I just got done reading this, and was surprised when a search of the Dope showed no other threads about it.
I loved it! It was as much fun as one of the novels, but lent itself well to being put down occasionally. I liked the way that he intro-ed the stories, and was very appreciative oft he fact that he listed where in the timeline each story fit. Makes me want to go back and re-read the whole series (again), slipping the short stories into the mix at the appropriate time.
I also really liked the fact that he included the Thomas story, Backup, so that we don’t all have to rush about trying to find a copy (luckily my local library has a copy, so I had already read that story).
Before I started this, I also re-read Changes, and I gotta say: that was a heckuva novel.
With so many Dresden fans on the board, surely I’m not the only one who’s read this latest collection?
I had already read most of the stories; Jim Butcher’s website lists all his works and the anthologies they’re included in, so I did some librarying to read 'em. However, it’s nice to have them all in one book
See, I avoid his website because I don’t want to spoil the next book coming out by knowing anything about it, etc. so I hadn’t read most of the stories in Side Jobs. I found Backup on the shelf at the library, so it was just a happy accident that I read that beforehand.
There’s one new one (set immediately after Changes), and there was another one that I hadn’t found before. For me, since I will probably re-read the books in a few years, I’m glad to have a nice hardcover edition that houses all the short stories to date.
A friend gave the audio book to me not realizing that I was pretty much done with the Dresden Files after Changes. While waiting in a traffic jam (thanks, snow) I listened to two stories I hadn’t already known: The Warrior and Aftermath.
*Aftermath *is a little action adventure told from Murphy’s point of view; it takes place only hours after the events of Changes but doesn’t reveal anything about Harry’s fate. Instead, it deals with the reasons for the disappearance of the werewolf Georgia and Murphy’s search for her while trying to cope with her loss.
The story is pretty entertaining and continues loosely a storyline that was introduced in another short story that dealt with Marcone’s new status as a Free Lord under the Unseelie Accords.
If you like the Dresden-universe, you won’t be repelled by the story.
The Warrior deals with Michael Carpenter’s life after the serious injuries in Small Favor made it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as a Knight of the Cross.
This story made me angry for two reasons: The way Butcher discussed the “How can God let this happen?”-question and, consequently, my growing suspicion that he seems to be indeed determined to give the white god in his mythology a status that could be called all-knowing.
Butcher comes too close to real-world discussions in this story to make me feel anything but annoyed by his superficial approach. Better stay with the funny and entertainingly silly, Jim.
I have Side Jobs on my Kindle, purchased and downloaded and waiting to be read (as soon as I finish the books I’m reading now). I’ve read every Dresden Files book, but haven’t read any of the anthology stories before. I’m looking forward to Side Jobs as a tide-me-over while I wait for Ghost Story to be published in April.
Odd. I thought it was a surprisingly insightful approach to the problem of the old canard “God has a plan,” at least within the confines of the Dresdenverse. But yes, it does seem that he’s treating the Christian God as the One True God in the setting rather than just another Power. Still, I liked it very much. I’ve seen Paladins torn up and down in Dungeons & Dragons, called Lawful Stupid with justification, etc. etc. Michael embodies the best of what it means to be a faithful champion and I always like it when he’s in the story.
Love Hurts and Aftermath were both new to me and both pretty painful. Harry and Murphy can’t catch a damn break.
:smack: I have The Dresden RPG books and I still haven’t read AAAA Wizardry. Evil Hat made the preproduction PDFs available to people who preordered and the short wasn’t in there at the time, so by the time I got the actual books I’d already dissected the PDFs for info and have barely looked at the actual books.
Even Hand is totally worth reading, by the by. It’s told from Marcone’s POV.
I’ve no problem with the existence of one or several Judeo-Christian inspired deities within the Dresden-universe, quite to the contrary, their absence would be odd – after all, believers are the gateway for strange otherworldy entities into that world. There should be beings that manifested thanks to the believers in Allah and Yahveh and the Holy Trinity.
Of course, those beings can’t be what they are believed to be – 3 times omnipotent creators of life, the universe, everything can’t exist side by side.
So, the question is: What are they? And why isn’t Harry asking this question while dealing with something that is supposedly an archangel?
Well, there are hints that Butcher might decide to characterize the Christian – or rather the Catholic god as the real deal. Not one god among equals, not even the primus inter pares, no: the God, the cause of all.
But this doesn’t solve the mess, it makes it worse. Not least because the catholic God is not consistent at all with the reality of the Dresden-universe.
I forgot to ask a question about Backup - I seem to miss something. Btw, one of Butcher’s best shorter stories.
Why didn’t Thomas simply take Mouse with him in his search for Harry? Mouse’s presence and friendly behaviour toward the re-imaged Thomas should have given Harry pause before attacking him. After all, Harry has seen plenty of times that he can be deceived but not Mouse.
I’m not entirely sure what’s to elaborate. The usual disillusioned response to “God has a plan” or “Everything happens for a reason” is to point out the utter lack of good to be gained by the bad thing; what silver lining is there in a loved one dying in a random gang shootout?
The Dresden Files is urban fantasy, and as such takes otherwise realistic situations and applies supernatural elements to it. So Harry is in a position to ask what the hell kind of plan God has, and as it happens God is in a position to answer, or at least one of His lieutenants is. And at least to me, the answer makes sense provided you assume that there is in fact an omniscient God, someone who is manipulating events on a scale far beyond human comprehension.
As for why Harry doesn’t question the Trinity and all that? Well, this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive theological dissertation, and Harry tries not to think about religion all that much. Besides…there’s magic in the world. When Mab can speak using Grimalkin’s voice, I don’t think Harry worries overmuch about how one being can be the Son, Father, and Holy Ghost. The power Mab wields nearly drove him insane, and it’s pretty likely that God, if He is the real deal, is an order of magnitude above her.
No. If it is the real deal, God is not an element of the less or more power scale – it’s omnipotent. I think you underestimate the implications here.
Provided we still talk about God with the capital G here, I have some serious problems with this. The question of the sense in random seeming violence is just an aspect of the greater question of suffering in the world. The very limited questions Harry asks, allow easy answers, but what about the suffering caused by natural events or the suffering caused by hunger or of the youngest of children? All the suffering of so many over such a very, very long time, unrelated to any act of free will. And worse, God has not just the omnipotency that looks like a good solution to all of this if he were benevolent, nope, he is also the one who created the world in such a way that all that suffering not caused by an act of free will can happen in the first place.
A twelve year old doesn’t fail to wonder about this - but Harry asks only the most harmless of all “how can this be?”-questions; only the ones that provide an answer without serious contortions of the listener’s imagination.
A guy like Harry, who follows a code of “if you want to be good, you have to do good”, should be pissed by those simple - and in no way verifiable - answers and not feel reassured.
Btw, the archangel was pretty evasive when it came to the relationship of free will vs. determinism vs. omniscience. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that the question is far beyond an urban fantasy topic – but no one forced Butcher there, he went into this mine field of his own volition; and then, I am allowed to question his approach more than the genre usually warrants.
In seriousness, I can see what you’re getting at. Ehh. I don’t generally ask for deep nuance or exploration of philosophy in my entertainment, so I don’t worry overmuch about it. Butcher approaches his writing at the level of a tabletop game master, which tends to define the world just enough to tell a good story but doesn’t necessarily develop the deep ramifications beyond that.
