Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: At a convention, Butcher described the story as....
Review: "A Laurell K. Hamilton ripoff."

I disagree. Butcher has a lot of things going for him. While his writing needs development, his characterization and plot are spot on.

His anti-hero, Harry Dresden, is a PI who happens to be a wizard. He's the only Wizard in the Chicago phone book, hence whenever there's a magical problem he also gets called in by the Police.

"Storm Front" kicks things off with a double murder, rapidly moving on to a missing husband. While Harry's doing best to solve crimes, the magical bureaucrazy is also after him.

Harry's a likeable guy. He keeps a 30 pound cat, doesn't necessarily do things right the first--or even the second time, but his heart's in the right place. Hopefully, the bad guys will let him keep it there.



Rating:
Summary: IF RAYMOND CHANDLER HAD WRITTEN FANTASY...
Review: He'd have come up with Harry Dresden...a gumshoe, flatfoot detective who happens to be a wizard in modern day Chicago where magic is real and creatures such as demons and faeries really do exist. In a seedy office in a seedy building is where Harry has his office and takes on a case involving a missing husband.

Before he can get working on that case, he's called in by the local police to consult on a brutal double murder of a man and woman, killed in the throes of passion, as their hearts seemingly exploded right out of their chests. Harry soon finds himself under pressure from the police as well as the local mob boss as the male victim was one of his underlings. On top of that, the White Council, governing body of wizards, already is watching Harry closely due to an early incident.

Harry soon finds himself knee deep in trouble facing demons, vampires, as well as a rogue wizard who is targeting Harry for the same fate as the first two victims. Through it all Harry uses his magical skills as well as good old fashioned detective work to begin putting together the clues of the murders and the missing husband.

Part detective, and part Urban fantasy, Jim Butcher's first book in the Dresden files came as a surprise and a big breath of fresh air from much of the fantasy on book shelfs today. Written with the sarcastic sneer, and told in first person perspective, one almost pictures Harry in a hot, dimly lit office with a slow moving fan rotating but not helping much. Harry Dresden isn't a hero's hero or man's man. A rather bland guy, not so fit who travels about in a VW bug with mismatching door paint. Harry is a hero, just a guy being what he is, in this case a wizard.

The who-done-it mystery wasn't terribly hard to figure out, but the plot layers involving the magically produced street drug that makes crack look like bubble gum was fun, and briskly paced. It's nice to see a hero who gets out of tight spots using his brain rather than just his brawn. Harry is almost like the wizard version of McGyver with the way he manages to escape certain death.

Excellent first book in the series and I look forward to reading the others.

Rating:
Summary: Slow, WAY too informal writing, and just blah storyline
Review: The author tries way to hard to come off as casual; he's aiming for a stream-of-consciousness kind of inner dialogue but ends up sounding very amatuerish and repeative. Paragraph after paragraph need not start with "So..." in a row. I get what he was trying for, but it's not what he ended up with.

This was a pass for me. I really didn't enjoy it; didn't see the point of him continually mentioning how he was a wizard and trained and whatnot when he was continually getting beat up and in situations where he NEVER could use any magic. Weak character. Very weak in both supposed power and depth and realism.

There's significantly better fantasy out there in the urban fantasy/real-world/alternate modern reality catagories. The Southern Vampire Series by Charline Harris; the Newford books from Charles De Lint; Nina Kiriki Hoffman's always interesting novels; or heck, even the Harry Potter series. This just doesn't pass muster for me and I won't be going on to book two.

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Summary: Hard-Boiled Wizardry!
Review: Author Jim Butcher introduces his now famous wizard, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, in "Storm Front." Harry lives in a universe where magic and science coexist - it's our universe also - Chicago, USA, to be exact. The sign on his door, which advertises his consulting business reads: "Harry Dresden - Wizard: Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment." Dresden is also listed in the yellow pages - under wizards, of course. Vampires, demons, faerie's, werewolves, knights (the kind in shining armor with magical swords), and other preternatural critters exist in Harry's, and our world - even outside of Chicago. The Nevernever is a spirit realm which these beings call home, but they can and do hang-out in the human world.

Lieutenant Karrin Murphy is the Director of Special Investigations at the Chicago Police Department. The unit exists precisely because the supernatural folks listed above exist - and many of them commit crimes against humanity. Dresden is a paid consultant to this unit. In the novel's first pages Murphy informs Harry that a pair of corpses have been discovered in a hotel suite at the Madison, in a most compromising position. The crime scene is unusually gruesome. It appears that an extremely powerful supernatural force has been used to kill the couple. He is told to get to the scene ASAP! Just before Lt. Murphy's call, a distraught wife phoned. Her husband has gone missing under mysterious circumstances and Harry makes an appointment with her at her insistence. He usually searches for lost articles - not husbands.

More murders are committed - same MO. Harry becomes a suspect. To make matters worse, the White Council, a governing group of Wizards which monitors to prevent the use of dark magic, is on Harry's back. He has been placed under the "Doom of Damocles," a sort of wizard probation which could turn into a lethal sentence. Then murderous mobsters, magic most dark and heinous demons join in to make life deadlier.

"Storm Front" is a fine beginning to a series which has become a mainstay for fantasy/sci-fi fans. This is an action packed mystery, filled with a range of funny and scary characters: Mister (Harry's huge gray cat); Toot, a ditzy faery with faulty memory; Bob, an air spirit living in a skull in Harry's basement, who acts as Dresden's encyclopedia of magic lore, (the wizard cannot use the Internet as anything electrical malfunctions when he is close by); Susan Rodriguez, a very sexy reporter for the Chicago Arcane, who has the hots for Harry; the evil omnipresent Shadowman; and Lt. Murphy (Harry's Chicago PD friend and boss). Harry is an unusual character. He has a slapstick sense of humor that leads one to think he is less powerful than he actually is - and less serious. He is honest, has a deep-rooted code of honor, and a dark side also. The explanations behind his spells are fascinating, and go into more detail than most books in this genre. I found this a major plus.

