Given the name of the leader of this community, I figured I’d throw this out there:
I’ve never read any of Jim Butcher’s books, and have heard good things about The Dresden Files.
Where do I start? Is there a good website to show a suggested reading order, etc?
First, of all, not a leader, just a mod, trying to do my part in making lemmy a nice place for book readers. 😀
Dresden Files is a pretty fun series, but it’s not some great epitome of literature. It’s a fun and easy to read series, and I am realizing after reading all the comment here, it’s not for everyone. Personally, I don’t have much issue with that. I don’t always agree with the characters of my books, but I can understand if people have issues with that. I would suggest reading a couple of books to see if they are for you.
As for where to start, I always prefer to read in published order, (which in this case is also chronological order), but as everyone else has mentioned first couple of books aren’t that great. The quality improves a lot from the 3rd one. So, if you start from first one, at least read first 3 to make up your mind. Or, you can read “Dead Beat” first, and if you like it, go back and start from the first one.
If you do start reading it, would love to hear your thoughts on how you like it. You can post in our weekly what are you reading thread, or just make a separate post.
Edit: Forgot to mention, the books are pretty formulaic, (don’t know if they improve further along or not), I don’t think I would enjoy them reading back to back. But reading them after adding a break of one or two books is keeping them very enjoyable.