Oracle related rants (and lots of off-topic stuff)…
Proven Guilty is by far the best book in The Dresden Files series (so far) in my opinion. The pace is really intense and it’s quite emotional, for want of a better description. I’m almost scared to read the next book because it must surely be a let down in comparison.
Cheers
Tim…
PS. Mouse continues to be the coolest dog that ever existed.
In Dead Beat (book 7 of The Dresden Files), Harry is in the middle of a power struggle between some seriously bad-ass black magic practitioners who want to turn themselves into Gods.
Since the last episode, his puppy has turned into something resembling a small woolly mammoth.
Cheers
Tim…
In Blood Rites, book 6 of The Dresden Files, Harry works on the set of a porn film, gets himself a pet dog and finds he has a long lost half-brother. All that and he manages to fight some Black Court vampires, almost make friends with the White Court vampires and continue being at war with Red Court vampires. The life of a professional wizard is never boring…
Cheers
Tim…
I take back everything I said in my previous post about knowing why I would fall out of love with The Dresden Files. I’ve just finished Death Masks and all the elements I was starting to get bored of have fallen by the wayside.
As a writer it’s very hard to know how much to miss out and how much previous knowledge to attribute to the reader. This book seems to have made the break from a full explanation of all the facts from the previous books, into passing mentions. As a result, I’m not tearing my hair and and screaming, “I already know that! You explained it completely in the last 4 books!”
I can feel this leading on to a post about presenting, because there is some overlap with conversations and events of recent weeks. Funny how once you get an idea in your head, every situation seems to relate to it. No such things as coincidence, or so the Celestine Prophecy tells me… 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
PS. I’m so happy and hyper now I don’t have to by a new mobile… 🙂
As I mentioned in a previous post, I lost my first copy of Fool Moon in New Zealand, so after finishing Grave Peril I skipped back and finished Fool Moon, then moved on to Summer Knight. The books do make some references to previous events, so reading them out of order was not the best thing to do, but I still enjoyed them.
Having said that, now I’ve completed four of the books there are a few things that are starting to grate on me. I won’t mention them specifically in case by drawing attention to them I spoil the experience for someone else. The best way I can explain it is by paraphrasing something I saw on Oprah (there is no hope for me :)). It goes something like this…
The thing that makes you fall in love with someone is often the thing that makes you want to leave them. For example:
“They are funny.” becomes “They can’t take anything seriously.”
“They are beautiful.” becomes “They are obsessed with their looks.”
“They are reliable.” becomes “They are boring.”
And so on…
Well I guess this is similar to my experience of The Dresden Files. What first drew me to them is now getting a little long in the tooth. I’ll finish the series because I’ve already bout the rest of the books, but part of me is looking forward to them and part of me is not.
Cheers
Tim…
I was about 1/3 of the way through Fool Moon, the second book in the Dresden Files series, when the book went missing (insert Twilight Zone music here), so I switched to book 3 (Grave Peril) while I wait for Amazon to send me a new copy.
What with the illness and timezone change, I’ve spent a lot of time in bed not sleeping, so these books have come in very handy. I’ve now read 2 1/3 books in the series and I’m quite into them, so I’ve bought the rest of the series. Hopefully a delivery person will come knocking on my door tomorrow and I can get back to reading Fool Moon.
Cheers
Tim…
One of the few advantages of such long flights as UK to New Zealand is you get plenty of time to read.
I’ve mentioned several times that I’ve struggled to find something to follow the Discworld series. Several people recommended The Dresden Files series so I went out and bought the first few books. I tried a couple of times to read the first book (Storm Front) and really couldn’t get into it. I brought the first 3 books with me, just in case I got bored, and fortunately for me it was a case of third time lucky.
I really enjoyed Storm Front and can’t believe it was the same book I gave up on two times before. Just goes to show how mood and circumstance has a big impact on your taste. I’m on to the second book (Fool Moon) now and so far so good.
Cheers
Tim…
Since finishing the Discworld series* I’ve really struggled to find something else to latch on to. I’ve tried a few things, but nothing has really grabbed my attention. Being the nonliterary type I am, one of the most important factors in any book is how easy it is to read. Some of the stuff I’ve tried has been what I can only describe as jagged or spiky. Authors with writing styles like that last about 4 pages with me…
On my recent trip to Australia I bought Nation, my first non-Discworld Terry Pratchett book. I never got chance to read it on the trip, even during the 21 hour flights, but I finished it this morning.
It’s very different to the Discworld books. It’s not a funny book by any means, but it’s a really interesting story and of course it flows nicely making it effortless to read. 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
* I’m still waiting for the paperback of Unseen Academicals to be released. Reading hardbacks in the bath is a pain.
During my recent trips I read the last two books in the Discworld series…
Wintersmith – The Wintersmith (the God of winter, sort-of) falls in love with Tiffany Aching, a young witch. If Tiffany handles it badly the discworld cold be thrown into a permanent winter. The 4th in the young adults series. I got half way through this and left the book on a plane, so I had to buy a new copy to finish it.
Making Money – Moist von Lipwig, a former conman, tries to revitalize the Ankh Morpork banking system.
I’ve been reading these books since November 2007. That’s about 19 months, which works out at roughly 1 book every 2 weeks. There is a new book out later in the year, but I’ll wait for the paperback.
So now what? I don’t really know what to read next. Any suggestions welcome… 🙂
Cheers
Tim…
The first 50 pages of Thud! were a real struggle for me. I love the Sam Vimes character so I was expecting this book to click instantly and it just didn’t. It starts off quite serious and there seems to be a distinct lack of humour. So I switched my mindset from expecting humour to just reading a detective story and then started to find it much more amusing. It does seem significanly more serious and it just feels different to many of the Discworld books I’ve read, but maybe it was just me. Even so, it was pretty cool.
Cheers
Tim…