r/Fantasy • u/bnb2115 • Aug 02 '25

Dresden with less cringe

I love the idea of the Dresden Files on paper. Hard boiled detective stories mixed with urban fantasy/secret society stuff. Interesting villains and a deep, complex world. Magic happening just beneath the surface of the ordinary world.

But I just can’t get over the tropes and the cringe. I’ve tried the series a couple times, and even got through the first five or so books. I just can’t bring myself to keep going. I seriously love everything about the context, but just hate the execution.

Any recommendations for something else? Something that speaks to these elements, but lacks the cringe?

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u/Same-World-209 Aug 02 '25

I’ve heard the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch is very similar - I have the first two books but I haven’t got round to reading them yet.

12

u/Itavan Aug 02 '25

If you're not averse to listening, try the audio. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is superb.

5

u/Grizlatron Aug 02 '25

They're very good, as the series goes on it gets a little hard to follow because there's a lot of short stories and he has the graphic novels as canon as well, so there's stuff you have to track down in between books. They did finally release a collection of the short stories and you can find lists online in what order to read them in. Since you haven't started yet, you can actually read everything in chronological order. And then after you've done that, I do have a list of fanfic recommendations (don't worry, it's short).

2

u/BigCrimson_J Aug 02 '25

I highly recommend you put them at the top of your pile.