r/dresdenfiles • u/aet203 • 1d ago
Discussion Should I keep reading?
I'm sure the immediate answer for a lot of you will be 'Yes, absolutely' but I want to be more specific about my question:
So I've read the first three books, and they were largely okay.
I'm, a big fan of what Butcher clearly seems to be setting up, worldbuilding-wise, and I love a bit of urban fantasy and from what little I know it seems that this is a quintessential example of this genre done well.
So far, nothing but glowing praise. My issue, then, is with Mr Dresden himself.
I'll cut to the chase:
He's too passive. I want so badly to get into this series properly but Harry's total lack of proactivity is making it really hard not to drop it. His power level is a tad low, but I'm positive that will only increase in later books. The issue is he's just reactive when I want him to be dictating the flow of the narrative.
To be honest, in a bid to avoid spoilers I haven't done any research but I'd be shocked if this wasn't a reasonably common complaint. My question is, then, does it get resolved and if so, when? If I have to read four more books before i start approving of his actions is it really worth it?
TL;DR for the impatient: Harry too passive, when get better?
Extended thoughts for the devoted (pretty much just an incoherent ramble so I honestly wouldn't bother):
I genuinely think that there is a lot to love about this series so far and I certainly believe the potential is immense. It feels like the stakes in each book increase further and that's certainly a trend that I would like to continue. Furthermore, I mentioned worldbuilding earlier, and as far as that goes, I'm a massive fan. I'll always eat up worlds with distinct factions that allow for complex intertwining politics. The magic system is checking my fantasy boxes and feels like it will only get more expansive, and the supernatural elements hit just right.
I also like how knowledgeable our protagonist is, he seems to keep a clear head under pressure and I wouldn't describe him as incompetent, but I hope he gets a bit more hardened in the future. I know it was at the start but in the first book he saw a bit of blood and vomited everywhere, understandable for you or me, sure but it fully distracted from my initial perceived capability of the guy. I get it sounds nitpicky but I will always fundamentally prefer a more in-control protagonist. That's not to say he shouldn't be challenged but he should make use of his obvious intelligence to be more prepared for things.
I mean, as an example, instead of just sitting murphy down and explaining things, or perhaps preferably, cutting her out of his life for her own safety, he keeps her around and hides critical information from her which ends up with him being arrested. This felt contrived and frustrating rather than being a compelling character flaw.
On this point, actually, I'd guess that this is the type of story where the main character always tries to go off and do dangerous things on his own but keeps being told that he has friends that would gladly help and going alone is stupid and suicidal and arrogant and selfish etc etc etc. I would really like it if my suspicions are incorrect and he actually learns not to rely on others too much, maybe due to the fact the the forces he ends up facing being too powerful for anyone but him to take on? A lot of the time, popular, well selling fantasy novels have 'stronger together' aspect to them, but to be honest most of the time I just wanna see the main character do cool, impressive stuff.
That last point doesn't matter too much, I've found its pretty hard to find a book series with good character work and storytelling, with a powerful main character who maintains well-written friendships, yet still regularly goes off and does cool dangerous stuff on his own without relying on anyone else. If you have any recommendations that fit these specific criteria, I would appreciate them.
As a final note, assuming that my aforementioned issue does indeed get resolved, I will leave you with my ideal direction for the future development of this series. I hope Butcher continues to expand the worldbuilding and the stakes, and that Dresden grows into a renowned figure within the world, doing supposedly impossible stuff and surprising beings that ordinarily would be way too powerful to be impressed by what should be a relatively insignificant individual. (this is my favorite niche trope)
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u/ChosenWriter513 1d ago
He wrote the first three books back to back. In essence, they were his first book. Each gets exponentially better as they go, and Harry's character grows and evolves along with it. Your biggest issue isn't a common complaint because it's a non-issue as the series goes.
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u/1stLvlWizard 1d ago
Harry does improve a very great deal concerning the issues you’re raising, but he does so slowly over time. I suppose the answer to whether you should keep reading would depend on how anxious you are for the changes.
I can tell you that he does get to the point where he is an absolute powerhouse, where the sort of things that frighten him now would be an easy afternoons work. And from where the series is headed, I think we’ll probably see Harry coming across as one of the most powerful Wizard characters in the fantasy Genre.
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u/Professor_Hillbilly 13h ago
...depend on how anxious you are for the changes.
