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*squails*
Um ... oops. What with NaNo and all, I really wasn't planning on falling headlong into a shiny new/old Dresden Files obsession. BUT HERE I AM. I guess re-reading all the books wasn't such a good idea. (Well, I'm not done yet, but there are only a few to go ...)
I just ... these books push my buttons so so hard. They have it all -- deep friendship bonds and found-family and long-lost-family and love and heroism and sacrifice and presumed-dead-but-not-really and starting a war for one human life because that's the only thing worth starting a war for ... and that's not even touching the humor and sparkle and shiny, splashy special effects. (I know the f/x are only in my head, but there's just so much mental eyecandy in these books, so much that I wish we'd seen in the TV series because the mental visuals are so awesome!)
I love how these books are, at heart, about sacrifice and love and being a good person against all odds -- even when life keeps kicking you down, even when you don't believe at heart that you are a good person. And I love the characters so much -- on the re-read I'm finding myself even falling for some of the ones that I never could get into the first time around, like Elaine. (Still can't get into Marcone, but I don't dislike him; I think that, like Ivan in the Vorkosigan books, I feel a little weird because so much of the fandom seems to love him and yet I can't really get into the character.)
I love how sympathetic/empathetic Butcher is towards his female characters -- he writes absolutely kickass women, and so many different kinds of women, from the literally kickass sort like Murphy and Elaine, to Charity protecting her children with a heart of steel and Susan growing from "the girlfriend" into a fully realized person with her own life and even gentle, damaged Justine. Most of the characters (not just the women) have an archetype or stereotype lurking under them somewhere, but they're given life on the page -- even if they start out in a role that could be flat and unmemorable, they tend to grow and develop; they have flaws and complexity and life.
And re-reading the books is making me notice how complex and well-done the plotting is -- the individual plots are pretty tight, but so are the long arcs, too. Now that I know where it's going, on the re-read I'm noticing how many times he plants seeds of plot turns that don't come to fruition until four or five books later. (And I'm also noticing dangling bits of plot, loose ends or unanswered questions that may well be setup for things that haven't happened yet!)
This is not to say the books don't have flaws, or things that frustrate me sometimes, but they just have so much heart, and, well, see above re: button-pushing. ♥ ♥ ♥ I'm just so gone for them right now -- all the way into that full-fledged, flailing, uncritical-squee place. OH EVERYONE. ♥
I just ... these books push my buttons so so hard. They have it all -- deep friendship bonds and found-family and long-lost-family and love and heroism and sacrifice and presumed-dead-but-not-really and starting a war for one human life because that's the only thing worth starting a war for ... and that's not even touching the humor and sparkle and shiny, splashy special effects. (I know the f/x are only in my head, but there's just so much mental eyecandy in these books, so much that I wish we'd seen in the TV series because the mental visuals are so awesome!)
I love how these books are, at heart, about sacrifice and love and being a good person against all odds -- even when life keeps kicking you down, even when you don't believe at heart that you are a good person. And I love the characters so much -- on the re-read I'm finding myself even falling for some of the ones that I never could get into the first time around, like Elaine. (Still can't get into Marcone, but I don't dislike him; I think that, like Ivan in the Vorkosigan books, I feel a little weird because so much of the fandom seems to love him and yet I can't really get into the character.)
I love how sympathetic/empathetic Butcher is towards his female characters -- he writes absolutely kickass women, and so many different kinds of women, from the literally kickass sort like Murphy and Elaine, to Charity protecting her children with a heart of steel and Susan growing from "the girlfriend" into a fully realized person with her own life and even gentle, damaged Justine. Most of the characters (not just the women) have an archetype or stereotype lurking under them somewhere, but they're given life on the page -- even if they start out in a role that could be flat and unmemorable, they tend to grow and develop; they have flaws and complexity and life.
And re-reading the books is making me notice how complex and well-done the plotting is -- the individual plots are pretty tight, but so are the long arcs, too. Now that I know where it's going, on the re-read I'm noticing how many times he plants seeds of plot turns that don't come to fruition until four or five books later. (And I'm also noticing dangling bits of plot, loose ends or unanswered questions that may well be setup for things that haven't happened yet!)
This is not to say the books don't have flaws, or things that frustrate me sometimes, but they just have so much heart, and, well, see above re: button-pushing. ♥ ♥ ♥ I'm just so gone for them right now -- all the way into that full-fledged, flailing, uncritical-squee place. OH EVERYONE. ♥
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His female chars are indeed awesome - you didn't even mention Molly or Lash or Lara Raith (okay, she's evil, but she's totally badass!)
And hee - I love Marcone, but he's one of those tailor-made-for-me type of chars, so.... But I gotta admit, it amuses me that you love Thomas, because he's such an obvious fangirl bait sort of char that I'd half expect you to be turned off him. ...actually I have yet to meet a single female fan who doesn't like Thomas; Jim Butcher wrote an incubus so good that even all of us in real life fall for him! XD
In conclusion: YES! (http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1248964599329.jpg)
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But I gotta admit, it amuses me that you love Thomas, because he's such an obvious fangirl bait sort of char that I'd half expect you to be turned off him. ...actually I have yet to meet a single female fan who doesn't like Thomas; Jim Butcher wrote an incubus so good that even all of us in real life fall for him! XD
Hee! There is actually one person I know of on my flist who really doesn't like Thomas, so it's possible. :D But, yeah, given the EVER-INCREASING number of times that I have actually gone for the fangirl-bait character (Dean, Zuko ... Haplo ...), maybe I should stop claiming that I don't like that sort. XD
I actually didn't like Thomas at first ... for a book or two, anyway. Then the big reveal happened, and I found myself falling for him like the proverbial ton of bricks, and now I'm pretty sure that the Thomas scenes are my very favorites. Thomaaaaaas! :D He wasn't really in Turn Coat much because of the whole ... tortured-by-the-skinwalker thing, and then he and Harry were tragically on the outs, so going back to the earlier books, I'm falling in love all over again with his snark and his protective-big-brother thing, even when Little Brother had no idea what Thomas was up to. Oh, Thomas. I will never not love a character in full-on protective mode.
