I’m currently halfway through the third book in the series. I said earlier that I had found the character of Harry Dresden to be a little thick but here’s what I think now: he’s a blithering idiot. He does things – magical things, stupid magical things – while out fighting monsters that I wouldn’t do in a prayer circle. He also is a little slow on the uptake regarding some of the more salient points of the mysteries he investigates.

That said, I do really, really like him as a character. I like him so much that I actively wish he were smarter. Chandler created Marlowe as something of a sad sack but a competent sad sack. I would like to see a little more day-to-day competence from Dresden. If he’s one of the best wizards of his generation then gods almighty but I’d love to play game of Trivial Pursuit with these people and have some money riding on the outcome.

All snark aside, I like the third book a lot more than the first two. I think the author needed to shake some bugs out of his writing and his story-world in the first two. I feel like he’s making progress with that by book three. Given that there are, what, nine? of these things, I’m figuring he’s got it mostly worked out by now.

I have also been mulling over the Harry Potter series, as I wrapped up Deathly Hallows a couple of weeks ago. I still am not quite sure what I think of it. Glad I read it? Yes. Satisfied with the outcome? Mostly. Do I like the fade-out-fade-in epilogue? Yes, actually. Do I still loathe Dumbledore? Yes and no. Do I like Harry? Yes but not like like. Do I like the whole series? Not sure. Do I hate Snape? Yes, terribly, and a part of me realizes that it’s because I had days when I was the greasy weasel of a kid that could have turned into that guy (though mostly I still identify with Lupin). Is it impossible, at 32, to identify at all with the kids? Sadly, yes.

It was a bit overwhelming to plow through that many thousands of pages in short order, just one right after the other, non-stop. I think that may have made it harder for me to process my reactions into lengthier statements for now.