Dresden Revisited

A year and a half ago I wrote a post about my enjoyment of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Now I can say I've worked my way through all the books. I finished "Cold Days" during the holidays. It took me two days and I want more.

Over the course of the books, you really see all the characters grow, and sometimes in not good ways. The events that happen really have effects on them. But the book that really made this evident was "Changes." After what took place, Harry's life, hell, life around the world would not be the same. Harry can't go back to living in his basement apartment with his cat. But you also see how "Changes" really affected those around him like Murphy and Molly. Both were irrevocably scarred from losing Harry and now that he's back, things aren't the same. And I love that.

In a lot of Urban Fantasy series, I see the following: solve mystery/defeat monster of the book/have same relationship argument/gain more power/but don't change as a character. It kind of gets boring. That's one of the reasons I like the Dresden series so much. It shakes things up to the core.

Don't get me wrong, Butcher does have a few writing quirks I don't like. For instance, in some part when Harry goes off on a tangent about something I can see Butcher putting himself in the books. Still, I love the story and that's what matters.

So, which series do you love and why?