The Jim Butcher Files: Dresden . Codex Alera . Cinder Spires & More - Page 412

eschwartz · 07-12-2015, 05:48 PM

And I just got my reserve notification from the Houston library -- I'm first in line on OverDrive for the pre-release copy of The Aeronaut's Windlass they just bought. Looks like I'll be reading it on day 1!

FizzyWater · 07-12-2015, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And I just got my reserve notification from the Houston library -- I'm first in line on OverDrive for the pre-release copy of The Aeronaut's Windlass they just bought. Looks like I'll be reading it on day 1!

Lucky you - I'm in line an my eLibrary since 4/14, and I'm 7th in line. I keep hoping one of the other eLibraries I belong to will get it too, and I can get a better spot.

eschwartz · 07-12-2015, 08:30 PM

I recommended it months ago. So I was pretty sure I'd get #1.

gmw · 07-13-2015, 12:04 AM

Okay, so I just finished Storm Front. Do they get better? I assume they will, since Storm Front was the first, but much better? I found Storm Front to be amusing but not so much that I'm in a rush to go out looking for more of the same thing. Maybe it's just not a good match for me, but I thought I'd see what the fans have to suggest.

eschwartz · 07-13-2015, 12:45 AM

Oh yes -- MUCH better.

The first couple books hardly do more than lay out the background. All the interesting stuff is yet to come!

Around book 4 I'd say, it starts really hitting its stride.

gmw · 07-13-2015, 01:36 AM

Is it viable to jump to book 4 or 5 or something and see what I think, or do I really need the background from the earlier books? (If I like the later stuff enough I'll probably go back and to the earlier ones, I tend to be a bit obsessive like that, but I'd like to find out if the good stuff is what I'm looking for.)

eschwartz · 07-13-2015, 01:47 AM

I wouldn't know, because my obsession leads me to read books in order at least the first time.

gmw · 07-13-2015, 01:58 AM

Normally I would say the same thing, but wondered if I might cheat this time. If it wasn't for this 412 page thread suggesting this might be a worthwhile series, I'd have already consigned this to the "nice try, but not for me" pile. It might still turn out that way (meaning no disrespect to Mr Butcher or the fans here, tastes vary, that's all), but I'd hate to be put off too early from a series that seems to have a lot of potential (it seems like something I should like).

Toxaris · 07-13-2015, 02:46 AM

If you like the type of story, the characters and such, keep on reading. The writing style improves a lot as well as the depth of the characters, the background and the world itself. Book three is pivotal in more than one way. Several things happen there that really boosts the next 8-9 books. So, if you like the genre and the overall theme/characters/story, keep on reading. It really, really gets better. You can skip ahead, but you will loose some fun I guess.
If you really want to read a book ahead of time, I think Dead Beat might be good, although even there you will miss out on several things.

gmw · 07-13-2015, 03:26 AM

Thanks, Toxaris. I found that I liked the idea of the characters and plot more than I liked what I actually read - a lot of it felt (to me) rather stiff and forced. That may be simply because this was his first, but it could also be my reaction to a deliberate style choice. I figure the best way to work out which it is, is to try something from later on. I'll take a look at Dead Beat sometime soon and see what I think.

alansplace · 07-13-2015, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Something to remember about Storm Front; it was a frustrated attempt at showing what Butcher believed would NOT work: From a 2004 interview with him "When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I was some kind of formulaic, genre writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files." -- So, although it taught him something about what could sell, don't take it as indicitive of the rest of his works, or even the rest of the series.

Quote:

“I knew she was wrong because I had a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature with an emphasis on creative writing, whereas she had merely published 40 novels.”

So he cobbled together a main character named Harry Dresden, with Sherlock's body and Spenser's wiseguy attitude. “I knew I wanted to write a wizard and a private eye,” he said. “I went back and looked at the most popular private eye characters and I looked at the most iconic wizard characters and tried to borrow traits from each of them to sort of build this character. At the time I thought I was building a really ridiculous Frankenstein character because that's what it felt like. ‘Let me rip this part off Sherlock and I'll take this from Gandalf and this from Merlin. Mua-ha-ha-ha, it's alive!'”

Butcher then set out to teach his teacher a lesson. "So I decided to do her little structure rules," he said, "and put things together in that kind of conscious way and build this Frankenstein horrible novel so that she'd see how awful it was and I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files, which showed her up." He sent a note of apology later, with permission to show it to her students whenever she liked.

DuckieTigger · 07-13-2015, 04:55 PM

In Storm Front other than the already mentioned "bad writing" there is that slight problem with subject matter. There is too much violence committed against regular humans with lots of detail. Sure, in later books there will be much more (quantitative) and worse (qualitative) violence, but for the most part it will be against non-human fantasy characters. Well, a little collateral damage, but not so much in detail any more as book 1. I liked the first book from the beginning - the so called clumsy writing is exactly how Harry is evolving. Throughout the books Harry learns a lot and the books reflect his thoughts and state of mind by how they are written. Later there will be a book that has a slight different style from the other books, but I attribute that to the different state of mind Harry is in. Some like it, some say it is not good in comparison. I say that it fits right in and is necessary to show how well Harry is able to remain functioning with limited power.

alansplace · 07-13-2015, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

In Storm Front other than the already mentioned "bad writing" there is that slight problem with subject matter. There is too much violence committed against regular humans with lots of detail. Sure, in later books there will be much more (quantitative) and worse (qualitative) violence, but for the most part it will be against non-human fantasy characters. Well, a little collateral damage, but not so much in detail any more as book 1. I liked the first book from the beginning - the so called clumsy writing is exactly how Harry is evolving. Throughout the books Harry learns a lot and the books reflect his thoughts and state of mind by how they are written. Later there will be a book that has a slight different style from the other books, but I attribute that to the different state of mind Harry is in. Some like it, some say it is not good in comparison. I say that it fits right in and is necessary to show how well Harry is able to remain functioning with limited power.

