Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files

Note: I feel that Death Masks, Book 5, is where reading this series out of order starts to do you an injustice. This book does work as a stand alone to some extent, but you will get major spoilers for the previous books in the series and it also pulls in characters we have met before. So I recommend reading the previous books before you jump into this one.In the previous book, Changes, Harry Dresden, Chicago’s finest (and only) wizard, lost everything in the gambit to save his daughter. He lost his office, his apartment, his car, and broke his back. So he had to make a deal with the lesser of three evils. His ability to walk restored, he soldiered on and while he saved his daughter from the Red Court vampires he also lost his life at the end of Changes. So this story opens with ghost Harry in a train station. There he meets a familiar face, Karrin Murphy’s old partner who died in one of the earliest books. He gives Harry some info but mostly evades questions as he ushers Harry over to Captain Murphy’s office – Karrin’s long deceased father. There Harry is given a choice – he can continue on his ghostly journey (and, no, they don’t know what waits outside of their ghostly city) or he can go back as a ghost to prevent harm from coming to three of his friends.Of course, we all know what Harry decides. So he’s dropped off outside Mortimer’s because he’s the only guy Harry knows that has the ability to reliably communicate with ghosts. There we meet one of Mortimer’s protectors, Sir Steward. Sir Steward explains more about who the ghost world works and Harry has to be rather careful to not think too loudly less he attract ghosts who want to devour his essence. I really liked Sir Steward. He had a dry sense of humor and a strong sense of honor and a very solid idea of who and what he is, which has allowed his ghost to live on as long as it has.Harry had an uphill battle the entire time in this book. It was crazy. He’s been dead for 6 months and while no one retrieved his body, there was far too much blood left at the scene. So lots of folks have trouble believing that either Harry is dead (Karrin) or that he is a ghost zipping around trying to rescue folks (nearly everyone). Even Mortimer, who accepts that Harry’s dead, doesn’t want anything to do with his ghost. But Harry saves his life and Mortimer gives him a small amount of his time, initially. Harry has to keep on hacking away (pleading, bargaining, threatening) at Mortimer to get more of his time.Things have gone to rubble while Harry was away. Molly has become unpredictable and homeless. Karrin lost her job. The streets are dangerous now in nearly every neighborhood. Things that had stayed away from Chicago because Harry protected it have come creeping in. But not all is doom and gloom. Mister, Harry’s cat, made it out of the fire in the last book and found a decent home. Mouse, his dog, is happily guarding his daughter who also landed in a loving home. There’s plenty more along those lines, some of which jerked some emotions out of me. Harry, in classic ghost story form, gets a good look at what his presence meant to those that cared for him.OK, so besides all the feels in this book, there’s plenty of action too. Harry has been tasked with finding his own killer, which is no easy feat. Then this bully and low-level magic user makes his presence known by ordering a drive-by shooting. Through him, Harry learns that one of his old enemies is in town, but this enemy has a new and powerful sidekick. So Harry is floating around (or sometimes zipping around) Chicago learning to use his ghostly skills and fighting crime. Yay! He’s also learned to make use of that grave that the Black Court vampire lady bought for him several books back. A ghost has to rest sometimes.Since memories have power in ghostland, and can also be used to trade for favors, we get to learn more of Harry’s past. I was particularly intrigued by the memories of his time with Justin DuMorn. Harry keeps getting more and more complicated – and I like it!The ending was fantastic! I loved the final fight scenes and how folks came together to do what they could. It was a lot of fun but also filled with tension and since Butcher killed off Harry I have this fear that he might start bumping off favorite characters. Lots of good stuff went down in that final fight scene.Afterwards, we learn a few more tidbits. The mystery of Harry’s killer has been revealed. Harry has a chance to see his family members, such as Thomas. I have to say that I felt Butcher bent the rules just a little on the Thomas/Justine love but don’t touch thing. It was sweet but I also felt it was a cheat. Anyway, it’s such a minor thing. The ending did have one last surprise, so I hope you have the next book handy. This was another excellent addition to one of my favorite series.Narration: This book was originally narrated by John Glover but fans had become accustomed to James Marsters’s performances and didn’t want a switch in narrators this late in the series. So Penguin Audio re-recorded it with James Marsters. Hooray! His performance was spot on, as always. Harry has some really complex emotions in this book, usually about his daughter, and Marsters did an excellent job of getting those across to the listener. I also loved his voices for Molly as she impersonates various characters from the original Star Trek crew.

