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I like the series, although I am more fond of the early books, which are a little more "detective/mystery" like - the fae, the White and Red Courts (and Thomas) are my absolute least favorite parts of the Dresden world. Haven't been too thrilled with the last couple books and I am irritated by Penguin's ebook pricing - why they think their new ebooks are worth $15, unlike most of the other major publisher's $10, I have no idea. I'll wait until the price drops.
Last edited by PNW-type-gal; 12-05-2012 at 10:01 AM..
Yeah, Harry Dresden is an angry smartass P.I., but you would be too if you were having trouble making the rent, driving a crappy car and having all manners of creatures trying to kill you or seduce you or eat you.
I got that. The problem was that it never let up, no matter what the situation. Harry would be in the middle of situation that might well kill him, and he'd still be wise-cracking. It robbed the conflict of ANY tension for me. Harry never felt truly afraid or desperate. Just sarcastic. It grew old fast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dockside
Does anyone know of a series of a similar nature in the Urban Fantasy genre? I've read most of the Nightside series by Simon R. Green Books | Simon R Green but it's totally different from Dresden.
Try F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series. Start with The Tomb.
In each installment that I read (as I said, up to Death Masks), the ending was predictable (to me) long before I was done with the book. There were no surprises, no twists. Each book sounded a lot like the previous book. In my opinion it is unsophisticated, like something aimed at a young adult reader. The female characters were more like caricatures than believable people, and the sex scenes were so awkward that they made me cringe. I did indeed find it to be repetitive, simplistic, and predictable.
Of course, everyone has a different opinion. Obviously, you really enjoyed it and so do many others, and that's great. But me, personally, I did not.
Usually when I hear someone say something like the Dresden books are predictable, they didnt predict anything. They are trying to make themselves smarter than others. The first book was easy to figure out but each subsequent has not been predictable and some of them were impossible to predict because you didnt know enough of the world to even figure out what was going on.
There has only been one sex scene in this entire series and Murphy and Molly are far from being caricatures and both have been very well-developed.
I read the first Dresden book. I found it good, but not great. Fun story and world. But the main character's constant, unrelenting snark got on my nerves after a while.
I finished the first book, but I didn't enjoy it enough to want to read the second.
He wrote the first book when he was very young and it was by far the worst of the series. The books get better with each one and he has built probably the most complex fantasy world that anyone ever has that I know off. He has found a way to implement every layer of fantasy and every supernatural creature including ancient mythology into the series. With every book, he builds more and more layers and you find out something that happened in the second book comes back around to something in the 10th. It is amazing what he has been able to accomplish in this series. I strongly recommend to pick it back up. Once you get through the fourth book, I think you will be hooked.
Usually when I hear someone say something like the Dresden books are predictable, they didnt predict anything. They are trying to make themselves smarter than others. The first book was easy to figure out but each subsequent has not been predictable and some of them were impossible to predict because you didnt know enough of the world to even figure out what was going on.
There has only been one sex scene in this entire series and Murphy and Molly are far from being caricatures and both have been very well-developed.
Gee, I dare to have a differing opinion about a book series you like, so you insult me and claim I am "trying to make myself smarter than others?" Get over yourself, dude. I did find it to be predictable, got bored, and thus I stopped reading after Death Masks. Which was book 5 if I recall correctly. So it's not like I didn't give it a chance to develop.
I strongly recommend to pick it back up. Once you get through the fourth book, I think you will be hooked.
I honestly didn't like the first one enough to care to dive into the second. If an author needs four books to hook me, he isn't doing his job. In fact, if an author takes four chapters to hook me, something is amiss.
Does anyone know of a series of a similar nature in the Urban Fantasy genre? I've read most of the Nightside series by Simon R. Green Books | Simon R Green but it's totally different from Dresden.
You might want to check out Charles de Lint. Apparently he was an early writer of Urban Fantasy back in the 80's. I've read a few by him with varying degrees of enjoyment.
I think I'll try something by Butcher and see if I like his stuff.
You might want to check out Charles de Lint. Apparently he was an early writer of Urban Fantasy back in the 80's. I've read a few by him with varying degrees of enjoyment.
I think I'll try something by Butcher and see if I like his stuff.
Thank you. I never heard of Charles de Lint. I just placed Dreams Underfoot on hold at our library.
If you read Jim Butcher start with Storm Front, his first book. It's good - not great like his later books - but the characters and their growth are important to the series and add to the enjoyment.
Thank you. I never heard of Charles de Lint. I just placed Dreams Underfoot on hold at our library.
If you read Jim Butcher start with Storm Front, his first book. It's good - not great like his later books - but the characters and their growth are important to the series and add to the enjoyment.
That's what I hope to do. My library has some of his newer stuff but not the earlier works. I'll try some of the thrift/second hand stores first and if no luck with order for my Kindle.
Yeah: I've read a few of them and in fact was pretty hot on the Dresden Files when I first started, planning to read them all. But then they suddenly got sort of predictable and repetitive. Not that I could exactly tell what was going to happen next, but I knew which characters would show up and how Butcher would re-tell certain things about Harry (aversion to technology, computers crashing, his buddy "Bob" et al.)
And they are pretty much written on the Young Adult level.
The whole Vampire Court thing got sort of stale too.
I dunno. Not bad, I just got a bit bored with it. That's not to say I won't read another one in the future though.
Butcher's Codex Alera series is great, BTW!!
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I did find it to be predictable, got bored, and thus I stopped reading after Death Masks. Which was book 5 if I recall correctly. So it's not like I didn't give it a chance to develop.