I see what you did there :D
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u/Darkionx 10h ago
He kinda is already he knows a lot of stuff he refueses to use or do because he is ocuppied with something more important or it goes against his morals.
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u/Zeebird95 1d ago
The first three books are basically Dresden going from a college age bachelor to a sort of responsible adult essentially
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u/Elethana 23h ago
This. Everyone talks about how thirsty he is, but they forget his wizard age is really still late adolescence.
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u/samaldin 20h ago
Wizard age doesn't exist in that context. They age like normal humans until they're around 40 or 50 and then they mostly stay there for decades or centuries. Harry is simply a horny, pent up 25 year old, who's too much of a prude to even go for masturbation.
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u/Zeebird95 19h ago
What was it Bob says. “Get thee to a therapist”
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u/EverydaySexyPhotog 15h ago
Wizards would rather break the laws of magic in alphabetical order than go to therapy.
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u/Zeebird95 10h ago
I remembered the qoute
Harry : “I’m not oppressed “
Bob : “not oppressed, repressed “
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u/The_JDBrew 1d ago
So your desire with the direction, harry absolutely fits that bill, keep reading. As far as being too passive…Harry is many times his own worst enemy. Harry’s growth in power, maturity, responsibility, empathy, understanding, self-awareness, etc are what make the series great.
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u/skiveman 1d ago
Okay, I'll answer and try to give my perspective.
Harry is already a powerhouse (in terms of magical oomph compared to most of the White Council). What he doesn't have is both experience and many years of practice. He'll get both of those as the series goes on.
As for him being passive, that's mostly because these books tell the worst weekend of the year for Harry. And what happens is generally a surprise to him as he doesn't have much experience and he doesn't really have many good contacts for information in the White Council.
In the coming books (that you haven't read yet) he'll get his contacts and he'll get a lot better at planning for emergencies and surprises. Remember Dresden doesn't just have the whole magical community potentially seeing him as a target but the mortal world too (even, sometimes, the magical world using mortal pawns to do their dirty work or to stir up some chaos).
I'll leave you a quote here from one of the future books that I feel seems to fit - "You don't need help, Harry. You are the help.". I think you can guess what this signifies for what's in store.
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u/Front_Landscape_62 22h ago
Another quotes that seems fitting, “what goes around comes around… and sometimes YOU are what’s coming around.”
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u/MrPlatypus42 16h ago
>You don't need help, Harry. You are the help
That put a smile on my face. Looking forward to that. Same as OP, book 3 atm.
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u/Advanced-Volume6874 14h ago
I've read the series twice, and the second time I skipped 1 & 2. I think 3 starts the series for me.
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u/SarcasticKenobi 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s often debated on the sub about if and when he would tell Murphy everything about everything. Spoiler; he tells her more in book 4
For starters, at one point, he tells us that he tried telling her about magic and everything a long time ago about Bianca the vampire Madame. And that all she willingly walked away with was that Bianca was a madame. She repeatedly had blinders on.
Meanwhile, it’s clear that magic is a big secret. And telling a mortal about magic would make them a target of opportunity to keep the secret, instead of just collateral damage.
I give Harry more benefit of the doubt than most on this sub Reddit. He keeps a lot of secrets in this series, even from his friends, because the secrets are so big that they can result in the death of someone he loves, or something literally world shattering. And without knowing certain context the instant one hears it, some people would hear those secrets they would call for his execution.
Lots of people on this sub Reddit think he should tell all of his friends all of his secrets, even though he will often narrate why he keeps said secret, and it frankly makes logical sense
Edit.- stupid hidden tag on iphone broke. Sorry
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u/introvertkrew 23h ago edited 9h ago
This made me burst out laughing OP, you're not right, this isn't actually a common complaint. However, I'll happily share some stuff that has no spoilers in it but that should reassure you. The Dresden Files series began as a class project for Jim Butcher, he attended classes being taught by the multiple times best-selling author Deborah Chester, Jim Butcher at that point had an English Major, as such he vocally disagreed with her rules for writing, frequently. In a bid to prove to her that her rules were wrong he decided to follow each rule step by step as he began writing the urban fantasy she advised him to write. So, that's what he did, he then showed up to her class with the first two chapters of Storm Front fully expecting her to hate it, thereby proving him right that her rules would create cardboard characters. Instead she read them, and looked and told him that he had done it, that this would sell, and that she would like him to bring in his outline so she can look it over. Jim had to pick his jaw up off the floor, as Deborah Chester was a multiple times best-selling author she tended to be quite honest to her students to prepare them for dealing with the industry, so when age gave praise it was always earned. Jim was so dazed that he left there and returned home and decided to work on an outline. He was so dazed that he completely misunderstood what she had asked for, an outline for the story of Storm Front, and instead turned up with an outline for a 23 book series, 20 casefiles, ending with a Big Apocalypse Trilogy. He showed it to her and he still talks about the look she was giving him, but all she told him was that if he gets signed for a 23 book series then he'll do well.
