If I enjoyed Jim Butchers Codex Alera series....

[Starwulf]

Would I enjoy his Dresden series? I've been looking for some new fantasy or sci-fiction to read lately, but not sure where to look really. I own about 95% of the Forgotten Realms series(literally. I have around 200 of them right now), and then a ton of various other series(as of last year I cracked the 1k book mark, all physical copies ^^), most notably(for me anyways) the Rhapsody series by Elizabeth Haydon, and then I also greatly enjoy stuff by E.E. Knight and....Brent something...(don't feel like digging for the books) it's a series about this kid who ends up bonding with this like orb and it really ticks off his master because his master was bonded to it originally. He becomes a very powerful assassin, but also really good at blending in with the high-society type(he befriends a guy who eventually becomes king, then has to rescue him from a supposedly impenetrable jail that's in this pit).

Plenty of other series, but those are the type that I tend to enjoy. I've been hesitant about trying out the Dresden series because it sounds so vastly different from his Codex Alera series, but there is a major book sale coming up and the last one I was at had a few of them(but not the first), and if they have some of his works, I'm wondering if it would be worth the buy.

Actually, let me just go on ahead and say that if you want to recommend something and not just give an opinion on the Dresdenverse stuff, please feel free, I'm always looking for new Fantasy/Sci-Fi stuff. One stipulation: No George R. R. Martin. I'm not explaining why, suffice it to say that I'm not interested in reading his stuff at all.

[Fragenstein]

I tried reading Dresden, but it just didn't manage to catch on with me. Maybe because I feel that writers like Simon Hawke did it better. I dunno. You might do better with it than myself.

Anyway -- I WOULD recommend The Wizard of 4th Street (Simon Hawke) as an alternative.

For Sci-Fi -- give Evan Currie a try. I'm on book 2 of his Odyssey One series and I've read the first book of the Star Rogue spin-off. Good stuff if you like military and first contact shenanigans with really well done space-combat.

[BWR]

Charles Stross is a great writer.
His Laundry Files stories (starting with "The Atrocity Archives") are basically MIB vs Cthulhu with a good dose of humor and screaming at ancient, undead, inhuman horrors - and in addition to the aforementioned civil servants in the British bureaucracy there are tentacles. In addition, each book is written as an homage to various great names of spy literature, including Len Deighton, Ian Fleming and Modesty Blaise (yes I know MB isn't a writer).
His SF is good too. I'd start with "Accelerando" or "Singularty Sky".

You might try Sergei Lukyanenko. Most famous outside of Russia for his Night Watch series, which is quite good. I'm currently reading his "The Genome" which so far seems to be pretty good SF in the vein of M. John Harrison's Light trilogy (also highly recommended) - it would not surprise me in the slightest to find out this is because both like the Strugatskys (Harrison's "Nova Swing" was basically a rewrite of "Roadside picnic").

See if you can find anything by the recently deceased Tanith Lee, especially her Flat Earth stories, starting with "Night's Master" but it doesn't really matter which order you read them in.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

It depends on what you liked about Codex Alera. The biggest point of common ground is Butcher's strong use of setup-payoff plots with cool worldbuilding. The Dresden Files combines that with a pulp-noir sort of atmosphere and a super-snarky protagonist whose viewpoint is your primary entry into the series.

I personally liked Dresden a lot better, but that's preferences.

Also, which books are on sale? The first book isn't essential to the series, and starting even as late as Book 3 isn't horrible.

You should also check out Brandon Sanderson; he does the whole "high fantasy with cool and logical magic" thing better than Butcher, IMO, and his worldbuilding is astoundingly cool. Good starting points are Elantris and The Way of Kings (although TWOK is the first of a projected ten-book series, while Elantris is standalone). Also, he's really good at plot-building. REALLY good.

[GloatingSwine]

Charles Stross is a great writer.
His Laundry Files stories (starting with "The Atrocity Archives") are basically MIB vs Cthulhu with a good dose of humor and screaming at ancient, undead, inhuman horrors - and in addition to the aforementioned civil servants in the British bureaucracy there are tentacles. In addition, each book is written as an homage to various great names of spy literature, including Len Deighton, Ian Fleming and Modesty Blaise (yes I know MB isn't a writer).


