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.

Dresden, broke as usual, answers a police call for assistance, and discovers a gruesome double murder. The two victims, caught in flagrante delicto, have had their hearts blown out through their rib cages. Detective Karrin Murphy wants answers fast, but Crime boss Johnny Marcone wants Dresden out of the case. Dresden's other case is searching for a missing husband who seems to have had an unhealthy interest in magic. And the last complication is the White Council, who think that Harry Dresden just might be dipping a little to far into the black magic side, and intend to flatten him if there is any further hint of magic abuse.

Harry is a bit of a luckless sort. In attempting to question the vampire hostess of an upscale house of ill repute he makes a serious enemy of what could best be described as an old bat. One of his information sources then turns up dead the same way as the first couple. A demon nearly turns him and his date into pudding and a giant scorpion attempts to take out Detective Murphy and Dresden with one swipe of a very deadly tail. And, without fail, Harry is pestered at every step by an obnoxious representative of the White Council.

Unfortunately, as either wizard of gumshoe, Harry is a bit hapless. He knows his stuff, but he is forever forgetting his gun, dropping his staff and getting ambushed by bad guys. As a result he is always coming from behind, which is a bad place to be when you are chasing the black wizard who is saturating the city in a dangerous new drug that not only gets you high, but opens your third eye as well. Harry is more of the rush right in where angels fear to tread type than he is the careful planner. It doesn't help that he has a bit of a hero complex as well.

Ok, the magic is a bit hokey and the language is slightly overblown. Other than Harry the characters are right out of a cheat book. Even Harry is a bit hackneyed. But the plot is original and well laid out. Narrative skills come with maturity, and Jim Butcher is still a novice storyteller. In a wave of tedious, repetitive genre tales, "Storm Front" stands out as something worth a second look. It will be a while though before I forgive him for the following tidbit. "...he picked me up to hurl me toward the demon. I objected with fragile tenacity."


The perfect mix of hardboiled and fantasy fiction   May 31, 2000
 169 out of 175 found this review helpful

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.


Surprisingly good beginning   May 16, 2007
 52 out of 57 found this review helpful

First, A THREE-STAR REVIEW IS A GOOD REVIEW. Some think that if a product doesn't have a four- or a five-star review, it's no good. Four is Very Good, and Five is "Superlative". Three is Good. Good. Good.

This book is Good.

Interestingly, the Publisher's Weekly review for the CD of this appears incorrect. It notes that James Marsters does the voices, but also notes the incidence of werewolves. There are no werewolves in Storm Front. I haven't read beyond this book of the Harry Dresden series, so I can't say when the werewolves come in, but I can tell you that they don't make an appearance in this, the first book. And, based on PW's review - I was waiting.

If I were patient enough to listen to Audio Books, I would love to hear Marsters handle this material. As I lack the necessary patience, and am 75% deaf, I really can't comment further. Others have noted that he handled the material well, and I hope they're right.

As first books go, this was darned good. I doubt that the author, Jim Butcher, would try to pass himself off as a keen turner of phrases. And much that is here has been seen before (and presented better) - just one example is that part of the magic in the book is predicated on knowing another entities true name. While it's true that Ursula K. LeGuin wasn't the first to use that idea, she was the writer of contemporary fantasy that used it so uniquely that anyone following her example should tiptoe, and do their best to avoid any semblance of comparison. (Christopher Paolini could use a bit of that advice, but he will not. He does not tiptoe. He TRODS.) Why tiptoe around another author? Let's say that, as an author, you decide to resurrect Tolkien's Ringwraiths into your "Jakundi". The Ringwraiths have been on horseback, and they have been on foul steeds who prefer the exosphere. You put your Jakundi on the back of zebras. I certainly hope that's enough said. If it's not - pity. Savvy?

All this aside, I honestly expected to dislike this book, and am not sure that I could put together a reason for buying it that would satisfy anyone that was even a quasi-intellectual. You could say I bought it on a whim. And - surprise! - I enjoyed it.

Sure, there were characters I'd seen before. "Magics" I'd seen before. But Butcher did something innovative with all of this. He made Henry Dresden, a wizard who lived in Chicago and advertised himself in the yellow pages, REAL.

OK - sure, Henry was a gumshoe, and much of the book read like a nod to a noir detective story. But remember that we have a detective story merged with the sci-fi/fantasy genre. And while the cliche's flew as frequently as burps after a beer bong, I really didn't mind.

What does it mean, that I didn't mind, and why should you care what I think? Nothing, I suppose, but I promise you this: I am no easy reviewer of fantasy. Teethed on Tolkien, and fouled on his imitators, I hold the bar high. Fantasy needs to make sense, on every level, before I will give it a pass. This, for the most part, works.



New and Absorbing   July 3, 2000
 27 out of 27 found this review helpful

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.


It Hurt to Read   January 22, 2003
 26 out of 48 found this review helpful

The main character and story were intensely painful to follow, as the intention of the plot was to give the Mary Sue, or in this case Harry Sue, a backdrop to show how down and out he is, yet still emensely powerful. Most of what serves as back drop are obvious rips off other more popular book and tv series, which I wouldn't mind if the rips had been halfway decent ones.

I had to force myself to read the entire book, mostly because so many people had given it such high reviews, I kept thinking it had to get better, and there had to be something really good coming up that would make all the "ow!" "wince much!" moments worth the agony. Only there wasn't.

I thought it might just be me, so I flipped the book at a friend of mine, asked him to read some and tell me if he liked it. Maybe it was because I'm a girl that I found Harry to be a jerk. But it isn't a gender thing, as my guy friend pretty much said, "I can't stand this guy." And couldn't get more than a few pages in before he utterly refused to read any more.

I'll give the writer cred for following through and getting a full manuscript together, and getting it and the sequels published. Apparently some people like it, but I wonder if it's because it's good work, or because they all know each other on the same mailing list and want to boost another list member as much as they can.

I found it very irritating on more levels than I have the time and energy to go into, but the high points are that there isn't even an attempt at realistic portrayals of a policewoman (see major supporting character), women in general actually, and the story's movement depends mostly on out of the blue coincidences with no plot support, and a magic system that is senseless and dopey, as well there is also an overly smug feel of Harry Sue self indulgence to the over all work.

The writer is a great guy, well spoken, and I have only great respect for him as a person. Seen him on the mailing lists, and really enjoy his posts. I just can't stand his books. Other people seem to like it though, so my suggestion is to read a few chapters before actually buying the book. If you like it, great. If you don't, the precaution will save you cash you can spend on other books.