I am a huge fan of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, (Laurell Hamilton is the author). Anita's job is a little like Harry's. She does work for a consulting firm, and is also on a special supernatural investigation team, with the local police, which hunts down other-worldly predators. While I really enjoyed "Storm Front," I prefer the Blake novels and Anita's character. She is much edgier and her storylines take a darker approach than the Dresden/Jim Butcher novels.' Although the Dresden Files deal with super evil beings, Harry lightens things up a bit. I think it important to note my preference, as it will give the potential reader an idea of where I am coming from with my review and rating. For those who prefer the lighter side of the preternatural, and more humor with your monsters, Harry Dresden is for you! Recommended!
JANA

Rating:
Summary: A little slow to go
Review: I found this to be a slow read, as some firsts in a series tend to be.

The characters were too one dimensional and it took me a while to care whether Harry got out of trouble or not. But as with many series, I will continue to read them, because authors tend to grow and that is when the excitement happens.


Rating:
Summary: Great first part of the series!
Review: I have become a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy novels and devour everything that has vampires, werewolves or fairies in it. A friend of mine recommended a series called The Dresden Files by an author called Jim Butcher. I prefer to read novels of this sort written by female authors, but I decided not to veto this book because of the author's gender. I am glad I gave it a whirl. Storm Front, the first part of the series, enthralled me from beginning to end. Harry Dresden is a wizard and paranormal investigator who gets the most challenging case in his career. A woman hires him to search for her husband. She suspects that he uses sorcery magic for evil. Harry takes the case because he needs the money. Paranormal investigators don't have a huge caseload, after all. But then he has to help the police solve a rather strange case. Murders have been committed with black magic, and only Harry can figure things out. But to make matters worse, he is in the White Council's black list (the White Council makes sure wizards don't harm people with magic), a powerful drug lord wants him out of the investigation, and someone wants him dead. It will be difficult to survive without the use of magic. There are various twists throughout the novel.

This novel is quite similar to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books in various levels. It has a mixture of paranormal, mystery, action and suspense. The only difference is that Harry is a level-headed, uncomplicated guy, whereas Anita comes bundled with all sorts of prejudices and inner conflicts. I suppose that is the difference between men and women. I like that this series is set in Chicago and that it is centered on wizards and sorcerers. Also, the vampires and fairies in here seem interesting (although I would have liked to read more scenes with vampire Bianca in them). And Bob, the spirit that lives inside a human skull at Harry's apartment, is hilarious! I hope Butcher uses him more in future novels. I also liked ball-buster Murphy and nosy reporter Susan a lot. All in all, Storm Front entertained me to the max. I look forward to reading the second part of this promising series. In the meantime, I highly recommend Storm Front.

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Summary: One of My Favorite Authors
Review: Jim Butcher has quickly become one of my favorite authors. This book is a fine example of why. Storm Front keeps you enthralled. You will not want to put this book down until you are done. It is believable enough as a book set in current time Chicago. Jim really did his research. Each book in this series seems to get better.

Rating:
Summary: Good first effort
Review: I like books about the paranormal and this book delivers. It does start off a bit slow, and because this is done in the first person POV, Harry's introspection does get a bit tedious at times. But this is Mr. Butcher's first book so I cut him a little slack.

Harry sometimes works for the police as an investigator into the strange and magical. He is, after all a wizard. So when the police call him in to explain how two people had their hearts ripped out via long distance, Harry is on the job. But there are also bills to pay and the police department is not known to write those checks in a timely manner, so Harry takes on a second job. This one he thinks will take all of a day to figure out. Oh how wrong is our guy Harry!

Along the way, Harry has to stave off the White Council for good wizards, who want to kill him, trap a pizza-eating fairy, and worst of all as far as Harry's concerned, go out on a date.

This is not a romance although it does have a tiny, tiny bit of something going on. What this is, is a paranormal mystery. And a rousing good mystery, at that.

Although I couldn't give it a 5 it held my interest enough that I will give the other books in the series a try.

Rating:
Summary: Great start to a new series
Review: I gave this book 5 stars because it had all the checkpoints of a good novel. I like the dark sci fi feel of the book along with the great character development. Dressdan really is a one of kind character that doesn't take any crap. I picked this book up as a chance book. One of those that might be good and might not. Well I was pleasantly pleased...this book is a great adventure/detective read with the anita blake turns and twist of the plot. This novel has all the things one needs to start on a good series of novels. It has plenty of action, vampires, wizards, sex, violence, humor, laughter....this book has it all and I am looking forwards to the next few books in the series. If you are looking for something that is fun, and not so deep in plot and charactre development that you loose track of the story than this is a novel and series that is for you. That characters are fun, real, and serious when need be. So give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Rating:
Summary: This one is hard to get into
Review: I purchased the entire series of the available Dresdin file books that were available upon the recommendation of the clerk at the local book store. He warned me that the first books were just so, so, but that with each book, Butcher got better and better.
I thought that the main character showed a little to much of putting the blame on himself for the things that he caused in using his powers to save others. The descriptions of events and places can also get to be to much as they are repeated over and over. I made it through this book and probably would not have continued the series if I had not been told that the other books got better. On the whole I think if you can stick with this book it is a good read to get into the rest of the series.