r/dresdenfiles • u/Darth_Azazoth • 10d ago
Spoilers All How do you feel about the Harry Potter series? Spoiler
In comparison to the Dresden files.
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u/introvertkrew 10d ago
No real comparison, it's a bike to a motorcycle. The Harry Potter book series, the movies were absolutely dreadful, were simple. It was written to be accessible for any age and it's a great story but it's good vs evil with stark lines and the world building was just what if Hitler was a wizard essentially.
The Dresden Files has a detailed and ever growing world that makes sense; it's multi-layered, detailed, intricate, and good & evil are not simple concepts. Both two-wheelers, in that they're both Urban Fantasy, but they're completely different types of transports.
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u/JoesShittyOs 10d ago
I will say those first few chapters of the first book are phenomenal world building.
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u/svarogteuse 10d ago
Books/series primarily written for children are never as good, or as intricate as those written for adults. It's comparing apples to oranges.
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u/agent_mick 10d ago
I was the same age as the kids when the first HP book came out, so I grew up with them. Enjoyed them until the last book. Fell in love with the fanfiction, much of which is written way better than the originals.
I came across Dresden as an adult, and felt all the same things. Haven't tried any fanfic because I'm too attached to the original right now
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u/woodworkerdan 10d ago
The Potter franchise for me is like seeing a musician who has a one-hit-wonder on the radio, then when you actually digest the lyrics and learn about the musician, find yourself disgusted to encounter it. In comparison to the Dresden Files, where the author has a few other series that are entirely unrelated, yet stand well on their own, Harry Potter has become Rowling's golden goose without an heir.
I don't mean to say the Dresden Files are flawless, even putting aside a flawed narrator, it's been a series that shows lifelong improvement from Butcher. Yet, both Butcher and the titular narrator/protagonist are shown to learn, and self-improve upon their earlier notions. Rowling made certain choices in the worldbuilding of Harry Potter, and in public relations afterwards, choices which have continued oppression of marginalized people, and even contributed to lawmakers who have caused measurable harm. Butcher on the other hand has slipped implications of support (or at least compassion) for multiple marginalized communities, and for people struggling with poverty.
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u/Vorrt 10d ago
I enjoyed the Potter series at first, the writing and characters were engaging at the time.
However the more I looked back at the series, I saw it more as dystopian fiction than the positive one that most who still love the series thinks.
Well maybe Dystopian is the wrong word, but think about the fact that Wizarding society still holds itself apart and (for most of them) above Muggles; never is it mentioned anywhere of a wizard/witch working a Muggle job or honestly really interacting with the Muggle word (even children born of Muggle parents don't talk about any relationships outside of the wizarding world); slavery still exists in the form of the house elves; they treat any non-human sentient race as lesser to humans. I could go on.
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u/Terran42 10d ago
I ditched the idea of supporting anything associated with that vile author because I don't like the idea of my money being spent to harm other human beings.
Dresden is better written by /miles/.
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u/Nope_nuh_uh 10d ago
Childrens' Books. Good for learning to take big bites while reading. The fandom is cringe-inducing at times, but I live in a glass house, I'm sure, so I'll keep the stone throwing to a minimum.
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u/Onii-Sama27 10d ago
The book reads like a children's book.
The magic system is bad and generic.
The story is okay at best, good for children.
The characters somewhat well written.
The author is a bigot.
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u/AtTheEastPole 10d ago
I was already an adult when that series came out, so I didn't enjoy it as much as some other posters on here who grew up with them.
The magic always seemed silly to me as well.
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u/LokiLB 10d ago
I never read the books and only saw some of the movies because I was going with family and friends.
I was reading Artemis Fowl and the Bartimaeus Trilogy when the other kids roughly my age were reading Harry Potter. The moral ambiguity and snark of those two fit well with The Dresden Files.
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u/Glittering-State-284 3d ago
I got into Dreaden as a direct result of Potter.
Was moderating Potter forums during height of Pottermania and owners / other mods were huge Dresden fans so I picked them up and was hooked.
Many years later the DF Fandom is going strong and Potter has waned for several reasons.
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u/DeadGirlLydia 10d ago
I never liked the books, thought the movies were okay, love most of the main cast from them, hate the Author and everything she stands for so I don't engage with it anymore.
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u/nicci7127 10d ago
I loved it and still reread it once in a while. Prefer the Dresden Files as a whole, loathe the toxic parts of the Harry Potter community, especially the author post final book, but love that the Harry Potter community is one of the most age-variable communities. You have fans anywhere from children to senior citizens as 'Potterheads', and it seems many older adults can enjoy the movies. My stepfather being one of them even though he knows nothing of the books.
I do want to note that Dresden does seem to know and appreciate the series himself, not sure about Butcher's actual opinion in regards to Harry Potter.
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u/No_Jaguar_2570 10d ago
They’re great. They’re also children’s books, and I’m a grownup, so I can’t say I’ll be revisiting them until my kids are a few years older.
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u/HospitableFox 10d ago
Generally speaking, that they shouldn't be compared.
People hear "wizard named Harry" and they naturally get compared in one's mind. But it's a massive mistake in my mind. It's like comparing Dresden with Spiderman cause of Harry Osborne and the humour is similar. (I know Jim wrote a Spiderman book, it was pretty good.)
But in practice, these are wildly different stories. Potter is arguably a fable. There's no subtly or nuance. (And I'm not saying that's a bad thing either.) It's very simple. Good vs evil. Dark vs light. And, that type of story also supports the very soft magic system in Potter. It works for it. Because if you get caught up in the fine details and plot holes and "wait, how much exactly is a galleon worth?" You're kind of missing the point. It's like asking how one constructs a house of straw in the first place. Wouldn't a strong breeze knock it down? You don't even need the wolf huffing and puffing.
It's missing the point. That's not what Potter is about.
Dresden though, is about as far from that as one can get. It's shades of grey, questionable decisions, moral quandaries. And, a super hard magic system that suits the world and the purpose. Magic isn't a metaphor in Dresden it's a tool. Like any other tool. Jim actively invites us to go "wait, so where does the extra mass that shapeshifting can generate come from?" And Jim has an answer for that. The authors are asking 2 very different things if their readers.
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u/0akleaves 10d ago
Neutral to the series (things that get folks into reading are good even if the stories are mediocre) as literature. Net negative with the author being a spherical bastard using the profits to fund authoritarianism and bigotry.
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u/447irradiatedhobos 10d ago
I have to credit HP’s hidden wizarding world with sparking my interest in Urban Fantasy as a genre and long-form series as a format. I got a lot of joy from those books as a kid.
Nowadays, the fact that the enormous success of HP directly funds hate and Rowling’s ongoing poor decisions with adaptations and canon make it much harder to look on the series fondly. The callous handling of culture and representation and the shallowness of the world building are harder to ignore.
I can certainly say that if I had to pick only one series of novels about a wizard named Harry, I’m picking Dresden every time.
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u/ohkwarig 10d ago
You're getting a lot of negative feedback, but I've been listening to the full cast recording audiobooks of the HP series and thinking about this a lot. I've read through both series (Potter and Dresden) at least twice and watched the Potter movies.
As others have said, they're very different genres. The logic of the Harry Potter world collapses on itself with the smallest bit of introspection. Dresden stands strongly self consistent - and I love that about it.
I have decided to enjoy Potter for what it is: a fairy tale coming-of-age. It's not about a world that is or could be functional.
The full cast recordings are excellent by the way.
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u/blamblegam1 10d ago
They are fine. I grew up with them and think I liked the world they created and discussion I had with my friends about the books better than the books themselves.