Storm Front (Dresden Files, #1)

by Jim Butcher

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

You know, there's a lot to Storm Front that I've seen before. There's a paranormal investigator. His personal case SHOCKINGLY runs into the case he's working on for the police. He's a grumpy wizard. There are so many naked people in this book.

But, I don't know. I sort of feel like I need to apologize because despite the tropes and the predictability and story-I've-read-before feeling... I liked this book anyway? There's a lot of quirks to it, and Harry sort of reminds me of this guy I work with, and come on guys everyone is trash for some cliches, right? I get to like this book even though I don't feel like it's super original because the magic system is cool, and Bob is funny, and Harry killed a demon in a thunderstorm in his birthday suit, and surprisingly the main character had no sex (and come on, this is a paranormal investigator story - how often does that happen?!).

The fight scenes here are great - really well paced with a good balance of magic and physicality. The magic system itself is interesting and well-explained. The female characters are stupid flat, but that's pretty common in this subgenre (unless the main character is female... sometimes that works out). The narrator of the audiobook sounds like a dad being forced to read to someone before bed, forever sighing, so that wasn't my favorite but somehow it works with Harry's grumpy wit.

I liked it. I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it was fun and a quick read, so if you're on the fence, check it out.