Goodreads | Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

Siria rated it:

04/27/08

bookshelves: 21st-century, american-fiction, fantasy

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: Not a single person.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I'm not going to pull any punches. This book is a misogynistic piece of shit.

All I knew about it before I picked it up was the very basic premise—a wizard in modern-day Chicago, who works as a sort of detective—and that it had picked up quite a cult following. I was expecting to really like it, but before I got to the end of the first chapter, my eyebrows had risen to meet my hairline. I kept reading out of some misguided expectation that things would get better, that there could...more I'm not going to pull any punches. This book is a misogynistic piece of shit.

All I knew about it before I picked it up was the very basic premise—a wizard in modern-day Chicago, who works as a sort of detective—and that it had picked up quite a cult following. I was expecting to really like it, but before I got to the end of the first chapter, my eyebrows had risen to meet my hairline. I kept reading out of some misguided expectation that things would get better, that there couldn't possibly be such a sustained level of misogyny coming from both the character and the authorial voice. Oh, how wrong I was.

The main character, Harry Dresden, repeatedly tells us that he's a chauvinist, yes, and shows no signs of wanting to change that. It would have been difficult enough for me to get into a novel with such an unpalatable main character, but the level of narrative endorsement of his viewpoint nauseated me. The female characters in the book are there only to cry, seduce, and occasionally mother. Some of them are presented as having power of their own, but if you take a second glance at them, that power is always represented as secondary to male power, or a sham. Karrin Murphy is a hard-bitten homicide detective and Harry's friend, true; but she's undermined to constant references as to how "belligerent" she is, how small and lady-like her hands are, how she cries when he won't share information with her. Let me repeat that: cries. Bianca, the vampire—sorry, vampiress! must use appropriately gendered language!—is defeated because Dresden can see how she's truly ugly beneath all that fake beauty, and so she's humiliated and he can overpower her! All of them use their sexuality to get ahead—or try to, because clearly Harry is just too intelligent to fall for those silly women's wiles!

How about an explanation for the motive behind a murder:

<blockquote>I gestured toward the room. "Because you can't do something that bad without a whole lot of hate," I said. "Women are better at hating than men. They can focus it better, let it go better. Hell, witches are just plainmeaner than wizards. This feels like feminine vengeance of some kind to me."</blockquote>

Or how about one prostitute talking about another:

<blockquote>She shook her head. "No, no. Nothing like that. That wasn't her style. She was sweet. A lot of girls get like—They get pretty jaded, Mr. Dresden. But it never really touched her. She made people feel better about themselves somehow." She looked away. "I could never do that. All I did was get them off."</blockquote>

This isn't just Dresden being sexist. This isn't just showing us the thought processes of an un-reconstructed chauvinist. This isn't even just using noir tropes—because god knows there are a thousand and one ways of subverting those and reimagining them. This is holding up a clichéd, smug asshole of a main character as the kind of man every guy wants to be, and the kind of man every woman wants to fuck, as a mirror for how Butcher thinks. It's laden with sexist stereotypes that irritate me and in case you couldn't guess, it made me very, very angry.

The book also fails on pretty much every technical level I can think of: I have no idea why it's set in Chicago, or why the location was emphasised, because there's absolutely no sense of place to it. For all Butcher told us, it could all have been taking place in Seattle, or Denver, or Kansas City. The plot is silly, illogical, and by rights everyone should have been dead of Stupid within the first two chapters. The writing style displayed an absolute cloth ear for language. I'd imagine that he was trying to recreate the terse, staccato style of noir detective stories, but didn't realise that in order to do so, you need more than short, simplistic sentences. You need to be attuned to the rhythm of what you're writing, to know how to turn a handful of words to best effect, and Butcher neither knows how to do that, nor how to write realistic sounding dialogue at all.

I have not read such offensive drivel in a long, long time. Avoid....less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

Jesse rated it:

10/26/07

recommends it for: lovers of bad writing and raping of the noir genre

You know, the premise of this book actually sounded good. A wizard P.I., sure why not. I like wizards and I like P.I.s, so what could be the problem. The problem whas I over estimated this author's abilities.

