The Dresden Files (the books)

[gnine]

So, after almost exactly two weeks, I've just finished all nine of the currently written Dresden Files. And I ADORE them! Due to being laid low with a cold last week, my options for activities became limited to sleep, reading and TV. Got a LOT of the first, did a bunch of second with regards to the Dresden series, and got most of the way thru Farscape to even out the third. (And just gotta say, it's amazing how many parallels can be drawn between Harry and John, starting with them being neck to neck in the competition of most tortured character. Ever. )

Anyway, now that I've just put aside the ninth book (meaning I have to wait for the next one. *sigh* I hate waiting. Add it to the list…which will be shortening by one in July. Can't believe we'll be getting the LAST HP book soon. WOW), my thoughts, reactions, possible questions/speculation and squeeing over the books:



First off, HARRRRRY!! *hugs* My *god* does the man need hugs! Poor poor boy. I've loved his steadily increasing number of friends and allies as the books go along. The first one, when he has NO ONE to turn to truly is depressing! And luckily enough, I'm quite fond of all of 'em.

Which brings me to Thomas!! I love him, I can't help it. I liked him even before I knew he was Harry's bro, I mean he's PRETTY. And amusing. But, I didn't *love* him till the whole brother thing came out and then it's just too cute! I love Harry's interactions with him, their total loyalty to one another. Just too cute. And funny, the gay stuff, especially in the ninth book, amused me to no end.

More on the allies, I adore Murph, I do. I'll admit it, I kinda want her and Harry together. If he was gonna get with anyone, I kinda would like it to be her. On the other hand, I'm totally down with male/female awesome, loyal platonic friendship so…*shrug* Guess I could go either way on the issue. Regardless, she kicks some SERIOUS ass. And her description always reminds me of one of my best friends.

Billy and the Alphas amuse me, and they can be terribly sweet. Haven't seen 'em as much in the last few books, hope they come back.

Michael and his family are sweet, and I wasn't sure how I was feeling about Molly, but was liking her by the end of the ninth.

Mouse is just…awesome!

Ramirez (other than making constantly quote B5 bloopers every time I see his name) has totally totally won my heart. And the virgin thing. Hi-LAR-ri-ous. So perfect.

Harry's relationship with Ebenezer is sweet, want to see more with that.

Marcone…err, is he an ally? Who knows? But I'm rather fond of him, and all of his interactions with Harry. The whole thing with giving Harry platinum membership to his club *killed* me.

Another thing that killed my. T-Rex! OMG, I was dying. It was when Harry looked up and I was like, no. NO, tell me he's not going to…oh, oh he is. Oh Harry.

Also, I love that Harry has his own grave. And the "doing the right thing" is just too perfect.

Okay, enough with the squeeing, on to the speculation.

Is Cowl on the council, the senior council even? I almost wanna say it's the Merlin, but that strikes me as too obvious.

Also, the stuff with Mab, is she truly loopy, or being played…or playing everyone. I mean, she is the faiery queen, anything's possible.

And is Lash fully gone, or do remnants of her still remain to help Harry along? Will be curious to see.

And what IS up with Harry's mommy. Wonder when will get the answer on that one.

And there was more, but I’m blanking now and Farscape is calling. But overall, just gotta say, I LOVE these books. Squee!

Comments

[naye]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!! *bounces around like a ferret on speed* So much yes!! Oh, I'm so glad you liked them as much as I thought you would! And - yes, HARRY! Oh, Harry. Poor, poor Harry. His life kind of SUCKS, wouldn't you say? But then he goes and does the best of it, and does the right thing, and he gets people to help him through, and I LOVE him for that. Love the books for giving that to him, and there are several times a book I just squee with joy at all of the cute and awesome and friendship and, oh, Harry. ^_______^ Really. Harry. Aw. ♥

Harry's such an awesome character. I love where he's ended up by the end of the ninth book; not just with allies, but how he's developed, and how his role has changed.

Oh, and Thomas! They're such CUTE brothers! They go all serious about their brother-bond as soon as they confirm it, even though they grew up apart, and even when they're out of touch there's always the trust and the caring there. (Thomas following Harry around to protect him!! Harry saving him from Lord Raith! Room mates for two years! Awwwwwwwww!)

And Ramirez. I HOWLED with laughter when the "virgin" thing came up, and since that moment, he's looked like a Latino Marcus in my head. It's a weird image, but very pretty. ♥ (I want him and Molly to get together, if only because it would annoy Harry a whole lot, especially if either of them decided to TMI him. Which you know they would do. Especially Ramirez owes him big time for all those jokes at the end of the ninth book...!)

