I’d been debating for a while wether to read them since a lot of readers tell me that my Noircana novel WIP reminds them of Dresden Files, which made both want to read them more and less simultaneously

I’m finished with Stromfront and about 2/3 through Fool Moon so far.

I’m going to be honest, I’m not super impressed so far.

My main complaint is that I don’t like the characters that much

Detective Murphy annoys me the most

They definitely get better as they go. Storm Front was Butchers very first published novel

But like

They don’t get less sexist

Yeahhh

Murphy bugs me in particular because it feels like Butcher is trying to show how not sexist he is and failing miserably

I don’t know if this particular trend continues, but in the first two novels at least Murphy, who is supposed to be really good detective, jumps to huge conclusions on thin evidence to blame Harry which makes it that much difficult for him to go catch the real killer

So it’s like “look how not sexist I am, I made this supporting female character that is very angry beats up the main character! And in the process shows how incompetent she is and so the main character has to do her job for her and also save her from herself!”

I hope the people drawing the comparison to my writing are only comparing the premise of a private detective dealing with the supernatural

The setting has some very creative stuff going on, there’s a number of very fun characters, and they’re very exciting books

But

Yyyyyyeah

Yeah it’s definitely got some very good bits and the pacing and description is good so I’m going to keep reading them still

I got through 12 of them I think?

Fun fact Harry was one of the first characters I ever RPd

I did like the bit where Harry summons a demon for information and it thrashes angrily against the barrier of the circle and then once it realizes it can’t break free goes “very well then” and pulls some reading glasses out of its scales and puts them on and is all polite and proper and reasonable sounding

But then reveals at the end that despite seeming polite and cooperative that it was actually being a conniving evil little shit because, you know, demon

Overbringer: I’m going to read at least the first four

I’ll see after that

I was rec'd to start with Dead Beat (#7) and go back from there

Dead Beat is one of the best ones for sure

I've been a fan since reading Dead Beat back in...idk late 00s or so?

But the most recent book really made me super grumpy to a degree I'm not usually when it comes to fictional media

I would say maybe...idk Dead Beat to Ghost Story (I forget what number that is) and then Skin Game are probably the ones I personally think most positively of

I knew a Harry RPer who sort of ragequit after Cold Days

book 3 is where the series kind of finds its footing imo and yeah book 7 is excellent

you are uncommon in not liking murphy but i can't disagree that she comes off as the "see i'm not sexist" badass lady character

the incompetence you describe is not something that stuck in my mind so either it gets better about that as she experiences more supernatural stuff over time or it just flew under my radar, but hopefully it's the first thing

In the current book, she finds out (at the same time as Harry) that Harry knew one of the victims, and also finds a magic circle on the floor that exactly matches a magic circle that Harry had drawn, and immediately accuses him of being responsible for the murders and beats the shit out of him and doesn’t let him explain or respond at all and arrests him

And like what she does know about the supernatural in this case is because of a detailed report that she asked Harry to write up for her

So like “having a drawing of the same kind of magic circle that was found at the scene of the crime” is such insanely flimsy evidence for her to start just beating the shit out of her supposed friend and then arrest him

Like, what?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, that actually sounds like something a real life cop would do

But we’re supposed to like Murphy and think of her as one of the good ones

I do think she gets better over time/with experience and in fact what happens with her by the current point is one of the reasons I'm grumpy with DF at the moment