The main character is like some kind of emotionally retarded ubergeek's idealized life. He lives in a basement and subbasement. He ALWAYS wears a black duster and cowboy boots (even when he's wearing sweats and a t-shirt). He has an abnormally large alley cat that likes to drink co...more You know, the premise of this book actually sounded good. A wizard P.I., sure why not. I like wizards and I like P.I.s, so what could be the problem. The problem whas I over estimated this author's abilities.

The main character is like some kind of emotionally retarded ubergeek's idealized life. He lives in a basement and subbasement. He ALWAYS wears a black duster and cowboy boots (even when he's wearing sweats and a t-shirt). He has an abnormally large alley cat that likes to drink coke and doesn't get violently ill from the caffein. He can't get anywhere with women, for no real reason at all. The first woman that broke his heart, he actually killed (but for good reasons, I mean she was evil). I could go on and on. The protagnonist of this story is an immature weener. He is a walking dorky cliche, that feels like he is some kind of Peter Parker wizard. Constantly bemoaning the weigth of the world on his shoulders, even when its actually not on his shoulders. Add to this the character inability to have basic levels of trust for his friends/allies, lack of common sense, and a very low level of intelligence for someone that relizes on brains and willpower for their strengths. And you end up with a guy that is very annoying to read in most any situation.

Now throw that character into a Noir Detective style situation. This is not a confident man, nore is he a physically tough man, and he lacks much in the way of street and book smarts. I find it highly unlikely that this guy should have survived past the first 100 pages, let alone through all the other blunders he makes through the entire book. Take a gander back to the beginnings of the Noir Detective genre, and you'd be ashamed that this man besmerches the genre's good traditions. Sam Spade has no magic what so ever, but he could quite easilly have out smarted and out fought this guy with his bare fists.

Don't even get me started on how annoying magic is in this book. Not since the magic of Terry Brooks' books have I felt magic ment little to nothing. This guyis is constantly like, oh shit I don't have my wand or staff or special ring, so if I do my magic now I'll kill everyone. What the <bleep>ing good is magic that can't be used unless you've got your stick of power. I mean come on, even in dungeons and dragons a wizard/mage can cast a fireball with out having to have a staff or a special ring (these things mite help, but the caster could still get the job done).

So to close, this book is immature and not fun to read. I suppose if I was 13 again playing D&D in the basement with the other emotional retards, I'd find this book cool in most every aspect, but I'm 30 and would like to think of myself as an emotionally mature ubergeek who doesn't think it would be cool to live in a basement and who sees women as aliens that can't be understood....less

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

1 comments

Stacey rated it:

03/18/08

bookshelves: bookclub, fantasy

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Stacey by: Chris and Amy (well, one of them, not sure which)
recommends it for: Anyone that loves humor, action, magic and a good story.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

SPOILER ALERT! If you have not read this novel, you may want to stop now! This review contains spoilers, and I do NOT want to ruin anything for anyone!

Storm Front Moon is Book one of the Dresden Files.

What can I say about this book? I have read it three times now and I am hooked. I relate so much to Harry that is a bit frightening at times. Jim Butcher does a great job with humor and making you care about Harry is going through. He gets himself (especially in the later books) in s...more SPOILER ALERT! If you have not read this novel, you may want to stop now! This review contains spoilers, and I do NOT want to ruin anything for anyone!

Storm Front Moon is Book one of the Dresden Files.

What can I say about this book? I have read it three times now and I am hooked. I relate so much to Harry that is a bit frightening at times. Jim Butcher does a great job with humor and making you care about Harry is going through. He gets himself (especially in the later books) in so much trouble but somehow gets himself out of it. That is the case when you are overly noble...you tend to get in trouble from time to time, and there isn't always anyone around to have your back. When there is, you really grow to appreciate them.

I love the noble aspect of Harry. I can relate to it. As jaded as Harry is and no matter how tempting (think about how easy it would have been to call down the dark magic on Victor Sells and murder him) using his power for the wrong reasons is, he does the right thing. Harry entered the house at the end and fought knowing he could not break the "rules of magic" that he lives by. It would have been so easy to give into the bitterness and anger of the situation. Or of the Council and such and just obliterate the house and Sells with it. Not to mention, it would have felt good!

This genre has not done much for me. I am tired of reading how these women are slaying vampires and werewolves (can blame buffy for that one). Not saying they women could NOT do it, but come on some of these women are very petite. So, please don't think that sexist comment as much as a statement on how poorly written the first couple of Anita Blake novels were (and a few others authors that I picked up and attempted to read). I hear they get better, but I also hear they turn into smut. Awesome (sarcasm dripping). Now every time I go to the bookstore I see four or five different authors with the same exact story. I know being original is hard, but shouldn't people at least try?

