Does the writing improve in later entries in the Dresden Files?

Submitted by ChipsAhoiMcCoy t3_y0pqu0 in books

Let me just start off by saying I’m loving the series so far. I just finished the first book last night, and I love the atmosphere of the books so far and I think they’re honestly just great to read casually. The thing is, there have been a few instances where I’m noticing, either plot holes or inconsistencies that just kind of irritate me. So I was curious if perhaps, maybe I missed something in the first book, or if the writing improves and later entries in the series.

Here are some examples I noticed, in no particular order : The first time I noticed this was when the main character went to go, see Bianca, and he had to be patted down by the security guard to make sure he wasn’t carrying any weapons. The security guard took a few of his weapons he had on him, and I was kind of expecting the main character to go back after the meeting with Bianka, and claim his taking belongings, but this never really happened. So I suppose he just let them have them? Fairly minor, so this didn’t bother me too much.

The next inconsistency I noticed, was when the main character was being attacked by some gangster underling. There was a part during this assault, where the gangster lifted the main character up and buy his hair and cut off a few pieces of his hair. This was pretty bad, because there is a spell that can be cast if you have some form of DNA from another person, so the main character was very very frantically trying to get that hair back that was stolen from him. The entire time the scene was going on, however, I couldn’t help but tell myself that this guy was literally a wizard, and could probably use some form of a spell to stop the guy from running. In fact, he’s been shown to be able to control the wind just with a simple incantation to create extremely strong gust of wind, so he could’ve very easily just a blown the hair out of the guys hand, so the scene really really confused me.

Next time this happened was when the main character was stuck inside of an elevator, and there was a creature at the top of the elevator, who was a gigantic oversized scorpion, who is trying to basically claw its way inside of the elevator to attack him. Throughout this entire time, the main character makes a strong point to claim that his trinkets are completely worn out, and that he can no longer use them in the moment. So during this time, he’s frantically trying to figure out what he can possibly do to save himself and his comrade. he decides to lean down and blasted gust of wind at the bottom. Bottom of the elevator to basically launch the elevator up the shaft to smash the giant scorpion against the ceiling. This works, and he kills the scorpion. The problem is, though, is that the elevator begins to fall down the elevator shaft at rapid speeds. He is unsure what to do, but eventually decides to cast a shield spell around himself and his comrade, to basically cushion the fall. The problem with this, though, is that he literally just got done saying that his trinkets were worn out or did not have any power in them anymore, so how was he able to use the shield if it wasn’t functional? This one really really bothered me.

This next issue is very strange to me, because it honest to God makes little to no sense at all. There’s a mob boss in the city, who, at some point in the story speaks with the main character, and basically asks him to stop his investigation into the series of murders happening around the city. After this was said, I wasn’t sure if this was meant to be some kind of red herring, because to me, it suddenly became very obvious that the mob boss was somehow involved. I mean, he’s quite literally asking the main character to not investigate the magical deaths that are occurring around the city, so you have to kind of ask yourself what reason he might possibly have to make this request? And the answer is nothing. He had no reason to make this request whatsoever to my understanding. he was not, nor was he at all affiliated with the actual killer and the soul in the story. So that big is a question of why on earth would he ask the main character to stop investigating if he wasn’t involved at all?

This isn’t one specific instance, but something that I consistently noticed throughout reading the book, but why does the main character always say one thing in regards to his magic, and then something happens and it feels like it’s the exact opposite? For example, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what this guy is capable of. as mentioned earlier, there was a scene with the mob underlying who took the flock of his hair. With this powerful wizard, being the main character, he could’ve easily gotten that back. There’s actually a scene where he harnesses the power of a storm to launch a lightning bolt at a demon to cause it to explode. Several of these scenes make him seem like he is extremely powerful, and it makes it seem like daily tasks would be very trivial for him. For example, there’s a part in the book where he literally lifts up a jukebox and throws it on a wall, causing it to explode into a liquid. so he’s able to take physical matter, lift it, and throw it against some thing, and change the state of matter into a liquid from a solid? If this is the case, why could he not just do that to turn the handcuffs into liquid in the latter, half of the book? This would have saved him so much hardship.

The magic system in the book is both fascinating and awesome, but very flawed at the same time. Unless, of course, I’m just missing something. But there are many times where it seems very complicated and kind of awesome, and then there are other times where I just scratch my head and ask myself why he didn’t just do this thing earlier, or if he can do this or that way, he doesn’t just opt to do the easier choice. I don’t know, I’d love some input from members of the community who have also read these books! Like I said, I really like them, but they were so so so many inconsistencies that are just creeping up all reading that are actually genuinely bothering me. And I don’t usually get bothered by this type of stuff.

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Nightgasm t1_irt6qhw wrote

The first book is the first novel he ever wrote way back when he was in college. Most authors first few novels go into a trunk never to be seen again. So it's pretty remarkable its any good at all. The series does pick up a lot around book 3 or 4 which is where you can tell Butcher has really figured out his craft and what he wants the characters to be.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_irt98gx wrote

Oh wow, I had no idea. It was his first book ever wrote actually. That is very impressive.

