This may come as a shock to you, Harry, but I don't have an ax with me

[sovay]

Today has been marked mostly by hours of pre-holiday errands and a vision-troubling level of headache, which may somewhat foreshorten this post. The evening has been marked by reading four books starring Harry Dresden. I believe I have hurt myself.

Between the weird casual chauvinism and the general air of having been written by a yak that wanted to be Raymond Chandler (I am insulting either Chandler or yaks), I was not impressed with Storm Front (2000). There was a reason I didn't read these books at the time. rushthatspeaks had promised me a character I would love, however, and so I persevered. Fortunately, the library was missing the next three volumes and by the time of Death Masks (2003), Butcher's style had improved to the point where it was no longer actively contributing to my headache and Rush was quite right about the character; I warmed to him instantly, even though he was more of a cameo. And then there was a lot of confused vampirism and I got to Dead Beat (2005). Rush—

"If I tell you this," I said quietly, "it could be bad for you."

"Bad how?"

"It could force you to keep secrets that people would kill you for knowing. It could change the way you think and feel. It could really screw up your life."

"Screw up my life?" He stared at me for a second and then said, deadpan, "I'm a five-foot-three, thirty-seven-year-old, single Jewish medical examiner who needs to pick up his lederhosen from the cleaners so that he can play in a one-man polka band at Oktoberfest tomorrow." He pushed up his glasses with his forefinger, folded his arms and said, "Do your worst."

Waldo Butters is also brilliant enough that he thinks of forensic science as something anyone can pick up if they don't mind the technical terms, geeky enough to forget how terrified he is of zombies when given the chance to research them, and he has mildly mad science hair ("[it] gave him a perpetual look of surprise that stopped just short of being a perpetual look of recent electrocution"). Apparently I have some kind of type.

I don't think I will be eagerly scouring the bookstores for the rest of this series, but someone should tell me whether they're the sort of thing worth persisting with just for love of supporting characters. It is quite likely that I will keep an eye out for a secondhand copy of Dead Beat, even if the Latin is consistently ungrammatical and the mysterious book should really have been called Das Lied des Erlkönigs. The Tyrannosaur was pretty crowningly awesome.

And now I am going to shower, because I don't feel well at all.

Comments

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

The books continue to improve. They're one of my candy-pleasures - fun urban fantasy with actual character development! (Also, Butcher begins making some commentary on Harry's chauvinism via other characters in some amusing ways. I suspect it got through his head at some point that maybe he should be questioning Harry's attitudes towards women.)

[sovay]

The books continue to improve.

I'll try at least another, then.

(Also, Butcher begins making some commentary on Harry's chauvinism via other characters in some amusing ways. I suspect it got through his head at some point that maybe he should be questioning Harry's attitudes towards women.)

Good! Because it was apparent from Storm Front that the chauvinism was a problem—Harry almost misses the actual murderer because he's stuck on the idea of exploding people's hearts out of their chests as a female thing—but then he didn't get better, so I couldn't tell whether it was meant to be a problematic character trait or simply the author bleeding over. And the women around him are, even if still described first in terms of their conventional attractiveness, pretty consistently awesome.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I parse it as a problematic character trait arising to some extent from the particular traumas of Harry's upbringing (which take a while to come into focus) and that, as is not unrealistic with reactions coming from traumas, it takes a hell of a long time to get through his thick skull as problematic.

I also parse the talking about pretty much every post-pubescent female character mentioned in terms of conventional attractiveness first as a conscious stylistic trope, in the direction of Archie Goodwin.

It's possible that I am overthinking this, but if so I like the books I end up with better than the ones that Butcher intended.

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is how I tend to feel about them.

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

I genuinely think it's supposed to be a problematic character trait, considering how often and how spectacularly it gets Harry in trouble, and how much the women in the books comment on it.

Also, there are some really awesome women in the series. Molly & Murphy are winners. (I would add that a lot of the men are actually described in terms of their attractiveness, also, which doesn't pop up much in books authored by men.)

[sovay]

Molly & Murphy are winners.

I haven't seen almost anything of Molly so far, but I quite like Murphy (as noted to straussmonster above). The fact that she isn't sleeping with Harry and doesn't look as though she ever will is an actual point in Butcher's favor with me.

(I would add that a lot of the men are actually described in terms of their attractiveness, also, which doesn't pop up much in books authored by men.)

Interesting; I'll remember to look at that. It is true that Thomas pulls out all the adjective stops.

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

Molly in the newest book was so fabulous and tough and to-the-rescue. Their relationship is weird and fraught, too.

Thomas, especially, and sometimes Marcone gets handsome!adjectives, too.

[helivoy.livejournal.com]

There is, of course, a strongly dissenting view: Jim Butcher: chauvinist AND talentless–stunning combo! And, frankly, the lengthy quote from Storm Front within that opinion disposes me to agree with the verdict.

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

I don't think any of us disagree that Storm Front is pretty appalling - he's very obviously nodding in all the wrong ways to Raymond Chandler. The later books, and the changes in those books as well as the way the narratives start working to point out Harry's blatant flaws, are what changed my mind. Mileage may vary, of course.

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's Winterfox. Over-the-top vitriol is what she does, even when she's right. She's also not one to give up her crusade against an author even when things do change in later books.