DUDE. DINOSAUR. The riding a dinosaur zombie down central Chicago was just one of the coolest things EVER. I love how visual the books feel to me, how I can really SEE all these fantastic, larger-than-life scenes in front of me. Harry and Ramirez on Sue. So special. ♥

On to the plot! In a second comment, because LJ hates me.

Second part

[naye]

Cowl on the council, the senior council even? I almost wanna say it's the Merlin, but that strikes me as too obvious.

I think he has to be senior council... For a while I was really worried the traitor might be Ramirez, because we were obviously supposed to like him, but after all that poor boy has suffered... I doubt it. Of course, it wouldn't keep it from being something horribly evil, like mind control or blackmail or - something. Because he's been very lucky, and bad guys have been showing up right where he is a lot. But I don't want it to be him!

I think the Merlin is too obvious. I don't think it's Ebenezer. I'm wondering if it might be one of the magicians we're more sympathetic towards, like - Indjun Joe? Maybe? Or just that German guy I can't remember the name of right now... But, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if it was someone Harry actually trusted. (Well, as far as Harry trusts anyone, these days!)

Also, the stuff with Mab, is she truly loopy, or being played…or playing everyone. I mean, she is the faiery queen, anything's possible.

I think the knife Bianca gave Lea was really bad mojo, and it might have screwed up Mab... But even if it did, I doubt she wouldn't find some way to turn it to her advantage. Because, like you said - hello, faery queen!

And is Lash fully gone, or do remnants of her still remain to help Harry along? Will be curious to see.

I think... I don't know. I do know that John and Harry could sit down for a long talk about how it feels to have an enemy living in your head! XD That amused me. A lot. But, no, I think she's mostly gone - the Lasciel construct is gone - but have left some surprises for Harry. She liked him, she might have tried to ensure he would survive the stupid things he's bound to do...

And what IS up with Harry's mommy. Wonder when will get the answer on that one.

Possibly at the end of the series. Jim Butcher said he's writing about twenty of these books, and then ending with something he calls the "Apocalypse Trilogy". Sounds like we might find out a LOT more about what Harry's big part to play (the one prophecised by that girl with Cassandra's Tear) is. But I bet it has to do with his mom... Something about her possibly being allied with really, really dark forces - Outsider dark - before giving it up. And possibly about having agreed to birth something really bad... I don't know, but she's got an interesting reputation...

Also! The Black Council - even before Harry was considering the existance of something like them, he was sure the events happening weren't random. He was saying someone stirred them up - and an awful lot of them seem very personally directed at him. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if dear old Justin DuMorne wasn't quite as dead as everyone expects him to be...

Re: Second part

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if dear old Justin DuMorne wasn't quite as dead as everyone expects him to be... Oooo, hadn't thought of that, now wouldn't that just be interesting!

I love that we have like at least ten more books or so to look forward to. And the fact that apparently he's a super fast writer, thank GOD. I am totally down with a book a year!

Hmm, I wonder about Injun Joe...could be. They say at one point that only four people had the knowledge of one of the big betrayals: Ancient Mai, the Merlin, Morgan and Injun Joe. So...

Also, the question is, is Cowl the major baddie, or does he have someone higher than him pulling his strings as well...

Want more, waaaah! Also, apparently he's written two side stories that have been published in collections, and I wanna read them! *sigh* But don't wanna buy the collection. Grr...and the second one (out in Sept.) has stuff with Thomas...I wannnnts precious, I wants!

And yeah, Ramirez and Molly would be cute together..I reeeeally hope he doesn't do anything bad with Ramirez!

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Speaking of "seeing" the stuff, was looking at ep summaries and WOW does the show sound like it changed a LOT. *sigh* Which is a bummer, cause yeah, there is a TON of this stuff that I think is totally screen-worthy! The dinosaur big time, but some of the Nevernever stuff is just so clearly described...though would probably be a BITCH to film, even with all the fun CGI tech we have these days...

Also...your icon makes me happy. Harry has just SOOO many quotable lines! Hmm, should go find some of my favorites myself...^_^

[zsms.livejournal.com]

Lol. I haven't read the end of this, because I just picked up the first couple of Dresden books after seeing you mention them :b. Thank's for the b-day wishes and I hope you get over the cold soon! *Hugs*

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Whee, enjoy! They're fast reading and really are quite a romp! And there's lots more to come, and the author is seems to really churn them out quite quickly, so hazaah!

*huggles*

Miss you! You should come visit! ^_- How's being at home treating yah?

[sholio]

Hi! You don't know me, but I wandered over here from xparrot's LJ and I wanted to join in the Dresden squee. *squees* I just recently got done reading all 9 of the books, and now I'm just eagerly awaiting the next one.