Also, there's a new one out in a week or so.

[Cristo Meyers]

....Brent something...(don't feel like digging for the books) it's a series about this kid who ends up bonding with this like orb and it really ticks off his master because his master was bonded to it originally. He becomes a very powerful assassin, but also really good at blending in with the high-society type(he befriends a guy who eventually becomes king, then has to rescue him from a supposedly impenetrable jail that's in this pit).

Brent Weeks. I read his first one as well. Didn't quite grab me though.

Dresden is a pretty different beast from Alera, as much as it's still very much Butcher's writing I'm not sure there's enough there to keep someone with your stated interests engaged. Maybe dip into the first book. If you enjoy that one, you're pretty much golden since it's probably the worst.

[Prime32]

Dresden is a pretty different beast from Alera, as much as it's still very much Butcher's writing I'm not sure there's enough there to keep someone with your stated interests engaged. Maybe dip into the first book. If you enjoy that one, you're pretty much golden since it's probably the worst.IIRC Jim said he was just throwing a pile of cliches together for the first book (Storm Front) and didn't start taking it seriously until later. A lot of people say the second (Fool Moon) is actually worse, but it introduces a lot of important concepts and recurring characters.
Not that I'd call the first two books bad, but the writing gets much tighter and funnier as the series goes on.

[Cristo Meyers]

IIRC Jim said he was just throwing a pile of cliches together for the first book (Storm Front) and didn't start taking it seriously until later. A lot of people say the second (Fool Moon) is actually worse, but it introduces a lot of important concepts and recurring characters.
Not that I'd call the first two books bad, but the writing gets much tighter and funnier as the series goes on.

Yeah, I probably should've mentioned that. Point still stands that if you enjoy the first two, you're pretty much set as they really only get better. I wouldn't call either of them bad by any means, they just don't really compare to, say, Skin Game.

Butcher does seem to have a talent for creating worthwhile stories out of clichés, though. Remember that Alera is literally Pokémon = a lost Roman legion.

[Eldan]

The clichés thrown together were in his first Dresden Story, Restoration of Faith, which didn't even make it into any of the books, and which Butcher thinks is pretty terrible. Then people actually liked it and he made a longer story of even more clichés thrown together, which became a bestseller, so he wrote more of it, while trying to steer the story in directions he liked better.

[GloatingSwine]

Butcher does seem to have a talent for creating worthwhile stories out of clichés, though. Remember that Alera is literally Pokémon = a lost Roman legion.

Plus werewolves and zerg.

Bonus material (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIvNe949uI0), given the direction taken upthread, here's an interview with Jim by Charles Stross.

[Velaryon]

I haven't read Codex Alera and I'm currently working my way through the Dresden Files, so I can't quite answer the original question. I do have something to contribute, though: series and title read-alikes as suggested by my librarian tools.

Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles is the first one mentioned. Maybe it's because I saw Rothfuss interview Jim Butcher at a C2E2 panel a couple months ago, but I think this is a good suggestion.

Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori and Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five trilogy are also mentioned, but I don't have any experience with them personally.

Terry Brooks is mentioned several times as well, but I'm withholding that recommendation because he has a bad rap (probably because his early novels were so obviously Tolkien ripoffs). I will say he developed his own style later and it isn't bad, but I'm not sure I'd recommend Brooks in this discussion either.

All of this is courtesy of the NoveList database, which a lot of public libraries use and make available to their patrons.

[Starwulf]

It depends on what you liked about Codex Alera. The biggest point of common ground is Butcher's strong use of setup-payoff plots with cool worldbuilding. The Dresden Files combines that with a pulp-noir sort of atmosphere and a super-snarky protagonist whose viewpoint is your primary entry into the series.

I personally liked Dresden a lot better, but that's preferences.

Also, which books are on sale? The first book isn't essential to the series, and starting even as late as Book 3 isn't horrible.

You should also check out Brandon Sanderson; he does the whole "high fantasy with cool and logical magic" thing better than Butcher, IMO, and his worldbuilding is astoundingly cool. Good starting points are Elantris and The Way of Kings (although TWOK is the first of a projected ten-book series, while Elantris is standalone). Also, he's really good at plot-building. REALLY good.

