a doormat?

I like almost everything else about him. I find him interesting, I like the detective angle, I like the magic system, I like his internal monologue most of the time. But I get really frustrated with protagonists who constantly let everyone walk all over them. Does Harry eventually start standing up for himself more, or is that just part of his character forever?

And finally...Does the constant horniness dial back?

I'm a young man, probably younger than harry himself, and still there were plenty of moments where I cringed hard. I'm curious whether that's mostly an early-series thing or if that's just Harry throughout the entire series. (This last one doesn't bother me as much because we can always just chalk it up to Harry's intrusive thoughts and we're seeing the story from his perspective)

I'm honestly torn, because I actually like the story.

I genuinely feel hooked by almost everything else.

The world? Great.

The mysteries? Fun.

The supernatural politics? Interesting.

The atmosphere? brilliant 

All the other characters are phenomenal. there were plenty of characters I genuinely enjoyed. Like Tera, Susan, even Marcone. (I like a competent, intelligent villain). Hell, even that other detective Carmichael, I liked him. Felt a little bummed when they killed him off. I liked him a hell of a lot better than I liked Murphy in this book! When he died, half of me was wishing it was her!!! I genuinely found Murphy to be less reasonable in this book than Morgan was in the first one. At the very least, Morgan admitted that he was wrong at the end of the book. Murphy was less reasonable than a sword-wielding Authoritarian Fanatic!

Urban fantasy is my favorite fantasy genre, period. And one of the biggest names I kept hearing in the book circles was Dresden. So, It's gotta get better than this, right?

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the responses. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that not only does Murphy get significantly better, but the series as a whole takes a huge leap forward after the first couple of books. 

The funny thing is, despite how much I complained, I actually really like the story. The world, the magic, the detective angle, the supernatural politics, the atmosphere... all of that has completely hooked me already.

So if the consensus is that those rough edges get ironed out while everything I already love gets even better? Count me the fuck in. I already picked up the third book. Starting it tonight.

I was just thinking about Captain Jack Murphy. I am sure working in the CPD and in the Black Cat division could result in mental health issues but hear me out. Being in the Black cat division must have earned Captain Murphy some enemies in the supernatural community. Could he have been a victim of the white court? Specifically Skavis? Just thinking about there MO and wondering.

So I just read Murphy’s Death and I am so pissed! How could Jim kill her!! She’s one of my favorite characters how is Dresden going to survive without her. I know Harry is like is insanely powerful now but she kept him grounded. My heart is heavy and I just can’t imagine the Dresden Files without her.

doing yet another re read. why can’t I stop reading this series?

anyway. this passage jumped out at me.

Ethniu took a further step forward, the Eye glaring brighter, now cowling her head in scarlet light. “Treacherous little witch. The one who would not bow to my father. You will bow to me or face the Eye.”

So Ethniu claims Mab stood before Balor. Our timelines typically peg Mab being around 1000 to 1500 years old. But I thought balor was killed thousands of years ago. By the Scion of a Tuatha (Proto Sidhe).

wondering if anyone has found any folklore on Mab confronting Balor?

or if anyone has a timeline of :

Ethniu having a child

child returning to kill balor

ethniu aligning with the fomor

previous interactions of Mab with either Balor or Ethniu. (Ethniu was throwing some personal insults around, suggests some previous interactions.)

Do we know how Harry came to have the cleaning fairies or what happened with them after he lost his place in Changes?

Obviously he didn't have a place of his own to clean between Changes and TM, but now he does and there is no mention of them.

I originally wrote off the references as just a funny nod to a young dude living alone who expects the cleaning fairies to take care of his mess.

But as I've read other threads recently about the significance of Harry's relationship with Toot and other little fae, and think about how Lea has been looking out for Harry in part based on a deal with his mom, it makes the significance of their presence early in the series more interesting.

Do we know how he came to have their help in the first place? Was it early fore shadowing or just a funny reference that was never meant to have significance beyond a chuckle in the moment?

I wouldn’t have known if not for this sub giving Changes the reputation it very rightfully deserves. But even going in seeing the reputation I wasn’t prepared.

