Oh, and his quasi-vampire, possibly still girlfriend Susan
Rodriguez is back in town with a new associate and some interesting tattoos.
Once again, I found myself wondering, with 100 pages to go, how Butcher was
going to make this work. In this case, he does because the Fallen subplot isn’t
neatly wrapped up. Really, it’s only just gearing up, and Marcone is mostly on
the periphery. For most of the book, it seems clear he’s mixed up in this, but
the how and why are unknown, and he doesn’t play much of an active role. It’s
interesting that the human gangster is kept as this lurking factor just
off-stage, but the former angels are front and center. Feels like you’d do that
in reverse most times, but Marcone’s in that nebulous zone where he can be an
ally if it suits his interests. Kind of like Dr. Doom. Holding him back so we
can wait to see how he steps in.
A lot of the book is taken up with this question of why
people do what they do. Harry has conversations with the other two Fists of
God, Shiro and Sanya, about their faith and reasons, and they, in turn,
question him about his motives. Harry consults an oracle for help, she asks why
he does what he does, and Nicodemus (the lead Fallen) has his own theory about
Harry. It seemed plausible enough based on how Butcher’s written Harry, with
the guilt complex, and the sometimes barely controlled desire to just cut loose
with everything he has. At the same time, it’s a demon trying to sell Harry on
joining up. Not the most trustworthy source.
When it was mentioned that one of the forms his duel with
Ortega could take was a contest of wills, and after the oracle telling him he
really ought to think about his reasons, I expected Harry would finally suss it
out during the duel. He’d realize his true motives, draw strength from it,
overcome Ortega. I guess I should give Butcher credit for not going so cliché with
it, though I wouldn’t have objected to Harry getting a clean win over the guy
and being done with him. Butcher has mostly played the vampire/wizard conflict
as something going on all the time, and Harry occasionally gets attacked, but
it’s kind of routine now. The problem is, that makes the war seem kind of
irrelevant, less of an annoyance than keeping his rent paid. I suppose even
that makes a certain amount of sense, as we learn the vampires had been
planning the war for awhile, but when Dresden gave them an excuse, they jumped
the gun on it. It never really was about him, and he is basically the youngest,
least experienced wizard, so I guess he wouldn’t be that high priority of a
target, even if his track record says it would be better to kill him quickly.
‘Sanya’s expression became surprised. “You are not a
religious man, then.”
“I wouldn’t burden any decent system of faith by
participating in it.”
The tall Russian regarded me for a moment and then nodded
slowly. “I feel the same way.”
I felt my eyebrow arch, Spock-like. “That’s a joke, right?”
He shook his head. “It is not. I have been an atheist since
childhood.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re a Knight of the Cross.”
“Da,” he said.
“So if you’re not religious, you risk your life to help
other people because. . .?”
“Because it must be done,” he answered without hesitation.
“For the good of the people, some must place themselves in harm’s way. Some
must pledge their courage and their lives to protect the community.”
“Just a minute,” I said. “You became a Knight of the Cross
because you were a communist?”
Sanya’s face twisted with revulsion. “Certainly
not. Trotsky. Very different.”’
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