I was wondering if the books had to be read in series to understand, I have found Death Masks but the others I had to get shipped to me and god only knows how long thats going to take

I really want to start reading the book I have but I don't want to start it if im going to have no idea whats going on. So do you have to read all the books in order to understand the story?

Luke

** sorry about any spelling mistake/grammar buts its midnight and i have to get up early for work and require sleep now

 

You could always read the E-Books. In my opinion, reading the Dresden books chronologically makes logistical sense and some plot devices will be understood, but it isn't completely necessary. Do understand that you'll lose a lot, and when you read the previous books there will be a berth of events that will be ruined. It's like the Potter series, really, you can read them without reading the ones before it but you do lose a bit of information for development.

 

Personally, I didn't read them chronologically (some were out of stock in the store), but unless you've done a bit of research on the series, you'll wind up confused. If you aren't terribly inclined to go back and buy the first book, just use wikipedia when something you don't understand pops up.

 

Technically, they're all stand-alones. But it'll be much easier (and much more interesting in terms of climaxes and all) to read them in chronological order.

 

I read them in order, but who knows...

It could be like watching Haruhi in the original order.

I downloaded the ebooks myself. Handy to read between classes.

 

I prefer reading series' in order anyways, so I made sure to pick the books up chronologically. You miss a lot of in-jokes and past references if you start too far in the story. It always takes me half an hour of starting a new book in a series to remember exactly what has happened in the previous however many there are though.

 

I've always found chronological to be the best but from what I remember it won't matter terribly if you read the first five (Storm Front, Fool's Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight and Death Masks) out of order.

 

Indeed, Kalas has a good point. As the series progresses, the books become more interwoven, and you'd run into a large number of problems. However, the first few read easily as stand alone stories, as Butcher is for the most part establishing different parts of his universe.

 

I don't know, I figure its like the mystery with Harry's mentor. He keeps hinting at it and mentions stuff that only he would understand, but clearly we don't know yet.

It adds to the suspense when you finally discover the secret. I read the books in order but I only read the short stories after small favors. There was a little satisfaction to be had when certain things became answered.

 

* D:

Yeah. Best to read them in order. Also, if you can find the short stories, read those as well.

Publicity and Advertising can fit anywhere, so doesnt matter when you read it.
Restoration of Faith is the prequel but doesn't have much of a plot, when compared to the stories, so you can read it after you finish the series.

Something Borrowed falls between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty (Books 7 and 8)

It's My Birthday Too and Heorot come between White Night and Small Favors (Books 9 and 10). Heorot is a must read if you like Gard. She's fucking awesome in that short story.

 

thanks for all the responses, I was going to get all the books anyway so i guess ill just wait for the first ones to arrive

I also might check out mininova and see if the ebooks are there, so I can at least start reading them.

Luke

**No obvious links. D: - Vash

 

Thou shall not speak of the warez... Although I don't know if books are classified as that.

 

This is something I've been thinking of recently. As the series progresses the writing gets better as does the epicness of the plot. I'm sure Butcher is somehow going to pull it off but I can't imagine Turn Coat being more epic then Small Favor, let alone the 9ish books remaining in the series.

 

oh, sorry about that wont happen again!

 

I can only agree, each book is better than the last so far (7th book). He is one of those authurs, that you hope live at least 100+ years, because he gets better and better with everything he writes *grin*

 

Read them in order, just look for the ebooks online if you want to. even a bit of searching here might show you some goodies .

I'd say it's okay to read the first three or so out of order, you might get a bit confused, but Butcher does a fairly good job of condensing information and putting it in his books.

Now after that you might be in some trouble, because the amount of info starts to stack up and Butcher starts to rely on his readers to actually know what happened in the earlier books.

 

Yeah I gotta agree. They do get better with every book. Reading them out of order for the first 3 books isnt too bad. But once you hit Summer Knight you start getting information that you will need later down the road. It might not be needed for a few books. Like Summer Knight has some connections with Small Favor and Blood Rites has ties to White Knight. But you will need the information later on.