Ghost Story (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher

LaserWraith said:
Starting the series by reading Ghost Story wasn't the best place to start. While many of the books are somewhat stand-alone, this one really isn't.
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K. That means that I have to at least give Mr. Butcher another shot. As I said earlier, he is a good writer. This book really didn't stand on its own, I have to agree. However its a testament to his writing skills that I actually finished it anyway. I will not write off J. Butcher yet. =)
 
I would encourage you to start at book 1, but the general consensus is that the series gets much better around book 3 or 4. I'm not sure if you are the type of reader who is fine with reading some good books to build up for the great ones, or not.

I know that I was a little annoyed by the repeated "hell's bells" phrase in the early books, but that was corrected.
 
DennisC said:
K. That means that I have to at least give Mr. Butcher another shot. As I said earlier, he is a good writer. This book really didn't stand on its own, I have to agree. However its a testament to his writing skills that I actually finished it anyway. I will not write off J. Butcher yet. =)
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Yeah, I can imagine that Ghost Story would have been a HORRIBLE place to start reading Dresden.

Start at the beginning, by all means. Be forewarned, however, that 1 and 2 are not nearly as good as the rest. They're still as good as most UF, IMNSHO, but the series gets much better as it goes along. #3, Grave Peril, is the first one that really grabbed me.

Part of the appeal of the series, to me at least, is that it's really NOT typical UF. More and more as the series goes on, Butcher seems to be straddling the UF and epic fantasy genres. I'm very interested to see where he ends up going with all of this. Ghost Story was NOT my favorite of the series, by far -- I think my personal fave was probably Turn Coat -- but I can't wait to see what he does with Cold Days. :)
 
I didn't really like this book at all and for me this was clearly the lowest point in the series.

I read all the books practically back-to-back and really enjoyed most of the others, but I really could not connect with this one.
 
Ashenburger said:
I didn't really like this book at all and for me this was clearly the lowest point in the series.

I read all the books practically back-to-back and really enjoyed most of the others, but I really could not connect with this one.
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Give Dresden a break, it is hard to get the incorporeal-thing going.
:P
 
Laser, it's not about giving Dresden a break here. I didn't enjoy the story at all, but I have high hopes for the next one. Let's hope this was the odd one out.
 
Ah, the healthy discourse amongst SF/Fantasy/Horror fans.

I actually loved the Urban Fantasy of this work. My 1st UF work was more an urban fairy tale - The Little Country by Charles de Lint - was a treat.

And as said earlier, Mr. Butcher writes in a manner that I absolutely love so I will be picking up the 1st of the series at some point.
 
Ashenburger said:
Laser, it's not about giving Dresden a break here. I didn't enjoy the story at all...
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I know, it's all about you. :D

@DennisC: Have you ever read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? That wasn't bad. Simon R. Green also has some series similar to the Dresden Files, as does Kevin Hearne.
 
LaserWraith said:
@DennisC: Have you ever read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? That wasn't bad. Simon R. Green also has some series similar to the Dresden Files, as does Kevin Hearne.
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Nope. :( So much to read, so many choices, and I used to have a commute that was 2.5 hours round trip to work each day.

I get to work via VPN now so no more long trips and I have been able to read a lot more.

I also have 4 kids + a wife so that eats up a lot of reading time too. Lately though I have been knocking books out reading some of the things I have meant to read for ages.

I am about to read Mercedes Lackey's Foundation. I am in the mood for some fantasy works next. =)

Probably will do Lord of the Rings after that one... then well.. you guys know how it is. So much to read. I miss school days when I had an entire summer to read to my heart's content.
 
DennisC said:
Nope. :( So much to read, so many choices, and I used to have a commute that was 2.5 hours round trip to work each day.

I get to work via VPN now so no more long trips and I have been able to read a lot more.

I also have 4 kids + a wife so that eats up a lot of reading time too. Lately though I have been knocking books out reading some of the things I have meant to read for ages.

I am about to read Mercedes Lackey's Foundation. I am in the mood for some fantasy works next. =)

Probably will do Lord of the Rings after that one... then well.. you guys know how it is. So much to read. I miss school days when I had an entire summer to read to my heart's content.
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I'm afraid I don't fully understand, since I'm still in the "school days" with extra time. I'm sure the busyness will arrive soon enough, so I'm cramming.
;)
 
LaserWraith said:
I'm afraid I don't fully understand, since I'm still in the "school days" with extra time. I'm sure the busyness will arrive soon enough, so I'm cramming.
;)
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Being single and working is nothing. Easy easy easy. You get home at 6:15 and assuming an 8 hour sleep need you can go until 10:00 PM, get up at 6:30, and in 15 minutes be ready for work and on the road. Thats 3 hours and 45 minutes of YOU time on a work day. And you can get lots more if you tank up on caffeine in the morning before work and at home late at night.

Ah, but if you find the right woman... oh, the waters of marriage are soooo warm. =) And oh does it ever get better with time. The 1st few years of marriage are no where near the best.
 
Anyone hear of anything new coming soon for the Dresden Files? Is Butcher working on a new one or is he moving on to other things?
 
The next one is called Cold Days. I forget the publication date --I think maybe this fall? In the meantime, there's a coupla short stories coming out. I think one was published earlier this month.
 
Contrarius said:
The next one is called Cold Days. I forget the publication date --I think maybe this fall? In the meantime, there's a coupla short stories coming out. I think one was published earlier this month.
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I thought the last known date was in October, but it should be before 2013.

Jim Butcher also has an interesting short story in Blood Lite III: Aftertaste. His is the best, most of the others are weird. Lol.
 
There is a Bigfoot Trilogy, that are essentially stand-alone short stories. But if they were chronologically ordered then the last two parts have already been released, with the first coming in August:

#2 "I Was A Teenage Bigfoot", published in Blood Lite 3: Aftertaste (May 29, 2012, ISBN 978-1451636246)

#3 "Bigfoot on Campus", published in Hex Appeal (June 5, 2012, ISBN 978-0312590727)

#1 "B is for Bigfoot", published in Under My Hat: Tales From the Cauldron (August 28, 2012, ISBN 978-0375868306)

There is also a longer short story that has been announced, that will focus on a female character (very likely Molly) that will be included in the "Dangerous Women" Anthology edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois. This book will include the next Dunk & Egg short story also. To the best of my knowledge this project does not yet have a release date.

"Cold Days" is due to the publisher by July 1st. If he makes that deadline, they seem to be hoping for a Fall release date. An often updated thread on the subject can be found at the Jim Butcher Forum here:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31273.0.html
 
Sometimes I can't help but wish that Jim Butcher didn't spend time writing various short stories, and just focus on the Dresden Files. At least he has a somewhat steady yearly release rate.
 
LaserWraith said:
Sometimes I can't help but wish that Jim Butcher didn't spend time writing various short stories, and just focus on the Dresden Files. At least he has a somewhat steady yearly release rate.
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He might need to write those short stories though. I imagine a writer might get burnt out writing a series for so long. Especially if they didn't write anything else along the way. I get that way with single books, let alone 20 book series's.
 
TooNice said:
He might need to write those short stories though. I imagine a writer might get burnt out writing a series for so long. Especially if they didn't write anything else along the way. I get that way with single books, let alone 20 book series's.
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Yes, I know my wish is unrealistic. I get burnt out just writing an essay. :)
 
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