WOW, this book.... The plot twists, that characters, the action, and ALL the feels. It was supremely plotted and executed. I enjoyed every moment!

This is the 13th book in the Dresden series. It is hard to believe that this series has been going on so long. I enjoyed this book, but it was more of a transition book and I thought it was one of the weaker books in this series. The ending was spectacular though and I am eager to see what book 14 brings. This is definitely not a book to start the series on, you will be totally lost unless you have read the previous books in this series.At the end of the previous book Harry was shot and killed. This book starts with Harry as a ghost; he is given a choice...he can dwell in purgatory or go back and try to find his killer. When Harry is told that people he love will die if he doesn't find his killer it becomes a no-brainer for him. Harry returns to find both Chicago and his friends much changed...and not for the better. Can he save the city and solve the mystery before everything gets even worse?This is a large and lengthy book...and it felt like it. Usually I breeze through these Dresden books and enjoy them immensley but this one was more of a chore for me to get through. It moves slower than previous books and there is a lot of reminiscing on Harry's part.Okay let me take a step back for a second. There was a lot I really enjoyed in this book. We learn a ton about Harry's past and that was pretty cool. Harry has to figure out how to operate as a ghost and that was nifty as well. Both Murphy and Molly have become powers to be reckoned with, and while at times it was painful to read about what they've endured, it was awesome to watch their characters development into even more interesting people.There were also things I didn't like about this book. The pacing was off. The majority of the book was kind of slow and then the ending was spectacular. Ghost's and their special powers run off of memories. So, as you might expect, Harry does a lot of reflecting on his past memories. While it was nice to learn more about Harry's past, these little flashbacks had a tendency to break up the story and make it loose its momentum. There were also large portions of the book where Harry would monologue about whether or not he approved of his past actions; I like seeing in Harry's head but these lengthy monologues happened too often and were too long.There was also a lot absent in this book. The Vampire Courts and the White Council was conspicuously absent for the majority of the book. With all the weird supernatural stuff going down it was hard to believe that they would be absent from it all.I did enjoy some of the plot twists at the end, there were unexpected and creative. I loved the ending and it made me excited to see what comes next.Overall I am kind of on the fence about this book. I really enjoyed some parts of it, I thought other parts were lengthy and boring. I loved learning about Harry's background but got sick of the soul-searching monologues. It seemed like this book could have used some better editing and tightening up. All that aside it was nice to reunite with all these characters that I love so much. The ending was excellent and I do look forward to reading the next book in this series. Even though this book wasn't as spectacular as the books in this series normally are it was still a good book. I definitely recommend this whole series to fans of urban fantasy.

Maybe my review is not the most common but, despite the fact that this book is quite different from the rest, is my favourite

Notre Harry se retrouve dans une situation bien délicate, privé de ses pouvoirs. Or il doit aider ses amis en danger et surtout tenter de retrouver celui ou celle qui a ordonné son assassinat. L'identité du tireur d'élite est assez simple à deviner - il n'y en a pas cinquante. Mais qui a bien pu commanditer le meurtre?Ce n'est pas mon tome préféré, je ne suis pas vraiment fan des histoires de fantômes et l'histoire comporte certains passages proches d'un dessin animé, qui surprennent un peu. Je mettrais une évaluation de 4,5 étoiles.Cela dit, c'est toujours très bien écrit, plein de suspense, et on comprend à la fin pourquoi Dresden doit en passer par là. L'histoire est tortueuse et bien complexe. Impeccable pour faire travailler nos neurones! L'auteur ne ménage pas ses efforts et nous réserve bien des surprises. Une excellente série en général.

