Dresdenfiling

[nevanna]

I just finished Storm Front, the first installment in the Dresden Files, and will be starting on the second. I actually started the series over a decade ago, and while I enjoyed it (I think), I didn't love it enough to continue. Or maybe I was put off by what appeared to figure heavily into the plot of the second book; with apologies to Remus, Oz, Tyler, and others, I was not overly fond of werewolf stories at the time.

I like werewolves fine now. And I like the world-building and the magic, so far. And I like Harry Dresden himself well enough, raging white-knight complex and all. I have a completely unsubstantiated theory that, just as Anita Blake helped to solidify the template for tough, sardonic urban fantasy heroines who go head to head with things that go bump in the night, Mr. Dresden - with his snark and his lone-wolf attitude and his Dark Past and his long coat - did something similar for the menfolk of the genre, even if a lot of the tropes were pre-existing on their own. People can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

And my answer to "who would win in a fight between him and Isaac Vainio?"* (based entirely on the first books in their respective series) is, "Well, they seem like they'd mostly be on the same side, so they're probably fighting about something dumb. In which case Lena would knock both of their heads together."

*Was I the only one thinking this?

Comments

[mirrored-echo.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files is quite good -- although I think it gets better if you get to book 3 or 4, and especially book 6. (the first 5 books sort of introduce one of the major supernatural factions; after that, it gets a bit more interesting.) I think you might like Molly, too, although she isn't important for a long while. :)

Also -- do you have a MITSFS membership? (or know what MITSFS is/have visited?)

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

Noted. I look forward to meeting Molly!

I know what the MITSFS is, but I have never signed up for a membership or visited their library. Clearly, at least one of these things should be remedied!

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files is quite good -- although I think it gets better if you get to book 3 or 4, and especially book 6.

For me book 3 is still one of my all time favorites. Michael and Thomas have outranked Harry himself as favorite characters of mine since Jim first introduced them. I got a copy of Back Up when Subterranean first published it.

I think you might like Molly, too, although she isn't important for a long while. :)

I'm not very fond of Molly, but Jim hasn't driven me away with her either.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

...while I enjoyed it (I think), I didn't love it enough to continue.

Aww. I've fallen behind a few times over the years, but I've always tried to keep up.

Or maybe I was put off by what appeared to figure heavily into the plot of the second book ... I was not overly fond of werewolf stories at the time.

Aaah. Yeah, not only do werewolves figure heavily in Fool Moon, but there are a variety of werewolves in it.

People can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

Personally, I think most of the time when a particular author and character are singled out as having defined a genre it's an oversimplification. It doesn't matter whether the people being singled out are Tolkien and Frodo, Joss Whedon and Buffy Summers (I know, while the TV series wasn't launched until '97, the idea predates the first Anita Blake book,) and Jim Butcher and Harry Dresden. That said, I know what's generally considered urban fantasy these days is viewed as having begun to develop in the 1980's, and from the first Dresden Files novel in 2000 Butcher has drawn a lot of the tropes together in his series. He is a leading author in the genre.

And my answer to "who would win in a fight between him and Isaac Vainio?" ... Was I the only one thinking this?

I haven't tried Libriomancer so I don't know how the two compare, but I'm guessing for a fair fight they need to be compared first book to first book. The latest Harry book was the 14th. He's been through a lot since that first book.

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not only do werewolves figure heavily in Fool Moon, but there are a variety of werewolves in it.

Having started Fool Moon, I am totally okay with that! I don't even remember why I was so anti-werewolf back when I first gave the series a try. Maybe I just hadn't encountered any werewolf stories that I liked. But, as I said in my post, I like them a lot better now.

Personally, I think most of the time when a particular author and character are singled out as having defined a genre it's an oversimplification. It doesn't matter whether the people being singled out are Tolkien and Frodo, Joss Whedon and Buffy Summers (I know, while the TV series wasn't launched until '97, the idea predates the first Anita Blake book,) and Jim Butcher and Harry Dresden. That said, I know what's generally considered urban fantasy these days is viewed as having begun to develop in the 1980's, and from the first Dresden Files novel in 2000 Butcher has drawn a lot of the tropes together in his series.

Yes to all of this. I think that when a particular author is singled out in this manner, it's not because the tropes and ideas haven't been used before, either separately or together, but because the author in question has managed to combine them and use them in an interesting way that strikes a particular chord with readers and other writers.

I haven't tried Libriomancer so I don't know how the two compare, but I'm guessing for a fair fight they need to be compared first book to first book. The latest Harry book was the 14th. He's been through a lot since that first book.

So I gathered, from browsing the recent book blurbs.

I recommend giving Libriomancer a try; it's fun and exciting and the characters are great. Isaac is both a competent badass and a complete geek. I think that you'll like him a lot.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

Having started Fool Moon, I am totally okay with that!

That's good. Not to get all spoilery, but some of the werewolves in that book will still be around 13 books later.

I think that when a particular author is singled out in this manner, it's ... because the author in question has managed to combine them and use them in an interesting way that strikes a particular chord with readers and other writers.

I think to a certain extent it is how the particular author struck a chord, but I believe it is also a matter of how a given genre progressed to a sort of critical mass. Lots of people think of Tolkien or Stoker as having invented the genres they are associated with not because of how those authors have struck a chord with them, but simply because those authors were the first authors they were exposed to from those genres. I've seen people who's first exposure to vampires was Twilight dismiss older vampire stories as either more recent knock offs or older inferior versions. People's knowledge of and perspective on genres vary.

I think that you'll like him a lot.

Thanks. I'll go add him to my wish list at the Science Fiction Book Club. I have at least noticed they do have an edition of that book for sale over there. ;)

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

Please let me know what you think of Libriomancer once you get around to reading it! :)