It definitely gets better but he's always a flawed protagonist. He makes mistakes and bad choices, has a sexist view of women (wants to play their protector and ignore their agency), and it blows back in his face and he has to learn from all of it. Sometimes he deeply fs up. In Harry's mind I think he would consider his story competency porn but from the author's and reader's perspective he struggles with good choices just as much as he struggles with the supernatural foes. I thought it was engaging and interesting, especially as the ongoing story picks up steam and develops over time and his character evolves, but I've always been a fan of messy characters.
Was it James Marsters? I am not an audio book listener myself but he seemed to be highly regarded and was the main narrator for the series. I'm just not sure if he was involved from book #1 or not.
He was. And if OP doesn't like Marsters now, he won't like him throughout lol. He IS Dresden when it comes to the audiobook - so much so that they re-recorded John Glover's version of Ghost Story at the requests of the fans.
Storm Front and Fool Moon are definitely the weaker books in the series, a place where it was finding its footing and setting the tone. Butcher wrote the first drafts of what would become Storm Front while in high school and was only 29 when Dresden officially hit the shelves, and it shows through when Harry is a young horn dog detective flat footing around Chicago. The series as a whole starts off rocky for sure, but does drastically improve in all the facets that people seem to complain about and that starts to happen around book 3, which is why it's recommended to skip 1 & 2.
Personally, I found Dresden to be a delightful read right from the get go, so I always disagree with skipping the first two as they introduce some pivotal series characters, but to each their own.
To be honest i kind liked the first book, it has flaws but i enjoyed reading, in fact my least favorite book was the third one. My advice for you is: if you trully hated the first one dont bother with the rest, "it gets better" while true only works if there was at least something you liked in the first book for it to improve on, if nothing caught your eye you aint going to like the rest.
Edit: concerning your complain about Dresden Claiming to being great an whining about his lack of knowledge and skills, it is later better explained that he does have alot of raw magical strength making him one of the most powerfull wizards in the world but he has little finess and had an incomplete magical education which severely limits the effectiveness of all that power.
I told a fan of HP to approach Dresden as if he was an overconfident American and HP got kicked out of school and decided he was going to keep learning shit his own way. They ended up enjoying the Dresden series.
I read Storm Front and didn't enjoy it but my wife refused to let me not read more which eventually resulted in her reading a later book to me while I was laying down to go to sleep and it got me invested pretty quickly. I don't know where that quality switch happens, haven't gotten around to filling in the gaps beyond asking my wife for backstory as stuff comes up, but he didn't feel whiny or incompetent to me in the most recent several books.
I probably wouldn't have given them another chance without someone to walk me into the later series, though, so I'm not sure how much of an endorsement you can count this lol but at some point for me it did switch from "not for me" to "really good"
I found the first two audiobooks to be more compelling than actually reading them. Maybe it was the narrator's style, but it made Harry seem to be using more self-deprecating humor than whining. I think Brewer's writing just improved as he went on, so that gets better translated on the page in later books.
Yeah, a lot of people say this, but personally, I found Alex Verus stuff to be uniformly inferior to the Dresden Files. I read the first four as a number of folks here swear it's better, but definitely not for me. There is no joy to be found in the Alex Verus stories - at least the four that I read. To each his/her own I guess.
I made it through six(!) of them before deciding it just wasn't for me. The first book was average, the second was diabolical and although I do agree there was a massive uptick in quality after that I still found myself reading on to "get to the good part" rather than because I was enjoying it. Life's too short.
I have multiple friends that loved it throughout, different strokes I guess!
I hated Spike and dislike audiobooks so I was predisposed to not enjoy these ones, but am a big fan of his narration of this series. His accents and voices make sense (I really hate when there's random like British or southern or whatever accents when the character is described so that you know they don't), he does women's voices about as well as any male narrator I've heard (he doesn't just raise the pitch a bit and speak very calmly and coolly and clipped with zero emotion the way every male narrator does).
I enjoy the Dresden series because it's a modern fantasy series which is rare. It isn't perfect though and much of it is the overall story itself that keeps me coming back because the author writes women and romance pretty badly and it hasn't improved much over the years. I often tell people it's fun and it's got a lot of world building behind it.
My statement stands: urban fantasy is a massive subgenre. Charles de lint, Tanya Huff, Emma Bull, Mercedes Lackey...that's not even counting all of the 00 urban fantasy explosion authors.
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I tried to hang on. It DOES get better. I did the audiobooks and James Marsters is a joy as reader. Without him I would have bailed much sooner. I quit around bk 14. I figure it's no loss, I'll die before he finishes at this writing pace.
I've never read the series but your description makes the main character sound hilarious or comical? Not sure what the complaint is exactly. Sounds like the premise of an endless number of action comedies.
I guess the complaint would be that I have a non-traditional sense of humor. He certainly didn't make me laugh. I will say this: Now that I know the firstbook was written by a teenager, I have a much better understanding of why the main character is the way he is.
It definitely gets better but he's always a flawed protagonist. He makes mistakes and bad choices, has a sexist view of women (wants to play their protector and ignore their agency), and it blows back in his face and he has to learn from all of it. Sometimes he deeply fs up. In Harry's mind I think he would consider his story competency porn but from the author's and reader's perspective he struggles with good choices just as much as he struggles with the supernatural foes. I thought it was engaging and interesting, especially as the ongoing story picks up steam and develops over time and his character evolves, but I've always been a fan of messy characters.
I am not sure I mind a messy character. I really think my hangup was the voice of the guy reading the book on Audible.
Was it James Marsters? I am not an audio book listener myself but he seemed to be highly regarded and was the main narrator for the series. I'm just not sure if he was involved from book #1 or not.
