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lightreadsFiction, urban fantasy. First five books in the Harry Dresden series – “the other wizard Harry,” as the deeply unfortunate cover copy says. Himself is the only wizard in the Chicago yellow pages, and he’s got that whole hard-luck, snarky, “I have a tragic past” noir private eye thing going. By far Butcher’s strongest suit is those cinematic feeling action and battle scenes. There’s one in Fool Moon that had me sitting bolt upright in bed, heart pounding, and a whole Walmart sequence in Summer Knight which is just top-notch. There are also a lot of charming details – Harry’s thirty pound cat, his lab assistant (a talking skull), and the werewolves who save the world and then come home to D&D.
The books are definitely flawed, though, and I think most of it can be traced to pure authorial laziness. Butcher has a habit of writing an incredibly detailed action climax, and then summarizing what should have been the next thirty pages of denouement in five. He also consistently and irritatingly creates conflict by setting up characters with psychopathically enormous grudges against Harry, who is inevitably misunderstood and falsely accused (get another shtick, please). These are both improving with time, I think, though unfortunately Harry’s women issues aren’t; Butcher thinks he’s chivalrous, but he’s actually just obnoxious. Which is the heart of it, really, and as much as I enjoyed these books and as much as I hate saying things like this, there’s something indefinably male about these books and their concerns. Which is to say that I like them, but I simply do not care about them the way I do other urban fantasy which is very similar but more indefinably female, like Kim Harrison’s. I know, I know, please don’t start.
The books are definitely flawed, though, and I think most of it can be traced to pure authorial laziness. Butcher has a habit of writing an incredibly detailed action climax, and then summarizing what should have been the next thirty pages of denouement in five. He also consistently and irritatingly creates conflict by setting up characters with psychopathically enormous grudges against Harry, who is inevitably misunderstood and falsely accused (get another shtick, please). These are both improving with time, I think, though unfortunately Harry’s women issues aren’t; Butcher thinks he’s chivalrous, but he’s actually just obnoxious. Which is the heart of it, really, and as much as I enjoyed these books and as much as I hate saying things like this, there’s something indefinably male about these books and their concerns. Which is to say that I like them, but I simply do not care about them the way I do other urban fantasy which is very similar but more indefinably female, like Kim Harrison’s. I know, I know, please don’t start.