I love Brandon Sanderson, though I've had trouble finding many of his books, even at the used book stores I tend to frequent it's rare to find them >< Elantris was the first one of his that I read and honestly adored it. I don't think I've heard of his The Way of Kings book, the other ones I know of his are the "Imbibing metals in small quantities give you powers akin to magic" which I have one(and I believe it to be the first) but I can't figure out which one is the next ><

The "Book Sale" is one of those "For Charity" types where they have between 20-50k books in all genres, and the books go for between 50 cents to $2 bucks. Most paperbacks are 50 cents(though for some reason, Fantasy often goes for $1, so irritating) Hardbacks are $2 generally universally. I've been trying to find some David Lynn Golemon there(Author of "The Event" series) but they never have them. The last one I was at had several of the Dresden series, but I ignored them in favor of nearly completing my Jack Reacher series and also snagging about 20 Forgotten Realms books that I don't have(the reaaaaaaalllllyyy old ones). It looked like someone basically donated their entire book collection and they were a major fantasy nut. A ton of MTG books, Dragonlance and FR books.


Brent Weeks. I read his first one as well. Didn't quite grab me though.

Dresden is a pretty different beast from Alera, as much as it's still very much Butcher's writing I'm not sure there's enough there to keep someone with your stated interests engaged. Maybe dip into the first book. If you enjoy that one, you're pretty much golden since it's probably the worst.

Honestly, I'm not sure WHAT my tastes really are to be honest. I've never sat down and analyzed what I enjoy in books. I just try a bunch of different stuff usually. I always finish a book I start, no matter how bad though, but I'll never touch it or anything but the same author again if I find it really bad. That's kinda why I said to suggest whatever, because I have such a wide variety of books I enjoy. I mean, I enjoyed Twilight, sooo.......LOL. But yet, I also have read stuff like Sun Tzu's Art of War as well, or Mein Kampf even. So yeah, hard for me to pin down what I really enjoy in books.

[Dragonus45]

Would I enjoy his Dresden series? I've been looking for some new fantasy or sci-fiction to read lately, but not sure where to look really. I own about 95% of the Forgotten Realms series(literally. I have around 200 of them right now), and then a ton of various other series(as of last year I cracked the 1k book mark, all physical copies ^^), most notably(for me anyways) the Rhapsody series by Elizabeth Haydon, and then I also greatly enjoy stuff by E.E. Knight and....Brent something...(don't feel like digging for the books) it's a series about this kid who ends up bonding with this like orb and it really ticks off his master because his master was bonded to it originally. He becomes a very powerful assassin, but also really good at blending in with the high-society type(he befriends a guy who eventually becomes king, then has to rescue him from a supposedly impenetrable jail that's in this pit).

Plenty of other series, but those are the type that I tend to enjoy. I've been hesitant about trying out the Dresden series because it sounds so vastly different from his Codex Alera series, but there is a major book sale coming up and the last one I was at had a few of them(but not the first), and if they have some of his works, I'm wondering if it would be worth the buy.

Actually, let me just go on ahead and say that if you want to recommend something and not just give an opinion on the Dresdenverse stuff, please feel free, I'm always looking for new Fantasy/Sci-Fi stuff. One stipulation: No George R. R. Martin. I'm not explaining why, suffice it to say that I'm not interested in reading his stuff at all.

I'm a huge fan of both, I'm actually listening to Cursor's Fury on audio right now actually. Yea the genres are difference but Jim's distinctive narrative voice is clear in both if you happen to enjoy that about his works and, to be honest, Dresden Files is just a better series overall then Codex Alera was, outside of the first two Dresden books being a little weak

[hamishspence]

Butcher's signature style really comes through in Spiderman: The Darkest Hours. I loved the scenes where The Rhino and Spiderman just talk - and Mary Jane gets some good scenes too.

[thorgrim29]

If what you liked in Codex Alera is the character interaction and the crazy plan escalation then you'll probably like Dresden since those are the more similar elements between the two. The action scenes are pretty different though, Dresden is more about magic (obviously) and small skirmishes while Alera (especially the first 3 or 4 books) is more about larger battles and formation fighting so if that's what drew you it's not there except fro a few scenes once every 6th or so book (Most notably in Summer Knight, White Night, Changes (holy crap Changes) and maybe Dead Beat if you stretch a bit).

