Why I like The Dresden Files

[theweaselking]

I don't remember who specifically recommended 'em, but I saw the first three books on sale as a boxed set and picked 'em up on spec.

I liked those so much I went to two different bookstores to get the rest. It would have been just one and a second trip next month or something, but the only book missing from the first store was *book 4*, and I wanted to read that one next.

It's fluff, it really is. Standard-grade entertainingly-written modern-magic stuff, but there's one thing that really makes Harry Dresden stand out from the rest of the good-modern-fantasy set[1]:

Harry's competent. He knows what he can do, he does it, and he's not afraid of it. He isn't terrified of pulling out his Big Guns in case he loses control the way most modern-fantasy protagonists are. He's not delusional about how his powers work or about what he can or cannot do. He's sometimes overconfident or simply *wrong* about something, but there's none of the whole "we mostly don't form Megazord immediately every time because we like to give our enemies hope" shit that is depressingly common in the depths of the mire that is the subgenre.

Plus, really, Dresden's a jerk. It's a selling point.

[1]: This set does not include Buffy The Vampire Shagger or any of her dozen identical clones.

Comments

[mhoye.livejournal.com]

I endorse this viewpoint. Competent, sanguine heroes are in short supply in this field.

[cuddlycthulhu.livejournal.com]

One of the things I like about the series is that he's been dealing with consequences the entire time. If Dresden is a Gary Stu, he's a very small one.

Plus it's kind of fun in a sadistic way to see how Harry is going to be beaten up next.

[a1057soul.livejournal.com]

I actually just started the series (and like you I want to read them in sequence even though I don't think they're written in a 'serial' style... but I like making sure things are in order), but I agree the series is great. It is what it wants to be: an enjoyable, semi-hardboiled, pulp fiction feeling, urban-fantasy series about a wizard in the modern world... who is a bit of a jerk with a good heart.

I'm coming at them after having watched and then purchased and watched the Sci-Fi series The Dresden Files (it only lasted 1 season which was a shame because I thought it was an awesome show) and I see from reading the first book after the tv series that they changed a couple things, but in my opinion they kept the feel of the characters and the changes were somewhat minor.

(and bt the way they seem to have the whole series in paperback on overstock.com)

:o,
Dan

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jeremiad/]

I just read the first book and though it was very well done.

This was also after having watched the show.

[gothpanda.livejournal.com]

I'm still sad about the show being cancelled. I really enjoyed it. I've been meaning to try the books, will have to pick them up.

Agreed!

[bodandra.livejournal.com]

I go to the bookstore just to check if he has anything new out there!

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly adore the series, and I'm annoyed at Maus for loaning out my ENTIRE Dresden collection.

The show was a lot of fun, too. Pity SciFi canceled it.

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

They aren't necessarily serial, but they are additive. Characters, plot points, even magical techniques continue to build up over time. 5-6 books in and the whole thing starts to snow-ball into a whole new level of complexity.

[thathatedguy.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent view of the series. Another reason I love it is the supporting cast, although it does a get a little stale to find out that yet another of Harry's friends has some mojo-ocity going on.
One event that I am dying for, however, is (how to say this without being spoilery, hrm) for a certain someone with an ass admired by deadly assassins to get a thing that an asian guy had to hurt things with and stuff. This would make me "mark out," in wrestling smark parlance.

[blake-reitz.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

Something I noticed on reading the series is that the characters change over time, and in realistic ways given what they've been dealing with.

It's pretty cool. I love 'em, myself.

[marlo.livejournal.com]

I just bought the first one because I was at the bookstore and two random people came up to me, separately, to recommend them. (I was looking at Octavia Butler, so the books were nearby.)

[endotoxin.livejournal.com]

You familiar with Glen Cook's Black Company series? I highly recommend the first 3 books. The second 3 are okay, and the last four are kind of unfortunate. I only mention this because Glen Cook reminds me of Jim Butcher, and visa versa.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. A little bit. More in Cook's "Garrett Files" series which stealshomages most every classic noir writer in a fantasy setting then his many Epic Fantasy series...

[kowh.livejournal.com]

Also, if you are the type who doesn't like spoilers, reading out of order will spoil things from earlier novels.

[kowh.livejournal.com]

The show is different from the books, but they didn't ruin the books or anything. Both are good, they're just somewhat different.

I still like the books better than the tv series mind you.

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I enjoyed the books better, but the series showed promise as its own entity. It had rough edges to smooth out, but I liked some of what they did.

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

The series really matures after the first few books. Characters change, grow, and learn, which is pretty cool.

The author himself is a pretty chill guy, too. I got to meet him at a signing, and he's as big a nerd as most of his audience.

[kowh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first book is decent for an author's first published work, but is still a first book. I recommend people read at least a couple before giving up on the series.

That said, I've never actually had anyone stop at just the first book. It's like crack or something.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

I think I read somewhere that Butcher wrote the first three as potential entry points for the series, not knowing if any of them would sell. That's why the world doesn't really gel until the fourth book, and why you get weird things like "So this is my buddy Michael, the guy I call when I'm in really deep shit--" only we've never heard of him all the other times Harry's been in deep shit.

That said, I do love these books, for all the reasons theweaselking pointed out. The comment above about dealing with consequences? YES. (Read Amazon's description for the next book in the series: consequences from the 3rd and 5th books, coming back to bite the protagonist in book TWELVE. That's good stuff.)

[unknownpoltroon.livejournal.com]

These are some of my favorite books. Not ground breaking literature, but great characters, great writing, an interesting story arc, and some of the god damndedst best lines ive read.

[chrisrw109.livejournal.com]

(pops over to amazon to read description)

(sound of mind popping in glee)

(wistful sigh as calendar staring begins)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

In his defense, Michael shows up at the start of book 3, with an 8-month backstory covered as "the kind of stories we didn't put in a book but they were still happening" thing.

[gothpanda.livejournal.com]

Well of course, books are almost universally better than their live-action counterparts.