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Krazikarl2 t1_iru24c2 wrote

Just as some warning:

As people are saying, the writing does get better. But the 2nd book is usually considered the worst in the series - its actually the only Dresden book that I actively dislike.

A lot of people actually recommend just reading a summary of the 2nd book and skipping to the 3rd.

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Eirikur_da_Czech t1_irt52vt wrote

I will say the writing definitely gets better, but the magic in the series doesn’t ever get “harder” as the terms go. It’s all pretty much just there to suit the plot. But the writing definitely gets better.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_irt9ilh wrote

Gotcha. That’s totally fine, I suppose not everything needs a super complicated magic system. I was just more so worried about the actual consistencies with the magic system in the book, but as another user here pointed out, I may have been wrong about some of my assessments.

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DoctorWaluigiTime t1_irtnss2 wrote

I'd rate it fairly consistent. It definitely leans more Power Fantasy kind of thing, but IMO Butcher does the power creep well.

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WelcomingRapier t1_irtbpjt wrote

The cringiness of r/menwritingwomen definitely cuts back. He also improves quite a lot as a writer, but never becomes someone that you could say is a skilled wordsmith. I find his storytelling very readable though, despite their flaws, which is ultimately all most readers really want.

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ThatNewSockFeel t1_irtjpkq wrote

Yeah, he never does quite lose all of the neckbeardy cringe moments, but they become a little less over the top as the books go on.

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WelcomingRapier t1_irtl6uj wrote

The only thing I can recall off-hand is the cringy sexualization comments about his apprentice. I still feel a little dirty when that comes up every so often in the later books. I try to keep it in context, but it's tough.

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ThatNewSockFeel t1_irtmmo0 wrote

There's some of that throughout many of the books. Harry never met a woman he didn't like to ogle and describe in intimate, awkward detail. Nor does he ever miss a chance to go all "M'lady" when the opportunity arises. The Molly stuff is definitely the most cringe and, quite frankly, pretty gross though.

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DoctorWaluigiTime t1_irtnzty wrote

I honestly don't get this critique, since what few times it's mentioned it's always done as "this is bad and you should feel bad if you take it that way."

Heck, >!when Molly does become his apprentice the literal first thing he does is dump icewater over her and makes it a clear that he's not putting up with this student-teacher romance BS so don't even try the flirty-flirt nonsense.!<

Been a few years since reading the series proper but Dresden never comes off as "tongue hanging out and awooga horns play whenever he sees a woman" beyond the first couple books.

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Contentiblereddit t1_irv1b2z wrote

You mean after he >!let's her strip totally nude, confirms her body piercings, and get on her knees in front of him? There was absolutely no way he could have shut that down sooner?!<

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DoctorWaluigiTime t1_irvgqff wrote

Correct. In the circumstances it was the only way to get it out of her system, as it were.

There's also just the general issue of it being first person narration, where the only way we're getting any description of anything is via the main character's PoV.

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Contentiblereddit t1_irvhowa wrote

That's absolutely BS. If you can't think of a way to >!shut down a vulnerable teenage girl you might as well have been grooming before she gets naked, then you didn't want to shut it down.!<

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fliponymousredux t1_irwlaj9 wrote

He needed her to be absolutely certain she'd taken her absolutely best shot, no wiggle room, no "maybe if I'd tried harder". If he'd shut it down sooner she'd think she might still somehow have a chance.

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DoctorWaluigiTime t1_irtnpkg wrote

Absolutely improves. Although I'm probably in the minority of "read the first few books anyway." Mostly because this is a series, and why skip the first few books that introduce the world and such?

(Plus, while the series improves as it goes on, I do like the stories in the first few books as well.)

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archwaykitten t1_irt8cqw wrote

> The problem with this, though, is that he literally just got done saying that his trinkets were worn out or did not have any power in them anymore, so how was he able to use the shield if it wasn’t functional? This one really really bothered me.

I just checked my book, and this is what he actually said: "I didn't have my blasting rod or my staff, the other gizmos I brought with me were drained and useless, and my shield bracelet could only prolong the inevitable." So his shield still had some charge, but blocking 1 or 2 attacks isn't useful if the attacks are going to keep coming.

>In fact, he’s been shown to be able to control the wind just with a simple incantation to create extremely strong gust of wind, so he could’ve very easily just a blown the hair out of the guys hand, so the scene really really confused me.

Dresden has a lot of raw power, but it takes a lot of prep work if he wants to use that power in a controlled manner. He can unleash enough wind to demolish a building, but he has trouble unleashing just enough wind to safely blow out a candle. If he anticipates needing to blow out a candle, he can prepare a "blow out a candle spell" in a few hours, but when he's improvising he needs to use his magic differently. In the scorpion fight he uses the elevator shaft to naturally contain his power and aim it in a useful direction, but that's not something he could have done on his own.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_irt8qrr wrote

Oh, I see. I need to pay more attention to specifics in that case ha ha. I’ve only been reading for a few months now, so maybe my skill level is just a little bit below this book. That makes a lot of sense, and actually now that you mention it, there have been several times I can recall where he mentions how he could blow up a house, for example Very easily, but I suppose that’s controlling that power that is the challenge.

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A_Squid_A_Dog t1_iruo25u wrote

Yeah archwaykitten pretty much nailed it. The books are really good, if you liked the first you'll probably like the rest. Dresden does talk quite a bit about how most of his efforts are on controlling magic, not creating it.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_iruojj9 wrote

My favorite thing was actually his style of writing so I think I like the books quite a lot. I just was a little bothered by some of the inconsistencies in the first book but another user sort of helped me work through those. But no talk, I really really like his writing style actually.

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A_Squid_A_Dog t1_iruoo4w wrote

Awesome! It's one of my favorite series, and I hope you really enjoy it.

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dr239 t1_irt69my wrote

The writing, and the books themselves, do get better. I've heard people say the series really 'starts' (as in, gets that Dresden feeling, really gets going), in Summer Knight (#4), though some argue it really finds its footing in Death Masks (#5).

That being said, yes, there are often little inconsistencies. Especially with things like weapons, and the heights of characters. And Harry doesn't ever really grow out of that 'being Harry' quality he's got, that leads to some questionable decisions. This of course is a main component of what makes Harry Harry, so it works, but...

All of this to say, fantastic series, don't give up on it because of the earliest books.

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archwaykitten t1_irt9x7x wrote

The biggest inconsistency is that Harry is repeatedly said to not wear hats, yet the cover artists invented a signature look for him that includes a hat. It's a running gag between the author and the art department at this point.

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Amesaskew t1_irx6iab wrote

Also, Harry is anywhere from 6'5" to nearly 8' tall depending on the book

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Alexispinpgh t1_irt5q20 wrote

The first two books are kind of a slog. Book four is my favorite of the whole series.

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ThatNewSockFeel t1_irtjttw wrote

It's been a while since I've read them, but you can pretty much just skip the first two books if you want. Other than a few references/characters (that Butcher typically explains/introduces again anyway) I don't really think there's a whole lot of overarching plot introduced yet in those two.

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Alexispinpgh t1_iru3ktc wrote

Unfortunately-and I say “unfortunately” because it’s my least favorite of the books—I think book 2 has some important character background that comes back in the two most recent installments. Probably not anything you couldn’t get from context but it helps.

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Same-World-209 t1_itgqecj wrote

I thought they were okay, they’re not as bad as people have made them out to be.

I plan on reading Book 3 soon so I can’t compare at the moment.

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SonOfThomasWayne t1_irt4q0z wrote

The books get so much better after the first 3 or so.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_irt9e3u wrote

Gotcha. As another user here, pointed out, some of my complaints aren’t necessarily justified as it seems like I miss heard what some of the spoken content was. I’m listening on audible, so sometimes I do tend to mix things up in my head a little bit. So at the very least some of those inconsistencies, I noticed are necessarily actual inconsistencies. It was just my inability to understand, was being said ha ha. But I am definitely going to be continuing this entire series, no worries about that. The characters are honestly super awesome.

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Suspicious-Shock-934 t1_irvilf8 wrote

Short answer: Yes. It was Butcher's first book. A lot of the inconsistencies you mention are somewhat plot relevant and/or embraced as such. Keep reading its a fantastic series.

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MattMorituri t1_irtobiu wrote

As an fyi, there was a tv series based on the Dresden Files that aired on the SciFi network years ago. Not great but not horrible. The last episode was actually a pretty nice adaptation of one of the books.

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thaisweetheart t1_iruhhkg wrote

i’ve tried to get through the audiobook for the first book like 5 times and it’s so dreadful i can’t. narration and story bores me

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No_Poet_7244 t1_iruifsq wrote

The writing does improve for sure, but if you don’t like his style in general I would warn you against Dresden Files. He gets better but it’s still very much the same style of writing.

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AmberJFrost t1_irvbcqq wrote

I think that Butcher recommends starting with like book 6 or 7 - Dead Space. The first bunch were... rough. I quit the series because of the amount of misogyny, though the plotting is definitely... mixed as well.

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initiatefailure t1_irxw55d wrote

I've said before that book 1 is a pretty average read but an interesting proof of concept, book 2 is a total disaster that book 3 has to devote a pretty sizable chunk to making up for or undoing and notably spends a lot of the book making Harry face consequences to being a weirdo sexist up till then. That's as far as I got personally. I think the end of 3 is a somewhat promising turn in both story direction and writing quality. But i've heard it doesn't really mature for a couple more entries, maybe till 6/7?

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy OP t1_iryjap7 wrote

Yeah, I started reading book 2 and honestly there are some pretty awesome parts here, but ultimately, it feels really weird. For example, you would think after the events of the book one his friend Murphy would actually understand that Dresden is not responsible for most of what happens, and yet in book 2, she is coughing him and beating him up because he just so happens to have a diagram from one of his associates that she picked up from the floor in the bar. Like is that supposed to be a joke? And she doesn’t even give him a second to explain himself? She went from being a top-tier character in book one in my books to being one of the worst ones in book 2, so I hope she improves.

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misfitx t1_irt9smq wrote

Very much. The first books is a literal Mary Sue written by a kid.

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