It took me awhile to get into the books, because what really draws me into a series is the characters' affection for each other, and Harry was just so *isolated* in the early books. I'm not really fond of the "lone hero" archetype due to the whole, well, "lone" thing. *g* But that made it all the more fantastic when his natural altruism leads to him slowly but surely collecting this group of people who are as willing to die for him as he is for them. And the way that he wins people over -- Charity, even Lasciel for cryin' out loud ... he's such a good person (but in a flawed, non-cloying way) that rather than being subverted by the demon, HE subverted HER.

I just love all the characters, and rather than attaching myself specifically to one of the character relationships in the series (which is my usual thing), I adore most of the relationships in Harry's life. In fact, the only character that I *don't* love is Elaine -- I can't quite put my finger on what it is about her that annoys me so, because most of the female characters in the books are really well written, but I just can't get into her. I feel like she'd be so much better as an abstract ideal (the idealized first girlfriend, the one who got away) than as an actual *character*. In short, I don't want her to DIE or anything, but I wish she'd stayed off-camera. Having so much of her in Book 9 drove me nuts, in part because there were so many h/c moments, and then it would be h/c with ELAINE ... my very least favorite of Harry's allies. *sigh* All that potential -- wasted!

*laughs* But that's only one small quibble in what is really a very awesome series. I haven't been able to get into the TV show, not so much because it's different from the books (which I can deal with), but because it's lacking nearly everything that drew me into the books -- the warmth and affection between the characters, the complicated plots and fantastically complex world. The books, though ... the next one can't come out soon enough for me.

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Heheh, truth be told, Leyla (?) dear, I kinda feel like a do know you, from all that Neechan mentions you ^_^ Been meaning to friend you for a while, actually *goes to do that now*.

Anyway, as to the Dresden books, I totally hear you 'bout the first few and the lack of Harry interaction. I *feed* on character relationships, more than anything else in my fiction, so yeah...BUT, I had you, and naye both raving about the wonderfulness of the books (neechan was relaying your recs ^_-) with the wonderful guarantee that he WOULD be getting people to be all smarmy with in later books and, thus reassured, I pounced upon the series, zooming thru 'em!

I agree with you 'bout Elaine. (Susan kinda got to me too, not sure, might have been cause I got the feeling their relationship was sorta doomed from the get go. I just kinda played as rushed, not fully developed, just the need to *have* a romance, so that it could end tragically and we could get more Harry torture...not that I'm objecting to the last part ^_-). I too think Elaine is better in the abstract, she just kinda feels almost Mary-sueish, the one that got away, "perfect" (despite the fact she kinda back stabs him a lot) gal. When she shows up, especially int he 9th book, it feels to pat, to perfect. I SOOOO much prefer Murph. And I was getting fond of Molly by the end.

I do love all the characters, the thing with Thomas just gets me cause...um...BROTHERS (what can I say, it's probably my number one greatest weakness...Also...Thomas=hot and um...me? shallow...err...*shifty eyes* I don't know what you're talking about. Really....^_-)

And I want 10 now OH SO BAAAD. *sigh* God am I waiting on too many books :-p

[sholio]

LOL! Yeah, same thing here, because of reading her LJ for so long, and emails and such -- the only thing I hadn't been doing was actually reading your LJ, and now, here I am! ^_^

Even though I normally flip out over brothers, it took awhile for the idea of Thomas and Harry as brothers to grow on me -- one, because I wasn't that fond of Thomas at first (I tend *not* to go for the pretty-boy types, preferring loveable scruffballs like Harry), and two, the brother thing seemed kind of contrived at first, and not very well set up. I don't know if Butcher actually had it planned from the beginning, but it *felt* like a retcon. However, the next book, with the boys as roommates (*dies*) and Thomas's well-meaning attempts to go straight, combined with how deeply loyal he and Harry both are to each other, pretty much sold me on him. And Thomas in Book 9? SQUEE!

I'm kind of the opposite of you on Molly, because I adored her in her brief appearance in Book 5, and was no end of joyful when she became a regular character. (I also have this thing for platonic older guy/young woman mentor relationships, like Buffy and Giles -- which meant the series was hitting YET ANOTHER of my kinks!) Susan didn't really bother me because Book 3 was the first of the series that I read, so I "met" her as the tragic doomed love interest rather than a "will they get together?" sort of relationship. But, Elaine. Yeah. Mary Sue all the way. Since Butcher cycles his guest stars, we can probably look forward to another Elaine-free book or two before she shows back up again, though. *g*

In fact, I wonder what the next book is going to be? The way the many plot threads tend to cycle, it probably *won't* be another White Council or vampire-centric book. I'm expecting that it'll probably deal either with the Faery courts and his deal with Mab, or with the cane-sword and the Knights (which was actually what I was expecting for Book 9, from the title).

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

Just stopping by to wish you Happy Birthday!

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Thanks sooo much! ^_^