James Butcher

[Mira]

  Yes, I believe Margaret is dead.

like what does Starborn actually mean or do for Dresden - what are they hiding from Dresden and why?

And why does it take six books to reveal it? 

[g33k]

...
And why does it take six books to reveal it? 

Because Jim wants to keep the whole "Starborn" thing behind the curtain, do a gradual reveal.

I fully expect to find an upside/downside thing going on.  Maybe even that -- at the core of it -- being "Starborn" is an Outsider-created thing:  they force some power into the world, and it opens a doorway that they can slip through 40-50ish years later... but that original "force some power into the world" is what creates the Starborn.

[Mira]

Because Jim wants to keep the whole "Starborn" thing behind the curtain, do a gradual reveal.

I fully expect to find an upside/downside thing going on.  Maybe even that -- at the core of it -- being "Starborn" is an Outsider-created thing:  they force some power into the world, and it opens a doorway that they can slip through 40-50ish years later... but that original "force some power into the world" is what creates the Starborn.

I hope that it doesn't turn out that the star born were an Outsider created thing simply because that "twist" has been done so many times it is a bit disappointing and not at all surprising.

[Griffimus]

The release dates of the books seem to be fine for me.   Could be worse, look at The Kingkiller Chronicles......still waiting on Doors of Stone since 2011 from Rothfuss...... that is some B.S.

[Snark Knight]

Yeah, I read his two first novels and they are... fine? He went to the Jim Butcher school of making his protagonist a bit of a butt monkey, but in the case of Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby, he went a bit overboard and made him just pathetic in too many regards. While I definitely will get the third book of the series, coming out this month, so far the character hasn't convinced me yet that he is a worthy main protagonist, where Jim made Harry a bit pathetic, but also a lot of interesting in one book and has kept improving the character ever since.

I think he's pretty clearly going for an arc like Tavi in Codex Alera, where the MC isn't actually the crippled weakling he initially appears.  But, yeah, he's overcooked the setup by a good 20-30%.

What has me in some doubt whether to keep following the series is actually something quite a bit more specific.  Pretty much the central plot twist of James' second book struck me as being *far* too similar to something from TDF, and rather unsubtly executed besides.  He was clue-batting it so heavily I actually thought there was going to be some squirrelly twist within the twist coming to mess with his dad's fans who'd come to his series through TDF, but nope, he basically just did

(click to show/hide)

Sheila from Dead Beat

straight up with one of his POV characters.

I don't want to beat up on a beginning writer *too* much, but you can't be crossing the line of repeating your father's plot twists if substantially the same set of customers are supposed to be paying good money for your writing.

[Mira]

I think he's pretty clearly going for an arc like Tavi in Codex Alera, where the MC isn't actually the crippled weakling he initially appears.  But, yeah, he's overcooked the setup by a good 20-30%.

What has me in some doubt whether to keep following the series is actually something quite a bit more specific.  Pretty much the central plot twist of James' second book struck me as being *far* too similar to something from TDF, and rather unsubtly executed besides.  He was clue-batting it so heavily I actually thought there was going to be some squirrelly twist within the twist coming to mess with his dad's fans who'd come to his series through TDF, but nope, he basically just did

(click to show/hide)

Sheila from Dead Beat

straight up with one of his POV characters.

I don't want to beat up on a beginning writer *too* much, but you can't be crossing the line of repeating your father's plot twists if substantially the same set of customers are supposed to be paying good money for your writing.

Yup

[KurtinStGeorge]

Getting back to the subject of James Butcher.  How to put this?  I am a baseball fan.  Every year during the Spring Training period there are young players who are thought to have the potential to play in the major leagues and maybe become a star players.  Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't and sometimes they eventually make the big leagues and even become star players, but they aren't ready just yet.

Reading James Butcher's first novel Dead Man's Hand, I had the feeling the writer isn't big league material, at least not yet.  He's a prospect.  Maybe he will improve, maybe not.  His third book was just released.  If I hear he took a major step forward with this book, because I didn't hear that happened with the second one, then I will read books two and three in his relatively new series.