Dresden Files Books newbie Discussion

[The44]

Siince I have this tendency to identify with the main character, I find that I have to be a little masochistic to read the Dresden Files. I have been continually amazed at the bruises, bumps, contusions, cuts, gashes, bashes, burns, etc, that occur to our hero while he attempts to sort out the latest mess that JB has gotten him into. I do not even want to mention all the emotional damage done to him with Susan, Elaine, Karrin, etc, etc.

His friends list grows slowly and his enemies list keeps getting bigger faster. Whee! Like Patton, I do love it so.

JB has never failed to give me a good ride in his novels. That last short story between Small Favor and Turn Coat was somewhat of an eye opener. Recommended reading.

 

[murphy]

Siince I have this tendency to identify with the main character, I find that I have to be a little masochistic to read the Dresden Files. I have been continually amazed at the bruises, bumps, contusions, cuts, gashes, bashes, burns, etc, that occur to our hero while he attempts to sort out the latest mess that JB has gotten him into. I do not even want to mention all the emotional damage done to him with Susan, Elaine, Karrin, etc, etc.

His friends list grows slowly and his enemies list keeps getting bigger faster. Whee! Like Patton, I do love it so.

JB has never failed to give me a good ride in his novels. That last short story between Small Favor and Turn Coat was somewhat of an eye opener. Recommended reading.

Which short story is that?

 

[Allegra]

I have been continually amazed at the bruises, bumps, contusions, cuts, gashes, bashes, burns, etc, that occur to our hero while he attempts to sort out the latest mess that JB has gotten him into. I do not even want to mention all the emotional damage done to him with Susan, Elaine, Karrin, etc, etc.

Good thing you don't need to worry for long, you know he'll bounce back and survive and win, of course. But honestly I do feel Harry got beaten too often and too much in Fool Moon and his magic tricks can be quite disappointing sometimes. Then again, that's one of the reasons the story keeps you sitting on the edge of you seat isn't it.

 

[Highlander II]

[/B]


Which short story is that?

The one from the "Mean Streets" anthology called "The Warrior". It's about Michael.

 

[Highlander II]

Good thing you don't need to worry for long, you know he'll bounce back and survive and win, of course. But honestly I do feel Harry got beaten too often and too much in Fool Moon and his magic tricks can be quite disappointing sometimes. Then again, that's one of the reasons the story keeps you sitting on the edge of you seat isn't it.

If all of his magic worked all of the time, he's be a 'Mary Sue' character and that wouldn't be good for 'business' (that's the book writing business, not Harry's PI business *g*). 'Perfect' characters are boring. No one wants to read about the guy who walks through life, never gets into trouble and never has issues with anything. That guy is white bread with mayonaise - bland and dull.

Readers want that Reuben with all those different flavors all wrapped together and slapped between those slices of rye bread. They want a sandwich that the middle drips out of sometimes - a sandwich that isn't perfect, b/c sometimes someone slaps pickles on it for no reason. (sorry, I'll stop w/ the House, MD references now *g*)

I like that Harry isn't always perfect, that he doesn't always get it right, that sometimes he trusts the wrong people and it bites him in the ass. It makes for a much more interesting story. XD

 

[murphy]

If all of his magic worked all of the time, he's be a 'Mary Sue' character and that wouldn't be good for 'business' (that's the book writing business, not Harry's PI business *g*). 'Perfect' characters are boring. No one wants to read about the guy who walks through life, never gets into trouble and never has issues with anything. That guy is white bread with mayonaise - bland and dull.

Readers want that Reuben with all those different flavors all wrapped together and slapped between those slices of rye bread. They want a sandwich that the middle drips out of sometimes - a sandwich that isn't perfect, b/c sometimes someone slaps pickles on it for no reason. (sorry, I'll stop w/ the House, MD references now *g*)

I like that Harry isn't always perfect, that he doesn't always get it right, that sometimes he trusts the wrong people and it bites him in the ass. It makes for a much more interesting story. XD

I asked because he has short stories about Harry D. in several anthologies besides Mean Streets. There's also the short story (novelette) Backup, which is about Thomas.

