Saturday, April 24, 2010

Jim Butcher is evil (in a good way)


  1. In the words of Kel from Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series (specifically Squire, I think), Jim Butcher is "a very bad man."  So, so bad. 
  2. Changes, the latest book in the Dresden files, is incredible.
  3. Dresden Files = best urban fantasy I've ever read (caveat: I haven't read much in this subgenre)
  4. The next book better come out soon.  If he starts a new series and writes a couple of books in that series before returning to this one (I am glaring at you, Mr. Horowitz), I shall be vexed.
  5. Extremely vexed.
  6. Seriously.
  7. Poor Harry.
  8. This book is really brutal.
  9. "The last couple of pages could easily have been the first of the next book without leaving readers annoyed."  - a reviewer on Amazon
  10. Don't read this one first.  Don't read it if you haven't read the last five, either.  :)  Don't read spoilers for it.
  11. Read it if you like dark, modern-day fantasy.
  12. Poor Harry.
 

6 comments:

  1. I've only gotten as far as book 6, but have definitely been enjoying them. Waiting for the library to get book 7 and order book 8, sigh. They have the rest of the series, at least.

    I think War for the Oaks and Neverwhere are still my favorite urban fantasy titles, as much as I'm enjoying the Dresden files. Paul and I have had a LOT of laugh-out-loud moments with the latter.

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  2. How did I not know you'd read War for the Oaks?! Oh, wait, I have a terrible memory. :) That one was great, too. We should do a little War for the Oaks tour of the Twin Cities someday. Have you read any of Emma Bull's other stuff that you would recommend?

    I'll have to bump Neverwhere up my list, too.

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  3. I totally just re-read War for the Oaks with the move in mind- a tour would be awesome. (What I'd really like to do is a tour of London as treated in Neverwhere, though.)

    Do you mean bump Neverwhere up your list of books to read, or up your list of favorite urban fiction? Because if you haven't read it yet... *dirty look*

    Bull's "Territory" is the only other one I've read, but I enjoyed it :-)

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  4. (spoiler alert)

    I just read this the other day, and wow... brutal is right! We definitely could have done without those last couple pages. I keep going through reasons things aren't what they seem, narrative reasons why Butcher can't let the book end the way it does- because we don't yet understand the significance of his alliance with the island's spirit(?), because he still owes Mab a favor, because the mysterious black council has yet to be vanquished, he hasn't learned to get along with the Merlin yet, or found sword-bearers, and so on. Whose was the voice? Can his mother's stone possibly rip a hole into the Nevernever and save him? Aaaaaagh! What was he thinking? Maybe this will release him from the white knight job? It tied up a lot of loose ends, especially with the red court finally out of the way, but surely we aren't just going to switch over to some other character's POV now...

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  5. Because there are still 7 books to go, then the final trilogy? There was some brisk, obsessive, and fun debate at Amazon about all this stuff. AND NOW WE HAVE TO WAIT!?! GRAAAAAR!!

    You caught up fast, there. Did you like Dead Beat a lot? No rest for the wicked. Zombie dinosaur 4ever! Also, Ramirez. Hilarious. I hope he doesn't die; he's great. And Polka will never die! And Thomas's secret life. That, too, was fantastic. And the Billy Goats Gruff. So much wonderful. Also brutal, harsh, and sad. Just really impressive, moreso with rereading. Yay.

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  6. Oh, the zombie dinosaur was just the most freaking awesome thing ever. And it looked like he was finally going to get together with Murphy, and like she might take up a sword or something after all... sigh...

    Yeah, I went through the books pretty much as fast as I could get them from the library, about a book a day, and didn't get as much sleep as I should have during that period.

    I couldn't believe that I found the end of the Red Court satisfying, given how awful it was, but I did. Just don't like the whole anonymous sniper thing AT ALL.

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Thanks for commenting!