Anyone Here a Fan of The Dresden Files?

[Quadrophenia]

I know at least one person on this site who has the iconic "Dresden riding a zombie t-rex" bit from the series as his avatar, but is there anyone else here fond of the adventures of a Chicago wizard PI and his boon companions? 

Favourite character, favourite book in the series, favourite moment and favourite funniest moment, go! 

... And who else is antsy for Peace Talks?

[Tsidqiyah he/him]

I have the first half dozen books on my nook but i stopped reading when i caught up to what has been published. at this point i don't read those one much (reread of WoK taking priority) but i intend to reread and catch up probably after Oathbringer comes out and that all-nighter is celebrated.

[Ammanas]

Big fan of the series! I've listened to the audiobooks twice in the past 3 years (Marsters does a amazing job).  My favorite part/book in probably the one you mentioned (T-Rex through chicago in Dead Beat). I also really like the attack on the Red Court stronghold in Changes. Hard to pick a favorite character though; a strength of Butcher is so many awesome secondary characters. Funniest moment? I think it was book 5, but it was when Murphey discovered her little sister was married her ex-husband all while attending the family reunion. If not that scene than anything with Bob is funny. Anxiously awaiting Peace Talks...I'm not complaining, but I think this is the longest gap we've gone without a new dresden book. Hopefully we get a update soon. If you love Dresden try Garrett PI by Glen cook. Very different from The black Company,  but a must for dresden fans; there are 14 of them.

[Quadrophenia]

29 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

Big fan of the series! I've listened to the audiobooks twice in the past 3 years (Marsters does a amazing job).  My favorite part/book in probably the one you mentioned (T-Rex through chicago in Dead Beat). I also really like the attack on the Red Court stronghold in Changes. Hard to pick a favorite character though; a strength of Butcher is so many awesome secondary characters. Funniest moment? I think it was book 5, but it was when Murphey discovered her little sister was married her ex-husband all while attending the family reunion. If not that scene than anything with Bob is funny. Anxiously awaiting Peace Talks...I'm not complaining, but I think this is the longest gap we've gone without a new dresden book. Hopefully we get a update soon. If you love Dresden try Garrett PI by Glen cook. Very different from The black Company,  but a must for dresden fans; there are 14 of them.

I bought an omnibus of Garret PI, actually! Been meaning to get around to reading it, but I'm currently going through an anthology of horror stories centered around radio signals. It's actually pretty neat.

And I say unto you, if you love The Dresden Files... you know what might help with that unbearable itch waiting for the next book?

The Skulduggery Pleasant series. It's sort of like The Dresden Files' Irish cousin.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[Ammanas]

3 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

 

The Skulduggery Pleasant series. It's sort of like The Dresden Files' Irish cousin.

Never heard of them. Thanks for the recommendation. Have you read the Iron Druid series by Hearne? The first three or 4 are good...the following ones are less enjoyable to me, but it is a popular dresden crack fix. Also the thing with Garrett PI is, if you've read any Glen Cook, you know he has a very odd writing style; if it doesn't bother you then you are in for a treat!

[Quadrophenia]

15 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

Never heard of them. Thanks for the recommendation. Have you read the Iron Druid series by Hearne? The first three or 4 are good...the following ones are less enjoyable to me, but it is a popular dresden crack fix. Also the thing with Garrett PI is, if you've read any Glen Cook, you know he has a very odd writing style; if it doesn't bother you then you are in for a treat!

Oooh, if you've never heard of Skulduggery... 

Picture this.

You know how Harry Potter depicts its secret wizarding world as this wonderland where everyone is quaintly trapped in a timeless state of pseudo-Dickensian England and it's all very whimsical? And you have castles and pleasant villages and nice little homes- again, oh so quaint. It's like if Hallmark did the world building.

If that were the case, then imagine that the world of Skulduggery takes place in its seedy underbelly, where the secret wizarding society has to make do not with castles and manor houses or other such luxuries... they have to live in dingy tenement buildings, build underground facilities underneath wax museums and generally live in the seediest neighbourhoods to ward off the muggles. It's Knockturn Alley by way of Film Noir, dialled up to eleven. This isn't a secret wizarding society that lives in its own compartmentalized world, it exists on the fringes of society and it shows.

Our heroes? Imagine if Batman were a suave Irish talking skeleton dressed like a PI and his Robin, his apprentice, were an Irish millennial Buffy Summers.

... And characters in this series have such awesome names as Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie Cain, Ghastly Bespoke, China Sorrows, Tanith Lowe, Saracen Rue, Frightening Jones, Anton Shudder, Nefarian Serpine, Vaurian Scapegrace... 

