The Dresden Files: Storm Front

[jetpack_monkey]

Reading novels has been something of an arduous process for me in the past few years. I have so much going on that I can really only grab a page here or there. Even though I'm a fast reader, finishing the book can take forever. It took me something like six months for "A Confederacy of Dunces" (a book which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend heartily).

So, with that in mind, it was a bit of a shock when I finished "Storm Front" the day after I started it. Mind you, during that period I was suffering extreme insomnia and didn't have anything better to do for long stretches of night, but it says a hell of a lot that I chose to read a novel rather than work on my website or watch a movie.

I like Harry Dresden. He's a dick, but he's a dick with a good heart. Butcher has a nice way of summing up Dresden's past without resorting to flashbacks, although some of it does seem overly wordy (and I haven't gotten more than 20 pages into Fool Moon because it seems like he's grafting paragraphs over rather than re-explain backstory with new words, which just annoys the crap out of me).

I especially dug the mythology that Butcher has created. Urban fantasy is a tricky thing and creating a system of magic is even trickier. You inevitably have to borrow from what came before, but the trick is to do it in ways that at least seem novel. Given enough time, I could probably trace each of Butcher's influences to their source, but why bother? He's done such a neat job of creating his own thing out of common household tropes that it'd take all the fun out to dissect it.

The action went along at a good clip and there was rarely a chapter that ended without sparking my interest in the next one. The plot may have been a bit spare and hokey, but Butcher played the part of the magician, always keeping me distracted from the mechanics of the show in favor of the razzle-dazzle.

Plus, Bob the Skull is just a riot (and reminds me a lot of Murray from the Monkey Island games).

Final analysis: I liked the book quite a bit. If I can get past Butcher's incredibly lazy recapping in "Fool Moon", I suspect I'll enjoy that as well.

Comments

[qkellie.livejournal.com]

The recapping is kind of what made me get stalled on the series in later books, because it only seemed to get worse. But Butcher is overall has such a fun prose style, I just tore through those first few books super, super fast.

[crevette.livejournal.com]

I just finished the first book last night. I really did enjoy it.

[kittycat22.livejournal.com]

The recaps can definitely be quite aggravating, but (at least for me) the story is so worth it and just keeps getting better each book. It's amazing how teeny details from Storm Front or Fool Moon get such significance later.

Anyway, I could rave about these books forever, but I will spare you that. ;) I highly recommend continuing on despite the recaps, as they take almost no time at the beginning of the book and are easily scanned past.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think the series really starts to hit its stride the farther you get into it. I was okay with the first book, ambivalent about the second, and then the end of the third book just had such a "Holy fuck!" moment for me that I was hooked. (Note: I read like you watch films, namely, all the freaking time.)

I think he could've done with starting the series at book three, really, except that the "Holy fuck!" moment wouldn't have been quite as good then.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Coming back to this post a year later, I'm 2/3rds of the way through Book 4 and I totally get what you mean.

Freakin' awesome.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that moment at the end of book three where the shit hits the fan just really defines the series for me. It basically defines Dresden's character, puts things in place for every book that follows it -- EVERYTHING comes back to that one night. EVERYTHING. It's the most pivotal moment in the series, in my opinion.

I'm glad you're getting into this. Rachel and I babble on about the series all the time, it'll be nice to have someone to include on the e-mails. =)