The new Kiki Strike book (The Darkness Dwellers) is a lot of fun. I read it in one sitting.

Unrelatedly, I've not read any of the Dresden Files books, but I just read something that said James Marsters narrates the audiobooks. t edit Well, I shouldn't make assumptions. It was a review of the audiobook of the second Dresden Files book, so I know he narrates at least that one.

We were at a party last weekend where half the people there had read or were reading the Dresden Files books, and just raved about them.

I've enjoyed the Dresden books. They're all in 1st person and have some of the inevitable "dude, I'm tired of hearing about your crises" that comes when everything happens in the main character's head, but the author's good at keeping ongoing elements relevant and hasn't dropped any balls yet that I can see. And I think he actually has an end game to finish the series with, so it's not just "good lord, what are you doing to these poor people now?"

Dresden rocks. I can never put a Dresden book down once I've started it. (Except maybe the first one--I remember that one being only 'eh.')

I need to read those books eventually, especially because people keep comparing the Toby Daye books to them. Also because I got Jim Butcher a hotel room for Comic-Con.

I've never read the Dresden series because I couldn't get into the first book. How far do I have to read before they get better?

I am Pix. I did watch the the show and liked it, but the first book didn't grab me. If they get better I will probably revisit.

I was caught by the second book (Fool Moon) and am still devouring them. According to wikipedia the first book was a writing assignment that he thought would prove how awful that genre book would be...so I'm less surprised that none of us seem to enjoy it. (SA promised me I would love them so I slogged through the first one. She was correct.)

eta: "Despite initial resistance, he wrote the first book that semester, closely following the instructions of his teacher, author Deborah Chester.[1]

When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I was some kind of formulaic, genre writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.

— Jim Butcher in "A Conversation With Jim Butcher", 2004[5]

I love The Dresden Files books, but I'm not totally caught up on them. I feel like I would like to listen to the audio books just to remind me of who the minor players are before I continue with the series and also because of James Marsters.

I tried to read one of the later books after finding I liked the series, and got maybe 50 pages into it before admitting it just wasn't working for me.

In the last two weeks, I have read all four of Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad books and totally loved them. The first two I read on two consecutive days. Such great characters and stories, and very well written.

Her latest, Broken Harbour, started out as the one I thought I was going to have to slog through, but I hit the halfway point yesterday and didn't stop after that. I think it had one of the better endings of her books.

I both love the way that she moves on to new characters, and am dying to know what happens with the older characters. I guess that I am wanting more is a good sign? I read that her next novel will star the young detective Stephen Moran, who helped out Frank in The Hidden Place, breaking the pattern that the main character of her next novel is from a secondary character in her most recent novel.

I'm at the point where I want something to read, but I'm not ready to leave that world, so I am feeling a little bereft.