Throw in Jim Butcher/Joss Whedon-levels of snark and self-aware pop culture humour, a good deal of Irish wit by way of Father Ted, and Sam Raimi levels of creative violence and bloodshed. 

Neat, ain't it?

Edited November 1, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[Zathoth]

I was summoned.

The plot twist here is that Im not caught up, last one I read was Small Favor.

So is Harry the coolest of all badasses? He is definitely awesome enough to contend for the title alongside Kenshiro or Kujoh Jotaro, but is he even cooler than those two?

[Kaymyth she/her]

Isn't it the way of things?  In Cold Days, the camera panned back and we got to see a glimpse of all of the stuff that's been going on driving much of what's happened to Harry over the years.  And then we get the biggest break between books in a long time.

I can't complain too much, though.  The Aeronaut's Windlass was really good, too.  Butcher + steampunk = ok maybe I can wait a little longer for new Dresden.

[Quadrophenia]

42 minutes ago, Zathoth said:

I was summoned.

The plot twist here is that Im not caught up, last one I read was Small Favor.

So is Harry the coolest of all badasses? He is definitely awesome enough to contend for the title alongside Kenshiro or Kujoh Jotaro, but is he even cooler than those two?

He is, and by one quality: he has more character. And more character means more flaws. Kenshiro's basically Kung Fu Jesus and every bit too good to be true, and Jotaro is a stoic statue of a man and every bit as expressive (and if JoJo IV is any indication, he's better suited as a supporting character than a main protagonist; there's a reason Stardust Crusaders became the Polnareff show). 

26 minutes ago, Kaymyth said:

Isn't it the way of things?  In Cold Days, the camera panned back and we got to see a glimpse of all of the stuff that's been going on driving much of what's happened to Harry over the years.  And then we get the biggest break between books in a long time.

I can't complain too much, though.  The Aeronaut's Windlass was really good, too.  Butcher + steampunk = ok maybe I can wait a little longer for new Dresden.

I bought that and it's still on my shelf. Really gotta find the time to read it.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

14 hours ago, Kaymyth said:

Isn't it the way of things?  In Cold Days, the camera panned back and we got to see a glimpse of all of the stuff that's been going on driving much of what's happened to Harry over the years.  And then we get the biggest break between books in a long time.

I can't complain too much, though.  The Aeronaut's Windlass was really good, too.  Butcher + steampunk = ok maybe I can wait a little longer for new Dresden.

I'm reading the Cinder Spires series right now, and it's been amazing so far. 

[Quadrophenia]

Heh, one of my favourite jokes from the series comes from Cold Days.

"Oh God," Molly said, "We're his lackeys."

Thomas grinned, "You're his lackey, I'm his thug. Whole higher rank."

[Sunbird she/her]

I'm all up to speed on Dresden except for Working for Bigfoot, which isn't really part of the main series so I don't feel any urgent need to read it. I think my two favorite books are Dead Beat and Skin Game. I find Butters rather adorkable, and one of my favorite funny moments in the series was Harry's "POLKA WILL NEVER DIE" pep talk. Plus riding a zombie T-rex around Chicago is just plain epic. I loved Skin Game for a lot of reasons... Heists are a plot device I'm generally fond of; same with mystical tests. And the surprise at the end! Awesome.

Of the secondary characters, I think Thomas is my favorite. I get a kick out of people assuming he is gay--or, by extension, assuming Harry is gay when they go places together. And he's a total badchull in a fight.

[Quadrophenia]

27 minutes ago, Nightbird said:

I'm all up to speed on Dresden except for Working for Bigfoot, which isn't really part of the main series so I don't feel any urgent need to read it. I think my two favorite books are Dead Beat and Skin Game. I find Butters rather adorkable, and one of my favorite funny moments in the series was Harry's "POLKA WILL NEVER DIE" pep talk. Plus riding a zombie T-rex around Chicago is just plain epic. I loved Skin Game for a lot of reasons... Heists are a plot device I'm generally fond of; same with mystical tests. And the surprise at the end! Awesome.

Of the secondary characters, I think Thomas is my favorite. I get a kick out of people assuming he is gay--or, by extension, assuming Harry is gay when they go places together. And he's a total badchull in a fight.

Thomas is wonderful. Easily one of my favourite things about the series as a whole is the bromance between Harry and Thomas, it's wonderful. I'm a sucker for male friendships like that. 

