Review: Storm Front (The Dresden Files Book 1)

[gridlore]

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Now, this was a lot of fun and a great example of world-building that shows in the story without needing to see the details of how everything works. I'll be hitting the library for the next books in the series very soon.

Harry Dresden is a wizard living in Chicago. Barely making a living as a magic private investigator in a world that kind of accepts magic, Harry depends on a consulting gig with the police, like any good PI in a mystery novel, Harry is grizzled, desperate, and hungry.

So when he catches a consulting job on a magical murder the same day a distraught wife shoves money at him to find her missing husband, Harry thinks his luck is changing. Of course, he's wrong. Instead, he gets caught up with the mob, an angry vampire, and a shadowing mage who is somehow doing the impossible. All of whom want Harry either dead or out of the picture. Oh, and he's being pursued by a fanatical enforcer from the White Council who is just itching to execute him.

I have an unabashed love of noir mysteries and urban fantasy, and I'm amazed that it has taken this long to find this series. Dresden is both a detective in the grand footsteps of Philip Marlowe and Lt. Columbo; a bit misanthropic but a dogged investigator. He's very human in that the damage he takes through the book lingers, and he's not an iron man, which makes him relatable. Add a strong supporting cast and great writing, and I'm hooked!



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Comments

[kengr]

There was also a TV series. Not bad...