Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher
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Book Reviews of Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)
Book Review: The Dresden Files Book !
Summary: 5 Stars
Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher
Good Reads Summary:
Harry Dresden--Wizard
Lost items found. Paranormal investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things--and most of them don't play too well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a--well, whatever.
There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting.
Magic. It can get a guy killed.
I read this first book based on a recommendation from my friend Jim. I love it. I really enjoy magical books and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a mystery buff. So magic and mystery - what more could a bookworm ask for?
Butcher paints a convincing picture of a typical hardboiled detective, down on his luck and with a somewhat cynical view of life. But typical disappears when you add in the fact that Harry is a wizard. That keeps Harry from being one of a dime a dozen typical detectives.
Butcher also manages to hook the reader by hinting at events in Harry's past. Once you have determined that you like Harry you want to read more of the stories just to find out the details about what went on in Harry's past. Harry is very resourceful character. I liked how he used something reminiscent of the Sorcerer's Apprentice to deal with something that was "bugging" him. Want to know what I'm talking about, you should read the book.
I guess you could say I'm hooked another series. I'm looking forward to the next book: Fool Moon.
Book Review: The perfect mix of hardboiled and fantasy fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
Take traditional hardboiled fiction, give it a mind bending preternatural twist and you have Storm Front, the first book in a new series with the potential to send author Jim Butcher to the top of the gumshoe sub-genre of horror/fantasy fiction. Harry Dresden, the series' protagonist, is everything that's great about the hardboiled anti-hero, with a twist: He's a wizard trying to make a living working practical magic in a modern world that's foolishly rejected the supernatural in favor of science and technology. Part average guy, part renaissance man, Harry's got a dark side, a wicked sense of humor and a deeply rooted, personal code of honor that drives him to risk everything to fight the supernatural forces preying on his clients, an attitude that puts him at constant, dangerous odds with both the bad guys and the authorities alike.
In Storm Front, when a routine murder investigation turns out to be anything but routine, the police reluctantly turn to Harry for help. But a case that started as a way to pay the rent soon gets complicated for Harry when he's forced to cross paths with the Chicago mob and a mysterious figure known as the Shadowman, drawing Harry into a web of black magic and danger.
Already under the Doom of Damocles (a form of probation placed on him by the White Council who oversee the ethical use of magic in the world of the mundane) Harry himself falls under suspicion and is forced to risk execution to solve the mystery and stop the Shadowman, before the killer takes another victim.
Storm Front is a riveting, action packed roller coaster of a novel, a damn good mystery with compelling characters set in a rich alternate reality universe where anything can happen. There's a little something for just about everyone here from black magic and the Chicago mob to vampire madams, demons and the fey.
I enjoyed this novel immensely and am looking forward to the next in the series.
Book Review: Storm Front (Dresden Files #1)
Summary: 5 Stars
Introducing Harry Dresden, the only practising wizard listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages. Short of cash and behind on his rent in the best noir tradition: in modern-day Chicago, very few people take magic seriously. So Harry moonlights as a consultant for the local police. When something that goes bump in the night leaves blood on the asphalt there's a detective (handgun, aikido blackbelt and hard bitten attitude) knocking on Harry's door.
Here, Harry gets sidetracked from a missing persons case to a double murder: an associate of a local crimelord and his favourite call girl are found with their hearts blown out - from the inside - and Harry has to establish the how and the who. Of course, life's never straightforward and the unravelling of this mystery sees Harry going head to head with, among others, a vampire bordello owner whilst dodging the police and an enforcer for the White Council intent on revoking Harry's breathing privileges.
Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden is a lineal descendant of Hammett's Continental Op and Chandler's Philip Marlowe: a stubborn SOB whose rough, wise-cracking exterior conceals the heart of a knight errant: notwithstanding his all too human failings he will not turn his back on a damsel in distress. Butcher peoples his account of Harry's investigation with well-written characters who are interesting, even where not sympathetic, and he does so whilst maintaining a well-paced, tautly plotted narrative which builds to a blistering finale. For the fan of detective fiction there is a ruthless crime boss, various femmes fatales and a thug with a baseball bat, a gun, and a pair of scissors. For the fan of fantasy there is a well set out system of magic, a familiar spirit, a demon and a black mage. The whole is a neatly, packaged fusion of the two genres, crafted well enough to satisfy all but the most exacting a fan of either.
Book Review: New and Absorbing
Summary: 5 Stars
A problem with the fantasy genre, and one many have acknowledged quite freely, is a general sense of redundancy in just about any book you see these days. "Storm Front," the first book from new author Jim Butcher, addresses those concerns head-on and introduces a new setup that pulled me in at the start and kept me from getting sleep until I had finished.The premise is simple enough: Harry Dresden is a wizard who acts about like a gumshoe. He uses his magic for harmless things, mostly, and finds things for people. But when he sets out to find a missing husband, and to solve a double homicide involving black magic, you can bet there's going to be some amazing action.
Amazing action is what makes this book so absorbing, as it turns out. There are several scenes that will stay with me for a long time. Not since Dean Koontz's "Darkfall" has a single scene brought me so close to the edge of my seat as some of the scenes near the end of "Storm Front."
None of that would matter, though, were it not for the incredible cast of characters. They all come to life in a way you wouldn't expect from so short a novel (well, considering the genre). Each character is different, not just someone that feels like he or she was cut from a cardboard box. I loved Bob, the talking skull with an appetite for sex. And Murphy came across as a real person. So did everyone else. The human motivations motivated me to keep going. I really couldn't set this book down until I finished it, at some point just after midnight.
If Jim Butcher continues to deliver fiction like this-and I truly hope he does-then the genre has just found another master. I recommend "Storm Front" to anyone who wants to lose themselves to a humorous, action-packed variation of the modern world for a few hours. Better than a good movie.
Book Review: A quick review
Summary: 5 Stars
(Note: I typically write reviews as if I'm writing to an audience who is contemplating either reading the book, or buying it, since that is the only time that I read these reviews.)
I've actually come to this first Harry Dresden book on Amazon to review the entire Harry Dresden series. At the time of my writing this, I have read up through the book called Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12).
Anyways, I can tell you that with each release of Harry Dresden Jim Butcher has been refining his writing style. The worst of the series, in my opinion, is actually Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) as Jim's writing style for employing Harry as a "god I'm beat up, tired, hungry, and I have to save someone" character is at it's strongest (which is bad, unless you are a masochist).
Have no fear though, Jim Butcher introduces better characters later in the series, and his writing style improves. Similarly, his ability to tell a story greatly improves as well. I'm being specifically vague here on purpose.
My initial hesitation to read this series, was that I thought it would be another Harry Potter-esque storyline, about a wizard setting out to solve children's level mysteries in some alternate reality. As I quickly found out - I was wrong. This is hard boiled mystery for adults, and the alternate reality, though more along the lines of Arthurian lore, is actually interesting.
I recommend that you read the entire series. I'd recommend buying it, buuut you probably have a friend who has bought the entire series already.