Storm Front (Dresden Files, #1)

by Jim Butcher

In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…

As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put it mildly—stinks.

So when the Chicago P.D. bring him in to consult on a double homicide committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name...

“A great series—fast-paced, vividly realized and with a hero/narrator who’s excellent company.”—Cinescape
 

• ISBN10: 1429583878
• ISBN13: 9781429583879
• Publish Date: 1 April 2000
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Out of Print: 11 April 2013
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Roc
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[adamfortuna]

The first of The Dresden Files series draws you into the world of Harry Dresden, a wizard in modern day Chicago who advertises his wizardly ways in the yellow pages and classified. What's involved with being a wizard now a days? Turns out it involves solving mysteries for the police that can't be explained by science as well as pursuing the occasional contract that walks through your door.

If this sounds a bit like Angel, the old WB show, well you'd be right. It's a whole lot like that. Funny enough, the audiobook is read by James Marsters, Spike from Buffy/Angel! Being a short one, it's worth reading a few. I'd still prefer Caves of Steel for the overall mystery side of things, but this was the first one in the series. The following ones were supposedly after Butcher got better at writing. Either way, a solid beginning.

[pamela]

I'm not sure this book was even very good, but my god was it fun to read! it was certainly a page turner, even though I'm not sure any of the characters were particularly likeable. I can just tell the series is going to get better though, and I'm already anticipating the journey. Well played Jim Butcher, well played.

I had this on my list of books to read for a long time and I finally got to it this weekend. I have to say I really loved this book, it was easy to read and I like the main character Dresden.

I finished the book in 1 1/2 days and I'm now getting ready to start the second book in the series. I can already tell these set of books are going to be great.

I would definitely recommend this book and I wish I had read it sooner.

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

3.5 stars for story
3.5 stars for narration
3.5 stars overall

Title: Storm Front (Dresden Files #1)
Author: Jim Butcher
Narrator: James Marsters
Publisher: Buzzy Multimedia Publishing Corp.
Unabridged
Length: 8 hours 1 minutes
Publication: 6/10/09
Genre: UF
Heat Level: Warm

I read this book many years ago, but never picked up any other books from the series. I have no idea why. I enjoyed this book. I have heard so many great things about the series and even the narrator, so I decided that I should give it a try on audio. I did go back to listen to book one because it had been so long, I knew I would never remember what was going on the series.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. He is even listed as one in the phone book. He helps his clients with magical problems. He is a consultant for the Chicago PD. Things get a little hairy when Harry has to help investigate magical murders where he could be one of the prime suspects.

Dresden has to help protect the public from some pretty weird magic. He has to do some things he isn't happy about. He loses the trust of one his few friends. He has the governing council of wizards after him. Things don't look good for him.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, though it didn't set my world on fire. I'm definitely intrigued and want to see more of what is going to happen to Harry Dresden. Is he able to heal some of the relationships that he damaged in this book? What other crazy cases does he end up working. I love police with magical twist, so I think this has a lot of potential. I have already requested book two from my library, there is a waiting list for it.

Narration
You might recognize the name, James Marsters. He is also known as Spike from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show. His narration was different than what I am used to, but it worked for this series. He had a bit of a guy next door voice for Dresden and there was some breathing and sighing that would normally annoy me, but seemed like something Harry Dresden would do, so it fit. I would like to see Marsters do a better job with women's voices, but there are not a lot of women in this series, so far, so it wasn't too bad.

[malberto]

Doing my second rereading of the series in anticipation of the next book, I don't wanna give any spoilers but really recommend this series, is currently my reference for urban fantasy series (read some better, a lot worse, but The Dresden Files collects everything that I look for on UF series).

[clairelm]

I've been wanting to read this for ages and even when I finally got a copy, it took a while to get round of it. And I loved it, so much!

Harry Dresden is a likeable character who is very good at attracting the wrong kind of attention. Despite the fact that the world Jim Butcher has created contains vampires and wizards and fae folk of a great variety, it's a world more usually found in dark crime thrillers than paranormal. And it works, very very well. The characters are well fleshed out and suitably creepy or likeable.

Now all I have to do is find the next one!

[leahrosereads]

I have been told on several occasions to try this series. And, I'm extremely happy that I've given it a chance. The first novel, Storm Front, was spectacular. I thought it had a well blended mixture of the supernatural and mystery. The idea of a PI Wizard is awesome to me, and I can't wait to read the next novel in this series, Fool Moon.