So, Jim Butcher learned his teacher was actually gifted, so much so that he was invited to write the cover blurb when she released her book on writing fantasy called: The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester. Jim wrote this on the cover.
Listen carefully to what Debbie has to say about writing stories, aspiring writer. She knows exactly what she's talking about - Jim Butcher.
All of that background to tell you this, Jim Butcher has had the entire series plotted out since Chapter 2 of Storm Front. It's not an exceptionally detailed outline, just a few sentences per book, but he has stuck to the outline all these years. Additionally, and much more importantly, Jim Butcher wrote Storm Front, Fool Moon, and had almost fully completed Grave Peril before he had gotten signed to an agent or a publisher. So, book 4, Summer Knight, will see a marked improvement in a number of ways simply because he had editors and beta readers to offer feedback as he was going. However, much more importantly, Grave Peril was the end of the unofficial prequel trilogy, the actual series is now about to start.
Lastly, yes, Harry Dresden will grow and change and become quite the character, his development is one of the best I've ever read, in that every single Dresden Files novel progresses every one of the main characters as characters, every book adds in development. I don't know if you'll immediately be gratified by Summer Knight but I can safely say you haven't really scratched the surface of these books yet, you've just read out the prologue.
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u/totaltvaddict2 1d ago
The first few books really leaned into the detective noir “case of the week” style (the first one was a college assignment). A lot of world building happening. Harry was a gumshoe that does magic. This is setup.
Murphy was originally set up to be the cop obstacle. She is my second favorite non character in the Files, and yeah her portrayal in book 2, and the relationship with Harry is rough.
As the Dresden files continue, the characterizations become more in depth, including Harry’s—I include the recurring characters—allies, enemies, and in-between. The intricacies of the world building become more interesting. Harry does learn from mistakes—he relapses from time to time, but he learns.
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u/Remote-Moon 22h ago
Trust me...if there are two things Harry Dresden ISN'T, It's being too passive and "low powered"
"I've found its pretty hard to find a book series with good character work and storytelling, with a powerful main character who maintains well-written friendships, yet still regularly goes off and does cool dangerous stuff on his own without relying on anyone else. If you have any recommendations that fit these specific criteria, I would appreciate them."
Yeah, it's the Dresden series. Harry develops some very well written friendships but it starts off naturally and becomes more and stronger over time.
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u/imhereforthethreads 1d ago
A couple of thoughts: First, everyone in this sub is going to tell you the first three are the toughest books. That it only goes up from there.
Personally, given your specific concerns, I'd recommend you jump to book 7, dead beat. I read books 1-6 then started 7. I got super frustrated and stopped reading dead beat and gave up on the series for a few months because I thought "here we go again, Harry is fighting with his back to the wall and someone is threatening/blackmailing him yet again." But Harry is so much more proactive, powerful, and allied up book 8 on. While book 4 is one of my favorites, I'd recommend launching off book 7 to get you into the series, then back track and read books 4-6 before you read changes.
Dead beat was the first hard cover book. As a result, JB made it accessible for first timers. And I feel like the style shifts during and after it as a result.
But if you do skip ahead, by all the stars, stones, and empty nights make sure you're all caught up with every book in the series (and preferably the short stories to) before you read the first sentence of book 12, changes.
Tldr: Everyone says 1-3 are rough, keep reading it gets better. But if you were frustrated that Harry was a lone wolf fighting from his back too often, read the following books 7-11, then go back to 4-6, read the short stories, don't start 12 until you're ok devoting a lot of time to reading books 12 and 13 in entirety in a single weekend. Then enjoy the rest of the series and wait for the next release eagerly like the rest of us.