This book was very real to me and it was fun just to read about how Harry figures things out (sometimes too late), and then deal with them in a very forceful way. Seeing someone just get angry and force his will in that was very cool. He doesn't always make the right choices (which I can appreciate) and he then suffers the consequences.

How Victor Sells was killing people was very unique (or at least I thought it was) and cool. Brutal to say the least, but defiantly effective.

The other characters are good as well. Karin reminds me of a friend I knew in the police force. She had to fight everyday to get where she was and did not take any crap from anyone. I loved it! It reminded me so much of Shannon that it was a bit spooky.

Bob the skull is hilarious. He gets even funnier as the series goes along. It was such and odd little twist in the story that made it fun.

Not life changing definitely a worthy read.

...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Louis rated it:

10/09/07

Read in January, 2007

Storm Front is the first installment of The Dresden Files, a series about a Chicago wizard, Harry Dresden. The scenario is there is a wizard world that exists in conjunction with our own. And there is a full wizard society, with its own rules and laws and authorities that Harry is a part of. This subculture of magic is known to some of us normal people, that choose to pay attention and not discount what they see, so Harry is on retainer to an office within the Chicago police department (not with...more Storm Front is the first installment of The Dresden Files, a series about a Chicago wizard, Harry Dresden. The scenario is there is a wizard world that exists in conjunction with our own. And there is a full wizard society, with its own rules and laws and authorities that Harry is a part of. This subculture of magic is known to some of us normal people, that choose to pay attention and not discount what they see, so Harry is on retainer to an office within the Chicago police department (not without some snickering from the rest of the Chicago PD, who look at this about the same level as mystics who can find missing people) and when he gets called in as a consultant on weird cases, most of the department is pretty professional about it. He gets other work as well, but in general work is hard to come by. It has a fairly dark feel to it. More Hellboy rather than Harry Potter.

But Harry's other problem is he is on probation by the wizard authorities. We are led to understand that he was guilty of killing another wizard by magic, but because of extenuating circumstances (the other wizard was trying to kill him by calling a demon) he was put on probation instead. Not everyone agrees that this was a sufficient extenuating circumstance to shield Harry from the sentence of death, amongst whom is his probation officer.

The story is Harry gets called by his contact at the Chicago PD about a weird case. And the officer asks him to figure out how the killing was done. Which puts Harry in a bind, because even researching how to magically kill someone could possibly be construed as violation of his probation.

There are a number of things. The injustice of authority who presumes knowledge of all the facts. Conflict between personal desires and responsibilities. Not being able to confide in people because you care about them. More examples of "No good deed goes unpunished." The difference between talent and skill (a la Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, but the treatment is much better)

I like the characterizations. Butcher does a good job of creating a character who is caught in a wide range of different and conflicting roles and responsibilities. And creating a world that is entirely consistant with our own (if you allow a magical underworld to go along). The characters are believable, both friend and foe, all with their own interests and motivations. And the relationships are things that you (and the characters) care about, and it hurts when they fail. And in the end, the ending is not a deux ex machina or a show of power, but success at the end is a natural development of the character.

The Dresden Files is also being turned into a role-playing game published by Evil Hat productions, and I love the characters and the setting. The RPG looks like it will be fun as well. ...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Elizabeth rated it:

06/12/08

bookshelves: 2008, fantasy, twenty-first-century

Read in June, 2008

When I was in college I had a boyfriend who wore a long black duster, was wire thin, had played too much dungeons and dragons in high school, wanted to be Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride, believed in magic and physics, and did not know anything about women (unfortunately). He would have loved this book. It's written for a nineteen year old boy who doesn't see a lot of sun and wishes he could be a chivalrous knight, acting alone, to save the day. And while being completely misunderstoo...more When I was in college I had a boyfriend who wore a long black duster, was wire thin, had played too much dungeons and dragons in high school, wanted to be Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride, believed in magic and physics, and did not know anything about women (unfortunately). He would have loved this book. It's written for a nineteen year old boy who doesn't see a lot of sun and wishes he could be a chivalrous knight, acting alone, to save the day. And while being completely misunderstood, he manages to overcome temptation, great emotional suffering and physical pain, to prove to everyone that he's a hero. If he had climbed onto a white charger at the end, I wouldn't have been surprised.

