I’ve now read the first three installments in the Harry Dresden series. Or, to be more specific, I’ve now listened to James Marsters read me the first three installments in the Harry Dresden series. And I still don’t really know what I think.
Let me explain.
I have no idea what is going on in these books. Yes, I understand that Harry is a wizard who lives in Chicago. I get that he works indirectly with the police and with other, less reputable members of society. I totally get that he’s after the bad guys — in the case of these two books, a rogue super-werewolf and a vengeance-crazed ghost who hangs around with some nasty vampires. I know who his friends are and who his enemies are, and why he deserves both.
But I honestly can’t tell you exactly what happened in either of these books. And I’m going to put the blame here:
I find that when James is talking, my mind wanders. I find his voice overwhelmingly soothing, kind of like comfort food. And suddenly I realize that Harry has something going on and HELLS BELLS I have no idea who is involved or what is happening.
And yet.
I’m still going to listen to the rest of these books. I bought a ton of them with expiring Audible credits. I’m just going to try harder to concentrate and not let Spike mess with my mind.
I did enjoy quite a bit that happened in these books, though. I really liked Harry’s friend Michael, bearer of Amoracchius (which I had to look up, because AUDIOBOOK). I liked his dedication to his faith and his family, and I loved how much his wife hated Harry, yet still named their newborn after him.
I was disappointed that Murphy didn’t play much of a part in Grave Peril, and was curious as to how she was doing in the aftermath of Fool Moon — the police station pretty much destroyed after the Loup Garou was thrown into jail under her watch. Some of her colleagues were killed and we didn’t get to find out how she felt about it until the very end of Grave Peril. More Murphy, please.
And Bob. I do like Bob.
But there was plenty I wasn’t into.
First and foremost, I could give a crap about Susan and her potential vampirism. I didn’t care much for them as a couple, and was not into it when Harry saved her by telling her that he loved her. Nope.
Lastly, Harry’s godmother Lea and her hellhounds drove me berserk. Either take him to the Nevernever or leave him in Chicago, but enough with the back and forth.
Enough of my fellow Cannonballers have assured me that after the first four books, the series really takes off, and I’m glad. While I wasn’t madly in love with these two (or what I remember about these two), I still mostly liked them. I think.
You will get lots more Karen Murphey.
Michael shows up for all the best adventures.
Bob is always awesome.
Susan becomes less of an issue.
James Marsters’ voice remains hypnotic.
Hypnotic. That’s exactly it.
I love his narration, but I totally agree. It’s very easy to just let yourself drift away listening to his velvety voice.
I will say I quite enjoyed Mr. Marsters as the narrator. His dry wit was the best part of the first book for me.
Does *anyone* like Susan?
I didn’t hate her, but that was mostly because of Changes.
I didn’t care for her, even in Changes. She played an incredibly important part of that book, and I was completely unmoved. She is not a character I ever warmed to, certainly not in early installments, and not really in later appearances either. I know part of the blame can be laid at Butcher’s feet, because he really isn’t great at portraying ANY woman in the early books, but she’s so DULL.
In the later books, there are so many cool female characters – Karrin, Molly (although she’s annoying sometimes too), Charity, Mab, Luccio. Frankly, even Lasciel is more interesting that stupid Susan.
The correct answer is, “no.”
I’m sorry, did you write a review? Because all I am seeing on this page is CHEEKBONES.
I see your point.
I may be the outlier in that I didn’t like the audiobooks at first. Well, I didn’t like the first audiobook. The recording wasn’t very well done, and you can hear a lot of mouth noises if you listen to it with headphones (which I did). The quality improves drastically, though, and they’re some of my favorite audiobooks.
I’m mildly amused at the near universal bewilderment at the first few books. “This is what everyone is raving about?” “Dresden is sexist, and it’s hard to stomach.” “God, Butcher can’t write women.” Everyone says that, and yet everyone (almost) ends up falling in love with the series, if they make it far enough.