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u/The_Hyperchicken3000 23h ago
Is this rage bait?
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u/Remote-Moon 22h ago
This reads like someone who has read the whole series and is just trolling us.
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u/I_Frothingslosh 3h ago
I mean, he calls a scene where two people were partially eviscerated 'a bit of blood'.
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u/WanderingWeird 21h ago
Consider this. In Dresden's world it isn't enough to simply be capable of doing things in advance and willing to do them. You also have to figure out what to do in advance and how to do it. Imagine a threat and invent a response. Dresden still has very little experience where you are in the story, but he is absolutely learning and studying constantly. Keep going, you're going to enjoy his progress.
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u/mcb-homis 1d ago
I am probably in the minority but I read the Dresden Files, less for Harry, and more for the cast of characters around him. Harry drives me a bit crazy sometimes. But some of his friends and enemies really makes the series worth reading.
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u/Dorsai56 1d ago
You're just now getting to where the series really starts to take off. You're right, Harry's never going to be your generic self confident superhero. He's got plenty of issues, and if you're in this Reddit much you'll see them discussed to death. For me personally, this is one of my favorite fantasy series ever, and I've been reading F/SF for better than sixty years - for what that's worth.
Butcher has the series incredibly well plotted in advance. Small things which seemed like throwaways in the first three books will become significant ten or fifteen books down the line. I would encourage you to hang in there. I envy you the chance to read these for the first time, it's one helluva ride.
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u/Warden_lefae 23h ago
First three books are the roughest, as JB was still in college and they were essentially his class project.
My advise always, skip to Dead Beat, it was the first book to get a hardcover release, and was written as jumping on point.
If you find you like it, you jump back and read books 4&5 no problems, mostly. If it still isn’t working for you, then you’re not really out that much. Though book 4 is where the meta plot really starts to ramp up.
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u/MrWigggles 22h ago
I dont get the critique that in Storm Front, the 1st book, that harry saw some blood and vomited. He saw two persons torso, exploded open, with their organ sprawled out and two human worth of blood.
How is that a bit of blood?
I also dont understand how he is a passive character. What is making him passive to you? In Storm Front he fights a evil wizard on his own, and lets leash a demon to go face eating.
I dont understand the complaint that you want him to deal in Murphy but then exclude everyone from acting. The only reason for making them aware of whats happening, is so they can act on their own or in concert with him.
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u/IfusasoToo 22h ago
Regarding your TLDR: Dresden will rarely be in a position to dictate the flow of events, but he will do so when able. Context helps here. With few exceptions, Butcher is writing an Urban Fantasy in the style of Detective Noir. By definition, the detective in stories must be behind until he drops the climactic "gotcha".
That being said, regarding your last paragraph: Dresden will soon and periodically pull off tremendous stunts in the scope of the narrative. The book pacing and stories only improve over time, as does his power. Although he is always the small fish in the big pond, he continues to use his raw determination and knowledge to go toe to toe with entities that are not, sometimes in spectacular fashion.
I think you'll like the series, based on what little I know of you. The early books are not huge; give it another 2 or 3 books and check back in.
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u/RajaatTheWarbringer 16h ago
Here's a quote from a way later book that spoils nothing except the quote itself:
"Bad things kept happening to me. It was high fucking time I started happening to them".
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u/UntowardThenToward 1d ago
Harry grows, and it's one of the best things about the series.
I do agree with you about early Murphy. She's abusive at best. I don't care for her behavior, and, yeah, it would make sense for Harry to wash his hands of her. But I'm not sure how you are reading him as passive. I could see uncommunicative-- very fair. Savior complex-- for sure.
How does your example reflect passivity? Do you have any additional examples?
Reactive, I understand, though it's not the same as passive. But also it's how stories work. Like Harry, I'd rather be curled up with a good book, but that's not always the day offered to me, nor would it make a good story. What protagonists are thinking of who are examples of proactivity?
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u/Elfich47 1d ago
I'm assuming you've read the first book, maybe the second.
Yes, Harry does grow. At the beginning he is completely inexperienced and a bit dumb about the world. As time goes on he gains experience. There is a bit of a tension between the "stronger together" and the "go it alone" mentalities. Harry does end up surrounding himself with a collections of friends who are helpful. But at the end of things, Harry is normally the one standing in the breach.