If you love heists, then I have to recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora (and it sequels, whose collective name cannot be said on this site due to swear filters), by Scott Lynch. It's like Ocean's 11, but in fantasy Renaissance Italy.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[Sunbird she/her]

27 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Thomas is wonderful. Easily one of my favourite things about the series as a whole is the bromance between Harry and Thomas, it's wonderful. I'm a sucker for male friendships like that. 

If you love heists, then I have to recommend The Lies of Locke Lamora (and it sequels, whose collective name cannot be said on this site due to swear filters), by Scott Lynch. It's like Ocean's 11, but in fantasy Renaissance Italy.

I've had The Lies of Locke Lamora series recommended to me before (and I think the swear in the series name actually might not be censored on the Shard), but after reading the blurb and some reviews, I decided to pass--largely because of the reported profanity content. Pat Rothfuss's review says, "In Lies, Lynch's low-life street thugs are vulgarian virtuosos." Rothfuss uses it as a compliment, but it's a red warning flag for me. Also See this answered question on GoodReads

(Feel free to think of me as a hypocrite for turning my nose up at Locke Lamora but liking Dresden, which also makes use of f-bombs, but I daresay Jim Butcher has yet to cram 185 f-bombs into a single Dresden book... That's like one every other page for your average fantasy novel.)

I'm a huge fan of The Aeronaut's Windlass, though. I think it's probably my favorite out of all of Butcher's books that I've read. (Namely, all currently-released mainline Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and The Aeronaut's Windlass. Oh, and his Spider-Man tie-in novel, The Darkest Hours.)

[Quadrophenia]

5 hours ago, Nightbird said:

I've had The Lies of Locke Lamora series recommended to me before (and I think the swear in the series name actually might not be censored on the Shard), but after reading the blurb and some reviews, I decided to pass--largely because of the reported profanity content. Pat Rothfuss's review says, "In Lies, Lynch's low-life street thugs are vulgarian virtuosos." Rothfuss uses it as a compliment, but it's a red warning flag for me. Also See this answered question on GoodReads

(Feel free to think of me as a hypocrite for turning my nose up at Locke Lamora but liking Dresden, which also makes use of f-bombs, but I daresay Jim Butcher has yet to cram 185 f-bombs into a single Dresden book... That's like one every other page for your average fantasy novel.)

I'm a huge fan of The Aeronaut's Windlass, though. I think it's probably my favorite out of all of Butcher's books that I've read. (Namely, all currently-released mainline Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and The Aeronaut's Windlass. Oh, and his Spider-Man tie-in novel, The Darkest Hours.)

Nah, not a hypocrite. Though I would see it as a slightly silly arbitrarily self-imposed restriction. If you can read a series where the main hero is implied to be gang raped by vampires when held prisoner (see: Grave Peril) and later commits genocide against an entire race several books later (to say nothing of every other nightmarish thing throughout the series), but a little Tarantino-esque creative profanity makes your skin crawl?

Yeah, it's kind of silly. I've honestly never understood people who could rationalize their enjoyment of extreme violence (of which there is plenty in The Dresden Files) yet get prudish and squeamish over language. Again, both horrible and awesome excessive acts of violence are a regular occurrence in Dresden's Chicago, and that's not even touching on subtler humiliations, pains, torments and degradations heroes and civilians caught in supernatural crosshairs tend to suffer through... but you draw the line at excess profanity?

 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[marsoupial they/them]

35 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Nah, not a hypocrite. Though I would see it as a slightly silly arbitrarily self-imposed restriction. If you can read a series where the main hero is implied to be gang raped by vampires when held prisoner (see: Grave Peril) and later commits genocide against an entire race several books later (to say nothing of every other nightmarish thing throughout the series), but a little Tarantino-esque creative profanity makes your skin crawl?

Yeah, it's kind of silly. I've honestly never understood people who could rationalize their enjoyment of extreme violence (of which there is plenty in The Dresden Files) yet get prudish and squeamish over language. Again, both horrible and awesome excessive acts of violence are a regular occurrence in Dresden's Chicago, and that's not even touching on subtler humiliations, pains, torments and degradations heroes and civilians caught in supernatural crosshairs tend to suffer through... but you draw the line at excess profanity?

 

Stephen Fry is one of the great luminaries of our time.

I've never read any Dresden. I feel like I should though. Any suggestions?

Edited November 3, 2016 by bleeder

[Quadrophenia]

5 minutes ago, bleeder said:

Stephen Fry is one of the great luminaries of our time.

I've never read any Dresden. I feel like I should though. Any suggestions?

Not gonna lie: I've had a crush on that man's brain for over ten years.

