Which do you prefer? Personally Dresden Files as it has a much more interesting world, I like the magic system better and Harry Dresden is much more entertaining character than Harry Potter also because is adult oriented.

 

I like Dresden better as well, but it's a bit tricky to compare the two. As you noted, Dresden's aimed at mature fans of the fantasy genre, while Harry Potter was always intended as a children's series. Small surprise adult readers are going to prefer something that's made to appeal to them.

 

I have not read, nor do I intend to read Dresden Files.

So I am voting HP.

 

I like both, but since I grew up with Harry Potter and prefer traditional fantasy to urban fantasy, I'll vote for Harry Potter.

They feel almost too different to directly compare, other than personal preference.

 

Hmm. The two go in very different directions, so the best way to compare the two as I see it are as "hidden world" (if there's a better term for this I'll take it) fantasy settings. In that sense I guess I'll vote for Dresden on the basis of its broader and more in-depth world building.

 

What I value most about Harry Potter is the fanfiction community - something not present to the same extent in the Dresden Files, because it's perhaps a fair bit harder to write for.

So my answer would probably have to be Harry Potter, although I like the Dresden Files source materials more.

 

These days I would be more likely to read and re-read Dresden. However, very few if any other series have captured my imagination the way Harry Potter did. I haven't reread any of the books in...probably getting on for around six years, but I'm still discussing it online, and writing fanfiction of it. It wasn't until I started writing fanfiction that I realised that my one real ambition in life is to write (even if I'm not doing that good a job of achieving said ambition...)

So yeah. Dresden is my preferred read, but there's no denying the impact Potter has had on me.

 

I've read the first three Dresden books and I'm not feeling the massive draw to plow on like I always did when a new HP book dropped. Maybe I'll read the rest of DF sometime. Maybe not. HP is my childhood jam, bro.

HP or bust.

 

Dresden Files, though given... literally everything about me, that's hardly a surprise, I dare say.

 

We'll you're the author, so of course you'd say that.

 

This says it all in my opinion. I've only read the first DF book and it felt, well, just like the author described it. Which is why I haven't read the rest of the series. I don't think you can even compare a series like Harry Potter, which was written with sincere imagination, creativity and wonder in mind, to a series that is basically formulaic pulp.

 

Could I ask why? I think you're missing out on a pretty fun series.

A lot of us agree that the first few Dresden novels are the weakest, just as I'd say that many Potterfans would concur that Philsopher's Stone was the weakest entry into the Potterverse? Both Jo and Jim werewas finding what theyhe werewas doing with their respectivehis series, and they eachhe hadhas flaws present until theyhe got to where theyhe wanted. For the Dresden Files that point is around Summer Knight(#4). @Atram Noctem You aren't missing much by skipping Fool Moon(#2) and Grave Peril(#3).

So do me a favor, please, and both you and Scott, please at least give Summer Knight a chance. You may find you like it, or at least don't mind it.

With that said, to the subject at hand; my opinion is much the same as Shinysavage. I'm still tooling around with Harry Potter plot bunnies, re-imagining concepts, and writing fanfics of the Potterverse even all these years since I last opened up a novel, even though they're from a maturer perspective by and large. HP has definitely had the greater impact on my life though I favor the DF when it comes to pick-up-and-read/-re-read.

 

I'm inclined to vote third party, probably Alex Verus or Cinder Spires (among the stories I've read recently).

 

Ridiculous question. Dresden Files is just a guilty pleasure series for me, it's just fun without much substance. It's fanfiction of faerie tales. There are other authors I prefer, like GRRM or Gaiman or Wolfe or Brin or Abercrombie or even Rothfuss. HP trumps everything though, despite any flaws. I've reread the first book plenty, despite it being the "weakest" one.

 

I hesitate to compare the series. They're so different.

That said... HP wins hands down.

I'd argue that Dresden is a more enjoyable character than ol' scarhead, but DF just doesn't have the imaginative whimsy that HP has in spades. There are no lovable magic semi-giants waving pink umbrellas whilst riding flying motorbikes. No jumped-up quixotic knights running through portraits challenging you to duels. No gnome flinging or ear-related humor.

Also, first person pov is, and always will be, shit.

 

Percy Jackson.

 

I don't like action-movie protagonists in magical settings. You know, the adult man with a troubled past, tough guy who uses one-liners, shoots guns, drinks booze and charms impossibly beautiful women.

If I wanted such a protagonist, I'd was watch James Bond or NCIS or Die Hard.

This is also the reason I don't read post-Hogwarts fanfiction. Adult!Harry is just not something I would enjoy.

Coincidentally, it could also be the reason I don't like Harry/Fleur or Harry/Tonks.

 

Huh. I hadn't thought of it in that light.

Y'know what, I fucked up and I claim full responsibility for that. I haven't opened PS in probably a decade by now so I really cannot make the comparison that I did and try to justify it.

Statement retracted.

 

Zenzao time to reread PS then