I've read the first six Danial Faust books.
I thought it was a pretty fun series. I think overall I enjoyed Dresden more, but there were certain things I thought Faust did better.
I don't recall the exact things I thought that about, but I definitely thought that a few times while reading them.
"But if that happened, Melia might actually be happy. We can't have that." - Handsome Rob
Where force fails, cunning prevails
The series actually got better for me due to Harmony Black and Wisdom's Grave. Faust himself managed to genuinely piss me off at some parts and actively root against him up until one part.
Ironically, I think Faust in Wisdom's Grave has featured some of my favorite appearances of him. I was actively looking forward to his appearance and just having him in the sort of Han Solo role in relation to everything else kept cracking me up.
The overarching plotline with The First Story, the stuff which went on with The Network, and so on is the thing that gripped me the most. I LOVED when it actually gave answers for so many things in the Myth Arc in Wisdom's Grave and it all made perfect sense to me given my familiarity with a certain religion.
Also, the continuity and running gags won me over a great deal. My favorite involves everything surrounding Daniel's petty beef with Harmony with regards to his car.
Harmony meanwhile is my favorite character and, when she first appeared in his books, I found myself rooting for her more. Mostly because Daniel WAS rationalizing himself IMO and trying to play the Not So Different card with her when I'm like "No, Harmony genuinely seems different from you. She's legitimately righteous as opposed to claiming it to feel better about herself."
If there's one thing I can give Schafeur props on (well, there's a couple of things I can, but this in particular) is that he immerses into the character's perspective really well and how they came to genuinely embrace and believe their worldviews. Plus the underlying unsaid factors of why they truly believe what they do and how it ultimately gets challenged.
I had the same issues with Nessa as... well, as I said to a friend, I dislike Nessa when she isn't in an underdog role because I got a vibe that she's a monster who is rationalizing herself and using genuine issues as an excuse. Add in my genuine excitement when it reveals an alternate version of her who confirms it and is one of the major antagonists.
The only books I haven't read is the Revanche Cycle, though I might break on that finally. It'll be odd for me going backward, as I've read everything else, Wisdom's Grave included.
I will say that I think that The Wisdom's Grave Trilogy itself feels like required reading to make sense of the plotline following. Not reading it would be like going from Ironman 2 to Ironman 3 without The Avengers in between. I felt like that throughout both Faust and Harmony's post-Wisdom Grave books. It's the Crisis Crossover between the three.
Edited by Prime_of_Perfection on Jun 11th 2020 at 8:19:34 AM
Improving as an author, one video at a time.
This is a title.
Hyper-bump. I greatly enjoy this series. ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Closing in on the end of Wisdom's Grave trilogy. Overall, I like practically every character except Nessa. She ping-pongs wildly back and forth between hyper-competence and needing her butt pulled out of every fire she starts, even while everyone around her heaps praise after praise upon her.
Compare Daniel, who is constantly in over his head and totally on board with needing bailing out, even though he's The Guy. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
And not that I'm any great expert on relationships but it really seems like Nessa and Marie don't really click. Between Nessa's desire to destroy and/or rule the universe for no better reason than it would be a shame if everyone didn't know that she was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Marie going from zero to "If you die before me I'll kill myself" in no time flat. Seems more like they're together because they're supposed to be together than because they're an actually workable couple. Compare Corman and Bently. Compare Daniel and a literal demon from Hell. Compare Nadine and her own reflection. 
Also I'm not terribly crazy about the revelation of the Kings' true nature. It was much more interesting when they were faceless Eldritch Abominations beyond the ken of mortal man.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
Does anybody else read this book series? I gave it a try since the first book in The Daniel Faust series seemed similar to The Dresden Files and I needed something of a literary snack as I hold over for the new entries. Since then, I found myself slowly sucked into it. There are parts where I've gotten frustrated with the characters, but in the best ways possible in retrospect.
For those unfamiliar, this is a breakdown of The First Story's continuity, from the author's website.
The Daniel Faust series is fast and pitch-dark neo-noir, a tale of mobsters and magicians in the demon-haunted underworld of Las Vegas. Its companion series, Harmony Black, follows an outgunned and desperate team of government monster-hunters as they navigate a world of conspiracies and espionage. The four-volume Revanche Cycle takes place on an Earth next door; this epic Renaissance-inspired fantasy tale follows the struggle for control of a papal throne and lays the groundwork for later, cosmic-scale events. And finally, the Wisdom’s Grave trilogy is an epic crossover featuring characters from all three series as they intersect with the Witch and her Knight, heroines cursed to a cycle of endless reincarnation and death by the first story ever told.
Each series stands on its own; you won’t miss any crucial details if you only read one or two. However, if you read them all, you’ll find crossover characters, foreshadowed events, and Easter eggs galore.