 

[Allegra]

If all of his magic worked all of the time, he's be a 'Mary Sue' character and that wouldn't be good for 'business' (that's the book writing business, not Harry's PI business *g*). 'Perfect' characters are boring. No one wants to read about the guy who walks through life, never gets into trouble and never has issues with anything. That guy is white bread with mayonaise - bland and dull.

Sure, I totally agree. Harry's vulnerability makes his character believable and lovable. I equally appreciate the strong female characters JB portrayed.

 

[Highlander II]

Sure, I totally agree. Harry's vulnerability makes his character believable and lovable. I equally appreciate the strong female characters JB portrayed.

Totally!

One of the things that sort of confuses me is that the strongest and most interesting 'minor-ish' character from "Fool Moon" - Terra - hasn't made another appearance. She was really interesting and would be cool to see again later. =)

 

[soulsinging]

If all of his magic worked all of the time, he's be a 'Mary Sue' character and that wouldn't be good for 'business' (that's the book writing business, not Harry's PI business *g*). 'Perfect' characters are boring. No one wants to read about the guy who walks through life, never gets into trouble and never has issues with anything. That guy is white bread with mayonaise - bland and dull.

Readers want that Reuben with all those different flavors all wrapped together and slapped between those slices of rye bread. They want a sandwich that the middle drips out of sometimes - a sandwich that isn't perfect, b/c sometimes someone slaps pickles on it for no reason. (sorry, I'll stop w/ the House, MD references now *g*)

I like that Harry isn't always perfect, that he doesn't always get it right, that sometimes he trusts the wrong people and it bites him in the ass. It makes for a much more interesting story. XD

I generally agree with what you're saying, but the series seemed to veer away from what made it most interesting. Dresden used to plan things out, prepare potions and magic in advance and use those in aiding him in cases that were isolated and personal in the best traditions of noir. In later books, that seemed to be totally dropped and Harry become (to steal from someone else's review) little more than a human flamethrower. He never prepares anything anymore, just blunders from one bad situation to a worse one, getting his butt kicked all over the page, until finally at the end he finds some 'reserve' of power to obliterate the bad guy and save the universe and neatly tie up 3 loose threads. It became boring to read the endless cliffhangers and abuse knowing it was all going to roll together seamlessly in the end while Harry summons some on-the-fly super power to win out.

I miss the planning and cleverness of the earlier books. It started out being like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, with a lot of cleverness and plotting, but seemed with each book to become more like a Die Hard movie.

 

[Connavar]

Wow that doesnt sound promising. I sure hope it wont seem like that to me too.

I like the planning,clever Harry too much. Thats the quality of Noir side that reminds PI crime books of old. You dont want generic fantasy heroics..

The reason i disliked Fool Moon compared to books 1,3,4. He got his ass kicked all the time,didnt think,plan anything but being human flamethrower in the end.

 

[soulsinging]

Wow that doesnt sound promising. I sure hope it wont seem like that to me too.

I like the planning,clever Harry too much. Thats the quality of Noir side that reminds PI crime books of old. You dont want generic fantasy heroics..

The reason i disliked Fool Moon compared to books 1,3,4. He got his ass kicked all the time,didnt think,plan anything but being human flamethrower in the end.

I stopped after book 6. If you liked 3 and 4, you might be ok. Summer Knight is where I started to tire of the series. 5 still seemed ok, but by 6 I was just tired of reading them. I felt like I just wanted Harry to lie down and take a nap, hehe.

 

[thepaladin]

Odd, odd, odd, it always strikes the way we all like and dislike different things and see things differently. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Or Die Hard?

I love the books, not "high Fantasy" or "fine literature" or anything, but the best of brain candy. I look forward to the next one.

 

[The44]

I note that in the later books, Harry is going up against magic users as able, if not more so, than he is. He is having to rely more on his brute strength because being clever is of no use if you are dead.

In the later books, Harry's antagonists are a lot more dangerous and harder to predict as to whether a hanky filled with sunlight will really do the trick.

There is also the issue of a lack of time to do a lot of planning. He is usually so beat up that finding enough time to recover from his bruises let alone get clever in the lab has been a major issue. That, at least, how I see it. I also do not want Harry to be stagnant and always having to be clever because he is a wimp. He is a lot less wimpish than when we first met him and I am so thankful for that growth. Without it, he would be dead by now and the end of the series would be long past.

