Calling Dresden Files fans.

Just finished book 1 and 2. Really enjoyed Book 1 but felt Book 2 was a real slog to get through - not sure it's given me a lot of confidence to keep going in the series.

Obviously there are a ton of books in the series so it has a big following. I'm just trying to figure out if the series starts slow and ramps up or is book 2 a good representation of what's to come. Just not sure if it's a rocky start from a young author or if it's just not my style.

htownag08 said:

---

Calling Dresden Files fans.

Just finished book 1 and 2. Really enjoyed Book 1 but felt Book 2 was a real slog to get through - not sure it's given me a lot of confidence to keep going in the series.

Obviously there are a ton of books in the series so it has a big following. I'm just trying to figure out if the series starts slow and ramps up or is book 2 a good representation of what's to come. Just not sure if it's a rocky start from a young author or if it's just not my style.

---

I heard that the first 5 books are slow, and then the series picks up. I went to all the "best of Dresden Files" lists and started reading based on what everyone said were the best books. I missed some continuity and world building, but I definitely have a feel for the series after 4 or 5 books. There's too many other great books for me to spend 3,000 pages waiting for it to get good. That's not the right way, its just my way.

I gave up on Dresden.

Made it through 5 books and realized it just wasn't for me.

Just finished Red Rising....trying decide if I want to just go straight into Golden Son or take a break from the series.

Keep going! The books only got better in my opinion. I read the first 3 back to back and now I'm taking a break before jumping into the next 3.

I enjoyed book 2 more than book 1, and book 3 more than book 2.

birdman said:

---

Frankenstein - I thought it was great, but overrated. Nowhere near the lofty ranking that it gets.

---

I felt the same way about 80 pages in, but I think a lot of it was my preconceived notions of what I thought the story would be about based on modern interpretations of the monster and what not.

Once I accepted the story for what it was and the themes it stood for, I found it a lot more interesting and thought provoking.

htxag09 said:

---

Just finished Red Rising....trying decide if I want to just go straight into Golden Son or take a break from the series.

---

Just the first book? Keep going my man

birdman said:

---

Tale of Two Cities - good classic, not exceptional. Not in top 5 Dickens books.

---

My 2nd favorite novel of all time(favorite Dickens) and I'm a massive Dickens fan. At least we agree on The Sound and the Fury.

I have been making my way through John Le Carre. I'm currently on Smileys People, which is the last of the Karla Trilogy. Tinker Tailor was good, The Honourable Schoolboy was meh. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is just such a well written book, with little to no fluff. I'm not sure Le Carre can beat it.

htownag08 said:

---

Calling Dresden Files fans.

Just finished book 1 and 2. Really enjoyed Book 1 but felt Book 2 was a real slog to get through - not sure it's given me a lot of confidence to keep going in the series.

Obviously there are a ton of books in the series so it has a big following. I'm just trying to figure out if the series starts slow and ramps up or is book 2 a good representation of what's to come. Just not sure if it's a rocky start from a young author or if it's just not my style.

---

I kind of liked the early ones better. Could not tell you exactly how far I am through it. Find it to be an on an off series for me. Later it gets to be a lot with all the different plot threads potential consequences to things.

Stick with it. It took me several years to get through the first five books and then I read books 6 through to the end all back to back over course of 2024 and 2025. It's a slow build but then it absolutely takes off.

The State of the Art (Culture #4) - Iain M Banks

I read the first three Culture books several years ago now so I was excited to get back into this. Unfortunately, this was disappointing and downright bad in some cases. This is actually a book of short stories with the fourth culture book included as a novella. Aside from one of the short stories, they are utterly forgettable (I literally have already forgotten them and I just finished this).

The State of the Art is logged as the fourth book in the mainline Culture arc. It's really just a meandering philosophical discussion around a vastly superior space faring society (the Culture) deciding whether or not to make first contact with the chaotic, self-destructive Earthlings. It's apparently the only entry in this series that ever discusses Earth.

Nothing new here on the philosophical front. It covers most of the tropes we've all read a hundred times on if an alien species should contact us or not. I would say anyone who is reading Culture that has not made it this far can skip this entirely as it's a sidebar story at best.

I just finished book 6 of the Dresden files and i feel like the series definitely continues to get better. I actually liked book 2 (which is not the norm for most readers). The only book I struggled with was the first one. I'm an audiobook listener, so I'm not sure if that's why the stories are more entertaining for me (the reader does a great job). But definitely stick with it (I've been told that from book 6 on, it's a great ride)!

I'm working my way through the Lord of the Rings Return of the king. It's definitely the best of the 3, but the Hobbit is far and away my favorite.

I think I just realized at some point that wizards fighting each other in long drawn out battles just wasn't for me. I found myself skipping to the end of the chapter, but those battles are kind of the point.