And I'd recommend starting at the very beginning: Storm Front. The first two books, admittedly, are a little rough (and structurally speaking, Fool Moon is Storm Front but with werewolves instead of evil sorcerers), but when Grave Peril comes around that's when the series kicks into high gear and finds its groove.

"So why not start there?"

Because the series eventually drops the stand alone episode style and creates a long running story arc where literally everything that happens to Dresden is connected to a nebulous conspiracy. Everything is connected. There's always another secret. You get the idea.  

[marsoupial they/them]

4 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Not gonna lie: I've had a crush on that man's brain for over ten years.

And I'd recommend starting at the very beginning: Storm Front. The first two books, admittedly, are a little rough (and structurally speaking, Fool Moon is Storm Front but with werewolves instead of evil sorcerers), but when Grave Peril comes around that's when the series kicks into high gear and finds its groove.

"So why not start there?"

Because the series eventually drops the stand alone episode style and creates a long running story arc where literally everything that happens to Dresden is connected to a nebulous conspiracy. Everything is connected. There's always another secret. You get the idea.  

Stephen Fry is [unnamed cosmological force]'s gay gift to the world.

I'll try to locate a copy of Storm Front as soon as I can. 

The basic premise is witty wizard P.I. hunts evil? On the cover of Cold Days he looks sort of like Waxillium.

Edited November 3, 2016 by bleeder

[Quadrophenia]

Just now, bleeder said:

Stephen Fry is [unnamed cosmological force]'s gay gift to the world.

I'll try to locate a copy of Storm Front as soon as I can. 

The basic premise is witty wizard P.I. hunts evil? On the cover of Storm Front he looks sort of like Waxillium.

He sort of does, doesn't he?

But then, I feel that's part of this weird generic fantasy cover art trend currently plaguing fantasy books.

You know the one I mean.

"Let's just stick the protagonist on the cover in a cool pose, while maybe looking slightly to the side in an aloof sort of way as if this were a Christian rock album. God forbid we use creative imagery that really catches the eye or anything. That'd be too costly."

It's a real shame- so many of these books are genuinely fun, exciting and maybe even a little more intelligent than given credit for (from Dresden to Mistborn), but generic cover art has been known to turn off those who'd otherwise find this sort of thing to be exactly in their wheelhouse!

I was drawn to Stormlight Archive for its gorgeous art cover, long before I even knew what the series was about. Conversely, I almost dropped Mistborn: The Final Empire for its generic cover art alone; you know, of Vin standing there, glass knives out, just staring off into the distance as if she has a lot on her mind and isn't at all bothered by the red lens flares in the background... 

[marsoupial they/them]

8 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

He sort of does, doesn't he?

But then, I feel that's part of this weird generic fantasy cover art trend currently plaguing fantasy books.

You know the one I mean.

"Let's just stick the protagonist on the cover in a cool pose, while maybe looking slightly to the side in an aloof sort of way as if this were a Christian rock album. God forbid we use creative imagery that really catches the eye or anything. That'd be too costly."

It's a real shame- so many of these books are genuinely fun, exciting and maybe even a little more intelligent than given credit for (from Dresden to Mistborn), but generic cover art has been known to turn off those who'd otherwise find this sort of thing to be exactly in their wheelhouse!

I was drawn to Stormlight Archive for its gorgeous art cover, long before I even knew what the series was about. Conversely, I almost dropped Mistborn: The Final Empire for its generic cover art alone; you know, of Vin standing there, glass knives out, just staring off into the distance as if she has a lot on her mind and isn't at all bothered by the red lens flares in the background... 

That's why I like the UK cover arts better. Like, the hand-drawn ones. They're always really minimalist and cool-looking.

[Quadrophenia]

1 minute ago, bleeder said:

That's why I like the UK cover arts better. Like, the hand-drawn ones. They're always really minimalist and cool-looking.

Right?

 

[marsoupial they/them]

Storm Front is at my school library. I'm gonna check it out as soon as my current class lets out.

[Kaymyth she/her]

4 hours ago, bleeder said:

Stephen Fry is [unnamed cosmological force]'s gay gift to the world.

I'll try to locate a copy of Storm Front as soon as I can. 

The basic premise is witty wizard P.I. hunts evil? On the cover of Cold Days he looks sort of like Waxillium.

It's the same cover artist.

[Quadrophenia]

19 minutes ago, Kaymyth said:

It's the same cover artist.

Ha! Well, I'll be.

[Ammanas]

There will be a new Dresden short story released this month that will be included in the Shadowed Souls anthology.