It is obvious that this is what the author wants to be, too. I read a couple of the later books in the series before I got to this one and Jim Butcher was clearly much more secure in himself by then. Or maybe he was just a better writer by then. I swear there's a school somewhere that teaches aspiring writers to think of the worst thing that can happen to a character and then write how he gets out of it. Over and over again. Butcher doesn't just put the character in the worst situation he can think of, he then summarizes the situation and makes a dumb joke about it, at the end of every chapter. I didn't really notice it the first couple of times, but I'm not as dumb as some of the characters that our hero "outwits." I picked up that formula early on. From there there was nothing to do but pick up the others.

There were several to choose from. First, every woman was described by her make-up (and I mean the cosmetics on her face) and then her shape and then her clothes and then, some little value to prove the author doesn't think women are just sex objects. Except that there were a lot of prostitutes in this story and women who were made to cry and women who needed to be rescued and women who wanted to have sex with our hero [insert dumb blonde stereotype voice here]. Second, after having lost all of the weapons he carried, he still managed to summon up the will to fight on and defeat the baddy (gangster, vampire, demon, dark wizard, cop, whatever) using only his wits and inner strength.

So, you ask, what happened to that college boyfriend? We broke up. I think I'm going to break it off with Butcher, too.

...less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

3 comments

Shinynickel rated it:

03/31/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: people who want a fast, mindless read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Wow, check out the weird gender dynamics. At some point Harry Dresden is having an internal monologue about how wizards are not very well socialized by nature, and I am mentally trotting along with him, until he pops out something along the lines of that's why it's so hard for them to pick up chicks.

Well, yeah, if *I* were a wizard I expect I'd have a problem trying to pick up chicks, but I'm guessing there are some wizards out there who are into guys, right?

Not to mention the classic c...more Wow, check out the weird gender dynamics. At some point Harry Dresden is having an internal monologue about how wizards are not very well socialized by nature, and I am mentally trotting along with him, until he pops out something along the lines of that's why it's so hard for them to pick up chicks.

Well, yeah, if *I* were a wizard I expect I'd have a problem trying to pick up chicks, but I'm guessing there are some wizards out there who are into guys, right?

Not to mention the classic call girls with hearts of gold (or who just have low self esteem but are still jaw-droppingly sexy and always coming onto Harry).

And some rather egregious door-closing (in terms of plottage). T-minus thirty seconds before the climax, wherein he will have to face a dark wizard alone, Harry does two things so mind-numbingly stupid that it actually made me angry. First, he's just finished a massive fight with a giant scorpion creature, leaving his rod and his staff (apparently very handy things to have around for spellcasting) upstairs. He is about to go fight the big bad of the book. *And he does not go back upstairs.*

Dude!

You're going to go fight for your life against some guy with more than double your power and you're going in unarmed because your big mojo weapons are *up a couple flights of stairs*!?

Directly after that brilliant strategic move, he also dismisses the idea of going to the White Council (essentially the wizard police force) because he's currently on trial with them. And yeah, you know - if a legal system doesn't think much of you, it will be harder to make your case.

Much less hard when you know the dark wizard in question has been tossing around spells with wild abandon. When Harry shows up at his house, the place is dripping with evil magic. Why not just grab some White Council people and tell them that if they don't believe him, take a thirty-second look at the dark wizard's house with their magic sight, and the question will be settled.

ARgh. Done bitching. Anyway, I might downgrade this to one star later, but I'm leaving it at two because it did distract me during a plane flight. So. ...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Chris rated it:

02/09/08

bookshelves: fantasy, wizardry

Read in November, 2006

I was warned when I bought this book back in May that I would regret not buying all of the Dresden File books, and I was warned right.

It's actually very similar to another addictive series, the Nightside books by Simon R. Green, which I have profiled previously. They have a lot of common points - first person narratives by lone-wolf investigators who possess a vast amount of supernatural power which they're afraid to use. They have myste...more I was warned when I bought this book back in May that I would regret not buying all of the Dresden File books, and I was warned right.