Oh and Dresden is in the first person, with the perspective never changing except in short stories, so if that annoys you steer clear.

[Eldan]

I love Brandon Sanderson, though I've had trouble finding many of his books, even at the used book stores I tend to frequent it's rare to find them >< Elantris was the first one of his that I read and honestly adored it. I don't think I've heard of his The Way of Kings book, the other ones I know of his are the "Imbibing metals in small quantities give you powers akin to magic" which I have one(and I believe it to be the first) but I can't figure out which one is the next ><


Wikipedia tends to help a lot with the "which part of the series is this?" problem. They tend to have sortable biographies of most bigger authors.

[Dhavaer]

I love Brandon Sanderson, though I've had trouble finding many of his books, even at the used book stores I tend to frequent it's rare to find them >< Elantris was the first one of his that I read and honestly adored it. I don't think I've heard of his The Way of Kings book, the other ones I know of his are the "Imbibing metals in small quantities give you powers akin to magic" which I have one(and I believe it to be the first) but I can't figure out which one is the next ><

The series is called 'Mistborn' and the first trilogy are 'The Final Empire', 'The Well of Ascension' and 'The Hero of Ages'. There is a second trilogy that has only one book out at the moment, 'The Alloy of Law'. The metal drinking magic system is allomancy, by the way.

[Cristo Meyers]

Honestly, I'm not sure WHAT my tastes really are to be honest. I've never sat down and analyzed what I enjoy in books. I just try a bunch of different stuff usually. I always finish a book I start, no matter how bad though, but I'll never touch it or anything but the same author again if I find it really bad. That's kinda why I said to suggest whatever, because I have such a wide variety of books I enjoy. I mean, I enjoyed Twilight, sooo.......LOL. But yet, I also have read stuff like Sun Tzu's Art of War as well, or Mein Kampf even. So yeah, hard for me to pin down what I really enjoy in books.

If that's the case then I'd say go ahead and grab a few. While the story is different, both Dresden and Alera are unmistakably Butcher. If there's something in his writing in Alera that's grabbing your attention, I bet you'll find it in Dresden.

[Rater202]

Read the first 2-3 books of Dresden.

They're good books, but it's by the third or fourth one that they start to get really good.

So if you like the first couple, you're going to love the entire series.

If you don;y like them, then you might still like the rest of the series.

BTW, Harry Dresden is a bit of a smartass and there's a bit of meta humor when it comes to Wizardly Tropes.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The series is called 'Mistborn' and the first trilogy are 'The Final Empire', 'The Well of Ascension' and 'The Hero of Ages'. There is a second trilogy that has only one book out at the moment, 'The Alloy of Law'. The metal drinking magic system is allomancy, by the way.
IIRC it's not part of a second trilogy, but rather it's an in-between book that's supposed to bridge the gap between the first trilogy and a planned second trilogy.

[Mauve Shirt]

I haven't read Alera, but from what I understand it's equally as tropey, just uses different tropes.
Of course I have an unhealthy obsession with everything Dresden, so I'm unreliable when I say yes you should read it.
One thing I love about the Dresden series is how evident Butcher's growth as a writer is. Remember that Dresden was his first series, and he had already grown substantially by the time Alera was written.
Also check out his steampunk series when it comes out this fall. It's probably of similar quality to Alera, since what I've read of both has the same fantasy-world feel.

[Dragonus45]

I haven't read Alera, but from what I understand it's equally as tropey, just uses different tropes.
Of course I have an unhealthy obsession with everything Dresden, so I'm unreliable when I say yes you should read it.
One thing I love about the Dresden series is how evident Butcher's growth as a writer is. Remember that Dresden was his first series, and he had already grown substantially by the time Alera was written.
Also check out his steampunk series when it comes out this fall. It's probably of similar quality to Alera, since what I've read of both has the same fantasy-world feel.

He has also admitted that he doesn't write fantasy as well in general.

[Kd7sov]

Personally, I was a considerable fan of Alera for a while (around the time the last book came out, as it happens), but I never liked the first Dresden book enough to try the others. Couldn't really say why, so this may not be a helpful answer.


IIRC it's not part of a second trilogy, but rather it's an in-between book that's supposed to bridge the gap between the first trilogy and a planned second trilogy.