General consensus is the series doesn't really start/find its feet till books 3/4. My first read through i liked 1&2, not quite as much on rereads but I don't skip them like a lot of others. After the first 2 books he really starts fleshing out characters more instead of having everyone be a trope.

Grave peril starts with an introduction of a fan favorite character. He still kinda starts 1 dimensional but still good imo. You could read the first couple of chapters where Harry is dealing with the ghost in the hospital and see if you're more into it

The series is kinda like Supernatural if you ever saw that, starts out with monster of the week and grows into fighting off the apocalypse. Everything builds on the last book

Was hoping to discover a book thread on here!!

2025 Favorites so far
The Nightingale
Prince of Tides
Shoe Dog

My favorite all-time is Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity. Lots of good suggestions on here.

Just picked up some stuff at Half Price Books.

Brave New World
1984
Handmaid's Tale
The Great Train Robbery

Also thought this would entrance some of yall since it's been on a few lists:

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/6/1/early-3-hour-cut-of-project-hail-mary-stuns-could-awards-play-be-next

Head On by Scalzi

4.5/5

Really enjoyed this one. The whole concept was super cool and how he wove it into a whodunnit type mystery was top notch. This is easily my favorite Scalzi to date now.

Eliminatus said:

---

Head On by Scalzi

4.5/5

Really enjoyed this one. The whole concept was super cool and how he wove it into a whodunnit type mystery was top notch. This is easily my favorite Scalzi to date now.

---

I have his latest book sitting on my shelf but haven't started it yet as I'm not big into Sci-Fi.


Plot Summary

Quote:

---

The moon has turned into cheese along with all previously retrieved lunar samples.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it's an opportunity. For others it's a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now... something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives -- over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you'd expect, and then to so many places you wouldn't.

---

I was a little leery of reading Lock In by Scalzi but enjoyed it so much I jumped right in to read Head On. Both are very good and easy reads that are entertaining. I hope he writes more books in this series.

YouBet said:

---

The State of the Art (Culture #4) - Iain M Banks

I read the first three Culture books several years ago now so I was excited to get back into this. Unfortunately, this was disappointing and downright bad in some cases. This is actually a book of short stories with the fourth culture book included as a novella. Aside from one of the short stories, they are utterly forgettable (I literally have already forgotten them and I just finished this).

The State of the Art is logged as the fourth book in the mainline Culture arc. It's really just a meandering philosophical discussion around a vastly superior space faring society (the Culture) deciding whether or not to make first contact with the chaotic, self-destructive Earthlings. It's apparently the only entry in this series that ever discusses Earth.

Nothing new here on the philosophical front. It covers most of the tropes we've all read a hundred times on if an alien species should contact us or not. I would say anyone who is reading Culture that has not made it this far can skip this entirely as it's a sidebar story at best.

---

I've read all the Culture Series except this one. Looks like you've validated my decision!

The last one finished is The Border Legion by Zane Grey, and I started A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe. Both books are from collected works.

Finished: The New Testament of the Bible. I'm ashamed it took me so long to do so, but it was better late than never. Hard to even put into words. For some non heavy talk, Acts is a fascinating book. I loved hearing about Paul's travels through the Greco-Roman world, even debating the Epicureans in Athens.

On deck: The Old Testament of the Bible

Second half of Oathbringer by Sanderson

Nice, I'm listening to the Bible in year podcast. Just made it to day 186.

I'm as anal and hardcore as a person you will find about reading all of the books in a series, but this can be skipped.

YouBet said:

---

I'm as anal and hardcore as a person you will find about reading all of the books in a series, but this can be skipped.

---

"anal" and "hardcore" was not the word pairing I expected when I opened the Book thread

Wolfpac 08 said:

---

YouBet said:

---

I'm as anal and hardcore as a person you will find about reading all of the books in a series, but this can be skipped.

---

"anal" and "hardcore" was not the word pairing I expected when I opened the Book thread

---

Well, it is June...

I am 5% from finishing Words of Radiance

The Count of Monte Cristo

The New Testament is a much easier and uplifting read than the Old Testament. Brace yourself

lurker76 said:

---

I was a little leery of reading Lock In by Scalzi but enjoyed it so much I jumped right in to read Head On. Both are very good and easy reads that are entertaining. I hope he writes more books in this series.

---

Oh wow. Had no idea it was a series and there was a book one. I was just skimming the library and picked it up on a whim. Dang. Need to go back and read the first then.

Thanks for the heads up. Pun intended.

Well, obviously you won't have any cliff-hanger going on in Lock In, but it's still worth the read. You should enjoy it as much as the Head On.

BTW, if you haven't read Starter Villain by Scalzi, I can't recommend it enough.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Sticking with this universe and going through his standalones before the second series. I liked this novel, but not nearly as much as The First Law trilogy.

Just finished Brave New World.

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery."