The Dresden Files: Do You Really Have to Start With Storm Front?

Every Dresden Files fan has heard the advice: "it gets good around book three." Jim Butcher's series about Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, now runs to eighteen novels, and the first two, Storm Front and Fool Moon, are the ones new readers struggle with most. They're shorter, more episodic and rougher around the edges, written while Butcher was still finding Harry's voice.

So can you skip them? We still say no, for two reasons. First, they're quick: together they're a few evenings of reading, not a serious time investment. Second, the series has an unusually long memory. Small details, side characters and offhand promises from the early books come back many volumes later, and recognizing them is half the fun.

What we do recommend is adjusting your expectations. Treat Storm Front and Fool Moon as the pilot episodes of a long-running show, and don't judge the series by them. By Grave Peril the larger story starts to show itself, and from Summer Knight onward most readers are hooked.

With Twelve Months now out, it's also a good time to catch up: the series is in its most ambitious stretch since the battle for Chicago.

Did the early books work for you, or were you one of the people who almost quit? And which book was the moment you knew you were in for all eighteen?