Storm Front: The Dresden Files, Book 1

The story is told from the perspective of Harry Dresden, an actual Wizard living in Chicago. He's so official, he's actually listed in the yellow pages as a wizard for hire. His work is similar in nature to a private detective, but of course his cases involve more than just cheating spouses. Case in point, the book begins with a woman asking for help in finding her missing husband. It appears that he has recently become rather interested (or even obsessed) with things of an occult nature and she is worried for him. In the same day, Lieutenant Murphy of the Chicago Police Department reaches out to Dresden to help with an unusual investigation. The case involves the unusual death of a man and a woman in mid-coitus - but somehow their hearts have been exploded from within their bodies. The potential magic that could do something like this worries Dresden given he knows how dangerous it is. And if he is to figure out what had been used, he'll most likely have to gather the same ingredients and components to cast the spell. And merely being in possession of such items could risk his tenuous status with the White Council that oversees all use of magic. As a first person perspective book, it's rather important that the central character is one that the reader can appreciate or even like. And Harry Dresden is probably not the poster boy for this given his dry humor and sardonic wit. But he's actually rather endearing in a scruffy kind of way since he's really just a guy doing his best given some pretty unusual circumstances. It takes a certain kind of nerve to publicly advertise that one is a wizard. You can imagine all the less than series job offers that he gets as part of all this. And yet he perseveres on. Beyond that, another great part of the book is the rather well thought-out magic system. A lot of books like to gloss over this side of things and just have the characters wave their arms or say a single magic word in order to perform miraculous feats. Given this story is told directly from Harry's perspective, we also follow along the complex thought processes of a wizard and his little explanations of how magic works in this reality. Thus we have all these different cases like tapping raw forces for spells versus careful preparation of power for future use. We have potion that can do any number of things and we have artifacts of varying potency. And because everything makes sense given the clearly defined internal logic, the end result is pretty impressive. The book combines all the challenges of a humorous but not asinine protagonist, a magic-fueled fantasy novel, and a good old fashioned detective mystery in one witty package. And just getting any one of those elements to work well is difficult. To get all of them to work together and execute a story that isn't just coherent but actually pretty compelling, well I'm all the more impressed. I've been known to dabble in writing and I can't imagine how Jim Butcher manages to get all this done. And not only does this book establish this little world of that Dresden lives in, but it also provides a number of potential story elements that we all want to look into further. The fact that Harry Dresden is under some sort of probation with the White Council or how Chicago has a rather prominent vampire running a sort of harem are all interesting stories on their own. And you know that time and time again we're going to want to explore these side stories and thus further expand Harry's world. Beyond a good story though, the book is really defined by the strength of its characters. And our main players like Harry and Lt. Murphy and all the others are pretty interesting in their own right. And this is just the first book - I know that there's a heck of a lot more to learn about all of them and future adventures are going to expand on these different back stories. A whole new world has opened up for me now that I've finally gotten started on The Dreden Files with Storm Front and I'm pretty excited to read about more of Harry's misadventures. I'll still have to juggle different books that I've committed to read but it's fair to say that the priority rating of this series has bumped up several notches.

I read Storm Front, the first book in The Dresden Files series, a few years back, found it engaging, and moved on to other books. I liked it, but I wasn't dying to read the next one. In the interim, about a dozen people have told me I should read the series. So I thought I’d give it another chance. I reread Storm Front, and it turns out I liked it better the second time around, and I've already started the second book. If you are looking for a fun, fast paced, quick read, this novel could fill the bill. Brief Summary: This novel is written in first person. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a private investigator wizard, who can be found in the yellow pages and sometimes works for the Chicago police as a consultant to their "especial" division (paranormal stuff that the police don't know exactly how to investigate). He’s also on the outs with the Wizard’s Council that has life and death power over him, and is a combination of wisecracking Philip Marlowe and a resourceful Merlin. There has been two bizarre murders, and Harry is called in to help. From there, everything is a roller coast ride until the murderer is found. Harry commits one faux pas after another and by the end of the book finds he’s alienated nearly everyone. I’m a fan of the old hard boiled PIs, like Philip Marlowe, and Dresden is definitely a throw-forward of that genre. He has plenty of wise crack comments, beautiful women, including a blond who hires him to look for her husband and is definitely more than she seems, a bad-ass female cop, a get-my-story-at-all-costs female reporter, and, of course, a "lovely" vampire. He's a wizard and guardian of a wisecracking, apparently trouble making, skull spirit who seems to be in as much trouble as Dresden and isn’t allowed out and about. Strengths: Okay, I freely admit that this book is full of more stereotypes than I care to count, but since Butcher doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously, I don’t either. Some of the "borrowed" material is so tongue-in-cheek that it makes me smile. After all, I love Shakespeare, and he “borrowed” almost all his story ideas and tropes. There’s lots of action, and the story never slows down. Butcher is excellent at describing this alternate Chicago, the storms that rage throughout the novel, the murders, and the little details of place and people that make a story come alive. I love the fast and easy read quality of the book. Weaknesses: I found the story throws in everything but the kitchen sink: vampires, wizards, demons from hell, a wizard council guardian who isn’t watching over Dresden but trying to catch Dresden doing evil so he can execute him, fairies, and a smart-ass, womanizing, talking skull. I think this was the reason I didn't read more of the series the first time I read the book. Now, for some mysterious reason, the hodgepodge was more entertaining. In the early chapters, Harry’s constant wisecracks were annoying, but as the story went on, Harry settled into a more moderate snarkiness, which I enjoyed and hope continues in the rest of the books. It's clear Harry Dresden is modeled after the 1930s and 40s detectives, and like those detectives, he has sexist tendencies. Yes, in that time period most men were clueless, and I can view those novels as reflecting a social norm. Which, oddly enough, brings me back to the first person narrative. Since the story is told from Harry’s point of view, this personality defect could have been a disaster. If there is something that saves the day and makes Harry likable, it's the smack downs the other characters give him for being a sexist. His other positive qualities overshadow this defect. He is after all a knight in tarnished armor. When all is said and done, I like Storm Front, and I’ll read the rest of the series. I’d better get busy because there are 15 books and several short stories.

The book is pure entertainment, nothing deep, and fast-paced. It's a quick read and great escapism. The book is both standalone and an introduction to the world of Harry Dresden. Other books in the series add to the world building and characters, once introduced, tend to pop up in future books as well. At the same time, each story is complete in itself. Fun, with no compulsion to read the next one. This is a series you leave and come back to when you're in the mood.

This was just an amazing and pleasant surprise. Not really the book I would have chosen, hadn't it been from a fantasy booktuber whom I admire so much. All this coming from me, so much into cozy mysteries and classics... This is a detective-wizard in Chicago, year 2000, advertised on the yellow pages, a true gentleman, witty, resourceful and getting himself into so much trouble. This is action-packed, humour-packed, so much fun !

The only bad thing about giving this book a 5-star rating is that it'll be impossible to give the next ones more. This book is a 5, and the series just gets better after! Rereading them before the new one comes out.

Harry Dresden bedient viele Klischees des abgetakelten Privatdetektivs eines Film Noir. Das kann, je nach Natur des Lesers, entweder ein Plus- oder ein Minuspunkt sein. Für Fans dieses Filmgenres mag das entsprechende Setting in The Dresden Files nicht ganz authentisch wirken oder zu oberflächlich behandelt werden, doch glücklicherweise bietet Storm Front (Sturmnacht) einiges mehr als nur einen weiteren Detektivroman nach Schema F. Die Hauptmerkmale des Buchs sind schnell erklärt: ein notorisch abgebrannter Magier-Detektiv in einer Welt wie der unseren, mit dem Unterschied, dass Magie real ist und Feen, Trolle, Vampire und andere Gestalten Seite an Seite mit den Menschen leben. Oft gehört, oft versucht, hat mancher Autor ein passables Ergebnis erreicht. Doch Harry Dresden dürfte der Vater aller ermittelnden Magier sein. Der Autor, Jim Butcher, schafft es, aus diesen nicht unbekannten Zutaten ein erstaunlich gut funktionierendes und stimmiges Gefüge zu machen. Zu verdanken ist dies u.a. einer Kombination aus interessanten Charakteren, einem dichten Plot und einem flotten, erfrischend unterhaltsamen Schreibstil. Die übernatürlichen Aspekte des Romans werden zwar mit Liebe zum Detail, aber nicht ausufernd langweilig geschildert. Kurz gesagt: Dieses Buch ist dreckig, blutig, absurd komisch, einfach gestrickt und macht schlichtweg süchtig. Die Seiten von Storm Front fliegen also nur so dahin, mit viel trockenem Humor, rasanter Action und einem unglaublich sympathischen, fesselnden Hauptcharakter. Harry Dresden möchte eigentlich nur eins: sein Leben leben, seine Rechnungen bezahlen können und seine magischen Kräfte auf legale Weise benutzen. Mit seinen magischen Eskapaden und einer nicht ganz sauberen Vorgeschichte jedoch ist er, trotz seiner gelegentlichen Feigheit, ein Unikat in der Masse der Detektive. Harry ist der altmodische Typ Mann, der die Jungfrau in Nöten vor dem Drachen rettet, der die Unschuldigen vor dem Unheil beschützt, weil er das für seine Pflicht hält, auch wenn er ahnt, dass er dafür keinen angemessenen Dank bekommen wird. Altmodisch sind auch seine Ausrüstungsgegenstände, denn mit der modernen Technik steht er gezwungenermaßen auf Kriegsfuß. Magie und Elektronik, nein, das harmoniert ganz und gar nicht, da brennt auch der beste CD-Player durch. Was diese Figur so richtig sympathisch macht, ist die Tatsache, dass sie viele gegensätzliche, aber sehr authentische Eigenschaften in sich vereint. Auf der einen Seite ist Harry der absolut selbstbewusste, stolze und gelehrte Magier und auf der anderen Seite ist er in mehrfacher Hinsicht menschlich und fehlbar, ungeschickt, tollpatschig und manchmal einfach nur dumm (und er weiß es in diesen Momenten selbst). Harry Dresden ist als Protagonist komplex genug, um eine ganze Serie an ihm aufzuhängen, mit einem ironischen bis selbstironischen Humor, der dafür sorgt, dass das Buch nicht zu ernsthaft wird. So kommt es auch vor, dass er seine teils durchaus ernsten Konflikte mit köstlichem Galgenhumor kommentiert. Die Art, wie Dresden seine Welt dabei als Ich-Erzähler beschreibt, erlebt und mit ihr interagiert, ist so selbstverständlich und die Beschreibungen wirken derart gewöhnlich, dass man als Leser keine andere Wahl hat, als ihm zu glauben. Das wirkt trotz der magischen Schwerpunkte echt, lebendig und geradezu natürlich. Storm Front ist nur der erste Teil einer umfangreichen Serie, das Buch schließt die Haupthandlung aber ohne Beanstandungen ab. Wer nun ein Kribbeln in den Fingern verspürt, sich den ersten Band anzueignen, aber kein Fan von Cliffhangern ist, darf also getrost aufatmen. Storm Front lässt dennoch genügend Geheimnisse offen, um neugierig auf den nächsten Band zu machen. Es mag kein besonders tiefgründiger Roman sein, aber er ist ein großes Lesevergnügen mit Spannung und vielen Lachern.

very good series