Ghost Story by Jim Butcher - What is the goal of training the young?

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So, Harry is dead. But apparently not quite. He is now a ghost. And he knows nothing about how to survive as a ghost. Fortunately, he soon meets some guides to mentor him along the way.



Along with the rest of the story, Ghost Story is the story of the training of the young. While Dresden has been spending years training an apprentice. But throughout the series Dresden has had a problem with trusting others. He has made a practice of hiding the truth of dangers and the realities that he faces from those around him. Even after it repeatedly gets him and those around him in trouble. And now that he is dead, he is not able to help his friends when they inevitably get caught up in things bigger than they are So throughout the book he learns of what his friends have been doing to compensate for his absense.



The question at hand, was his way right? In his absense his apprentice has gone off on her own, and one of his old acquaintances has teken up the task of continuing her training. And his friend comments that she was training his former apprentice to survive in combat, in a world that was harsh and unforgiving. While he has been derelict in his duties in coddling his apprentice.



Was she right? I have a young son, who we are hoping to raise so that he will be able to handle the world. And I have been entrusted with the training and mentoring of graduate students to prepare them to face the world and to survive and thrive in it. My wife and I have promised that we would not coddle our son, that as he grows we will prepare him for the world that he will be a part of. That may not be forgiving. We do not promise success. But we promise that he will not into it blind. And we will have prepared him so that it is possible for him to thrive. But in the end, he will be the one who has to learn the lessons, develop the skills, and go into the world.





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Book Review: Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10)

Small Favor by Jim Butcher

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Tenth book of the Dresden Files. And the principal, Harry Dresden, is a wizard, and a Warden, one of the principle enforcement agents of the wizard world. And he is held in suspicion by his fellow Wardens, his allies the Knights of the Cross. And he is being called in on a favor he owes. To someone who does not wish him well.

As the books have gone on, Harry matures. He is no longer protecting everyone by his silence on approaching danger. The dangers are greater, but now the interaction with his friends and allies has grown richer. The allies begin making significant choices and their personalities, attitudes, and values come into play throughout the plot.

The strength of the characters other than Harry takes away the unreality of the situation. With all the strong powerful beings, it would have been easy to make this a story focusing on a fight between powerful beings. But it becomes a story of people deciding where their loyalties, principles and their duties lie. And these choices had costs, to themselves and to those they were loyal to. And sometimes their loyalties and principals hurt each other. What makes this interesting is seeing the characters struggle with this. And watch them make their choices, some accepting the price, some rejected the great benefits and power offered. Some of these we do not know well, some we have been following for almost the entire series. And this makes this a book I was glad to read.

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White Night, book 9 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

By this point, Harry Dresden, the protagonist, has more responsibility in the form of Molly, who is in the same position he was at the beginning of the series. In probation. The threats are bigger, and with the responsibility of training someone else in discipline, his own discipline is improved.

You see Harry growing through the series. His earlier self-destructive attitudes of always protecting others, even from knowledge of danger, is slowly going away. And he has learned how to ask and receive help, and he finds out many of the people he used to try to protect, are quite competent in their own ways.

The growing sense of trust and learning to depend on others shows considerable growth, which makes this book a delight to read, and watching him engage the dangers and obstacles along the way that much more interesting.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Yes, one of the other forms of recreation (other than movies and running and working out). Reading.

This is book 7 of The Dresden Files, which is probably better known in its TV form on the SciFi channel. The protagonist is Harry Dresden. A wizard. In our world, which, while there are wizards, vampires, were-wolves, faerie's, undead, etc. most of us reasonable folks don't like to talk about it. Because folks tend to think your rather kookie if you talk about were-wolves, zombies etc walking around the streets of Chicago at night. If you don't think so, try it at work.

Anyway, there is this subculture of our world that is very much aware of this. Because they deal with it everyday. Dresden is a rarity. He hides in plain site. His job is a private investigator. As a wizard. Complete with ad in the yellow pages. He also has problems. Like he has a hard time paying the bills (do you know of any successful P.I. wizards in Chicago?). His romantic life is, well, rough (his friends tease him about not getting dates). And the girl he likes but does not admit it, is a cop he works with occasionally and has just left on a vacation to Hawaii. With another guy.

Harry, well he is the hero, but we don't mythologize him. He is moody. Being in the seedier part of life, he has odd friends. A half-brother who has been disowned by his family, part of which considers Harry a mortal enemy (and one that is a secret ally) (oh, it is a family of vampires) A wizard court, whose strongest member thinks Harry is a betrayer of values and should be eliminated, but is also recruiting Harry to be its enforcer. He has a hard time with asking for help. And in trusting people, even when their goals match his. And he has an overprotective streak, which gets people who are capable in trouble because he does not tell them the stuff he is hiding from them. And a war amongst vampires, that is picking an old city to be a battle ground. Chicago.

Some scenes:
Really good descriptions of what street smarts looks like (I think). I can walk through projects and keep out of trouble. Butcher writes what someone who has to live and work in it sees. He writes descriptions of the dark, dangerous places in the city that one of my marine collegues was thinking of when he commented "where do you live" when I made an offhand comment after slight testosterone marine comment of his. Descriptions of various subcultures that exist in an urban city, away from the glamour and the lights. Zombies going up what has to be Sheridan Ave in Evanston. And, because at one point in the book, our hero needed something that was old, dead, big, very aggressive and a hunter, they thought of Sue. (Hi Jack) Which leads to a very fun and spectacular (I'd say bloody, but most of them were zombies so they were already dead) finish.

Probably not for most. It takes a bit of imagination to take the story. Like most good books, if you get past the Nevernever stuff (what they call all the magic stuff) you can get into the characters well. Several of them, not least our hero, has to struggle with decisions of moral ambiguity. And you have a hard time saying they did the right, or wrong, thing. Even the powerful heros have faults and vulnerabilities (both in terms of abilities, but also in terms of personality), just like we all.