The Glade 4.0

So yeah I yield. It only took me about ten pages of Storm Front to see why people who love the novels hated the TV series.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

I got hooked this Christmas- reading #8 now, and then I need to read the two new ones.

I started with 9 and 10, since they were all my local library had.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Been reading them since the first three were out. I buy them in hardcover, can't wait for the paperbacks. I look at the TV series as something to help more people find the books.

Look for the short stories he has inserted in anthologies of the genre, some of them are pretty decent and add to the story lines.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Yay, more converts!

I read the first one, but just recently. I actually like the show better.

The series is great fun. It's hardly literature that will live through the ages and inspire new generations, but his books are consistently fun and that's all I really need most of the time

The comics are fun, too.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

There was a TV series?

I havent read a Dresden book in awhile, guess I should figure out where I left off and find the latest one.

A very short-lived SyFy (well, back then it was still spelling itself correctly) original series. It's on DVD now, all...twelve, I think, episodes of it.

The Dresden TV wasn't very good...at least, it didn't start out very well. The Sci Fi Channel Firefly-ed it, and sabotaged the world-building of the early episodes. They adapted the first novel, Storm Front, to be a two-hour made-for-TV movie that was intended to be a backdoor pilot for a series (a la the Battlestar Galactica miniseries). They decided to take it to series before the movie aired, and then decided to air it not as the first episode, but to heavily edit it down to 45 minutes and make it a regular episode (I believe it aired...eighth or something).

Around halfway through the series' run, it really found its footing and grew in quality by leaps and bounds. The books are still much better than the series, particularly once you hit book three or so. They're fantastic, and one of the few book series that not only doesn't peter out once you clear the first few, but actually gets better and better as its number grows.

I like the Dresden Files a lot, but I prefer Butcher's Codex Alera better. Then again, it's more an epic in scope kind of thing, where the Dresden Files are more like detective novels. Only with the supernatural, of course...

I tore though Storm front and am really pleased. However it will probably be a while before I get back to the series. The next Honor paperback and the Gaunts Ghosts Omnibus (The Lost) come out next month.

That's the problem with starting a new series. They have to go behind the Big three (Drizzt, Honor, and Gaunt)

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Apparently I haven't been keeping up. Is it a new mainline Honor Harrington novel, or an offshoot/anthology?

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Nope, it's fantasy. Harry's a Chicago wizard with an attitude and a beat up old car, a skull with a horny bound spirit, a foo dog bodyguard/companion and a problem love life. His best friend is a paladin and the paladin's daughter is Harry's acolyte, and Harry's mentor is a backwoods kinda country wizard. His brother sucks and there are werewolves that help out when he needs muscle. Oh yeah, and he's got a fairy godmother that is probably going to end up killing him.

It's not really unique but it has been entertaining so far. A bit of a blend of Glen Cook and Tolkien, if that means anything to you. Philip Marlowe as Gandalf the Grey. Kinda gets formulaic towards the latter part of the series though, the protagonist gets greater and greater powers and responsibilities, the threats get greater and greater, and lurking in the background is a threat that is seeking to destroy all that is good and pure and probably contains large amounts of MSG so it's bad for your health... Harry's biggest threat seems to be that since power corrupts and he's so powerful, he walks a line between heaven and hell as he lays the smack-down on yet another bigger and badder bad guy.

Good dialog if you like witty sarcasm, good good guys, bad bad guys, white is white and black is gray kinda stories.

I've read lots worse, and it's one of the better current series out there these days.

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In time, this too shall pass.

Not really Taskiss, there is a lot of grey in the white as well. The white just has a few firm lines in the sand.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

But you're a paladin - you see things that way by inclination.

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In time, this too shall pass.

The white council does some really shitty things due to their "ends justify the means" attitude.

Given the necessary level of power, I could be comfortable doing what needed to be done as a Warden. The Council I would never aspire to, I couldn't handle the power or the politics.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I have to say that I really enjoy Dresden Files. I like it because it's fairly tightly plotted and well-planned on a broad basis, and that allows for Butcher to maintain a high level of internal consistency and sort of dip back into earlier events for payoffs 2 or 3 books later in a very satisfying way. I don't find it particularly formulaic, outside of broad tropes and the fact that "everything seems to come together," which is really not something I take issue with when reading fiction -- I'm firmly in the camp that accepts that when stuff happens that doesn't ultimately tie into the plot, it just doesn't get made into a story. =P

Butcher walks a good line between writing a mystery that I don't solve 10 pages into the second chapter and deus ex machina'ing via information that Dresden doesn't divulge to the reader until 3 pages before solving what's going on or things tying up via off-screen events that have been going on the entire time. Between that, the delightful and self-consistent world-building with familiar elements drawn together in interesting ways and combinations, the character progression and development (<3 Molly!), and Dresden's jaded/cynical-lite attitude and snarky wit cum-sarcastic narrative voice is really all I can ask for in a noirish urban fantasy.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Thanks. I was actually responding to Rori's mention of a new Honor novel, but this is good, too. I haven't read any of the Dresden books from Butcher, although I have read his Codex Alera. From your description of the Dresden Files, you may be interested in reading Simon R. Green's series Secret Histories.

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Got the first ready to collect from the library tomorrow along with a Charlie Huston to speed the week over

To the best of my knowledge, I've read every book Green has ever written. I liked the Hawk and Fisher series best, the Deathstalker the least.

His "Tales from the Nightside" series is another good read.

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In time, this too shall pass.

Okay, Ghost Story's out, and I'm done reading it now. Who wants to talk spoilers?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

This cracked me up.

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In time, this too shall pass.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Way behind. I've only read the first 4.
Got a job, now, though. Gonna be picking up more soon

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister