Book: Storm Front
Author: Jim Butcher
Series: Book 1 of The Dresden Files
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This review contains no significant spoilers for the book in question.
Harry Dresden is a Private Investigator in Chicago with legendarily bad luck, a penchant for snark, and a weakness for damsels in distress. Oh, he’s also a wizard—yes, that kind of wizard. He’s often found with a staff, a blasting rod (he’d never call it a wand—he’s way too macho for that), and a pentacle necklace through which he channels various magics in order to do his job and pay the bills.
In his debut novel Storm Front, Jim Butcher leans heavily on classic detective noir tropes, melding them with fantastic elements to create a fascinating, gritty world in which his protagonist (Harry) must help the police by hunting down a criminal using magic in the most twisted way: to kill from afar by ripping the hearts from peoples’ chests.
This book rocks. This series (currently at 15 books with two more being released this year) is among my absolute favorites. Period. I can only recommend it. This is urban fantasy at its very best—I have yet to read another series that so perfectly encapsulates what I’m looking for when I think of fantasy in a modern setting. The long and short of it is this: if you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural, this is right up your alley.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this might be just the ticket for some more mature reading—I’ll get into the content before I’m done with this review and you can decide for yourself if it’s suitable to your tastes. I’ll say this: in my book, by every conceivable metric, The Dresden Files beats Harry Potter.
The Background
As I understand it (and I may be over reducing this), Jim Butcher was in a writing course while attending college and was challenged by a professor to change his mindset about writing and “write something to formula.” He thought that advice was dumb and wanted to prove his professor wrong. So, he started building the world of Harry Dresden.
Sometimes, formula and structure really give life to an idea. He wrote two novels fairly quickly and, after some legwork and elbow grease, sold them both. Those were the first two installments in The Dresden Files.
From there, the series took off and grew into the genre-defining thing it is today. Due to some personal struggles, there hasn’t been a new book in the series since 2014. This is why I’m so excited about getting books 16 and 17 this year—Butcher is my dealer and I’m going through a years-long withdrawal.
I could talk about this series for pages, but I’ll limit this post as much as I can to the first book. With these new additions to the series coming out this year, I’m on my way through a reread (my third or fourth time through these books) in preparation and I feel compelled to spread the good word.
So, I love it. But is it right for you? Let’s talk about it.
The Writing
Jim Butcher is a mad genius. Storm Front is told from the first-person perspective of Harry Dresden and he’s the reason to love the book. He’s self-aware, sassy, genuinely funny, and a real hero—Harry just does what he thinks is right. He’s no Mary Sue, either; Butcher is careful to give Harry real and lasting consequences for any mistakes he makes. He’s powerful and competent but frequently ends up in situations where his power isn’t as important as his ability to improvise.
Harry is surprisingly practical for a wizard and does things like carry a handgun because magic isn’t as easy as just shooting the bad guy, most times. He’s incredibly likable and you’ll find yourself zooming through pages of his narration because he’s just so easy to read.
This isn’t high literature. The prose is what I’d term “invisible”—it’s highly likely that you’ll never really stop to consider the beauty of a sentence in Storm Front. For this genre, it’s perfect. Storm Front is a snappy read with hilarious dialogue, incredible action, and a great pace.
This is Butcher’s first-ever novel, but it reads really well regardless. He only gets better from here.
The Story
Harry gets pulled in a couple different directions by clients and the police as the story unfolds. I won’t spoil anything here, so feel free to keep reading.
Storm Front is, at times, a little bit predictable. Is it ever really a surprise at the end of an episode of Law and Order when the bad guy gets put in jail, even if it doesn’t happen exactly the way you might assume? What I’m driving at here is that the predictability of Storm Front doesn’t break it.
This isn’t a perfect novel, but it is one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read. If you like mysteries and crime stories, give this one a gander. The mystery that unfolds throughout the book is pretty tantalizing and gives the audience just enough to keep them guessing. The pacing is pretty good and you won’t get bored.
I don’t know that you’ll reach the end and feel floored by any major twists, but that’s okay for this book. The journey and the read are fun enough without a twist.
