So I’ve started with the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front, and found it to be okay. Not bad but it didn’t grab me. It was a quick read which was good.
My question to any and all fans of the books: Does it get any better? It won’t turn out to be another Anita Blake book, will it? I dropped that series after the fourth book.
I’m willing to to give Harry Dresden another chance. Will pick up the second book, Fool Moon, soon. Looks like a werewolf story. If this one fails to impress me, then I’m out for good.
I’ve just read through to “Dead Beat” (#7), and I’d say that they do get better. I wouldn’t classify any as great literature, but they mostly are fun to read, with occasional flashes of greatness, but also sometimes writing of questionable merit.
What I liked is that there is some kind of an overarching story continuity - while you get (kind of) closure for each book, the characters are evolving throughout the series, and there is a back-story plot that keeps advancing.
I’d resist the urge to compare Dresden and Anita Blake… like you, I dropped the Anita Blake series, although not soon enough. I’m still reading Harry Dresden, and I think that Jim Butcher’s writing picked up steam over the 2nd through the 4th books.
They do get better. The werewolf book was what hooked me in, largely because of cleverness. Significant spoiler: I like the way that they described various kinds of werewolves, and then we actually met each kind. This same concept comes through with various kinds of Vampires, too – White Court, Red Court, Black Court. I really liked that he took different legends and said “They’re all true” rather than just selecting one for his universe. However, as noted, they’re not great literature, but they are fun reads. I went bingeing on them during a hospital stay last summer, and they were entertaining and distracting.
I’m not sure how to answer because I have read them all and enjoyed them from the beginning. I suppose I would concede that they fall into what I often refer to as “mind candy” in as much as they are a light read and not too deep. But I find them to be entertaining and that is usually what I look for in a book.
I do believe that his Furies series shows more of his strength as a writer, but I supose that is just a style thing. I have read a few of the Anita Blake books and don’t find them comparable.
The first Dresden is by far the weakest, the second is better, and he really hits his stride with the third book. So I would definitely recommend sticking it through.
Sorta the opposite of the Kim Harrison novels which started off with a bang but seem to have fallen into a pit of melodrama.
I wouldn’t compare them to the Anita Blake books at all, whether you like those or not.
The second Dresden book is probably my favorite. They do get better than the first, but then I don’t like the newest couple of books as well as the earlier ones. (As much as I love a long series, I get annoyed at the amount of exposition used in the later books to remind you of everything that’s happened previously.)
beowulf, I agree about the Kim Harrison books. I’m tired of Ivy and her problems. I also found the writing style in her newest book to be distracting - I think she got paid extra for adjectives. I don’t remember that in her earlier books.
The series does get better. Although I’d recommend taking a break between some of them. Reading all …7? 8? back to back would probably be a bit much.
I’m also a bit disappointed in Kim Harrison’s latest book. She really needs to start resolving the soap-opera aspects of the story soon.
I found reading them back-to-back helped, at least for me, because I have a poor memory for characters. Butcher does lots of recurring characters, unresolved plot elements that pop up three books later, that sort of thing. Yes, he does spend some exposition time reminding the reader (necessary for me!) but…
I got the most recent one a month or so ago, it had been six or seven months since I read the others, and I was puzzled/annoyed by all the past references that I didn’t remember. So, I think there is an argument for bingeing… although, as with any author, taking too much in a row can be really off-putting.
I think they’ve gotten better as the series has progressed. Like everyone else has said, they aren’t high art, but they aren’t meant to be. I find them entertaining and satisfying. I get excited every year when the latest one is released. On at least one occasion while reading the most recent one, I looked up a minor character on Wikipedia after she was mentioned because I couldn’t remember who she was right then.
I read them back-to-back and definately thought they got better as they went along. They are not, as has been said, high art. However, they are, IMO, vastly better written than the Anita Blake books. I did enjoy that series, up to Obsidian Butterfly, when it started to collapse under the weight of the whining, kinky sex and bitterness.
I agree with the consensus on the Harrision books, too. Quite good at the beginning and still enjoyable, but there has been way too much drama and angsty-personal crapola ala Laurell K. Hamilton in the last few books.
I’ll give a shout-out for Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books, which I’ve enjoyed and seem to be holding their quality.
I love those; I’m reading the new one now. As long as we’re giving shout-outs, I’ll mention a couple of new books by Patricia Briggs in the same genre as Butcher and Harrison: Blood Bound and Moon Called. Also Tanya Huff’s *Blood *series is good.
Hey, thanks for the responses everyone! Looks like I’ll be sticking with the Dresden Files, at least for a few more books.
Okay, it was probably unfair to compare him to Anita Blake but her books were the only ones featuring a paranormal investigator that I ever read. I stopped reading them when it focused more on Blake’s love life with the vampire and werewolf instead of, y’know, solving the damn case. I think she’s a Mary Sue.
I’m in the middle of FOOL MOON and I do find it a better read than the first book. I like that Harry isn’t always prepared like Batman. He may be good with the magic but his battle plans go awry pretty quick.
I’m looking forward to reading more books if only to find out more about Harry’s parents especially after the demon Chauncy hinted something about Harry’s mother.
I believe that the first Dresden File book was written as a college assignment. I hope he got a good grade, because I do think it is a pretty good read. But it kind of explains why the later books are better.
I quite like the Dresden books. I was looking for something similar and stumbled across Simon Green’s Darkside books, which I dislike. Has anyone read those?
They get better (like Terry Pratchett) instead of worse like so many others do. Anita Blake being one example, and Xanth, and Wheel of Time, and several others.
