Given the name of the leader of this community, I figured I’d throw this out there:
I’ve never read any of Jim Butcher’s books, and have heard good things about The Dresden Files.
Where do I start? Is there a good website to show a suggested reading order, etc?
Storm Front. It’s the weakest book, cause nothing is fleshed out, but it is the start.
That said, I had to quit reading (after 15 books) cause he keeps getting progressively weirder about women.
It’s an in-character perspective of Dresden, meant to be a character quirk. Jim writes short stories from other perspectives without the same issues, and none of his other series have it either. Unfortunately many readers confuse character perspective with author opinion.
In this case OC just said “he” and could be talking about Harry. Some people also just don’t wanna read that kind of perspective.
It’s also strange that like… every single woman in the series (including a teenager) want to sleep with Harry. There’s nothing wrong with somebody not enjoying reading things like that. Whether the author thinks that way or it’s just a character trait of the main character in the series, a lot of people just don’t want to read constant misogyny.
I’ve read all of them. I’ve read other novels with character perspectives about women even worse than the dresden files. However, there are some times where I had to put the book down because it felt… gross. Like unreasonable wish fulfillment that adds nothing to the story.
I think its the fact that it’s the only area in which the reader is supposed to believe that Harry might not be the most reliable narrator? And other characters are kind of guilty of it too.
Again, I’ve read all of them. I probably will continue to read the series as my library gets them available. I like the magic system. I like the world building and the rules. I just find some of Harry’s perspective icky.
I’ve heard that argument before, and fine, I guess, but I have 0 interest in reading a story from the perspective of a pedo.
His apprentice is described cringe worthily before she comes of ages and not much better later.
Weird how? Some of it feels a little fedora-tippy, but I haven’t read it for a while so I don’t remember any specifics.
Holy shit. He gets weirder? He’s such a neckbeard in the first few that I stopped at like book 4. Maybe 3. I don’t even remember. To be worse, he must start complementing their feet in public or some shit.
Read them in release order, they tell a chronological story. Most places should have them numbered, or you can check Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dresden_Files#Bibliography
I’ll be the contrarian here and suggest that—especially if you’re OK with trying one book out of order and then going back to read the rest just so that you can get a feel for the books—that you start with Dead Beat. It was written as an introduction for new fans when the Dresden files TV show was getting ready to come out. It really shows off some of Jim Butcher’s strengths as an author after he got his feet underneath him. It’s the book that the fairly well-known (spoilery) meme is from.
As to Dresden’s, chauvinism, this older Reddit comment, probably addresses it as well as any I’ve seen. I will say that it isn’t just treated as though it must be there. There are strong, textual and sub-textual reasons why he acts and thinks the way he does, it’s never treated virtuously, it does get him in trouble, and he does realize he has to be better.
First, of all, not a leader, just a mod, trying to do my part in making lemmy a nice place for book readers. 😀
Dresden Files is a pretty fun series, but it’s not some great epitome of literature. It’s a fun and easy to read series, and I am realizing after reading all the comment here, it’s not for everyone. Personally, I don’t have much issue with that. I don’t always agree with the characters of my books, but I can understand if people have issues with that. I would suggest reading a couple of books to see if they are for you.
As for where to start, I always prefer to read in published order, (which in this case is also chronological order), but as everyone else has mentioned first couple of books aren’t that great. The quality improves a lot from the 3rd one. So, if you start from first one, at least read first 3 to make up your mind. Or, you can read “Dead Beat” first, and if you like it, go back and start from the first one.
If you do start reading it, would love to hear your thoughts on how you like it. You can post in our weekly what are you reading thread, or just make a separate post.
Edit: Forgot to mention, the books are pretty formulaic, (don’t know if they improve further along or not), I don’t think I would enjoy them reading back to back. But reading them after adding a break of one or two books is keeping them very enjoyable.
The beginning is a good place to start! The main books are all ordered chronologically. So pick up Storm Front and get started.
