This book has such a different feel and flow than the rest of the series, in a good way. Very fun spin. ( )

I, um, kind of finished this one sitting because I couldn't let Harry stay a ghost for long. Definitely interesting to see said character work without their usual tools. ( )

Changes ended with a bang (literally) - some consider it a cliffhanger (despite Mr. Butcher's claims it sorta qualifies..). Ghost Story picks up where Changes leaves off. Its a good novel. We get character development from several recurring characters, Harry still angst's, the Nevernever gets explored from a different angle, we even visit Bob's skull (wow amazing !!), and there's a lot of action. (of course!) Harry is always up to the tip of his staff with trouble.. :D

Which brings me to Bob. WHAT ABOUT BOB! (Bob was epic in this book btw) Harry! You didn't even [ok can't say I don't want to give spoilers]..

Mr. Butcher how could you leave us hanging about Bob!!!

(have you guessed I'm a Bob fan yet?) ( )

I gave this entry in the series 4 stars, just because I was very curious to see how it would turn out, but I actually skipped probably about 100 pages' worth of narration -- philosophy and filler about the nature of the spirit, how ghosts can operate in the physical realm, etc. As well as Dresden's endless reflection on all the things he did wrong, which ultimately put him in this position. It is not a spoiler to note that his position is dead. He is dead. At least, he's in spirit form, roaming the earth (or the city of Chicago anyway), trying to work out how he became dead, how he can continue to participate and influence his world, and what happens if and when his time on earth actually does come to an end. While I appreciate the unfolding of the larger Dresden chronicles, and the expansion of his world, I do sort of yearn for the simplicity of an urban fantasy procedural. Everything is getting so complex, with spirits, fairies, and other (mostly evil) supernatural beings, all of whom have immortal agendas that involve controlling or manipulating Dresden -- it's getting a little repetitive. So, quick summary: Dresden's Ghost gets into about the same kind of trouble as Dresden himself usually gets into, with the involvement of his merry band of sidekicks. I read ahead a little, and I've put the next volume into my "to-read" list, though I won't be in a big hurry to grab it up. ( )

"Okay," Mort echoed, evidently speaking mostly to himself. "I mean, it's not like I'm trying to join the Council or anything. It's one hour. Just one little hour. What could happen in one hour?"

And that's how I knew that Mort was telling the truth when he said he wasn't a hero.

Heroes know better than to hand the universe lines like that.

Ghost Story is the thirteenth book in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I think any sort of synopsis would be a big spoiler for this installment, especially for those going through the series the first time, so I'm going to skip it. Let's just say that the title is very accurate.

Harry's unique situation gives this installment a very different framing than we're used to seeing in the series so far. It's a lot more introspective and philosophical and includes many flash backs to Harry's past. It also shows us the impact Harry's had on Chicago's supernatural scene and with his friends which makes his absence combined with the power vacuum left from the Red Court's demise profound. Yet, I can't believe I'm going to say this... I was bored a lot reading this one. How the heck can a Dresden novel be boring?? The story has an intriguing ending which helped though the book felt like a series reboot. Or the biggest transition novel of all time. I just wish it hadn't taken 500 pages to get interesting. ( )

Note to self; don't accidentally miss a book in a series, you'll ruin the massive plot twist for yourself. Doh! Still very much enjoyed the book. ( )

464 ( )

When I read the dust jacket of this one, I was a little worried. I didn’t know if I wanted to read 400 pages of dear Harry being a ghost and apparently powerless. I should have known Jim Butcher would pull it off with his usual aplomb. He’s at the top of his game here, which is pretty impressive for book 13 of a series. When certain other unnamed series (insert Sookie-cough here) seem to be losing their oomph, The Dresden Files continues to be consistently entertaining and clever.
I’ve read enough authors writing about characters experiencing death, and I was worried I would have to suffer through yet another wispy, floaty, sensory-heavy description of the process of dying. I should have known better. This is Harry Dresden, people-he’s going to stand in front of a train and play chicken with the light at the end of the tunnel.
I loved every minute of reading this book, and it was worth waiting a few extra months to get it.
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Ghost Story is the thirteenth full-length book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. The previous book, Changes, ended on a cliffhanger with Harry, it appeared, having been murdered. As this book opens, his death is confirmed, as Harry begins to navigate the afterlife with the help of a couple of familiar characters who’ve also passed on. He’s offered a unique opportunity to go back to Chicago as a ghost and hunt down his own killer. It’s presented as a choice between this task and stepping into the hereafter, but when Harry is told that three of his friends will come to great harm if he doesn’t go back, it becomes less of a choice for the always loyal wizard detective and more of an imperative. With time passing differently in the afterlife than the mortal realm, ghost Harry is returned to his old stomping grounds six months after his death only to find that his total defeat of the Red Court vampires has led to a power vacuum in which all manner of supernaturals have cropped up trying to take over the world. While Chicago isn’t quite as bad as many other places, without its resident wizard to keep things under control, it has become difficult, forcing Harry’s young apprentice, Molly, and all the rest of his friends to band together to fight all the things that go bump in the night. Harry’s first order of business is finding a way to communicate with his friends, which he accomplishes through ectomancer Mortimer Lindquist. Once they’ve been convinced that it’s actually him, they’re able to get to work, but there’s a ghostly conspiracy afoot in which an old defeated foe of Harry’s is trying to find a new body to inhabit in order to rise to power again. Of course, Harry can’t allow that to happen, so with the help of all his old friends and a few new ghostly ones as well, he sets out to defeat his enemy once more, while also trying to figure out who murdered him so that no one he loves gets hurt.

