Starting the sixth

So you've had a lot of criticism, all of which is entirely justified

But OVER ALL

what are your thoughts

you certainly seem to be reading them at a pace

I’d give it a B. It’s entertaining, I can follow the plots, I like the premise, pacing is good.

quinn2win: they aren’t exactly challenging reads

true

Which I mean neither as a positive or a negative

I was reading a bunch of Raymond Chandler books before this but wasn’t making Plurks about those because I haven’t got the impression that a single other one of my Plurk friends has much of an interest in Philip Marlowe

Sounds about right

if you're interested in other kinda similar series to DF but without the shit that you've been (rightfully) complaining about I can give at least two recs

cinnamonical: I’d appreciate that

emphasis on "kinda" but I think I may have picked up the recs myself because there was like a "If you liked The Dresden Files then..."

Anyway, I will say that I will consume stories that have shit that pisses me off if it is interesting

the first is an underrated and much smaller series (though still unfinished) called The Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly:Twenty Palaces

I prefer interesting but problematic over mediocrity

the main character is an ex-convict who is a "wooden man" for a much more powerful sorcerer, which means he serves as decoy to help her accomplish her mission for the Twenty Palaces society

his only magical means is a "ghost knife", which is a laminated enchanted piece of paper that can cut through nonliving things

this means certain material things but also magical enchantments and spirits and things like that

Does it have a mystery solving aspect to it?

compared to DF the vibe is much more somber/horror

eldritch shit going on

and yes it's got that mystery element!

Ok cool that’s the important part to me

I should say, it's more somber than DF but there's some lighthearted-funny moments here and there

the other one is the Daniel Faust series by Craig Schaefer:Daniel Faust

set in Las Vegas, closer in tone to DF but the main guy is a petty criminal trained in both stage magic and actual magic

as expected from his name he gets caught up in demonic dealings

there's a spinoff series featuring one of the Hero Antagonists of the series, Harmony Black, although I have yet to read it so I can't offer any feedback there

she's sort of the Murphy to Faust's Dresden (but he is actually a legit criminal so kinda justified)

but as I understand she's got her own plotline going on and I guess her books are meant to be read (starting from after the fourth Faust book) alternating with Faust's books

and then there are a couple of other related books to Faust's 'verse that again I have not read but uh if you get started in this series there sure will be no shortage of shit to read!

I will say that I think due to the nature of Faust as a character his books are probably less traditional mystery? he's more on the heist side of things

also I haven't fully caught up in the Faust series either, I'm on book 6 of 11 (and apparently counting if the author's blog is any indication)

In terms of positive things about Dresden Files, here’s an example of something that got a chuckle out of me

Guy is describing some unlikely deaths to Harry thinking it might be magic

One of the deaths he describes is a woman gets hit but a runaway car

Harry is like, that doesn’t sound that unlikely

Other guy clarifies that she was waterskiing at the time

(I fucking love Phillip Marlowe)

mattnificent: