Stormfront by Jim Butcher, has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now. No particular reason, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet. There was a time when I was really into supernatural thrillers / detective mysteries. I was a rabid fan of the Anita Blake novels until four books into the series, Laurel Hamilton, the author did a 180 with the character and turned her from a kick ass vampire slayer to a suck ass vampire groupie. After that disappointment I left the genre.
Still, I picked up Stormfront at the recommendation of a friend who has my likes pretty well dialed in. I've spent the last couple of days reading Stormfront and I really enjoyed it. Harry Dresden is a modern day Wizard in a world that mirrors ours but is more in tune with the supernatural.
Dresden works as a "consultant" for both the police and private individuals. The character of Dresden and his universe are interesting and well thought out. There are lawful practitioners of magic, chaotic practitioners, and a whole lot of in between. Parts of the story were reminiscent of author Simon Greens work, other parts reminded me of the movie Mystery Men, in that the main character Harry Dresden spends a lot of the story getting his ass kicked. But he never gives up. I caught an episode of the TV series on Hulu as well, and while it differs from the book, I found it enjoyable, too bad it lasted only one season.
All in all a definite recommendation from the Lair. I'll be picking up more of the Dresden file stories and adding them to my immediate reading stack.
Glad you liked it! I tore through the entire series in a couple of weeks on my iPhone Kindle and really loved it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you enjoyed the book - let me assure you that, if you intend to continue, you'll get progressively more addicted. Unlike the series you mentioned above, this series gets better as it goes. Actually, the first few books in the series are kind of weak. Things start to pick up by the third novel, and by the fifth it gets serious.
ReplyDeleteThese are the books that I stayed up until 4 a.m. reading before my 9:30 calculus tests, and even though I made a C in calculus, I happily traded away an A- (okay, a B...) for the pleasure of the stories. If you enjoyed it enough to blog about it, you should surely check out the next two or three. If, by book four or five you aren't into it, let it go, but like I said, it just keeps getting better.
Hey guys,
ReplyDeletegood to hear it gets better and better. I really did enjoy it. The only part where I thought it was a bit weak was when the demon invaded Dresden's residence. I really was expecting him to knock the toad demon on his ass - I mean a Wizard in his own lair? C'mon!- I was really surprised that Harry got his ass handed to him in his own home. I would think he would have it warded up with wands and items hidden around the house for just such an emergency. Hell I even have a couple of things around my house within arms reach just in case.
I agree that the series gets better and better. And I actually like the fact that Harry gets his ass handed to him sometimes. It makes the danger feel real. One of the biggest problems that series like this run into is power creep. The character gets more and more powerful each book until it's just completely out of hand. Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books started strong, but this is one of the problems they hit (there were some other ones, too, of course). I have yet to be disappointed by a Harry Dresden book.
ReplyDeleteI read it maybe a year or two ago. It was pretty good, but I enjoyed Fool Moon and the ones that followed Storm Front more... at least, upto book 6.
ReplyDeleteRob makes a good point. You can definitely see the influence of RPGs in the series, as Harry grows in power and "levels", acquiring several perks along the way, new items, etc. It works, though, not feeling forced. I think I read he's got something like 11 total novels planned for the series, though, so hopefully he'll stop before it gets out of control.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I also read his "Furies of Allera" series, which is pure fantasy, and loved it too.
I couldn't agree more with your assessment of the Anita Blake series.
ReplyDeleteOn to Dresden, I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised with Fool Moon. So far it is my favorite of the series.
The series definately improves as it goes along.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I find the first book the weakest in the series. I read it after having read books 2-5.
The character (and supporting characters) were not fully coalesced in Butcher's mind when book 1 was written, obviously, as the main character and supporting characters are vastly different in books 2-5 than they were in book 1.
Books 2-5 can be described as somewhat formulaic but, after that, things start to change rapidly in Harry Dresden's world and things really start to get...interesting...
I think you'll enjoy the latter books better than the earlier books as they have more character development; not only for Harry but for the supporting characters as well.
I also recommend all of the Harry Dresden short stories in various supernatural anthologies. I have found some of these to be even more enjoyable than some of the books themselves. :)
Enjoy!
I am a rabid Dresden Files fan, been through them all multiple times. Awesome books
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