Dresden Files Fan Blog.
This blog is not spoiler free. If you are not up to date approach with care. Not all opinions featured here are shared by me. But a book is as varied as it's readers and all interpretations are valid.
Kitty is Jim’s girlfriend. She’s lovely. I met her in Manchester in… April? Going to say April… could be wrong… I wish I’d got more chance to talk to her, but the signing was quite late and I had a long bus ride home saddly. :(
I know it likely wasn’t written with this in mind, but can we discuss for a minute the incredibly cathartic parallels to coming out that Peace Talks has, especially for those coming as from a religious background and those coming out as asexual. (For context, I realized this year that I wasn’t straight but instead asexual, and in the process of coming out went from being a very devout Catholic to currently being in the middle of a lot of confusion about faith.)
To start, Molly’s plot with her family during the Dresden Duology is one big coming out story, and though it may not be exactly the same as a queer coming out story, it is insanely similar.
Molly says things like“It’s not something you put on like a cloak; it’s all through me now, intermixed… I could leave this circle [leaving the mantle behind], I think, but not without leaving the largest part of me behind. Whatever was left wouldn’t be right,” and “I don’t get a choice about that” which is one of the reasons that Molly’s story is such a strong coming out story because it’s not something she can choose, it’s part of who she is, and she can’t separate that from the rest of what makes her, her.
The conversation between Molly and Harry where Molly tells Harry that she hasn’t told her parents about the mantle of the winter lady was one of the most cathartic things I’ve read all year. The way James Marster’s voice shakes as he read “They don’t know… I haven’t told them.” and “I can’t… He wouldn’t understand… I can’t face that. I can’t,” was SO well done! I have literally had the EXACT same conversation with myself over and over again, and watching this strong female character whom I love so deeply feel just as helpless as I do and get through it is so comforting!
The ways Molly’s fears interact with her parents’ religion is so well done! It’s like she knows they won’t disown her or anything, but she worries that they won’t understand, they will be unhappy with the situation, and it will change their relationship.
And then when Molly comes out to her parents at the end of Battle Ground. This post is mainly focused on Peace Talks, but oh *chef’s kiss* I cried so hard during that scene! That was so therapeutic and comforting, and the perfect ending to that story’s plotline.
Michael’s explanation that “faith isn’t all about God, or a god, you know. Mine is. This path is, to me, a very good path. It’s brought me a very wonderful life, but maybe it isn’t the only path. Many children learn things very differently, after all. It seems to me that God should be an excellent teacher enough to take that into account. But faith is about more than that,” is so comforting. To have one of the most religious characters in literature assuring that it’s okay if your faith doesn’t look the way it once did, and it’s okay if it never looks that way again, is so great.
Molly isn’t the only one who helps this book have parrallels to coming out, though. Harry also has, in his own way, a foil coming out story to Molly’s. (I don’t know if I’m using foil right. Please don’t be mad at me. I’m a math major, not an English major).
The way Harry keeps being denounced by the magical community, specifically Ebenezer and the White Council, during this book is so similar to coming out and having people not accept you.
Like, while Harry never wanted to be part of the White Council, him getting kicked out by it is much like religious communities who are like “we want you to be part of us, unless you’re queer. You can’t be queer and fully religious.”
And then there’s the whole conflict between Harry and Ebenezer.
Harry’s experience of learning that someone he deeply cares about is not perfect but instead has human issues and problems and deep, deep flaws, and both having loved someone while being deeply, deeply hurt by them and attempting to reconcile that are two of the biggest things I’ve learned this year. Having these be taught by the prejudice of a mentor has such a strong coming out resonance to it.
And then the scene afterwards where he just holds Karen and cries and all he can say is “it hurts,” is so good. The illustration of one of the things in life that hurts the absolute most being the people you care about telling you that they don’t accept you and hurting you was so well written. I’m not sure if I’ve read anything else that truly shows the longing for those people you were once so close to mixed with the pain of what their rejection truly feels like. Then the promise that the pain of that won’t last forever felt better than a big hug.
And on top of this was one of, if not the first Dresden Book with canonical queer representation among the mortals, and also allowed for a lot more queer HCs between Butters, Murphy, Harry, and some more that I might talk about in a future post…
Finally, the publisher of the Dresden Files is Ace Books, which doesn’t make it queer obviously, but I like the fact that this book which had parallels to my ace coming out story is published by Ace Books.
Ranking the Dresden Files books, you know in my own opinion.
#17-Summer Knight: I have nothing to say for this book, literally I liked two things about it, and other than that, it had nothing going for it.
#16-Battle Ground: It knows what it did. Is it enough to put it so low? um...yes, yes it is.
#15-Ghost Story:Ok, upon a full reread, yeah it’s really just waisted potential. There were a lot of things that if Jim had focused on instead this would have been a great one, but here we are.
#14-White Night:*Desperatly tries to remember what happens in this one besides the Micheal stuff.*
#13-Fool Moon:Is this higher than it should be? Probabaly. However I really liked the whole werewolf thing, the climax was exciting, and honestly I’m just a sucker for procedural stuff.
#12-Storm Front: Kind of similar to Fool Moon I like the procedural stuff, but it’s lower due to some of the serious flaws it has(its the description of the woman for me).
#11-Peace Talks:Honestly, not a bad book. What brings it down sadly is Battle Ground. If the two hadn’t been a pair, and this wasn’t limited on how that story played out, it probably would be higher since I love the character interactions in it so much.
#10-Grave Peril: Not much to say for this one just overall liked it quite a lot.
#9-Small Favor:Same as above. These middle ones are hard for me, since they kind of blended together, but I liked it well enough, and more than the ones that came before it.
#8-Proven Guilty: This is where things get good! I really like Molly in this book! The storming the castle like ending, and splattercon, were just a joy.
#7-Turn Coat: My god! That ending is killer. I mean the whole book is very good, but that ending espically. Also, don’t think I forgot about the “I love you” scene, and yes I did cry a little over it.
#6-Dead Beat: I love this book, I really do. It’s just that I like the other ones on this list just a bit more. Though Sue will always be best girl.
#5-Death Masks: Yeah, I’m surprised that that it’s this high. I love Susan, I always enjoy having her in a book. RIP shiro he was a real one. Also, Sanya is fantastic, and Jim just really knows how to write compelling endings.
#4-Cold Days: I’ve expressed my love for this one and I’ll do it again. It kind of had a slow start for me, BUT THAT MIDDLE ANS ENDING. My god it was evrything.
Ok, the last three are a toss up cause there all so good. So it really just depends on the day, sicne there kind of all my favorites.
#3-Blood Rites: Yes! Yes! This a banger! The family stuff, the Clan Murphy stuff, THE SOUL GAZE. Honestly just a great book from start to end.
#2-Changes:Yep, I get it. I get it guys. What a ride. I listened to this kne on audio book and I had to pause at moments to take it all in. It’s heartbreaking, funny, action packed, and really sets the tone for the second half of the series.
#1-Skin Game: Possibly will remain my favorite always. It’s the one I started with, it’s introduced me to the love of my life, this insane world, and got me back into reading. For that it will always hold a very special place in my heart.