With Harry being a ghost throughout the entire novel, it brings a whole new dimension to his character. For the most part, he doesn’t have the same powers that he had as a mortal wizard, so he spends a lot of time using his brain rather than his magic. However, initially he’s reduced to depending on others. As a wizard, he knows some things about the ghostly realm, but since that isn’t his area of expertise, he doesn’t know as much as someone like Morty. There’s also a huge difference between theory and practice, so actually being a ghost is an entirely new experience for him. Given the rather contentious nature of their past relationship, Morty initially doesn’t want to have anything to do with Harry, although he eventually comes around. He does play host to a plethora of other spirits, though, one of whom, Sir Stuart, decides to take Harry under his wing. With Stuart’s and Morty’s help, Harry manages to figure out how to navigate this new normal and gradually learns that he has more power than he thought. That power comes in handy when it becomes apparent that an old nemesis of Harry’s he’d previously killed is still “alive and well” in the spirit realm and building their own power in an attempt to resurrect themselves. Harry must draw on everything he’s learned in his short tenure as a ghost to help defeat their enemy with a huge assist from his friends, and in doing so, solve the mystery of who killed him. As I mentioned, having Harry be a ghost was a completely different dynamic than what we’ve seen in all the previous books. He’s still Harry personality-wise, and he’s still very smart, but he’s lacking most of his innate wizard powers. I still love Harry no matter what, but there was a part of me that couldn’t help feeling like he was a wraith in his own story, kind of just floating along and not being as proactive as we normally see him. I admit this is because he simply couldn’t be under the circumstances, but I did find it a little frustrating and it prevented the story from being quite as exciting as most of the others in the series so far.

Most of the usual supporting characters are present in the story and some of them act as stand-ins for Harry in his absence. Many of his allies have formed a community watch of sorts, where they’re looking out for Chicago and continuing his fight against the supernatural baddies. Not surprisingly, Karrin Murphy is leading the group and looking after Mister, although she doesn’t end up factoring in quite as strongly as some of the other characters. Same goes for the three remaining wolves, Will, Marci, and Andi. They show up a few times, but don’t play big roles. Abby, who is now helping head up the Paranet, a group of low-level magic practitioners, appears again. The Carpenter’s oldest son, Daniel, who is also Molly’s brother, is fighting amongst their ranks and he takes on a heavy-hitter in one pivotal scene. We’re introduced to a kid named Fitz, who, along with several other teens, are being held in thrall to a sorcerer in an Oliver Twist style scenario. Fitz is a sensitive who can hear Harry, although not see him, so Harry helps him, as does Father Forthill, whose taking up of the boy’s cause proves more dangerous than expected. I’ve also mentioned Sir Stuart and all the other ghostly entities Harry meets on the other side. Harry’s fairy godmother, Lea, helps out in her own way. Thomas only appears in one short scene at the end, along with the love of his life, Justine. I’m happy that it appears Justine has finally found a work-around for the problem that’s been keeping them apart. Harry briefly gets to see his daughter, Maggie, and I’m thrilled with where she ended up, along with Mouse.

However, I’d have to say that the real stand-outs in this installment were Molly, Butters, Bob, and Morty. Molly is in rather rough shape, both physically and emotionally, following the battle of Chichen Itza, which, along with Harry's death, has changed her. However, she’s still an ever-evolving characters who is even more powerful now than before, leaving me deeply impressed with her strength and fortitude. Butters uses his ingenuity to communicate with Harry, and we learn something new about Bob that leads to an interesting battle for him. We also get to see him in a humanoid form for the first time. But it was Morty, the ectomancer we last saw bilking people out of money but who’s apparently grown a great deal since then, who really helped save the day and showed that he’s a pretty powerful magic practitioner in his own right.

