[Abyss]

Yah, what bugged me there was that it seemed like whatever was going on elsewhere was cooler than what was happening to Harry, but that's a nitpick and a thin one at that.

- Abyss, nitty.

[End of Disc One]

I won't vote yet, but I'll post my order and my thoughts. I'll update this post as I read through the series past Blood Rites.

Dead Beat
Summer Knight
White Night
Death Masks
Proven Guilty
Blood Rites
Grave Peril
Fool Moon
Storm Front

Spoiler

Storm Front - not a whole lot to say. An entertaining read.

Fool Moon - better than the first mostly because of the Loup Garou sequence. The part in the police station remains one of the best action sequences in the first six books I've read.

Grave Peril - finally some great side characters, especially Michael. The conversation with Ferro is one of my favorite parts of the series, minor as it is. This book is the most emotionally draining I've read so far since Harry is so beaten down most of the time. I love the shift away from solving cases for the police department, to dealing with the supernatural world and trying to survive/save lives. A lot of suspense in this one since you never know when the next attack will come. Still not quite as well crafted as the novels that come after.

Summer Knight - I love books that build up to an epic ending, and this one did a great job with that. The ending is easily the most epic part of the first six books. "In the name of the Pizza Lord! Charge!" has been the single biggest fist-pumping moment so far. I also loved meeting the White Council and am especially intrigued by The Gatekeeper.

Death Masks - this one had better ingredients than Summer Knight. Knights of the Cross, Denarians, a challenge to a duel. I'm not as big a fan of the A plot/B plot structure when the plots don't come together at the end. The B plot seemed more throwaway than it should have, and Harry never seemed to think about it when dealing with the A plot. Still awesome, hope to see more of Sanya and Nicodemus. Marcone and especially Ebenezar at the end gained major points in this one.

Blood Rites - another A plot/B plot book, but this time I enjoyed the B plot more. Kincaid is awesome. The first half of this book had more slowness than usually, but otherwise it's good stuff. My only real complaint with the series is that the war just seems kind of in the background. I knew Blood Rites would have vampires so I was hoping for more developments there, but none of them were Red Court. I was also hoping for the Denarian coin to come in to play more after DM's ending.

Dead Beat - Wow. Easily the best yet, despite being spoiled on the ending. My favorite part about this book is how its less standalone than the books before it, and almost every group or plotline comes into play. Except the Knights of the Cross unfortunately. I'm also thrilled that stuff is finally happening in the war, even if it happened off screen. Superb book in every way.

Proven Guilty - I loved this book in a different way. For a while I was a little disappointed that Harry was spending a lot of time fighting nameless phages--I wanted to see more of the Faerie Courts. But the climax in Winter was pretty awesome and I really enjoyed the 100 pages coda. It had some of the most heartfelt dialogue in the series, and you can't help but admire Michael.

White Night - One of the more straight forward books, and probably the most polished so far. The flashback is one of the most badass things I've ever read, and the finale was awesome. I'm a fan of Ramirez, but sad that "Lash" is probably gone.

This post has been edited by End of Disc One: 24 June 2011 - 02:13 PM

[champ]

Dead Beat easily my favourite!

Spoiler

It has Sue in it... What more needs be said!

[QuickTidal]

I picked PROVEN GUILTY and that's because that's the one that

Spoiler

starts Molly's role as apprentice

but DEAD BEAT is a close second and DEATH MASKS as a close third. Those are my fave three easily.

[alt146]

My problem is that whenever I start Dresden I immediately end up going through the whole series in two/three weeks. Most of the time I honestly cannot remember what happens in which book, it's all one happy blur of awesome. Dead Beat is my favourite though, it definitely stands out.

[Salt-Man Z]

Death Masks is the book that absolutely hooked me into the series. Loved that one.

[Hound]

Maybe the topic is a bit old, but never mind, right? I found it a bit stupid to open a whole new topic for just saying that I love these books!
I'm now reading Dead Beat and the books are getting better and better. So far Death Masks is my favourite. However Blood Promise & Summer Knight are a close second and third.

Once again this forum is great for getting new recommendations (like Abercrombie, Mieville, GG Kay etc.)! Thnx

[Slow Ben]

I've been sitting here for about 5 minutes trying to decide if i'd change my answer since Changes came out.



Damn i loved that book.

[McLovin]

Only read the first 6, but I agree that DEATH MASKS is where Butcher ramps it up huge. So from my limited perspective I'd go:

BLOOD RITES
DEATH MASKS (a VERY close second...like, by a hair)
GRAVE PERIL
SUMMER KNIGHT
FOOL MOON
STORM FRONT

Nearly in reverse order of publication. I prefer GRAVE PERIL to SUMMER KNIGHT largely due to the introduction of Michael, and the opening sequence of the book.

[Hound]

Ok, just finished Dead Beat and I have a new favourite Dresden book.
I mean,

Spoiler

an undead T-Rex!! (I want one!)

and, of course,

Spoiler

Polka will never die!

.

[Harvester]

For me it's:

Death Masks

Spoiler

I love Nicodemus.

and

Dead Beat

Spoiler

and I freaking love fedoras, especially when worn by mad necromancers in trenchcoats.

Well, it's a tie.

This post has been edited by Harvester: 29 October 2011 - 05:31 PM

[McLovin]

OK, just finished DEAD BEAT, and I have a new favorite.

Spoiler

Harry riding to battle on an undead T Rex

...is a level of win heretofore undreamt of.

[Brujah]

So hard to choose. But between the books up through Turn Coat, I'd say:

Small Favor
Dead Beat
Proven Guilty
Death Masks
White Night
Summer Knight
Fool Moon
Blood Rites
Grave Peril
Storm Front

With the first few being decided buy a very, very thin margin.

[Overactive Imagination]

Fool Moon > Storm Front

That's all I've gotten through so far. Even if the books only maintained this quality of awesomeness I might still be willing to read them all. Really liking this Dresden guy. Excited to read the rest since everyone seems to agree they get way better.

[Illuyankas]

Definitely. First time I read the first two I thought 'Hey these are pretty good, let's see what the rest are like' and now I'm up to date I can't even reread those two any more. Seriously, the rest of the series liberally pisses all over them.

[Brujah]

Illuyankas, on 09 February 2013 - 01:03 PM, said:

Definitely. First time I read the first two I thought 'Hey these are pretty good, let's see what the rest are like' and now I'm up to date I can't even reread those two any more. Seriously, the rest of the series liberally pisses all over them.

My wife starts her series reread at Grave Peril. She's been through them 4 or 5 times so far.

I'm not finished with the series, as I'm almost done with Turn Coat, but I'm going to start my reread at Summer Knight.

And I STILL can't decidel which book out of Dead Beat, Proven Guilty, White Night, and Small Favor is my favorite so far. Not including Turn Coat as not finished, but I consider books 7 through 10 to be one awesome ride of a story that just blends together and kicks ass without pause. I was use to at least a LITTLE downtime in the first 6 books, but I literally felt as if the story never had a single lull once 7 started and 10 ended. Perhaps, once I'm fully done with the series,or once I've done at least one reread, I'll be able to choose a single book as my favroite. For now, it's every word from 7 through 10.

[Overactive Imagination]

Just finished Grave Peril. Definitely better than the first 2. Michael is such a sick character lol love that guy.

Excited to read the next one because there's finally a storyline introduced that seems like it will span multiple books and be awesome.

Spoiler

the vampire court or whatever it was called when Dresden and co. went to the costume party was so badass. I really want to learn more about that sick dragon guy who made Dresden look like a little bitch