Yes and no. The original plan was for the Mistborn story to span three trilogies: Original, Modernish, and Spacefaring. Then he wrote Alloy of Law as a break from a larger work (I want to say Wheel of Time, but I don't remember for sure off the top of my head) set between the first two. Then he decided stuff from AoL needed to be followed up on, so he's written/writing another trilogy that's an immediate sequel thereunto, the first book of which is set to come out in October. All of which means that Mistborn is currently set to contain thirteen books, placing it ahead of Stormlight; I'd be surprised if it doesn't end up surpassing Wheel of Time by the end.

[Douglas]

I love Brandon Sanderson, though I've had trouble finding many of his books, even at the used book stores I tend to frequent it's rare to find them
If you don't mind reading on a computer or other pdf reader device, Warbreaker (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/drafts/warbreaker/Warbreaker_hardcover_1st_ed.pdf) is available for free download from Sanderson's own website. It's currently a one-off, not part of any series, though he does have plans for one sequel and it is part of the larger Cosmere universe.


>< Elantris was the first one of his that I read and honestly adored it. I don't think I've heard of his The Way of Kings book, the other ones I know of his are the "Imbibing metals in small quantities give you powers akin to magic" which I have one(and I believe it to be the first) but I can't figure out which one is the next ><
The Way of Kings is the first book in Sanderson's doorstopper fantasy epic, The Stormlight Archive, similar in size and scope to Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Book 2, Words of Radiance, is out but book 3 is currently being written.

See here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Bibliography) for an organized list of all his books. Here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Mistborn_series) for the specific Mistborn listing (and note that the first book, Mistborn: The Final Empire, often omits the subtitle).

[MrConsideration]

I found the Dresden books take a while to get up to speed as a series - once the Denarians and other recurring villains start showing up it gets a lot more interesting - I read the last ten or so in about a fortnight because I was so hooked.

If Storm Front doesn't grip you, it doesn't mean Dresden won't.

[Lamech]

I think you'll probably find the Dresden files pretty good. I keep on hearing Storm Front (his first book) was his worst, but I really liked it. I do note that for books one to three the setting isn't really established all that well so don't compare too closely to the later books. Alternatively just assume that Dresden didn't quite understand the setting in the earlier books which actually makes a lot of sense.


I also recommend Pact (https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/). Its urban fantasy, but like Alera, a lot of the magic is done through pokemon a.k.a. Furies or as Pact calls them, Others. You also have monsters from beyond the world trying to eat everything. Sort of. Its also really, really dark.

[Rater202]

I found the Dresden books take a while to get up to speed as a series - once the Denarians and other recurring villains start showing up it gets a lot more interesting - I read the last ten or so in about a fortnight because I was so hooked.

If Storm Front doesn't grip you, it doesn't mean Dresden won't.
Lke I said-read the first two or three

I think you'll probably find the Dresden files pretty good. I keep on hearing Storm Front (his first book) was his worst, but I really liked it.

Exactly. It's not a bad book, it's just not as good as the author's later work.

[Prime32]

I also recommend Pact (https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/). Its urban fantasy, but like Alera, a lot of the magic is done through pokemon a.k.a. Furies or as Pact calls them, Others. You also have monsters from beyond the world trying to eat everything. Sort of. Its also really, really dark.Eh, Wildbow is a great writer but Pact suffered from a lack of direction at times. In his own words, when he wrote Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/1-1/) it was the best story he could have produced at the time; when he wrote Pact he was more experienced but wasn't able to give it 100%. If you want to get into his stuff, I'd advise starting with Worm.

[Rater202]

Just be warned, Worm is long as hell.

I tried to read it all in one go, had to break for a bit, and lost my place.

[Douglas]

Just be warned, Worm is long as hell.

I tried to read it all in one go, had to break for a bit, and lost my place.
Very long, but very very good, and much less overwhelmingly dark than Pact. I tried Pact and just couldn't get through the neverending succession of the protagonist's successes getting thrown in his face, reversed, and stomped into the dust by an actively spiteful world. Worm, by contrast, has a strong consistent sense of continuing positive progression; however cruel and uncaring the world might be, Taylor Hebert keeps stepping up and accomplishing something that she can then build on for yet bigger accomplishments.