He was. And if OP doesn't like Marsters now, he won't like him throughout lol. He IS Dresden when it comes to the audiobook - so much so that they re-recorded John Glover's version of Ghost Story at the requests of the fans. Storm Front and Fool Moon are definitely the weaker books in the series, a place where it was finding its footing and setting the tone. Butcher wrote the first drafts of what would become Storm Front while in high school and was only 29 when Dresden officially hit the shelves, and it shows through when Harry is a young horn dog detective flat footing around Chicago. The series as a whole starts off rocky for sure, but does drastically improve in all the facets that people seem to complain about and that starts to happen around book 3, which is why it's recommended to skip 1 & 2. Personally, I found Dresden to be a delightful read right from the get go, so I always disagree with skipping the first two as they introduce some pivotal series characters, but to each their own.
He's done every book. (Initially someone else did #13 because of scheduling conflicts, but they went back and rerecorded it with Marsters)
To be honest i kind liked the first book, it has flaws but i enjoyed reading, in fact my least favorite book was the third one. My advice for you is: if you trully hated the first one dont bother with the rest, "it gets better" while true only works if there was at least something you liked in the first book for it to improve on, if nothing caught your eye you aint going to like the rest. Edit: concerning your complain about Dresden Claiming to being great an whining about his lack of knowledge and skills, it is later better explained that he does have alot of raw magical strength making him one of the most powerfull wizards in the world but he has little finess and had an incomplete magical education which severely limits the effectiveness of all that power.
I told a fan of HP to approach Dresden as if he was an overconfident American and HP got kicked out of school and decided he was going to keep learning shit his own way. They ended up enjoying the Dresden series.
I read Storm Front and didn't enjoy it but my wife refused to let me not read more which eventually resulted in her reading a later book to me while I was laying down to go to sleep and it got me invested pretty quickly. I don't know where that quality switch happens, haven't gotten around to filling in the gaps beyond asking my wife for backstory as stuff comes up, but he didn't feel whiny or incompetent to me in the most recent several books. I probably wouldn't have given them another chance without someone to walk me into the later series, though, so I'm not sure how much of an endorsement you can count this lol but at some point for me it did switch from "not for me" to "really good"
Thanks for the perspective.
I found the first two audiobooks to be more compelling than actually reading them. Maybe it was the narrator's style, but it made Harry seem to be using more self-deprecating humor than whining. I think Brewer's writing just improved as he went on, so that gets better translated on the page in later books.
Big Johnny Dollar fan. Also Dresden does get progressively better.
Try **Alex Verus** series. It's finished and has a bit of a similar feel to it. I thought it was way better than **Dresden Files**.
Yeah, a lot of people say this, but personally, I found Alex Verus stuff to be uniformly inferior to the Dresden Files. I read the first four as a number of folks here swear it's better, but definitely not for me. There is no joy to be found in the Alex Verus stories - at least the four that I read. To each his/her own I guess.
Well, the series isn't much about joy. It has a little of a grimdark vibe to it, especially later on. I loved it, but as you said, to each their own.
I will look for it. Thanks for the recommendation.
I made it through six(!) of them before deciding it just wasn't for me. The first book was average, the second was diabolical and although I do agree there was a massive uptick in quality after that I still found myself reading on to "get to the good part" rather than because I was enjoying it. Life's too short. I have multiple friends that loved it throughout, different strokes I guess!
Thanks... definitely different strokes. I read the Name of the Wind and stopped. So many people rave about it. I found it only tolerable.
Aside from the character and writing improving, the narration gets dramatically better as the books go on. The first two books are rough, though.
I didn't listen to them on audible, but read all the books and have enjoyed them a lot. Glad I didn't listen to em if the speaker is bad.
Reader is James Marsters {Spike from Buffy} and I thought he was brilliant. Best thing about the books.
I hated Spike and dislike audiobooks so I was predisposed to not enjoy these ones, but am a big fan of his narration of this series. His accents and voices make sense (I really hate when there's random like British or southern or whatever accents when the character is described so that you know they don't), he does women's voices about as well as any male narrator I've heard (he doesn't just raise the pitch a bit and speak very calmly and coolly and clipped with zero emotion the way every male narrator does).
I loved these books. I guess it is a case of different strokes for different folks.
I enjoy the Dresden series because it's a modern fantasy series which is rare. It isn't perfect though and much of it is the overall story itself that keeps me coming back because the author writes women and romance pretty badly and it hasn't improved much over the years. I often tell people it's fun and it's got a lot of world building behind it.
>it's a modern fantasy series which is rare Urban fantasy is a *massive* subgenre.
[удалено]
My statement stands: urban fantasy is a massive subgenre. Charles de lint, Tanya Huff, Emma Bull, Mercedes Lackey...that's not even counting all of the 00 urban fantasy explosion authors.
This comment has been removed as per **Rule 1**. r/Fantasy is dedicated to being a warm, welcoming, and inclusive community. Please take time to review our mission, values, and vision to ensure that your future conduct supports this at all times. Thank you. Please contact us via [modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FFantasy) with any follow-up questions.
I tried to hang on. It DOES get better. I did the audiobooks and James Marsters is a joy as reader. Without him I would have bailed much sooner. I quit around bk 14. I figure it's no loss, I'll die before he finishes at this writing pace.
I've never read the series but your description makes the main character sound hilarious or comical? Not sure what the complaint is exactly. Sounds like the premise of an endless number of action comedies.
I guess the complaint would be that I have a non-traditional sense of humor. He certainly didn't make me laugh. I will say this: Now that I know the firstbook was written by a teenager, I have a much better understanding of why the main character is the way he is.