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Jan 25, 2009

Siria rated it:

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

57 comments like (61 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Sath rated it:

Decided to try this series, as I keep hearing 'Dresden files' everywhere for some reason, and apparently it's even a tv series? I couldn't let an urban fantasy get so popular without knowing what its about!

There are many mixed reviews about this, some love it and some hate it. But I am suprised at the negative reviews, as many complaints could be raised against the genre as a whole, but if you pick up an urban fantasy book - don't you know what you're getting into? I've seen com More...

4 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jesse rated it:

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 More...

8 comments like (32 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Brooke rated it:

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 somethi More...

4 comments like (30 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2012

Becky rated it:

I enjoyed this book immensely. If this is the "weak" start to the series, then I am really really excited for the rest of it. I was drawn into this book from the very start, and I just couldn't put it down.

I loved Harry, the wit, the humor, the magic system, the concept, Bob, Mister, all of it. I loved the frustration and the annoyance at every wrench thrown in the works.

I figured things out before Harry did, but that's OK. The details were unpredictable enough fo More...

10 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

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 m More...

13 comments like (57 people liked it)

Feb 14, 2011

Kat rated it:

The Dresden Files is one of those books that's intimidating to approach. It has a hard-core fan group that will scream its praises from the top of the roof. Usually, I would approach with extreme caution. I rarely read a series when I've been assured that it gets good after six books. When people tell me that, I simply quietly encourage them to read the Fever Series and avert eye contact.

However, after a discussion regarding male readers and writers of the Urban Fantasy genre, I fe More...

29 comments like (31 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2012

Laurel rated it:

Hot damn, that was a fun read! I know full well the reason I've been avoiding the series was that I would get hooked, and have even more books on my to-read shelf, but I just can't help it! Dresden is a sarcastic, bitter, tongue in cheek rogue that would make Han Solo proud. The plot moves quickly, the action is imaginative, and the humor puts the perfect cherry on top. What a great character!

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

Okay, some who have looked at my other reviews will immediately note I gave this book 5 stars which I noted earlier I save for very special books. I plan to give the Dresden books (so far anyway) 5 stars. Why? Well while they are not Dumas or Dickens (but then again...I'm not sure I'd regularly be giving Dickens 5 stars, how much Dickens can we all really take anyway???) these are wonderful absorbing reads. Special Books.

I won't be giving a long synopsis of each book... I will say t More...

16 comments like (12 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2009

Jim rated it:

It was a fun read, but I'm a bit turned off by the angst that the hero, Harry, carries around. He has his reasons, but I prefer a more upbeat character. He seems a bit too resigned to a crappy world. This might be relieved in the next book, so I plan to read it shortly. There is a LOT of potential here for a great series & so many others have told me they like it. I've seen bits of the TV series, which was good.

The setting & plot were good. It's our world with a slight twist - More...

9 comments like (14 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2011

Sherri rated it:

Probably my favorite book series and certainly one I recommend to others.

Harry Dresden is a pretty typical Chandlerian hero -- a basically honest guy who doesn't catch many breaks, is smarter than people give him credit for being, has a noble streak that gets him in trouble, and a knack for stumbling across things lesser mortals should leave alone. His strong sense of justice and his own ideas of right and wrong set him at odds with the powers that be. Of course, Harry isn't just More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Summer rated it:

I actually heard of this series by catching the short-lived tv series loosely based on these books. I thought the show was kind of fun and wanted to someday read the books. I got to close to halfway through this book and had to give up. I thought the main character was pretty interesting and the set up for his world was pretty interesting too though.

You don't get many hints about Harry Dresden's past, other than he's not on the good side of a magical authority called The White Counc More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2008

Sandi rated it:

I have seen an episode or two of “The Dresden Files” on the SciFi Channel, so I thought I knew what to expect from “Storm Front.” I was completely wrong. The TV series didn’t even come close capturing the essence of at least the first book. It wasn’t gritty enough or dark enough or exciting enough. What’s the best way to describe Harry Dresden and “Storm Front”? Combine Ellery Queen, Clint Eastwood, Jason Bourne and Buffy Summers. Throw in an evil wizard, a vampire madam, a talking skull, More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2010

Richard rated it:

Second update: Finally got around to looking at Butcher's website, and discovered his short story, Restoration of Faith. It's set before Storm Front, when Dresden is still an apprentice to another private detective. He meets Murphy for the first time. That he names the wealthy folks the "Astors" reminded me that he used to do cheesy obvious stuff like that. He gets better further in the series.