(The fact that I didn't like Thomas in the very beginning is making it very interesting, actually, going back and re-reading the first couple of books in which he appears, because I vaguely remember not liking him then, but I adore him NOW, so it's a weird sort of cognitive dissonance ... almost like reading those scenes for the first time ...)
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going back to the earlier books, I'm falling in love all over again with his snark and his protective-big-brother thing, even when Little Brother had no idea what Thomas was up to. Oh, Thomas. I will never not love a character in full-on protective mode.
eeeee~ me neither - one of my biggest buttons ever, always <3333
I am totally biased about Thomas, I realized, because I love sibling relationships so very much - and because the Dresden books are 1st person, everything we see of Thomas is all about how he relates to Harry, or about how Harry relates to him. I don't know if I'd like Thomas quite so much if he were on his own...though he'd still be a big brother (I kind of love that he's the older one, because Harry needs as much protection as he can get!) and besides a good bit of snark will get me every time. (a major reason why I love everyone in Dresden-verse, really XD)
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ahaahaha, this is actually one of the things I love MOST about the Brothers Dresden/Raith, that Harry, who tends to spend most of his time in the role of protector/defender, is the little brother and therefore the one who needs to be protected ... and Thomas is super protective of his idiot little brother, who does indeed need a lot of protecting. :D
and besides a good bit of snark will get me every time. (a major reason why I love everyone in Dresden-verse, really XD)
I was actually thinking about putting up a quotes post, because these books are SO full of awesome snark, dialogue and quips. And, yeah, I was actually noticing on the re-read how much Thomas's voice sounds like Harry's; he's got the same tendency to mouth off, in a rather similar kind of way. (In fact, there's one point when Harry lampshades it, before the reveal on the brother thing, commenting that Thomas annoys everybody and he -- Harry -- can't help liking someone who's that much like himself. :D)
Mmmm, Dresden Files. :D
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His characters really do make the series, for me.
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I think the reason I like Dresden is because it is Noir first, and "magic" second. It is very matter of fact, JB has set up the world in which Harry lives, there are rules and stuff, and Harry perambulates around it as he needs to. There is no ostentatious "YOU ARE THE HERO!" conceit, or rather he does throw that in soemtimes and Harry flicks the V's at it and does his own thing. (I especially love it when you get the villan who occasionally goes all 2 dimensional monologuing bad guy and Harry pulls them up on it...). I also like the fact that Harry has to do "bad things" to make the overall good things happen.
I find JB's depiction of women to be the most realistic i have found in a while. yes you could claim that the women have stereotypical and architypal actions but no more so than you actually get in real life. All of his females are multi leveled, which is so incredibly refreshing. In most "high magic" scenrios women are Healers, Witches, Priests, Assassins, Damsels in a
dress..er distress etc.. You know, fairly 1 dimensional with no activities or interests outside, herbs, children, magic, and of course a deep fascination (often including romanitc affair and possibly mariage and children) with the hero of the story...In Dresden files, Women are women, they have a myriad of things that they do other than be "healers", "witches", "priests", "caregivers", wives" etc.... Charity is a great example of this, initially she is wife to a knight of the sword and mother to his children, but in her past she has also been the "damsel in distress" and has certain other things that she does not go into, but being a biker was in there. It also happens that as well as beign Mother and wife she is child protector and a Crusading Knight's Logistical Support, smithing and making armour. Something which you never relaly get in a lot of "fantasy" stuff, even those written by women:(. Murphy again is a good example. She is a classic "Woman working in a man's world" when she is in that world she acts accordingly. but when she steps out of that world she has these different sides to her, Yes she likes guns and martial arts, but she also likes a house that is comfortable, neat and femanine. It is the same with all of the female characters, they are "alive" and not the usual "cardboard cutouts" that orbit the ever so masculine hero.
The dangling plot points are great too.. again its very refreshign to go "wait a minute... that was that little side thing that happened four books back.. so that's what that was about".
All stories have flaws, the sign of a good story is when those flaws, even when the become apparent, do not detract from the overall story. :)
I really want HBO or even the BBC to pick this series up and spend money on it and do it justice..
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One of the things that makes these books feel so solid and grounded, I think, is that Butcher really thinks this stuff through -- how the characters pay for groceries or keep their jobs while running off to fight baddies or keep their fighting skills sharp.
Man, what I'd love to see for this series would be a series of theatrical movies like Harry Potter or LoTR. Yeah, it's just a dream, I know. :D But seeing the books really done justice, with great f/x and the whole works ... that would be so lovely! (And I desperately wish that I had visuals to vid with, because I already have a playlist of songs that I'd love to make vids to!)
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*resists falling headlong into the squee*
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But yes, THIS *flails at everything you've said above* Oh so SO can't wait for the next one! ^__^
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