The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher)

[thartley]

http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/

Dead Beat is the current book I'm reading.  Jim Butcher is a new author to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I checked it out because I very much liked the Sci-Fi channel series The Dresden Files.  But of course, if I liked it, it will get canceled.  I couldn't find Storm Front, which is the first book in the series.  Dead Beat is all I could get hold of when I was at the library.  But it is so much fun.  Its full of magic and wizardry and other-worldliness, and Butcher is top notch in the humour department.  The great lines and comedic sense is not limited to the main character, Harry Dresden, either.  Its a fundamental way Butcher writes these books.

I'm also a big fan of the vampire tv series, Angel, so I was happy to find out that James Marsters who played Spike narrates the audio books for this series.  I'm torn between reading and listening.  I'm just a fool for an accent, I guess, even if its fake.  LOL!

[Ginafish]

LISTEN! Lol

[thartley]

Ok, I've finished reading this one.  Its was one of the most fun books I've come across in a long time.  I will likely make my way thru this series over time.  The characters are fully realized and soooo well-written, but clearly these are comedic sci-fi fun reads.  Because not many (if any) of you will really read the book....I can say that the big climactic battle scene at the end has our main character, Wizard Harry Dresden, riding on the back of a necromantically reanimated T-Rex with his friend the medical examiner wearing a polka suit who is playing a steady beat on drums by alternately kicking his feet out.  The drumbeat is how the wizard controls the T-Rex with magic.  There is a faerie king, vampires, and all kinds of things...

So absurd, but so much fun.

Now, its on the DeMello's book Awareness:  The Perils and Opportunities of Reality

There's a joke in there, I just know it.   

[Ginafish]

Okay...I can't read the book now b/c I can't pronounce necromantically in my head much less figure out what it is you've spoiled the ending.

[thartley]

like you were gonna go check it out...   

[Ginafish]

I do like Sci fi, I just can't read it. Just like that blasted Harry Potter series, I can't read anything that is full of stuff I can't pronounce.

Call me scarred. In 10th grade I gave an oral book review of a history book and mangled a well known name that I didn't know. The teacher calmly corrected my pronunciation AfTER I said the name MULtiPle times at which then the whole class snickered.

On the other extreme, I bought a mini-tv just for Star Trek the Next Generation. I didn't want to miss the end on my way to work.

[thartley]

I usually never read a series of books out of order, but for whatever reason, I have done so with these.  I have to say, it has not taken away from the story lines at all for me.  Each book really has stand-alone ability and is a joy to read.  Harry Dresden is a remarkably memorable character, fully developed and wonderfully witty...part wizard, part gumshoe detective, 100% fun.

So far, I've read Dead Beat, Proven Guilty, White Knight, and Storm Front.  I'll go to the library today and get Fool Moon, if I can find it.