BOOK RECCOMENDATION'D!

The Core RPGC Main Forum
1

Speaking as someone who spends a lot of the free time he has too much of reading, I hearby do reccomend anyone who may be interested to read the Dresden Files series, by one Jim Butcher.

Imagine a typical detective story, starring a good ol’ hat-and-duster detective. Now imagine that instead of a detective, you have a wizard. Meet Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Chicago’s first (and only) wizard-for-hire(No love potions, endless purses, or other entertainment). He’s in the phonebook.

These books are great fun. The stories all all told from Harry’s point of view, and he’s an exellent character. Don’t believe me? Jim Butcher’s homepage has sample chapters. Czech 'em out. The first book is called Storm Front. I would reccomend these to anyone.

A warning: If these were movies, they’d definately be R-rated. At times they contain graphic violence and highly cough suggestive themes. So I wouldn’t reccomend them to the younglings among us(not that it’d stop them).

A testament to how good these books are: For my birthday, I got 35 bucks in Barnes and Noble gift cards. Based on a reccomendation, I picked up a copy of Storm Front. The very next day, I went back and got the next three books. Since then I’ve read all of the series. There’s seven at the moment, and this dude is still writing.

So if you’re looking for a good read, look no further.

Thus endeth the sermon.

2

Sounds cool, I might check it out.

What is it with people these days and wizards named Harry?

3

Well, his father was a stage magician. “Harry” as in Houdini.

4

That makes more sense. I thought it might have been a ploy for more cash.
About how much do the books cost?

5

For most of them, about what you’d pay for your average normal-sized paperback. The seventh is only in hardback at the moment, though.

6

Hmm. I wonder if this wizard knows every spell in the phb+expansion books.

7

Thanks for the tip. I’ve just run out of my other urban fantasy stuff (Jasper Fforde, Tom Holt, Robert Rankin, Lemony Snicket if that counts) and needed something new. :sunglasses: I’ll give it a try.
/me is lucky to have an awesome library system where I never have to actually buy anything. 8p

8

Interestingly enough, I was looking for some Tom Holt around the time I bought Storm Front, but my local Barnes and Noble didn’t have any. Perhaps I’ll try Amazon.

9

Like I said… libraries. :sunglasses:
Tom Holt’s books tend to be entertaining but rather vapid (and the endings generally don’t make sense). His best work is the following:
The Paul Carpenter series (The Portable Door, In Your Dreams, and the just-just released Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard)
Ye Gods!
Open Sesame
Odds and Gods
Snow White and the Seven Samurai is probably the most fun and the least sensical, so just kind of ignore the story and you’ll be okay. :sunglasses: And Little People is probably the most disturbing.

10

Of those I’ve only read Snow White and the Seven Samurai, but I can say that that book is one of the best I’ve read. :smiley:
(Not that I read a lot of books anymore, but I used to read all the time when I was a kid.)

11

I’ve read almost every one of Holt’s books (like I said, always entertaining but sometimes leaves a lot to be desired story-wise). Trust me, the other ones I listed up there are far better than Snow White, especially if you know just a bit about mythology (Greek/Norse mainly).

I should probably also mention Falling Sideways, which is one of his most story-heavy books; there’s a plot twist (more like a plot full-circle) almost every chapter… you get whiplash just trying to keep track of it.