I agree,

! You spotted things that I never thought of and never really understood,Wow!! Like you, I liked the book from the start, but unlike you I never really understood why. Very incisive, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

DuckieTigger · 07-13-2015, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alansplace

I agree,

! You spotted things that I never thought of and never really understood,Wow!! Like you, I liked the book from the start, but unlike you I never really understood why. Very incisive, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Thank you, those are kind words. I would like to go more into detail with the way it feels to me, but I am afraid that it would require too many spoiler tags. And there is different reasons for liking the books - as not everybody is pulled in right away.

BuyMore · 07-13-2015, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

In Storm Front other than the already mentioned "bad writing" there is that slight problem with subject matter. There is too much violence committed against regular humans with lots of detail. Sure, in later books there will be much more (quantitative) and worse (qualitative) violence, but for the most part it will be against non-human fantasy characters. Well, a little collateral damage, but not so much in detail any more as book 1. I liked the first book from the beginning - the so called clumsy writing is exactly how Harry is evolving. Throughout the books Harry learns a lot and the books reflect his thoughts and state of mind by how they are written. Later there will be a book that has a slight different style from the other books, but I attribute that to the different state of mind Harry is in. Some like it, some say it is not good in comparison. I say that it fits right in and is necessary to show how well Harry is able to remain functioning with limited power.

Well said, Duckie!

07-13-2015, 12:45 AM	#6170
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Oh yes -- MUCH better. The first couple books hardly do more than lay out the background. All the interesting stuff is yet to come! Around book 4 I'd say, it starts really hitting its stride. Last edited by eschwartz; 07-13-2015 at 12:48 AM.

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07-12-2015, 05:48 PM	#6166
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	And I just got my reserve notification from the Houston library -- I'm first in line on OverDrive for the pre-release copy of The Aeronaut's Windlass they just bought. Looks like I'll be reading it on day 1!

07-12-2015, 08:30 PM	#6168
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I recommended it months ago. So I was pretty sure I'd get #1.

07-13-2015, 12:04 AM	#6169
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Okay, so I just finished Storm Front. Do they get better? I assume they will, since Storm Front was the first, but much better? I found Storm Front to be amusing but not so much that I'm in a rush to go out looking for more of the same thing. Maybe it's just not a good match for me, but I thought I'd see what the fans have to suggest.

07-13-2015, 01:36 AM	#6171
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Is it viable to jump to book 4 or 5 or something and see what I think, or do I really need the background from the earlier books? (If I like the later stuff enough I'll probably go back and to the earlier ones, I tend to be a bit obsessive like that, but I'd like to find out if the good stuff is what I'm looking for.)

07-13-2015, 01:47 AM	#6172
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I wouldn't know, because my obsession leads me to read books in order at least the first time.

07-13-2015, 01:58 AM	#6173
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Normally I would say the same thing, but wondered if I might cheat this time. If it wasn't for this 412 page thread suggesting this might be a worthwhile series, I'd have already consigned this to the "nice try, but not for me" pile. It might still turn out that way (meaning no disrespect to Mr Butcher or the fans here, tastes vary, that's all), but I'd hate to be put off too early from a series that seems to have a lot of potential (it seems like something I should like).

07-13-2015, 02:46 AM	#6174
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	If you like the type of story, the characters and such, keep on reading. The writing style improves a lot as well as the depth of the characters, the background and the world itself. Book three is pivotal in more than one way. Several things happen there that really boosts the next 8-9 books. So, if you like the genre and the overall theme/characters/story, keep on reading. It really, really gets better. You can skip ahead, but you will loose some fun I guess. If you really want to read a book ahead of time, I think Dead Beat might be good, although even there you will miss out on several things.

07-13-2015, 03:26 AM	#6175
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Thanks, Toxaris. I found that I liked the idea of the characters and plot more than I liked what I actually read - a lot of it felt (to me) rather stiff and forced. That may be simply because this was his first, but it could also be my reaction to a deliberate style choice. I figure the best way to work out which it is, is to try something from later on. I'll take a look at Dead Beat sometime soon and see what I think.

07-13-2015, 04:55 PM	#6177
DuckieTigger Wizard Posts: 4,764 Karma: 246906703 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: USA Device: Oasis 3, Oasis 2, PW3, PW1, KT	In Storm Front other than the already mentioned "bad writing" there is that slight problem with subject matter. There is too much violence committed against regular humans with lots of detail. Sure, in later books there will be much more (quantitative) and worse (qualitative) violence, but for the most part it will be against non-human fantasy characters. Well, a little collateral damage, but not so much in detail any more as book 1. I liked the first book from the beginning - the so called clumsy writing is exactly how Harry is evolving. Throughout the books Harry learns a lot and the books reflect his thoughts and state of mind by how they are written. Later there will be a book that has a slight different style from the other books, but I attribute that to the different state of mind Harry is in. Some like it, some say it is not good in comparison. I say that it fits right in and is necessary to show how well Harry is able to remain functioning with limited power.

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