Overall, I enjoyed Ghost Story, although perhaps not quite as much as many of the other more recent books. Most Dresden stories start out a little slow, then build to bigger and bigger battles until Harry finally saves everyone from whatever big bad is threatening them by engaging in a huge climactic battle. To some extent, this story followed that same pattern, but I still couldn’t help feeling like it was a little slower paced than most. I think maybe it’s because of how Harry doesn’t have full use of his powers, so there isn’t as much he can do. Ultimately the defeat of the villain ends up being a group effort rather than Harry riding to the rescue. I’m fine with that, but because Harry is wandering around the spirit realm, while his friends are still in the mortal realm, there aren’t as many interactions between them, leaving their storylines feeling somewhat separate from one another. Instead he picks up a few new sidekicks in Fitz, Sir Stuart, and other spirits. Also since memory plays a pretty important role in the ghostly sphere and because he has little else to do in the light of day, Harry takes several walks down memory lane that I had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it was nice to learn more about him as a young wizard, but on the other, those parts seemed to slow the pace even more. However, I do have to give Jim Butcher kudos for the plot twist that left me a bit stunned when Harry’s killer is finally revealed. I never would have guessed that in a million years. I was also impressed with Molly whose final scenes were pretty impressive. She has different talents than Harry and with each story she grows stronger and stronger. It was a treat to see her fearlessly take action against the villain. So while Ghost Story had a few downsides to it, it was still a good story with much to appreciate. ( )

The first few books in the Dresden series were slightly repetitive, but I still enjoyed them. Ghost Story was like reading a book from a different series - but in a good way! The progression of the overall plot is impressive. While the books in the beginning of the series often felt like creature features, they have now developed a solid overarching plot. Excited to continue with Dresden and company. ( )

Harry and his friends are in trouble and as a ghost he's limited on how he can get himself and his friends out of it. Still, being a wizard of his word, he's gotta try. Coming back to a Chicago under siege both on the physical and spiritual fronts, Harry has to find his way through the new rules of his existence. But then, since when did Harry ever play by the rules?

This is a very different book from the previous books, being more philosophical in its musings on life and death, things Harry's never had real time for before, being caught up in keeping the monsters away. Magic and weapons both work on the most potent memories, trying to talk to people is frustrating when they can't even sense you, and there's a whole other world to explore. Not that Harry Dresden's got time for that.

It took me longer than usual to get into the story because we are dealing with a whole other world in which the rules are very different. Harry spends more time musing over things he never worried about before. We get to see some of the results of his actions over the years, how he (like another character I can think of) helped to mold the people around him into a knowledgeable crew who could deal with the weird and odd things which most normal people don't have to deal with. How he protected Chicago from the type of horrors which now plague it. How the results of his actions affected his apprentice Molly Carpenter in not so good ways. How ... well you get the idea.

All in all, a good and unusual Dresden tale. I look forward to the next book ... Mab is going to be an unhappy Winter Queen I think.
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This one was different from the others, but I enjoyed it. It was even a little more unbelievable than the previous books, but it's a fantasy, was well written and fun to read. It'll be interesting to see what he does with it next. ( )

Wow, wow, wow! It was hard to put this book down. The theme of this book is that actions taken with the best of intentions often result in unintended consequences and that sooner or later, you have to answer for the choices you make. *Excellent* Harry character development. It's going to be a long wait for the next book in the series. ( )

This was great! This was a re-read for me and I am finding that I am enjoying all of these books, even more, the second time around. After the way the previous book ended, I was eager to dive into this book. Harry was in a very bad spot and I have to admit that I was a little worried about him. This book answered a lot of my questions and left me asking new ones. This is definitely a series to pick up.

This is the thirteenth book in The Dresden Files series which does need to be read in order. Harry has been through a lot but this may be his biggest challenge yet. Harry has been given the task of finding his own killer. That would be a tough enough job but he has to do this without access to his body which means he is limited in what he can do. He accepts the challenge and knows exactly who he should go to for help. Before long, Harry has the help of all the people he has grown to depend on over the years and the stakes are higher than he could have imagined.

It was depressing to see how things have changed in the time that Harry has been gone. The world looks bleak and not everyone is doing well. I couldn’t believe some of the things that we revealed in this book! This book had all of the action and excitement that I have come to expect from the series.

James Marsters did a fantastic job with the narration. Now that I have listened to these books, I couldn’t imagine experiencing them in any other format. I felt like I was right there with Harry trying to figure out who the killer really was. He did such a great job with the various character voices and I felt that he added just the right amount of emotion into his reading.

I would highly recommend this series to others. This is a series that just keeps getting better and better. I cannot wait to continue with my re-read of this wonderful series. ( )

I know this was not the first time I read "Ghost Story. I must have read it first came out because I did not remember how it ended. I thought Dresden was saying goodbye, and Jim Butcher was saying goodbye to the series. He likes to write pain in his novels. Ah, isn't life about pain? I am happy to read about more pain in the next one. ( )

this one was depressing ( )

Damn it, Butcher.
I had to wait until my tears dried enough to write this. This is by far the best book in the series. And if you make it all the way to the end without your eyes at least itching a little bit then you have no soul. I mean... you are no soul. ( )

I'm really excited for the next one, but this one didn't grab me the way the past few have. ( )

Harry’s dead!

In his afterlife, he must return to Chicago as a ghost to find his murderer or his friends will suffer. Add an imminent threat from forces formerly held at bay by the Red Court and the return of an old enemy who kidnaps a professional colleague, and Dresden gets no rest even when he’s dead.

A good addition to the series. An excellent plot twist. Worth staying up late for. ( )

Another fantastic chapter in the Dresden Files!!! I hope the author, Jim Butcher, will live a wizard's long life, and continue to pump out excellent reads like this one for decades to come!! ( )

And then he was dead. Ish..

Of course the ending of Changes couldn't be the end of Dresden. And after Ghost Story, I think I can forgive Butcher for that cliff hanger. Mostly. :)

Thematically, it's a different sort of story, with Dresden mostly without any of his usual tools of the trade and having to learn a whole new set of rules for how the rules work. After the crazy power spike he got throughout Changes, it's something that needed to happen and I think it was done well.

On top of that, we get all of the fall out. Turns out, when you operate on Dresden's scale and when you take out an entire race of bad guys, you create something of a massive void. And now his friends have to deal with it.

Among the developments of Ghost Story is bringing Mortimer Lindquist (it's funny because 'mort' or something similar means death in many Romance languages) to the forefront. Just trying to stay alive makes sense in the darkness that is the Dresdenverse and yet in the end, he still comes through for the good guys. He had a nice character arc, particularly for what was previously a minor, annoying character.

We also get a previous bad guy back again. No spoilers, but given the subject matter (dead things), it's guessable. It was nice to see the fallout of previous problems like that come up again. I have a feeling we'll be feeling that throughout the rest of the series.

All together, it wasn't my favorite book in the series--it's just too different. On the other hand, it's a good way to hit the reset button on a fair bit of power creep and shift the Dresden Files to a new normal. It'll be interesting to see where it goes next... ( )

I really enjoy Butcher's misdirection. ( )

This starts out with a trope I hate, because it never, ever plays out well or reasonably. Except this time it did - and hurt like a kick to the face in a couple places. Really well executed, though I spent the first half of the book waiting for a shoe-drop of stupid that never arrived.

Thank goodness. ( )

Way too much inner dialogue with this one. The threads of the story were in knots. The action was great, but the explanations and going over the last story was too much. I would have liked it better with about 2/3rds less musings. Never figured out parts of it. ( )

Ghost Story is the 13th book in the Dresden Files series. After being murdered by an unknown assailant, Dresden finds himself back on earth searching for his killer. He wants to fulfill his mission and help his friends, but it's difficult to get things done as a spirit. Dresden will have to learn how to function as a ghost, while still getting to the bottom of the evil plaguing Chicago. Can Harry Dresden manage it without a body...or magic?

This is probably my favorite book in the series so far. Dresden has to get creative in order to interact with his friends and investigate his murder. Lots of twisty, interesting action in this book. This series just keeps getting more and more interesting. I'm very glad I'm a bit behind because I'm an impatient reader. If I had been forced to wait for a new book after finishing the cliffhanger ending of Changes (book #12), I would have had a rough time! As it is, I'm biding my time in finishing up this series because book #16, Peace Talks, still doesn't have a firm publication date. It's been years. Hopefully this is not a case of what I call George R.R. Martin Syndrome where new books are years and years and years late...while the author writes comics, books in other series and works on television scripts.... Sigh.

I think I will stop reading this series and take a break until Peace Talks has a release date. Then I can time my reading so I don't get stuck waiting months for resolution. Love this series! It's my favorite urban fantasy series since Simon Green's Nightside series ended.

I listened to the audio version of this book. In fact, I had to change audiobooks in the middle. Half of what I listened to was narrated by John Glover....and half by James Marsters. I really prefer James Marsters narration. He gets the humor and tone of the characters right and always does a masterful job of acting. Not that John Glover was bad.....his reading was excellent. Marsters is just better, IMHO.

I'm not really ragging on Jim Butcher either. I realize he had a bit of upheaval in his personal life...got divorced, built a house, remarried, etc. I get it. Authors have lives and important business has to be settled so writing can be a focus again. Understandable. But.....it's been years.....time to give us readers a date and get it done. I will patiently (or just a bit grumpily) wait awhile longer, but I'm giving Dresden a break until I know the new book is coming. Not dealing with any cliffhangers until I have Book 16 in my hands. :) ( )