Update, months later: I discovered that I liked the first book enough to read the More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2008

Shannon rated it:

This book was recommended to me by several friends on Goodreads, though an equal number weren't impressed by it. I would have to put myself in the latter group, if I had to.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. He has a small office in Chicago and helps people find lost things and investigates ghosts, that sort of thing. He also helps the police in investigations when a crime can't rationally be explained.

It is one such case that draws him into a race against time to save his own ne More...

14 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2008

Michele rated it:

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-a More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 11, 2007

Aaron rated it:

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...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

phyllis rated it:

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 t More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2010

Qt rated it:

4 1/2 stars. I really, really liked this one and I'm looking forward to the others of the series :-) I liked the interesting mix of magic and murder mystery, and I was always wondering just what was going to happen next. Plus, there is quite a bit of humor, which is always a plus with me :-)
I also loved how the hero was NOT the typical "hard-boiled detective." He really seemed like a decent guy and a good person--someone I could root for (and did).

7 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Jon rated it:

Harry Dresden is a wizard P.I. with more trouble than you can shake a wand at and a sarcastic wit to die for - literally.

A fun quick read through a nearly contemporary Chicago where sorcery and demons roil just under the civilized veneer.

I would have given this four stars, or at least three and a half, except for the first person point of view. It's such a limiting perspective in my opinion, where I must rely on the narrator's information and thoughts for the entire More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Ryan rated it:

There was nothing especially wrong with this book. It had an interesting premise (P.I. wizard helps cops track magical ne'er-do-wells in present-day Chicago) and a fun protagonist, but ... how do I put this? It just felt like a bunch of words about a plot. The words all accomplished their goal of relating a story, and that's about it. Still, I picked up the second book in the Dresden Files series to see if the writing gets any less utilitarian.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2010

Cathy rated it:

Good, as expected. Paranormal mystery about a wizard who sometimes works with the police to investigate unusual crimes. Dark but not depressing, good character, decent plot.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Tina rated it:

Original post at One More Page

Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire, and you'd think that people would start to take him seriously with all the weird things happening. But no. He gets more prank calls than jobs, and he needs money to pay the bills, fast. It was just timely that he got called to the Chicago Police Department to help with a gruesome double murder case that reeks of black magic, and a woman comes to him to ask his help to find her missing husband. As Harry works on t More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2009

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire. His advert even says so. Enter a very interesting character in the urban fantasy genre. Having grown up in the Chicago area, it's very cool to see this fine city through the eyes of an interesting guy like Harry. In some respects, he's a very normal guy. However he truly is a wizard. He inherited his magical abilities from his deceased mother, and makes a living at it. Helping people. He also works for the Police Department solving crimes of an unusual na More...

7 comments like (22 people liked it)

May 03, 2008

Richard rated it:

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 fre More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Julie rated it:

I became interested in this book for two reasons: One, the Sci-Fi Fantasy Book Club had it as one of their monthly picks, and two, I'd watched a few episodes of the show on SciFi.

My friend Shannon, trusted arbiter of bookly judgement, hadn't been impressed with it, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway just out of curiosity's sake.

It was ok. I like Harry as a character despite some of his occasional chauvinist moments (he really is more .... old-fashioned than downright More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2011

Kat rated it:

This book was something my husband stumbled onto. He picked up book 6 in the series because he liked the cover, started reading it and realized it wasn't the first book of the series. He went back to the bookstore and bought the first book, then DEVOURED the rest of them. I was skeptical; our tastes aren't the same in books, but he convinced me, and I have never regretted it! These books are hysterically funny, deeply creepy, intriguingly mysterious, and everything else I love about reading. More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2009

Chris rated it:

"Hell's Bells" count: 3

Back in 2006, I made a trip to the States for a wedding. It was good fun, and I figured that while I was there, I'd go and see some other friends and family up and down the East Coast. While in the Albany Area of New York, I was taken to a fantasy/science fiction bookstore so that I could fill up on books - a precious commodity, given their expense and rarity here.

What I found when I walked in was shocking - I had no idea what to buy. I wa More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2007

Alex rated it:

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

S More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 09, 2007

Kelly rated it:

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 witho More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)