Wow!

[erastes]

I've just finished the last of the published Dresden Files and I'm just so impressed. I admit that reading the first two or three (whilst very enjoyable and good fun) didn't really "hook" me, but thanks mainly to chats with gehayi, exploring the characters as I went, I went to the library and got the whole lot and read them all.

I'm completely hooked now, and thrilled to bits that I have the anticipation of the next book to make me happy. So now I'm waiting for another Pratchett (God willing!), A Dance with Dragons (COME ON grrm!!) and Small Favor.

What I love is the progression of plot throughout. Whilst each book can be read as a standalone (he manages to tell his story without info dumping each time) the threads and the layers go on, sometimes almost unnoticably and three books later you realise "oh jeez! that was IMPORTANT? EEK!"

Writing action scenes is HARD. I've always been impressed with anyone who can do it, and Butcher has the gift, that's for sure. I've written exactly ONE action scene and I whined all the way through it as poor rwday will attest. Butcher seems to (although I'm sure it's not) do it effortlessly, it seems like the words are just spilling onto the page, and you are swept away in a breakneck fashion never knowing what's going to happen next.

And the characters. Tons of them. And they are real. Not Sues. They bleed, some die, and they are all completely different, and I worry about evey single one of them! Hurrah! More please Jim!

And wow again. Go and squee over black_hound's artwork. Some not work safe but sheesh, what talent.

Comments

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

Isn't it great when you find an entire series to love? It's like a drug.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh COMPLETELY. What LJ has done for me, is to turn me on to living writers which is a bit of a new thing for me, and to be "in" a series and waiting for new ones is something that I've only done since Potter (and look how badly that ended)and Pratchett. To discover Butcher though is a real pleasure, as the books are getting BETTER with each book - and that's got to be a first, surely?

I remember how depressed I was when I realised that there was no more Jane Austen to read!

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

I remember how depressed I was when I realised that there was no more Jane Austen to read!

I'm still carefully doling out Raymond Chandler to myself -- same reason. *g*

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I just ordered the first of the Dresden File series. I'm very curious about it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh hurrah! Storm Front is GOOD.

similar stuff

[girluknow.livejournal.com]

If you like the Dresden Files novels, you might like the Nightlife series by Rob Thurman. Urban fantasy with lots of vivid characters and tons of snarky humor, plus lots of cute guys (one of whom flirts and sleeps with men and women both). Thurman's good at writing fresh, funny, and creepily dark at the same time, with interesting bad guys and nicely vulnerable good guys. I had a blast reading her first two novels and can't wait for the third one that comes out this March.

[lusiology.livejournal.com]

Hi.

I've just purchased your novel Standish (sesptwd recommended it to me) and am thoroughly enjoying reading it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh eep! Thank you for letting me know!

Re: similar stuff

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll check that out!