Ghost Story - Dresden Files

[Tadhg]

The latter seems likely. The former . . .

spoilers:

Lash was a parasite, but she was a disembodied entity powered by Harry's soul, the entirety of which was elsewhere in this instance. The parasite that Demonreach mentions kept Harry's blood flowing, so I'm thinking whatever it was, it was something a bit more substantial than Lash.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Not saying I'm sure it's Lash, but there was still a connection between Harry's Soul-Spirit self and his physical form during Ghost Story. He was able to taste Mab and smell pine while he was in the graveyard talking to The Famous Ghost of Graceland. So she could have still been powered by his soul, I guess. It could be that the Lash shadow kept his heart beating(If he had a heart after being shot through the chest.) Butter's body did require CPR until his soul was returned. Why Mab and Lash would both be required for the CPR ministrations doesn't make great sense though. Unrelated: In Dead Beat, Mort had shaved his head bald and moved out of his California-style Stucco house. In Ghost Story, he's living in the California-style and this is the first time Dresden sees him sporting the full-on Charles Xavier. Just a goof?

end of spoilers

[Masterbasset]

Can anybody reccomend similar series or authors?

[Jared H.]

Can anybody reccomend similar series or authors?

Two books in, Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim" series is fairly decent.

[Expletive Deleted]

Can anybody reccomend similar series or authors?

This area of urban fantasy is big right now, so you're spoiled for choices. Here are a few. They're all the first book in their respective series.

Harry Connolly's Child of Fire
Mike Carey's The Devil You Know
Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim
Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot (Rivers of London if you're in the UK)
Simon R. Green's Something From the Nightside
Mike Resnick's Stalking the Unicorn
Thomas Sniegoski's Where Angels Fear To Tread
Kat Richardson's Greywalker
Glen Cook's Sweet Silver Blues

If you're looking for smaller tastes, there are a number of good anthologies. Mean Streets, Naked City, Down These Strange Streets (forthcoming), Those Who Fight Monsters, etc.

[Inkthinker]

Glen Cook's "Garrett P.I." series is kind of a neat flip on the Dresden books... instead of a magical detective in a mundane world (at least, mundane on the surface), the Garrett books are about a somewhat mundane detective in a magical world.

Not like the covers depict... they'd have you thinking he dresses like a Spillane character in a land of ogres and elves, as if Mike Hammer were somehow transported to Narnia. Rather, Garrett is entirely of the world he lives in, he's just an ex-soldier who's taken on the job of being a "troubleshooter" in a world where elves and ogres are just another thread in the racial weave of a fantasy city. But while he frequently faces magical threats, and has allies with powerful abilities, he has to rely on his wits, his skills, and a lead-lined head-knocker he keeps up his sleeve.

It's a good series, especially the early ones. After "Angry Lead Skies" I feel like he kinda went off the rails, though I still buy every new one he puts out.

[jediracer]

Mind. Blown.

Never would of guessed who his killer was. The trigger man, yeah, but who hired him, no. Genius writing/storytelling by Jim Butcher.

Do we really have to wait another year for the next book? :(

[Captain Smith]

Green's Nightside books are pretty good but the Drood books are not. Waste of money.

Funny, I like Dresden but didn't like the Codex books at all.

[Expletive Deleted]

Green's Nightside books are pretty good but the Drood books are not. Waste of money.

The half-heartedness of the James Bond pastiche is what really kills it for me. A magical secret agent is a great high concept, but the series never commits to it. Green mostly ignores that angle or uses it as window dressing in favor of the dull Drood clan infighting and leftover Nightside ideas.

I'm starting to think his style's getting a bit stale. The eleventh Nightside was only so-so and his new Ghost Finders series hasn't done much for me so far.

[Inkthinker]

Funny, I like Dresden but didn't like the Codex books at all.

I liked 'em, but not nearly as much as I like Dresden. Like, the Dresden Files are a 10, and Codex Alera is maybe a 6.

Though I think Codex Alera would make a damn good animated series.

[felix77]

Amazon is reporting that Ghost Story will be released in Papernack on Aug 7 next year.

I hate the new Papernack format that Orbit Books is now using for the series. I much preferred the "Case File" Book Cover format they previously used.

[jediracer]

I read on goodreads that Cold Days is due out in July of this year, but can't find anything else to support that claim. Anyone here know anything about it?

edit: nevermind. I just read his blog where he says he hasn't even started it yet!

[Blueferret]

I just got through reading all 13 of the Dresden Files over the past few months. What an amazing series. How in the world did Scyfy screw this up? The new status quo when Harry finally emerges is great. Plus, we have no idea about what's going on with the White Council as they weren't addressed at all in the last book.

[Ali Kazam]

Ah, the wait goes on!

Before I rip in to this, I just want to qualify my statement by saying I LOVE the Dresden books. My sister got me hooked and I haven't looked back since.

I did find Ghost Story terrible though. Why? I think there was a lot of nothing going on. I think Butcher skimped on a lot of more interesting stuff so we could see more of a (boring) Ghost Harry. This was more akin to one of his 'half' or in between stories. It was nowhere as meaty as I expected.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of good revelations - Kincaid (guessed it was him but not how/why), Molly's downfall and her manipulation by Leanansidhe, but I still feel a lot of meat was missing. I felt more like we were just treading water until Cold Days.

I'm looking forward to when that will finally come out, I've not lost faith in Butcher yet, but I am expecting great things!

[Inkthinker]

I reckon there wasn't much advancement in the overall meta/mega-plot, but a good bit of character advancement... some of it was so abrupt though, that it's almost more of a character reboot.

What I wanna know is, HOW MUCH LONGER , JIM? Don't be a Martin man... don't do that. Always been good for one a year, don't leave a brother hanging....

-EDIT-

Apparently he finished the manuscript for Cold Days just a couple weeks ago, so probably another 3-4 months before press.

[Inkthinker]

Can anybody reccomend similar series or authors?

I should have recommended TA Pratt's "Marla Mason" series. Very similar in tone to Dresden, if Harry was Marcone (and female). Marla is the "protector" of Fellport, which basically makes her a crime boss who deals with all sorts of backstabbery and supernatural threats.