I thought I’d take a break from Harry Potter posts to let you know I have been reading other things. :=)
One of the things I’ve been reading this summer is a series called The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It’s kind of a cross between CSI and Harry Potter. :=)
All right, all right, I’ve got a one track mind. I do enjoy fantasy, though, and this series is, so far, very entertaining. It stars a professional wizard for hire, Harry Dresden, whose biggest client is the Special Investigations Department at the Chicago PD. They try to solve all the weird cases, and Harry tries to help them whenever demons, wer-wolves, vampires, or other supernatural beings might be involved.
The books are action-packed page turners. It was easy to see why the Scifi channel chose to make this into a TV series. it has a lot of television potential. Of course, it’s also no surprise that the Scifi channel canceled the show after one season. They wouldn’t know a good show if it jumped up and bit them on the…er…nose. Too bad USA wasn’t the one to discover this series.
Anyway, the books have their problems. Jim Butcher has a tendency to over describe things and even to describe the same thing multiple times. Especially as you get into the sequels, there is some skimming potential as he redescribes his car, his office, his apartment, and Murphy, the detective in Special Investigations he works with. He also likes to pause, from time to time, in the middle of an exciting action sequence to recap us on the danger.
But if you can handle a couple of quirks in his writing choices, the stories are very good. If you can get the one season’s worth of shows on the Scfi channel, it’s worth watching, too.