The Dresden Files (series) by Jim Butcher (2002-present)
| Overall |  | Story | |
| Re-Readability | | Characters | |
I got into the books via the SciFi channel TV series based on it. I've reviewed the first volume before. This review covers the series to date (in paperback -- the ninth volume, White Night, is only in hardcover at the moment).
Story: This series chronicles the adventures of Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book. Most normal folks consider him a kook or a fraud, even as he does consulting work for the Chicago PD. The actual White Council of Wizards considers him a dangerous loose cannon (especially given his heritage). And there's any number (steadily growing) of unnatural beings and coalitions who consider him their mortal enemy.
Butcher has gradually presented a believable, internally consistent fantasy-amidst-the-mundane world. Though the first few books were an escalating series of unique bad guy groups, by the fourth volume the groundwork laid pays off, as factions interact, previous actions have consequences, and established relationships begin to further complicate matters.
One plus is that the books manage to avoid the Anita Blake fault of ever-escalating "most horrible menace imaginable" threats; though the danger level varies along with the foes, things are always dire and deadly (and there are usually multiple dooms hovering over Harry's head, if not all Chicago).
Plotwise, Butcher does a good job. Though occasionally it feels like it's the "throw as many complications at the hero and see what sticks" school of action writing, the loose ends are almost always sewn up by the end (or at least are acknowledged as such), and once the rules of the universe are established, there's rarely a sense of deus ex machina in the resolutions (far too tempting a solution in the contemporary fantasy world). With all that, Butcher keeps things hopping in unexepected fashions -- allies becoming opponents, opponents becoming allies, and at least one book where four separate factions are out to have Harry join them (so long as he's willing to fight the others) -- and he ends up signing up with the least likely of them.
Characters: The characters in the series are not the most vividly detailed in literary history, but they stand up well to most contemporary literature. The books are told from Harry's perspective, so he's clearly the most thoroughly drawn -- and he comes across as a nicely solid characfter, a tarnished white knight with feet of clay, He's got personal problems, both demons and angels (figuratively and literally), and he manages to muddle through his mistakes (and triumphs) very much like a "real" person would.
The supporting cast is correspondingly less detailed, but well within established norms.
Over the course of the series, moreover, there are changes. Characters come in, then leave. Relationships are started, evolve, end, or change in unexpected ways. People grow. People die. Decisions get made, then rescinded. It's all pop entertainment, but it's well-crafted as such.
Re-Readability: I haven't gone back to reread them yet, but I expect I will. As importantly, I feel absolutely no compunction about loaning them to other people to read (Margie's well on her way through the series), which I think is as great a recommendation.
Overall: The "modern fantasy" genre is becoming an increasingly crowded one, and Sturgeon's Law prevails. The Dresden Files stands out as a positive example in the category, regardless of the TV show (which is also entertaining, but in many ways quite different), and is to be commended to anyone with any interest in that sort of thing.
Filed under :: Media - Books
Dave, have you ever read the Teddy London books by Robert Morgan? The series ran six books back in the early 90's. all paperback originals, and are still the best I've read in this weird little sub-genre. London was a PI who dealt with the supernatural and each book featured a title with the word "Thing" in it; The Thing That Wasn't There, Some Things Never Die, etc.
Hmmm. I'll give it a try.
There's a lot of stuff in the "modern urban fantasy" genre these days, too much of it bad Anita Blake knockoffs (which, given how LKH has been running that series, is saying something).