It's actually very similar to another addictive series, the Nightside books by Simon R. Green, which I have profiled previously. They have a lot of common points - first person narratives by lone-wolf investigators who possess a vast amount of supernatural power which they're afraid to use. They have mysterious and tortured pasts which haunt them to this day and neither of them gets along well with authority. They both have a lot of trouble keeping relationships.... And so on. To be fair, Butcher has the head start - this book was published in 2000, and the first Nightside book was published in 2003.

Not to imply that Green stole from Butcher, heavens no. But they've both latched on a very compelling character template, one that's interesting both to write and read. And there certainly are differences in the setting - Green's character, John Taylor, lives in Nightside, the haunted heart of London. Butcher's character, Harry Dresden, lives in Chicago. Taylor's power is very generally defined - we don't know how he does what he does, but he does it well. Dresden's power is meticulously explained, a kind of primer on magic.

And both of them have a knack for getting into very, very deep trouble.

Dresden is trying to scrape enough together for the rent, and he's hit with two cases at once - a woman looking for her missing husband and the police looksing to find out who made two people's hearts burst from their chests. Chasing either lead means danger, but he can't afford not to take either one. He needs the money, and he needs to keep a good relationship with the police....

Someone, somewhere is breaking the most sacred laws of magic. Binding, killing, coercion and destruction, all uses of magic that are utterly forbidden by the White Council, the mysterious council who oversees the world's wizarding community.

It's a fun read, and a quick one, too. I've put the other books on my Amazon wish list, just in case..... *idle humming*...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Aaron rated it:

05/11/07

Read in March, 2007

recommends it for: Fans of Glen Cook

The television adaptation of the novels is certainly not faithful. I'm curious as to why they changed so many inconsequential details (Murphy's first name for example) as well as some rather large ones (the nature of Bob the Skull). That being said, Jim Butcher's books are the literary equivalent of beer and pizza. They're fast, easy to get a hold of, satisfying over the short term, but really, not something that you'd want to build your entire diet around. Also, both have the potential for a ce...more The television adaptation of the novels is certainly not faithful. I'm curious as to why they changed so many inconsequential details (Murphy's first name for example) as well as some rather large ones (the nature of Bob the Skull). That being said, Jim Butcher's books are the literary equivalent of beer and pizza. They're fast, easy to get a hold of, satisfying over the short term, but really, not something that you'd want to build your entire diet around. Also, both have the potential for a certain amount of cheese. Perhaps I've stretched the metaphor too far.

This is the first of the Dresden Files, and it's probably the second worst of them. The good news, then, is that Butcher's writing is improving, and the latest of these, White Night, was really quite good. Storm Front is one of the books that was vaguely adapted for one of the television episodes. The basic idea is that Harry Dresden has to find out who's killing people using black magic. Someone in Chicago is causing people's hearts to explode out of their chests, killing them in a messy and painful way. Because of Harry's history of having killed his master, Justin, with magic when Justin tried to mentally enslave Harry, the local White Council Warden, Morgan, thinks that Harry might have done it. This, along with the fact that he's being paid to look into this by the police, give Harry enough reasons to be very motivated to find the killer.

Butcher has a habit of piling more and more onto his protagonist as things go on that can be tiring. It's not enough for Harry to be getting paid to do this, but he has to look into it to keep from loosing his head. Then, in case we though that Harry lacked motivation, later on in the book, the black sorcerer behind it tried, and fails to kill Harry to give him more motivation. But that's not quite enough, so Butcher also makes it clear that Harry is the next target of the "exploding heart" spell. If you can get past the fact that Harry Dresden is, apparently, the most unfortunate of all people on the planet, and some minor factual errors that are included, on presumes, because they're noir detective staples, then this book shows some real potential....less

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

4 comments

Barbara rated it:

05/14/08

bookshelves: 2008

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Barbara by: Nick Parker

I called my friend M today. I hated to do it, but I had to tell her that her husband was right: I DO like the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. At the very least, I liked the first of them.