Although I liked the storyline less in this book, the ending made up for it! I so enjoy these books. I will start the next soon! :)

Dopo il finale mozzafiato di [book:Changes|6585201] non si può non correre a leggere questo libro, curiosi di capire cosa possa succedere adesso, cosa cambierà, come la serie continuerà.E la prima parte del libro è sorprendente, un viaggio allucinante in un mondo che quasi non riconosciamo più.Perché Dresden è morto, e ora si ritrova a vagare come fantasma in una Chicago fantasma, a metà strada tra il mondo reale e l'oltretomba, con tonalità che ricordano moltissimo il capolavoro [book:Midnight Nation|100094].Qui gli viene dato un compito, scoprire il proprio assassino. La posta in palio? La sopravvivenza di tre dei suoi amici. E questo da sempre è uno dei motori che spingono il buon Dresden all'azione.Ma adesso non è più il potente mago che conoscevamo. E' un fantasma, uno Spirito dotato di ricordi. Niente corpo, niente possibilità di interagire col mondo materiale, niente magia.Nel mondo immateriale degli spettri vigono altre regole, che lui ignora e che dovrà imparare velocemente se non vuole essere divorato dai wright o semplicemente distrutto dall'arrivo dell'alba.E una volta tornato a Chicago, in cerca di aiuto per la sua indagine, una sorpresa lo aspetta.Il mondo è cambiato, in questi sei mesi. In peggio.Lo sterminio della Corte Rossa ha creato un immenso vuoto di potere che ha scatenato una prevedibile guerra aperta tra svariati gruppi di mostri desiderosi di prendere il posto dei vampiri, e a loro volta i vuoti lasciati da questi gruppi vengono occupati da nuove gang soprannaturali nelle varie città del mondo.Una nuova guerra senza esclusioni di colpi per il Bianco Consiglio, insomma, scatenata ancora una volta dalle azioni di Harry Dresden.Ma anche la sua stessa morte ha causato enormi ripercussioni: finora, apprendiamo, Chicago era stata relativamente al sicuro dalle minacce soprannaturali grazie alla reputazione di Dresden, il mago che la proteggeva e che negli anni si è dimostrato capace di fermare minacce di livello globale, contro ogni aspettativa.Ma adesso Dresden non c'è più, e l'oscurità si è infiltrata nelle strade di Chicago.A contrastarla, in questa nuova città dove dal tramonto all'alba la gente evita di uscire di casa e dove a maggio c'è ancora la neve alta, un'inedita coalizione guidata da Marcone da una parte, aiutato dai guerrieri del Valhalla, e da Murphy dall'altra, ormai non più un poliziotto. Al fianco di Karrin ci sono gli Alpha e Butler, ormai una sorta di Giles senza poteri ma con un grande cervello e una enorme conoscenza a disposizione.E poi c'è Molly, trasformata nella Ragged Lady, alle soglie della pazzia, cacciata dai Warden per stregoneria e temuta dai difensori di Chicago. Terrore dei criminali e spauracchio delle forze oscure, combatte da sola il grosso del male che arriva a Chicago cercando di continuare la missione del suo mentore.Uno scenario dispotico che sembra quasi uscito da un What if?, da un universo alternativo.Con Harry impotente, il libro principalmente ci mostra le evoluzioni dei personaggi dopo gli avvenimenti recenti.Molly e Murphy, ma anche Will e Butler, Daniel Carpenter, Bob.Ed Harry, ovviamente.Perché tutto ruota intorno all'evoluzione di Harry, ed è questa la cosa che mi è piaciuta meno.Mano a mano che ci avviciniamo alla fine del libro, e continuiamo a chiederci come Harry tornerà in vita per poter proseguire la serie, diventa sempre più chiaro il senso della missione, il senso del libro.Fino alla spiegazione finale.E onestamente, per quanto il libro sia bello, gli scenari dipinti affascinanti, il ritmo forsennato e non sia riuscito a staccarmene se non a fatica, la ragione dietro a tutto ciò mi è sembrata molto fragile, debolissima.Cioè, si parte da una scusa bella e buona per mettere in moto il libro, e lo scopo ultimo erano quelle sette parole? E un po' più di consapevolezza per Harry che le sue azioni hanno grosse conseguenze?Peccato perché se il finale fosse stato all'altezza del resto del libro, probabilmente sarebbe stato un altro volume stupendo, come Changes.Invece mi sento un po' deluso.Comunque penso che in questo libro Butcher si sia divertito come non mai a giocare al nerd, tra citazioni di Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men e quant'altro.I Bamf di Nightcrawler, l'intangibilità di Shadowcat, la plancia di comando di Star Trek... Butcher deve essere una persona che vale la pena conoscere!

This was the adventure that Harry Dresden had, AFTER he had died. But that didn't make it less scary, or less painful, for him as well as for those who matter to him. The story was complex, with several intertwined threads fusing in & out, in the process confusing the reader about the original quest. It was also VERY GOOD. Recommended.