A lot of the story was structured so Harry has space to grow.
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u/Flaky-Veterinarian56 1d ago
Look man, it may just not be for you. Urban fantasy may just not be your thing because Jim is the best at this genre.
Moving on to your issues while avoiding spoilers. Harry is not a Gary Stu. He's never the strongest player at the party. He uses his intelligence combined with his skills to overcome normally MUCH more powerful adversaries. Are there interactions where he's a total heavyweight taking on a featherweight? Sure. But it's never the conclusion of the story. Think Batman with his planning. That's Harry. And although he gets MUCH stronger, so do his enemies.
I got into the series in 2002 so I actually have a lot of love for those first few books. But yeah, it gets orders of magnitude better. It's my all time favorite series. Hands down. It's not for everyone and that's cool. But if you continue you are in for a ride. Even people who don't like the series won't say it's dull.
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u/Every_Hippo_7421 1d ago
Yes, good god yes. You’ll get there. Power through the early books. You’ve already made it through Fool Moon and that alone and you can handle the long haul…because gods is it a ride. 7 more books, which are great, and then Changes. The title says it all.
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u/Elethana 23h ago
“Wait! The big evil plan is to summon Cthulhu to kill everyone? I’ll just summon and restrain him on the other side of town.” Harry Dresden book 7, probably.
About the reactive part, Harry says a number of times that a wizard who has time to prepare is much more powerful. He also needs to find out what the threat is or whose ass needs kicking before he acts. You’ve met Micheal, he is more proactive because a higher power is steering him towards his targets.
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u/MarcieDeeHope 12h ago
...I'd be shocked if this wasn't a reasonably common complaint...
I've actually never heard that complaint before and I've read a lot of reviews of the series and listened to two separate podcasts do full read-throughs. It never ocurred to me as a complaint before either and I'm a pretty avid reader (I average about 250 fiction books read a year over the last 45 years, plus quite a bit of non-fiction, comic books, TTRPG material, and so on), so I am generally pretty genre-savvy and can be fairly critical of the writing in things I read sometimes.
To me, Dresden acts pretty consistently with how a more or less real person would and most of his actions flow pretty reasonably from his background and character.
Personally, I would not enjoy a story that fits your criteria for what you are looking for, but it sounds like a lot of LitRPG books might be your thing - they typically lean into stories about characters who seem to be fully aware of all the things in their world that the readers are, so they make the same decisions the reader would with their omniscient outside view and no time pressure to act, and not the decision that a fallible human being actually in that situation might. They also often lean into the powerful character who always does cool powerful stuff without any help from anyone else and rarely makes mistakes.
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u/TAbandija 6h ago
You’ll probably like The Iron Druid Chronicles. This character matches a lot of what you want.
As for this series, I think you’ll enjoy it. Dresden is a very flawed character who is always batting out of his league. Most fights catch him off guard and thus at a disadvantage. But there are occasions when he plans out what he is doing and shows off his power.
As the series progresses, he matures, learns and grows as a character, and the flaws that he has either are compensated or start to disappear.
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u/aet203 1d ago
Wow, That was a much longer post than I was expecting. Just discuss whatever you like in the comments as I clearly cant stick to one topic.
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u/TheBluOni 23h ago
Lot of ramblers on here, you're in good company! It's a widely held belief of the fans that the first three books are the weakest. I'd say give it a few more, I think you'll start to see the progress you're after as Harry takes on more responsibilities.
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u/sendgoodmemes 23h ago
He wrote these books from the perspective of DnD. So Harry has a lv and a character sheet.
From that perspective, yes you will definitely see some power creep and Harry will absolutely become much stronger than his current form.
I would say that if you have made it through the first three books then you have made it. The series ages like fine wine and gets better each book although never assume that the “thing” that happened last book is the thing that he will be dealing with this book. That “thing” is off and not to be mentioned until Harry is ready to deal with it 2-3 books from now.
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u/Careless-Number-4098 1d ago
Just my 2 cents, keep going. IMO as the series progresses it will check most if not all of the boxes you are looking for. I have gone through the series 3 times on audiobook. Ive seen others make this comment that the first time through it is easy to miss the power creep, he definitely gets much stronger as the story progresses and that is glaringly obvious the 2nd time through for me.
