Harry Dresden

I stumbled across the first of the Dresden files, Storm Front, a few years ago and was seriously disappointed when I got to the end of the lot that was currently published. They are incredibly more-ish - not helped by the fact that once you start one you cannot put it down, so you finish them at warp-speed.

I finished book 11, Turn Coat, the other week and I'm already drooling after the next one. I could actually get my hands on the hard-cover version of Changes, but I love the look of the paperbacks I've got so I'm going to try to stay disciplined. Time will tell I guess.

If you haven't read them, I cannot recommend them highly enough. It's hard to describe them in a way that does them justice though.

It's all written in first person from Harry's point of view, but don't let that put you off. I normally don't like that style at all, but it is done really well. The pace of the books is one to leave you breathless. You get sucked in and they are absolutely impossible to put down, each chapter leaves you wanting to know what happens next.

What it is about? Well, that is a good question. Harry is an impoverised private investigator, who also happens to be a wizard (the only one in the yellow pages, so he says). The whole magic, supernatural thing is introduced in a very believeable way. Like most series, the first few books are quite stand-alone (though of course reading them in order does make things make more sense) - but by book 11 there is a huge amount of overarching side-plots going on as well.

Weaving a complex tapestry is the phrase that comes to mind. However, even with reading one book a year there is never any problem getting back into who is who or what is what as the author does slip in little comments to jog your memory in each book. Amazingly, these little reminders never feel forced or out of place. As a writer-wannabe I truly admire the ease with which he slips in these little things to help out the memory of old readers and quickly explain stuff to newcomers.

Anyways, I guess it is back to re-reading Eddings for the fifty-eleventh time while I wait for the next Dresden paperback. At least I now have a shiny new set of the Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium and Tamuli. (Asked for the lot for my birthday as our current copies have been so well-read they were falling to pieces.)