Saturday, June 4, 2016

Jim Butcher: Storm Front


After having watched the Dresden Files on Syfy a decade ago, I decided to give the books a try. Storm Front is the first in Jim Butcher's series.

Harry Dresden is a wizard, who also happens to be detective. Why one would want to be the other, I'd never guess, but it sure makes for interesting reading. It provides the noir feel mixed with fantasy, featuring vampires, fairies, demons, ghosts, and even a guild of wizards.

The book is nonstop, giving no time for boring bits. It has a perfect mixture of humor and action. It contains a full cast of characters, but don't expect too much in the way of character development, as seems normal in noir novels.

Butcher provides a very imaginative backdrop for an exciting case to solve. He goes into great detail to explain how the magic works, and often why it doesn't. However, I struggle to picture consistency in the rules. It seems that the characters are either too powerful at times, and impotent at others, much like those alien battle scenes we see in several movies where the good guys would be dead in a matter of minutes, but somehow seem to last hours. Then again, this has never really bothered me before - just a funny observation.

If you're looking for fun light reading that'll give you both noir and fantasy, then read this book. I promise an enjoyable read.

No comments: