Dresden Files Reread - Fool Moon Chapter 16

Photo by Ouael Ben Salah on Unsplash

Harry makes it out of the woods, but he lost MacFinn at some point, and after like an hour of waiting around at a nearby gas station, he still hasn't shown up, so he calls Susan from the pay phone and asks for a ride. Initially, Susan waffles, saying that she "doesn't want to get in trouble", which is rather puzzling in light of her behavior throughout the first three books. Of course, it's possible she means she doesn't want to get in trouble without getting an article out of it, since she agrees once Harry hints that he'll tell her about the case. He feels "weak" asking a woman for help, which is gross and misogynistic, but he also asserts that she's the only person he trusts to help him with this, which raises a whole other issue. In Grave Peril, we're given the impression that Michael Carpenter and Harry have been friends for years. There's plenty of reasons why Harry doesn't as Michael for help with the actual cases in the first two books, including the one he gives in Blood Rites, which is that Michael is a lot more vulnerable when he's not on a mission from God. But he and Harry are friends, and usually that means you can ask for things like "Hey, I need a ride". That doesn't necessarily mean he made the wrong choice in calling Susan, but it's odd to me that he says she's the only person he trusts to help, when Michael exists and is nothing if not trustworthy. 

While Harry is waiting for Susan to show up, Tera appears from behind the dumpsters, naked but apparently unharmed. She says MacFinn was taken by the feds, and she'd like to borrow Harry's coat on account of the whole naked thing. Harry asks some questions to try and figure out where MacFinn was taken, and Tera answers them to the best of her ability, but she clearly doesn't understand why he's asking. From her perspective, it's a done deal - MacFinn has been captured, they failed, and when the moon rises he'll change and kill a bunch of people. This lupine fatalism is a clear callback to the attitude of the wolves in Wheel of Time when Faile is captured, and I note with interest that Fool Moon came out between Winters Heart and Crossroads of Twilight, almost precisely in the middle of the interminable story arc in question. This also causes me to notice that there's quite a lot of Faile in Susan's mix of calculation, impetuousness, and sincere affection, her playfulness, stubbornness, inexperience, and enthusiasm for life, and the way she makes decisions and places expectations on others based on a clear sense of The Way Things Ought To Be that doesn't quite line up with anyone else's. 

Harry is explaining that he doesn't intend to just let MacFinn shift and eat everyone in holding when Susan shows up. She has the good grace not to ask about the strange woman wearing Harry's duster and nothing else, and lets him fill her in on the situation. They swing by his apartment, where of course there are cops waiting outside. 

Tera volunteers to provide a distraction, and when Harry asks her not to hurt anyone, she hands him back his coast and proceeds to start dancing naked under a streetlight. Harry is only briefly distracted, and takes the opportunity to run into his apartment. He collects the potions he made earlier, a pair of coveralls that his mechanic left in the Blue Beetle, some clothes for Tera to borrow, and his wizard gear, including his staff. How Tera, who is tall for a woman but under 6 feet fits into anything of Harry's, I really don't know. I guess it's not totally impossible that they have about the same waist measurement, but she's gonna have to cuff the jeans an unreasonable amount, and at the very least she's going to look ridiculous in his T-shirt.  

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Harry and Tera both get their new outfits on in the car on the way to the police station, where Harry gets out of the car, completes his disguise by putting his staff in a wheeled bucket like it's a mop, and drinking the Blending Brew. It's described here as not really having a taste, which is at odds with...Peace Talk or Battle Ground, where we're told it tastes like moldy cardboard. Slightly different formula, maybe? In any case, this is probably my favorite potion in the series. The thing where your vision gos black and white, but people start coming back into color if they notice you is just...it's so cool. It also works, and Harry is pretty much able to stroll right in. 

Despite the fact that it's Monday, this is the Saturday post, and we will be doing Chapter 17 on Wednesday. That, however, will be our last Wednesday Dresden Files post for quite some time. Starting in July, our Wednesday reread posts will be Wheel of Time instead. We still don't have an actual release date, but there's good reason to believe it will be later than November 4th, and before the end of 2021, and at this point I'm prepared to call that good enough to be getting on with. So the schedule, such as it is, will look this going starting next month:

• Wednesday - Wheel of Time reread post
• Saturday - Dresden Files reread post
• Monday - Book reviews, advice columns, craft/process, and logistical posts, on an as-needed and/or catch-as-can basis. 

(By the way, if I'm gonna do an advice column any time soon, I'm gonna need more questions. I'm sitting on a few, but they're all hard. Ask me easier questions!)

Until next time, be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things!