I am actually reading three series in more or less parallel, whenever I have the time.
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
A noir urban fantasy series about a constantly down-on-his-luck private investigator, Harry Dresden, who also happens to be an actual wizard. At first he is mostly helping the local Chicago police department whenever there is a supernatural crime, but as the series progresses he slowly gets more and more entangled in the magical side of his kitchen-sink fantasy world (which, according to many, also coincides with the series growing the beard and becoming truly spectacular).
The series' selling points:
-Fun and engaging first person narration done in a deliberately Noir style
-Constantly evolving characters and setting
-Full of crazy awesome moments, like the memetic "Riding a zombie T-Rex!" scene that actually all make sense in context
The series' problems:
-Repetitive descriptions stemming from Butcher's tendency to re-introduce and describe every character over and over in every book
-After about the halfway point in the series the cast starts to feel bloated
-It gets a little annoying how Harry cannot catch a break, and while you can argue there would be no story if that happened, him being the chew-toy of the universe can get a little disheartening after a while
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe, a living legend of his time and one of the most talented sympathist (read: mage), fighter and bard ever lived, is now a broken ace living in self-exile after some as-of-yet-undescribed events of his past. He is then discovered by the Chronicler, and after some coercing he agrees to tell his life story so that the truth would be out there beside the tall tales spun around his legend, starting from childhood through his years at the University and beyond.
The series' selling points:
-The framing device gives a lot of life and quirks to the narration (it is literally a story told withing a story that is often about stories he heard on his travels)
-Beautiful prose
-Interesting plot with meticulously crafted foreshadowings, Checkov's Guns and other plot-devices hidden often in plain sight, leading to a number of truly great moments
The series' problems:
-Sometimes the prose can be a little too purple, especially when it comes to describing the main love interest and Kvothe's feelings about her
-Said love interest and almost any scene she appears in tend to stomp on the breaks when it comes to the plot and the interactions between her and the protagonist can be painful to read
The Ciaphas Cain Books by Sandy Mitchell
A slightly more light-hearted and down-to-earth take on the grimdark WH40k universe. It follows the journey and exploits of the titular Ciaphas Cain, an Imperial Commissar who wants nothing more than finding a backwater job and getting out of the line of fire, yet because of his rotten luck he somehow always manages to accidentally find himself in the thick of it. Even worse, because of his charisma, flair and his calculated "father to his men" attitude (plus that he not only survives these encounters but somehow always manages to get out on top) earn him the title HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, which often leads him into even more dangerous assignments, much to his chagrin. The stories are told through Cain's memoirs, collected and annotated by his colleague and lover, the inquisitor Amberley Vail.
The series' selling points:
-The unreliable narrator is fun. Cain suffers from a serious case of inferiority complex and in his memoirs he rationalizes even his most obviously heroic deeds and accidental or self-serving, and the lengths he sometimes have to go to do that is often just hilarious.
-The annotations by Amberley are not only often hilarious, they are one of the few sources that give insight into the everyday life of the otherwise ridiculously grimdark WH40k universe
-The series has a sharp sense of humor, relying on Cain's often contrarian musing, Amberley's tongue-in-cheek comments and everyone's deadpan snarking
-Just plain awesome moments
The series' problems:
-I can't really think of any glaring flaws, but I suppose if you don't like Cain (or even worse, take him at face value), the series would lose most of its charm.
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
A noir urban fantasy series about a constantly down-on-his-luck private investigator, Harry Dresden, who also happens to be an actual wizard. At first he is mostly helping the local Chicago police department whenever there is a supernatural crime, but as the series progresses he slowly gets more and more entangled in the magical side of his kitchen-sink fantasy world (which, according to many, also coincides with the series growing the beard and becoming truly spectacular).
The series' selling points:
-Fun and engaging first person narration done in a deliberately Noir style
-Constantly evolving characters and setting
-Full of crazy awesome moments, like the memetic "Riding a zombie T-Rex!" scene that actually all make sense in context
The series' problems:
-Repetitive descriptions stemming from Butcher's tendency to re-introduce and describe every character over and over in every book
-After about the halfway point in the series the cast starts to feel bloated
-It gets a little annoying how Harry cannot catch a break, and while you can argue there would be no story if that happened, him being the chew-toy of the universe can get a little disheartening after a while
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe, a living legend of his time and one of the most talented sympathist (read: mage), fighter and bard ever lived, is now a broken ace living in self-exile after some as-of-yet-undescribed events of his past. He is then discovered by the Chronicler, and after some coercing he agrees to tell his life story so that the truth would be out there beside the tall tales spun around his legend, starting from childhood through his years at the University and beyond.
The series' selling points:
-The framing device gives a lot of life and quirks to the narration (it is literally a story told withing a story that is often about stories he heard on his travels)
-Beautiful prose
-Interesting plot with meticulously crafted foreshadowings, Checkov's Guns and other plot-devices hidden often in plain sight, leading to a number of truly great moments
The series' problems:
-Sometimes the prose can be a little too purple, especially when it comes to describing the main love interest and Kvothe's feelings about her
-Said love interest and almost any scene she appears in tend to stomp on the breaks when it comes to the plot and the interactions between her and the protagonist can be painful to read
The Ciaphas Cain Books by Sandy Mitchell
A slightly more light-hearted and down-to-earth take on the grimdark WH40k universe. It follows the journey and exploits of the titular Ciaphas Cain, an Imperial Commissar who wants nothing more than finding a backwater job and getting out of the line of fire, yet because of his rotten luck he somehow always manages to accidentally find himself in the thick of it. Even worse, because of his charisma, flair and his calculated "father to his men" attitude (plus that he not only survives these encounters but somehow always manages to get out on top) earn him the title HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, which often leads him into even more dangerous assignments, much to his chagrin. The stories are told through Cain's memoirs, collected and annotated by his colleague and lover, the inquisitor Amberley Vail.
The series' selling points:
-The unreliable narrator is fun. Cain suffers from a serious case of inferiority complex and in his memoirs he rationalizes even his most obviously heroic deeds and accidental or self-serving, and the lengths he sometimes have to go to do that is often just hilarious.
-The annotations by Amberley are not only often hilarious, they are one of the few sources that give insight into the everyday life of the otherwise ridiculously grimdark WH40k universe
-The series has a sharp sense of humor, relying on Cain's often contrarian musing, Amberley's tongue-in-cheek comments and everyone's deadpan snarking
-Just plain awesome moments
The series' problems:
-I can't really think of any glaring flaws, but I suppose if you don't like Cain (or even worse, take him at face value), the series would lose most of its charm.