The Content
Here’s what might run some people off and I completely respect that:
This book can be graphic. The violence and action are pretty intense and there are horror elements. While I wouldn’t call it outright gory, there are moments of unsettling description that you definitely won’t find in Harry Potter. As I said above, the driving factor in this book is a person murdering others by using magic to tear their hearts out of their chests.
Language-wise, this book is PG-13. There are a few hard swear words, but more of the mild ones. If language is a turn-off, this book might be a little much, but I never felt it entered the realm of being overbearing.
Sexual content is present in Storm Front. There are no real sex scenes as such, but there’s at least talk of prostitution, an orgy, and sex acts. There are scenes of nudity, though it’s never described in anything I’d call real detail. If this is at all a deal-breaker, I’d say this book isn’t for you. As the series progresses, it remains pretty close to this same level, but there are a few extremes. It never becomes something so present that I felt it was pornographic.
The Characters
I’ve mentioned a bit about Harry as a character above, but there’s more. There’s so much more.
Harry is unparalleled in his use of sarcasm and his dry tone permeates Storm Front. He lives alone, save for his 30-pound cat named Mister and a perverted talking skull he keeps in his basement named Bob. He’s bad with women—mostly due to inexperience and self-sabotage—but chivalrous to a fault. He describes himself as paranoid but is quick to point out that just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
But really, I think Harry should be defined by his worldview that magic is the force of creation. He sees everything as connected and important. He’s good, inherently, but he has rough edges. Still, he does the right thing, even when it hurts—sometimes especially then, as his desire for self-sacrifice is a bit overdeveloped.
Aside from Harry, we get introduced to a number of really cool characters. Butcher is great at building people who feel real—they react to situations the way I feel I would, they speak like real people, and they have real motivations and complex inner selves. For something that seems so pulpy and fun, the depth of character in the series is amazing.
In Storm Front, this is still coming to fruition. The characters here are still really cool and have fascinating potential depths—people like five foot nothing Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, Harry’s friend and liaison with Chicago PD who is also an aikido champion or “Gentleman Johnny” Marcone, the head of Chicago’s organized crime who threatens our protagonist with a smile, has the soul of a predator, and reminds Harry of a high school basketball coach rather than a hardened criminal. There’s a whole world to be explored and a whole mess of characters to meet in this huge saga and Storm Front starts us on that journey. It only gets better from here, and it’s still pretty good in this entry.
The World
Vampires come in a few different flavors, but in Storm Front we get to meet the scary bat-like creatures who masquerade as human and entice their prey to let them feed through use of a narcotic saliva. There are fairies, werewolves, trolls, lesser gods, ghosts, and a bevy of other things living out there, largely unknown to the human race. And then there are wizards (if they practice good magic, like Harry) and warlocks (if they’re using magic for evil). Wizards have a sort of internal government that oversees them, institutes laws, and puts down warlocks when they pop up.
There’s a lot to this world and Storm Front just gives us the first dips of our toes into its waters.
Should you read Storm Front?
Well, I recommend it with a caveat: if the content sounds like something you can’t stomach, don’t sweat it. I love this book—I love this series. As a whole, there are real, human moments to be had and lessons to learn from reading these. There’s also a ton of fun here. If you’re on the fence, give it a try—especially because this first book is on Kindle for $2.99. Trust me, that’s 3 bucks well spent.
If you like fantasy, try this series out. If you like detective stories, definitely read Storm Front. There’s something for you here.
I’ll also add this:
The first time I read Storm Front, I adored it. I’d have probably given it at least 4 stars out of 5 (and that’s a really good score, for me). It’s a solid book.
But . . . It’s close to being the worst book in the series. This is kind of like Parks and Rec or The Office: get through the first season and it becomes absolutely brilliant.
The upside is that the first installment of The Dresden Files is much, much better than something like the first season of The Office. The only reason I bring this up is to contextualize the rating I’m going to give this book: it’s better than the 3.5 stars I’m granting it. It is. But, I can’t tear my opinions of its context to the rest of the series away from my reading of it now. It’s a much weaker book than what the rest of the series becomes.
And really, that’s amazing. Because this book is still so much fun. If you’re a Kindle reader, go spend 3 bucks right now and do yourself the favor of picking up this wonderful book.
My Rating: ★★★½