Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Fangirling post. LIVE WITH IT

So...I dunno if I ever actually reveiwed the Dresden Files books or not...but I should probably do something about that. I mean, I just finished book 5 XD after all.

So here ya go: These books are AMAZING. Ok, ok, I know, I've said that already- but I don't think I ever really explained why. Well, other than my undieing love for both Bob and Harry, anyway. First of all, the narration drives me into giggles. It's sort of similar to how I imagine Batman's inner voice being. Ya know, brooding and a little angsty, but full of jokes to keep him from going insane. C'mon, in this last book he started singing the theme song from Underdog while he was facing torture and death. While wearing a tux. I dunno, somehow that makes it about ten times funnier. Another reason why I ADORE these books is the plot :D I mean, yes, we get to read about awesome magic forces and generally Nevernever beasties getting their asses kicked. But it's more than that. The books are crime novels as well and definately carry that Matlock feel. And I love me some Matlock ya'll. Seriously though, the books are full of twists and turns. They aren't you're usual "OMG I HAD NO IDEA" kind either- at first you think you have it figured out, but then WHAM, something totally different happens. It isn't as strong in the first book, but it was Jim butcher's first novel (ever, I think), and he was just getting the feel for Harry as a character. I had the first one figured out, then the second and third books I got half of the plot figured. But in the fourth book...holy crap. I was totally off. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was able to see which Faerie court was behind it all way before Harry did, but I didn't know the how or why. I was totally thrown. It happened again with the fifth book. I had the buyer figured out pretty quick, but then, so did Harry. But I had a lot less than half of it figured out. And so did Harry...until the end XD He's special that way...in fact, he gets picked on by villians for being slow sometimes.

Another reason I'm in love with the series, is the description of magic. Much like Kim Harrison's books (which I need to get my hands on), the magic is much, much more than waving a stick and saying memorized words. Ok, well, there's a little of that, but he's mostly pointing his stick (blasting rod), and that's explained better. He goes into small descriptions of different forms of magic use like evocation, which he calls KABOOM magic, and thaumaturgy (sp?), which is what a lot of people think (though they aren't exactly correct) of as voodoo- there's some use of dolls and what not. He also uses summoning circles and potions. On top of this he describes how he uses his engery while trying to cast a spell or evocation. He also goes into explaining the use of words (and for those Earthsea fans out there, the use of Names), saying that they aren't preset words- mostly they are words that the wizard (or wizardess) uses for themselves (Harry likes using latin becuase it sounds cool), and sometimes they are just nonsense syllables to help them concentrate. I like this. I also love that he is able to seperate religion and magic. Kind of a "all Faiths give you Power, but not all Power comes from Faith" sort of thing. See? More reasons to love him.

Hmm..ya know...I may have said all of this before, I don't really remember XD

So in other (only very slightly) related news- Apparently Seeing Redd is already out. In fact, it's been out for a while and I didn't know lol. What's Seeing Redd you ask? Well, it's the sequal to The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor and it's another AWESOME book. I'm pretty sure you've all heard me talk about that one, so if you don't know about it, you can look it up. I still need to get my hands on the graphic novel Hatter M. as well. It's a spinoff.

Oh, and just as a side note- Christian McGrath has the prints of the covers he did for Jim Butcher for sale on his site. Click here to see an example. It's the cover from White Knight. I want all of the covers sooooooooooo badly T_T *weeps* They're $30 a piece though. *sighs* I still need a job lol.

So I think that's it for now. Oh wait! I almost forgot! I was poking about on Jim Butcher's site and found THIS. It's a short story about Harry Dresden. I'm not sure if this was written before the series or not, but my guess would be that it wasn't actualy written out until after maybe book one. Though, some of it seems like it was written, put aside, and then picked up again. I'm sure it was in his head before then, but you know how we writers can be ~_^ Anyway, it's a quick read and you don't have to be familiar with the series already to read it. If you poke around, you can also read the first few chapters of the books :D There's also this. It's just a really short snipit that will TOTALLY MAKE YOU LAUGH.

I promise.

So go check those out and leave lots of comments.

2 comments:

Terri D. said...

I wanted to come over here and post, because I was like, who is the person who posts most on my page, and it was Heather, but you were a close second. It's not like I don't read your blog, I just never think I have anything productive to add to the conversation. lol. But anyway's you've convinced me! I'm going to try to give Dresden a try, if I can get my life together and finish reading for class! Do you have the first one? Like, would you suggest that I start with that, or further on? I know you liked the 4th one, is that your favorite? I probably should start at the beginning so I know what the heck is going on! But, also, you're the only person around my age who has admitted that they like Matlock. Momma loves the Matlock. Thank you for that.

Marlewen said...

OMG I love you for commenting! Seriously, I need to feel the love.

Anyway...yah, I totally watch Diagnosis Murder too XD

I would suggest starting with the first book (Storm Front). I mean, he explains things from time to time in the other books, but it's a LOT better to see his progress through the series. I dunno that I have a favorite book yet...they're all so good XD