[Amras]

I started reading Storm Front yesterday evening and finished it a couple of hours ago. It was a fun and fast read, just as I expected. Not a mindblowing by any means, but it was good enough to convince me to continue reading the series.

So what's the word? Will it get even better as I continue reading it or is it more of the same?

[vaiski]

Kinda more of the same, done better. Plus the big story arc of which you'll see only hints in the first books kicks into high gear later.

[Abyss]

It absolutely gets better. It never hits 'awesome' in the sense that SE does (then again, Butcher has made the NYT bestseller list, SE hasn't), but the books gradually escalate in greatfun'ness.

Later books sort of plateau at 'wow, i don't believe i just read that in a good way', it never backslides.

- Abyss, found Summer Knight, Death Masks and Grave Peril like the literary equivalent of hollywood blockbusters done brilliantly right.

[Slum]

Oh my god, you guys are so right, the TV show is awful. I expected it to be a cheesy sci-fi channel show, but, wow, I wasn't prepared for that level of suckiness. It's a shame, really....the books deserve better than that.

And they have gotten progressively better. White Night was a blast.

[Slum]

Nearly forgot, but I was wondering if anyone has read Butcher's _Codex Alera_ series. If so, how is it? I've heard kinda mixed reviews.

[ch'arlz]

Based on these recommendations, I'll see what's at my local library and give Butcher a try. From the dust jacket descriptions I'd thought he was similar to Laurell K. Hamilton. I tried a couple of her Anita Blake novels and came away with a low opinion.

[dando2]

Slumgullion Spitteler;201376 said:

Nearly forgot, but I was wondering if anyone has read Butcher's _Codex Alera_ series. If so, how is it? I've heard kinda mixed reviews.

I really like the series. I started reading the Dresden files when I forgot to bring books with me (I have been traveling between states for work until our house sells) to NC. I picked up the first book really enjoyed it and then managed to read all of his Dresden books within a month or so. Based on these I decided to pick up his first fantasy book... then bought the next two and can't wait for the 4th to come out. I'll have to admit that I was able to predict parts of the story with not much effort, but that never bothered me in the past and it does not bother me with these books either.

[Abyss]

Personally i'm waiting for Butcher to finish the Alara series before i read it, but based on my enjoyment of the Dresden books, i will read it sooner or later.

@Charlz - see some of my earlier posts in this thread - he's vaguely like Hamilton in that it's an urban fantasy setting and first person hard boiled narrator, but that's pretty much where the resemblance ends. I liked hamilton for a while, but i think Butcher is utterly superior funsies.

- Abyss, prefers his vampires with less orgies and more 'splosions.

[Tsundoku]

I went into my local QBD (Queensland Book Dept) bookstore the other day and they must have had an "urban-noir-fantasy" promo on, as I saw the second top row was all LKH, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher and a few others in that genre.

Are any of the others comparable to Dresden in quality?

Cheers,

La Sombra, comparable to 1945 Dresden in quality

[polishgenius]

I think Mike Carey's (of Lucifer comic fame) Felix Castor series, if they have it, is worth a look. There's only two out so far (in England, I think the second comes out soon in the US) - The Devil You Know and Vicious Circle. It's slightly more horror-slanted than Dresden, but it's in a similar vein and very good.

[ch'arlz]

polishgenius;201989 said:

I think Mike Carey's (of Lucifer comic fame) Felix Castor series, if they have it, is worth a look. There's only two out so far (in England, I think the second comes out soon in the US) - The Devil You Know and Vicious Circle. It's slightly more horror-slanted than Dresden, but it's in a similar vein and very good.

According to Amazon the first, The Devil You Know was just released in the U.S. in HB on July 10.

[Abyss]

Carey ref noted.

I happen to think that LKH is great fun in the urban noir fantasy genre, but only only ONLY until book nine - OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY. Then take a marker, scribble 'And they all lived happily ever after. The End.' on the last page and do not pick up any of the later books ever. Because after OB, LKH starts working out her relationship issues and surpressed supernatural pron fantasies in her books and it is aw. ful.

- Abyss, thinks author implosion is a sad scary thing.

[Morgoth]

I read the Devil You Know by Carey and it was ok. Nothing great, but good enough to not regret having read it.

[ch'arlz]

Amazon's "Better With" suggestion for Devil You Know is Crooked Little Vein: A Novel by Warren Ellis, which I've been seeing a lot of recently. Anybody else read it yet? I'd pick it up now but hard won self-discipline requires that my "to read" stack be less than 2 feet tall.

- ch'arlz, unless the new Harry Potter or something a rilly rilly rilly want comes out

[polishgenius]

I hadn't even realised that he was writing a novel, but I'll be getting that as soon as it comes out in the UK, in September.

[ch'arlz]

polishgenius;202025 said:

I hadn't even realised that he was writing a novel, but I'll be getting that as soon as it comes out in the UK, in September.

Chapter 1 has been posted as a tease:
http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01..._V31846486_.pdf

[Chiblade]

I've read the first two books, and they were great. Then I read Alastair Reynolds and GRR Martin both in a week and forgot about Dresden entirely. Now that I read all you guys raves, I think I'm gonna pick them back up. I just gotta finish the last chapters of MOI first.

[Duvodas]

I've read all of Butcher books, with the exception of Cursor's Fury (merely waiting to be released on paperback here in the US). Butcher has its ups and downs, as every author does, but most of what he writes is great, and his stories are compelling and fascinating. Anyways, Jim's a recommended reading for lovers of, if not urban, general fantasy.

[mxlm]

So I picked up the first Dresden book, and Butcher (or his character?) managed to piss me off sufficiently in the first five pages that I put it at the bottom of my 'to read' pile.

Science the largest religion of the late 20th century? Ha fucking ha.

[Amras]

What a weird thing to get pissed off by... Ah well, each man to his own.

I've got the next five books in the series on the very top of my pile and I'm really psyched about continuing my adventure with Harry. As soon as I'm finished with Acacia: The War with the Mein, I'll be cracking open Fool Moon. Looking forward to it :cool: