Okay, so I'm about seven years behind on discovering this series, but I did at last find it, and I'm really enjoying it. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher is one of the most original series of fantasy that I've picked up in a long, long time. I can see echoes of other things in it, as is to be expected, but not unpleasant echoes. It's an original world Butcher has made with appealing characters, and although I'm only four books into the series, I really like what he's done with them so far.
My dad has been raving about this series for a long time now, but I've just had too many other literary obligations to pick up a new series. Also, to be quite frank, most of the new authors I've picked up in the last five years or so have been less than stellar. They've either been wholesale rip-offs of the grandmasters of yore (and dime store copies at that), or so trite and predictable that I could see what was coming before I'd finished the first page. Butcher's work is neither. It's a pleasant cross between a sort of magic-meets-the-real-world fusion and mystery, a mix I find pleasing. I also like the ways in which he develops Harry Dresden, his main character, and the world of magic.
All in all, it's a nice diversion. I'm ripping through the series, and even though I'm pretty far behind, I'm hoping to get through the series during the holidays. I'll finish up book four today, and at the rate of about a book a day or two, I should be through what's been published before I go back to school. I desperately needed a break from Faulkner, Shakespeare, and dystopia. Thank God for Harry Dresden.
No comments:
Post a Comment
And then you said.....