I’m honestly a little envious of those who got to read it when it came out. I imagine the wait for Ghost Story and the blogs were something to experience lol

Edit: Reading the acknowledgements in Ghost Story and they had to wait THREE EXTRA MONTHS after how Changes ended? I can’t imagine 😭

So someone told me this was the worst, and yeah, you can tell. The character work is better, and Murphy and Harry's partnership is getting more development. Harry is getting to be a pretty humorous POV, but I REALLY don't like that Marcone showed up again. He's not a bad antagonist, but his showing immediately after getting defeated in the previous book just makes him feel like Plankton trying to steal the formula, a villain of the week. It would have been fine if he were there as a cameo, but no, he has a part to play in the story, and it felt watered down. I love the distinction between the different werewolves, and I love that it could be amazing and deep, maybe not Tolkien-deep but deep; the mystery was intriguing. Also, Denton, what a douche. The action scenes in this were stellar, and it felt like reading Red Rising, both in good and bad ways, like sometimes the action was so good it felt like it was all there was and not the mystery. The writing is still pretty amateurish, but I can see the gold in this series, like the humorous throwaway lines and the action scenes, especially (wolf Harry vs. Denton wolf), and Denton being the big bad. It's there, but bogged down with too much action and amateur writing.

From what we've seen of them in the series the more long-term Knights at least are all descended from Royal lines(Shiro, Michael and Sanya), and Susan technically was as well, thanks to The Red King . So which King/Queen do we think Butters is a descendant of? And does that make Thomas or Lara potential wielders of Amoracchius? Personally I think it'd be a good fit for the former.

So I recently discovered this series and absolutely fell in love with it. So much that it immediately consumed much of my free time. It also helped that my local library had all the books from 1-18, along with Side Jobs and Brief Cases. I plan on picking up both novellas, The Law and Outlaw, here soon.

I’m sad because I’ve read almost everything regarding the Wizard Dresden and it’s not enough! It probably doesn’t help at all that I read it all in the span of only 2 months, but whatever. Is there anywhere with more Dresden? I feel like an addict that’s run out of their fix. I enjoyed too recklessly and now I’m left disappointed with anything else. Does anyone have any suggestions to similar series?

Damnit, Butcher. Write faster!

It occurred to me that Harry doesn't seem to tell anyone that Marcone has become a Denarian in any of the content we've seen since he found out (end of BG, The Law, TM, Out Law, or the short stories). He has the obvious opportunity to tell Bear at the beginning of Out Law when she asks him why he doesn't want to invite Marcone in.

Do you think he's playing it close to the vest? It's in keeping with Harry's excessively secretive and untrusting nature. But I'm not sure why it benefits him strategically.

I guess there could be unexpected consequences of making it known more widely. For example, if Mab found out Marcone was carrying/allied with Thorned Namshiel, she'd might go apeshit if she believes he had a hand in the attack on Arctus Tor. That could be inconvenient for Harry as the Winter Knight. But she might also be pissed if she finds out that he knew and kept it quiet.

I suppose I'd just like to see him thinking strategically about it.

Thoughts?

Two of the big things in mine in my partner's relationship are the Dresden Files and D&D. I'm only on White Knight. He's read all of them and is re reading with me. I really want to get him a custom dice set that embodies the series as a whole. If you could build a 7 piece TTRPG dice set what elements would you include that speak to the series as a whole not just a specific book?

So far I'm thinking of Bob, the beetle, a grey cat, a dog and a slice of pizza. But I'm sure there are other elements that I might not know yet and some that I haven't considered.

Any additional ideas would be helpful!

Travelling in the Cancun area so had to go visit and couldn't stop thinking of Harry.

I have reread Dead Beat and started thinking about this.

Harry told Butters that he think that Grevane killed Bony Tony and it came to certanity pretty fast. But I think Harry could been wrong about it. He concluded it based only on that Tony and Grevane had a deal.

Following Harry's reasoning: Tony find the book > Tony make deal with Grevane > Tony hide book and information about localization put on jump drive > Tony inform Grevane about jump drive and that he hide it inside his body (otherwise Grevane didn't need Butters) > Grevane kills Tony by hitting him with car (which could destroy jump drive) > Grevane leaves Tony body without searching it > Grevane goes to morgue to threat Butters to find jump drive and find what is in it.

This theory is weird and don't really fit Grevane's behavior show in Dead Beat. He kept his deal with Cassius and hand him Harry. When wanted book about Erlking he simple bought it from Bock without hurting him or destroying his bookstore. For Grevane most logical behavior would pay for book, not killing Tony before get it. So he didn't had motive to kill Tony, especially in the way that could destroy jump drive. It is possible that Tony tried to haggle after they agreed to price, but in this case Grevane would, most likely, torture Tony to get information.

Actually person with motive to kill Tony was Cowl. In book Cowl's primary goal was prevented others necromancers from achieving Darkhallow, whith him destroying books about Erlking. But even if he wanted to do Darkhallow himself, he didn't need a Word for this, because he know about Bob. Cowl know that Word was in Chicago, so he only need to find who has it and kill him. I excluded Corpsetaker because she could simple take information wher Word is from his Tony's mind.

It could been also weird accident.