 

[soulsinging]

I note that in the later books, Harry is going up against magic users as able, if not more so, than he is. He is having to rely more on his brute strength because being clever is of no use if you are dead.

In the later books, Harry's antagonists are a lot more dangerous and harder to predict as to whether a hanky filled with sunlight will really do the trick.

There is also the issue of a lack of time to do a lot of planning. He is usually so beat up that finding enough time to recover from his bruises let alone get clever in the lab has been a major issue. That, at least, how I see it. I also do not want Harry to be stagnant and always having to be clever because he is a wimp. He is a lot less wimpish than when we first met him and I am so thankful for that growth. Without it, he would be dead by now and the end of the series would be long past.

All of those are true. The series has simply gone in a different direction from what drew me to it initially. It's just a matter of preference. I know a lot of people love the direction of the series and I totally understand why. It's not that I think it's bad or anything, it's great for what it is. It's just not my cup of tea anymore. No hard feelings to Jim or Harry.

 

[thepaladin]

No. no me either. That was my point. It just strikes me interesting the way the same book will turn up on "the best I've read " and the worst I've read" lists. Different people and different tastes. I have taken book recomendations and found that I totally agreed or totally disagreed. Kind of interesting to hear, is all i was saying.

 

[Allegra]

Totally!

One of the things that sort of confuses me is that the strongest and most interesting 'minor-ish' character from "Fool Moon" - Terra - hasn't made another appearance. She was really interesting and would be cool to see again later. =)

That's a pity. I liked Tera more than Murphy (what do you expect from an ultimate Canidae lover?). May be you can drop a note to JB to get her back (but never have her killed).

 

[The44]

Tera has no other skills than survival as a wolf and in melee combat. She would not be a great deal of help in an all out magic fight. This is exactly the reason that the wolf pack that Harry has befriended is not always that useful. Besides, Tera is a wolf who just happens to be able to transform into a human. All of her instincts are lupine and not human.

I agree that reasons for liking a series are very subjective. My habit has been to see if the course of the character, and his development, make sense in the milieu of his world.

I started out with some reservations about GRRM's A Soul of Fire and Ice series. I just hate what he does to his characters. I do not like the series, at all. Others feel differently. Choice matters. OTOH, I am a huge Robert Jordan fan and post on TL about it. The World of Time is not everyone's cup of tea, either, I am sure.

I like JB's portrayal of how Harry gets beaten up. It is a lot more realistic than almost all other series I have read. JB, is also not in the habit of killing of major supporting characters just to be sensational.

 

[Highlander II]

Tera has no other skills than survival as a wolf and in melee combat.

<snip>

I like JB's portrayal of how Harry gets beaten up. It is a lot more realistic than almost all other series I have read. JB, is also not in the habit of killing of major supporting characters just to be sensational.

Tera, while not a 'muscle' character, has a great deal of finesse. And I have a feeling she will turn up again in a later story, but I couldn't even begin to tell you how/where she'd fit in.


re: the last paragraph - no, JB has a habit of those 'supporting characters' turning into 'really important characters' later in the series. *g*

 

[thepaladin]

Actually, Tera is a muscle character in the sense that her whole persona is as a wolf. She acts and reacts on instinct everything from her "nude dance" in the lamp light to distract the men watching for Harry to her stright but kicking, err, biting...well, whatever. She's the reverse Werewolf, she's the "wolfwere as it were". A wolf who can assume human form. Nice character, but limited in scope...she may turn back up, possibly in conjunction with the "young wolf pack" who want to run with Harry. She sort of trained them.

 

[Connavar]

Odd, odd, odd, it always strikes the way we all like and dislike different things and see things differently. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Or Die Hard?

I love the books, not "high Fantasy" or "fine literature" or anything, but the best of brain candy. I look forward to the next one.

I dont see the series as light read,trashy read but i enjoy it extra much after having harder stuff to read that might not be fun. You can always expect interesting story,character and fun read from Dresden files.

I think Dresden is the only fantasy books/series i read for the fast paced fun it is. Thats why the books always look better to me after a while off them. Only other type of books i like read for that reason is crime books.