Harry Dresden is a wizard who advertises his services in the phone book. Not surprisingly, he is the only wizard in the phone book, so he gets a fair share of nut jobs calling him. This time, however, he gets two calls right after the other: one from a local detective looking for his help and another...more

Like this review? yes

2 comments

Ann rated it:

09/29/07

This is, possibly the weakest of the Dresden File books. Part of that is that he's having to set up his entire world in it, and part is that it was one of Jim's first books. But it was more than interesting enough to keep me coming back for all of the books AND to watch the TV series, which Scum/Fi in its infinite stupidity has cancelled. But you don't want me to go off onto a rant about what morons the programmers are at SciFi (the "official" name for the TV channel) and how they k...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Jessica rated it:

07/10/07

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: Lightweight sci-fi/fantasy readers

What's a damsel police officer to do when 2 citizen's are found with their hearts exploded out of their chests... call Harry Dresden!

Though this book is recomended for Laurell K Hamilton Laurell K Hamilton readers (on the back of the book) and it is superficially simular it targets a different audience. Storm Front is lightweight: there's nothing wrong with reading light weight stuff, but when Harry Dresden goes into a speach on th...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Wesley rated it:

06/22/08

The first book of The Dresden Files introduces the series's protagonist, the modern day magic slinging, duster wearing Harry Dresden, and his antics as a wizard-for-hire in Chicago. In Storm Front, Harry faces a mysterious black magic wielding foe that's been murdering people in gruesome ways. Harry must use his magic and his wits to track down the black wizard before he becomes the next victim, all while dealing with the Chicago Police Department, a mobster, a bordello owning vampiress, and a...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Richard rated it:

05/03/08

The Harry Dresden series may be the closest thing to a pulp magazine on the newsstands today. It combines all of the heroic, fantasy, and criminal elements common in the heydays of characters like the Spider and the Phantom Detective, and updates them to a modern day setting.

I first heard about the character from watching the TV series, The Dresden Files. Another short-lived—rare, but genuine hit—that aired on the Sci Fi channel. Paul Blackthorne was brilliant playing the scruffy freelan...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Kelly rated it:

05/09/07

Read in February, 2007

So last week Tim and I started watching The Dresden Files, which is based on the series by Jim Butcher about a Chicago wizard. Anything with fantasy placed in modern times gets an automatic in from me, so I was all about reading the series after seeing the show. Despite its hokiness and predictability, I can see why Storm Front paved the way for a cult-like following.

But I’ll discuss the hokiness and predictability, because that’s more fun. Our narrator, Harry Dresden, is never without t...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Brooke rated it:

06/12/07

bookshelves: 2007, own

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: Buffy fans

Earlier this year, I greatly enjoyed the first season of the Sci Fi Channel's The Dresden Files. It certainly wasn't Buffy or X-Files caliber, as far as paranormal television goes, but it was great escapism fun with some interesting characters. As I'm likely to do after discovering that something I watched and enjoyed was based on a book, I went out and got the first book in the series.

I read the 300-pages of Storm Front in less than 24 hours, and it was such a relief to read something light...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Mathdancer rated it:

10/28/07

bookshelves: reviewed

Read in January, 2006

I actually have been hearing about this book series for quite some time but it never got close to the top of my reading pile because I'm not too keen on the idea of the main hero being a detective. Maybe I just read too much Sherlock Holmes stories ;)
But Jim Butcher actually managed to prove that it's not only the basic premise that counts - and his books have stolen me from the real world for a week I had to spend getting ready to my exams - but I don't regret not a second of it

So please wel...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

phyllis rated it:

04/21/07

bookshelves: bookcase

Read in April, 2006

recommends it for: Anyone who likes a tiny bit of fantasy in their fiction

Isn't it great when you find a series of books that you really enjoy, and then can't wait for a new one to come out? The Harry Dresden series burst onto my bookcase last year, when I picked up book 7 at the library, on a whim, just before a business trip. 2 days into the trip, I'd finished the book (Dead Beat) and had found the local book store and bought the first in the series: Storm Front.

Ironically, in the first few pages, the book didn't really resonate for me, it took a bit to get in...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Michele rated it:

02/09/08

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Michele by: I liked the tv show
recommends it for: mystery and fantasy fans

The first book in the Dresden Files series (ten books and counting so far) is a refreshing wind for the urban fantasy genre and this reader. One of the cannon examples of urban fantasy, a blending of mystery and paranormal in a modern setting often with a touch of romance, Storm Front is slanted more toward suspense than romance.

Harry isn't another supernaturally endowed, kick-ass female heroine, taking on the world of evil and the world of men at the same time. Harry is a somewhat-awkward, ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Tripp rated it:

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

discuss this book

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

lists with this book

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 3244)