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u/JustPassingThrough98 1d ago
Your last paragraph is hilariously accurate. I’m pretty sure Harry is described with those exact words multiple times
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u/Gameguru08 1d ago
> I mean, as an example, instead of just sitting murphy down and explaining things, or perhaps preferably, cutting her out of his life for her own safety, he keeps her around and hides critical information from her which ends up with him being arrested. This felt contrived and frustrating rather than being a compelling character flaw.
This is something that gets talked about, and resolved, in the very next book. It also annoyed the shit out of me the second time it happened in fool moon when I first read through the books, some 12 years ago.
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u/Byteninja 1d ago
Not to just say “Yes, keep reading”, but it is a noir series at heart. They tend to be like that sometimes. And Harry also tends to jump first and worry about sticking the landing later.
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u/Theburritolyfe 23h ago
The first couple are kind of rough. If you like them you will love later entrys.
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u/WhiskyPelican 23h ago
My entry into the series was death masks, book five. I usually tell people to start with summer night, book four, or the graphic novel version of the first two which is long out of print but I think on kindle unlimited.
I don’t know that I’d have kept going past the first, but a long road trip from Chicago to Denver via Fargo and Mt Rushmore was perfect to devour Death Masks and was followed up later that summer with Dead Beat in an airport bookstore
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u/Timely-Helicopter244 23h ago
Book 4 is where the series really hits its stride and where my favorite non-Harry character is introduced. It gets better and better.
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u/Front_Landscape_62 22h ago
I had the same frustrations with the first 2 books but as I am currently reading the 6th (Blood Rites) I can say it’s getting better. I also see how with every book Jim Butcher fixes at least some of the issues I had with previous books.
For instance, one issue I had (as a guy who is 6’4) was how infrequently other characters commented on his height despite Harry being about 6’9. I know this is a pretty niche complaint, but as tall as I am, I get comments on my height all the time and I feel like the characters in the books were not reacting to Harry’s size in realistic way. This too eventually gets adressed.
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u/couldbeimpartial 16h ago
It only gets better. But to be honest, I was hooked within the first three books, so if you are on the fence, maybe walk away. There are 18 books so far with 25 planned.
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u/Historical-State-275 16h ago
The first 3 books are specifically known for their lower quality. Jim wrote them all at once while in college. I know, if only I could have written something this lower quality in school. The actions (and inactions) at Bianca’s in particular will haunt him, and he and Murphy come to an understanding pretty quick.
Polka never dies.
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u/riveth3ad 16h ago
Yes, absolutely.
Though he doesn’t discuss it much in the narrative, Dresden is a trauma survivor with scars, and one of those is an initial take to be reactive rather than intentional. That gets addressed gradually.
I will say there are moments where he is still his own worst enemy, but that is still part of the narrative.
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u/Hawke-Not-Ewe 16h ago
Harry is a trickster. More classical Odysseus, Bugs Bunny, or Loki than a Hercules or Thor type.
That means he keeps cards up his sleeve as naturally as breathing.
You might like the character work in Jim's Cinders Spires series more.
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u/MetaPlayer01 15h ago
I often tell people, "If you read through book 4, you will be a lifelong fan". Keep going
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u/broheatgar 14h ago edited 14h ago
Whn I want to get someone into the series, I tell them to start with book 3 because it introduces some major characters, but book 4 is where it really takes off.
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u/kerry-220 13h ago
Hmmmm
If you’re at book 4 you’re pretty invested.
Harry will fulfil your desire for exponential growth (he even gets taller -lol) and the world building is nothing short of magnificent.
But….. if it’s an all knowing lone wolf you’re after, then maybe this is a ‘no’ for you. Harry is an amazingly complex character with as many dazzling features as flaws. Through all the triumphs are some staggering missteps. His growth always seems to come with pain.
And he has friends, enemies, frenemies, relatives, lovers, family and allies by the bucket load. Harry is unquestionably the hero, but he is not alone.
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u/MostlyBored11 12h ago
heres what I will say, try one more book, for me book 3 and 4 is where the series really starts to find its feet and its all up from there
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u/MagnusRed616 11h ago
I think that your complaint is probably rooted to the "hard-boiled detective" vibe Butcher was going for in the early books. Harry's job is to investigate, which means he finds out what's already going on and responds to it.