[CrowNoYami]

I really enjoyed this take on magic. It is completely believable in OUR world, which for me is needed for a good magic series. People have called it Harry Potter for adults, but is it SO unique. I would recommend this to ANY of my Sci-Fi friends to read. Wonderful Job!

[Berls]

This review and others by Berls also available at Fantasy is More Fun

My Initial Reaction...
Storm Front was a little different from my typical selections and, while I ultimately enjoyed it, I'm in no rush to read the next one.

The Narration...
I think James Marsters was the #1 reason I chose to listen to Storm Front and while his reading wasn't bad, I think I was disappointed. See, I'm a total Buffy fan girl and Spike is probably my favorite character - well favorite male character at least. So when I saw James Marsters I was ready for Spike. But there was no English accent, because the role didn't call for it. So to be fair to Marsters, I think my fangirl fantasies got in the way here. However, I have to say that I never really left the feeling that he was reading a book to me. With the really great narrators I forget I'm listening to them read a book and feel the characters, but there was something about the way he spoke and the breathy quality to some of his reading that felt just like that - reading. Ultimately I think I give the narration 3 stars.

The Characters...
Maybe it was because the reading was by James Marsters but I found myself frequently comparing this to the early seasons of the Angel TV series - instead of a brooding vampire you've got a grumpy, brooding wizard named Harry Dresden. He, like Angel, has a paranormal detective agency (run solo) and works with the Chicago (rather than LA) police force, particularly with a female detective, strong but fighting for respect among her male-peers (and her work with the supernatural isn't helping her - much like Kate from the Angel series).

Associations aside, I have a like-hate relationship with Harry. He's really grumpy and whinny, which can get really annoying. He does have some moments where that turns into a kind of dry, sarcastic humor that I really appreciate. But then there's the moments where he feels like a sexist and it gets under my skin. He says he has old fashioned ideals and I guess that's supposed to make him gentlemanly. There's times where it makes me want to slap him and times where it seems just that - old fashioned. So, like I said Harry is and I have a like-hate relationship right now.

The women in Storm Front are all seen through Harry's eyes and, considering his sexist (old fashioned?) view of women I'm not loving any of them too much either. The strong women are frustrating and too career driven; most the other women are weak or in prostitution. As love interests, I found their interactions with Harry underwhelming and sometimes frustrating. I think this might be why I rarely read books by male authors.

The only character I truly loved with Bob the skull (yep - I said skull), who works as Harry's lab assistant. He's hilarious and really cuts through the tension that Harry seems to radiate from beginning to end. I wish he as in the book more, but I'm sure we can expect more from him in later books.

The Story...
I'm typically a character driven reader, but with Storm Front it's really the story that kept me reading. Harry takes on two cases as Storm Front opens - one for the Chicago police involving two lovers killed quite gruesomely in the act and obviously by supernatural means. The other by a nervous house-wife whose husband has gone missing. As Harry works to solve these two cases, he has to deal with several people who aren't so happy with his research into the police case, a sexy reporter who is way over her head, and the White Council who thinks he's the murderer. 

The magical world that Butcher is building with this first book is one I think I could really enjoy. It's still being built up, but the White Council and the way magic works in this world seem complex and like they could lead to some really interesting future books. I was a bit disappointed by the mystery of this first book, there were a couple of surprising twists but it was mostly easy to figure out. The best moments were the action; the moments when Harry uses his magic and gets into battles are truly the shinning moments of Storm Front for me. The magic is really exciting, Harry's clearly powerful and Bob's "assistance" can make for some truly comical twists to even the most intense moments. 

Concluding Sentiments...
If you like the detective crime shows like Law and Order you may love this series, but they've never been my cup of tea. I won't dismiss the series altogether since I see some real potential in the world building, but it'll be a while before I jump into the next book.

Get it on Amazon

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a great character, he is care-free, witty, hard-boiled and he is a wizard. Storm Front is the first book in the Dresden Files series mixes magic and fantasy elements with my favourite genre; Hard-Boiled. Dresden is hired by the police as a consultant trying to figure out who is using magic to kill people in Chicago. Like most hard-boiled novels, there are a few twists and turns, the femme fatal and even a gangster to challenge the wizards morels. While I don’t seem to enjoy many fantasy novels, I really loved the combination of fantasy and hard-boiled to create a new type of genre; I believe it’s probably called Magic-Noir. These crossover have huge potential and with the classic hard-boiled recipe, Jim Butcher is on a winning formula (considering there is 14 books in the series so far). I’m looking forward to what will happen next, Dresden has great potential and I hope Butcher doesn’t let me down.