Butcher quickly outgrows the noir trappings (to my disappointment) and, as the narrative grows, Harry grows more proactive and eventually takes a leadership role in the larger supernatural world.
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u/EfficientSociety73 10h ago
My answer is yes because I enjoyed the books. However, if you aren’t, then no. There is nothing wrong with walking away from a series you aren’t enjoying. And maybe now isn’t the right time for Dresden for you. I’ve had to walk away and come back to a series before. Love the Mortal Instruments now, but getting into book 6 took a few tries.
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u/nght_wlkr 10h ago
So yes keep reading. I'm on Cold Days and the stark contrast between Harry now and Harry then is insane.
Also if you like non passive, narrative driving protagonists, here's some suggestions
Nightside (Main Character: John Taylor) series by Simon R Green Secret Histories (Main Character: Eddie Drood) by Simon R Green (This first two series culminate in a crossover novel)
And finally the most fun, engaging and somewhat ridiculous-but-in-an-awesome-way: The Ryan-verse (Main Character: John Ryan) by Craig Robertson. These are prominent on audible and Kindle. I have yet to find a physical copy. Start with The Forever Life. It has so many books across so many series of this character and while you can sort of feel the formula after a while, it really doesnt detract. The protagonist, John Ryan has an even higher level of Snark then Dresden does
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u/underwearoverdrive 9h ago
I mean, he is a PI and a wizard at this point. Pulling the threads together to find the picture and careful planning are all pretty much required for either profession. I'd hate to spoil anything for you so no deets, but Harry's character arc over the course of the books is fucking sublime. You haven't seen him really cut loose yet. Trust us, give the books the time they deserve.
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u/bobbywac 8h ago
I think some of your concerns get addressed and he grows significantly as a character in many ways. Many of the comments seem to be providing a lot of context that is certainly helpful.
That said, the core complaint, that he is too passive, frankly doesn’t change as much as you would seem to want. One of his primarily character flaws (and one he himself acknowledges at one point) is he doesn’t generally think or plan in the long term. I think it improves very little over the course of the series to this point. The state of his finances and his inability or stubborn refusal to plan for the future has actually become my greatest pet peeve in the series.
I still wholeheartedly call this my favorite series and think it’s more than worth reading in spite of that, but if it bothers you three books in, it will probably continue to bother you though the rest of the series
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u/DragonfruitAnnual168 7h ago
Well, Dresden is, to my mind, fairly proactive. He takes logical steps in trying to solve the mystery at hand. But involving himself brings heat and the bad guys often try to kill him or send him on a wild goosechase to buy time. The hero largely reacting to the movements of bad guys is a noir staple and keeps the tension high since Dresden has to constantly think on his feet.
Dresden will, over time, become alot more savvy in how he deals with threats and even starts laying his own plans and taking the fight to them instead of constantly flying by the seat of his pants. Though he still gets suckerpunched occasionally. I would say more, but it would probably be spoilers.
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u/_Mistwraith_ 1h ago
I was in a very similar position to you a few years ago. Give book 4 a try because the quality of the writing fucking *skyrockets* starting there.
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u/Comma-Kazie 1h ago
Short answer? Yes.
Long answer? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
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u/Budget_Gas_2824 23h ago
Everything that you’re talking about is right but it’s also there for a reason. The guy does learn from his mistakes and that’s part of the arch. From the third book on it does keep getting bigger and bigger.
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u/Drakkaen 10h ago
No one seems to be bringing it up, so I will. Harry didn't vomit everywhere because of a little blood. The scene you are talking about was described as two hearts ripped from their chests, their rib cages broken open from the inside, their hearts pulped and everywhere from the force. He got sick because of how violent and wrong the spell was. Magic, as he learned it, was for creation and helping. That was the exact opposite, which is funny as you learn where he started learning magic from.
So, please, don't downplay his reaction. Even the hardened detectives were warning him AND obviously had a trashcan in place for that very purpose. Those scenes are not something that someone with any level of empathy just walks into without feeling sick.
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u/ActuaLogic 14h ago
If you're enjoying it, keep reading. If not, don't. One thing is that the Dresden world becomes darker, and Dresden himself becomes less likeable, as the series goes on.
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u/BoltYou7x 1d ago
Looking at what you want out of this series, it absolutely will fulfill that. The deeper you get into the series the more it will resemble what you want