⇒ [PDF] Free Storm Front Dresden Files Jim Butcher Books

Storm Front Dresden Files Jim Butcher Books

Download As PDF : Storm Front Dresden Files Jim Butcher Books

Storm Front Dresden Files Jim Butcher Books

With the fifteenth volume of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series about to be released (just over a fortnight away as I write these words), I thought it was an appropriate time to reread the series. And to write a few words about it. I haven’t followed the series since its inception; I was finally persuaded to read the series a few years ago, and after reading part of Storm Front, I abandoned it and went to read something else. Two years ago, I finally sat down and read through the entire series and it’s a series I really enjoy.

Storm Front, on the other hand, is not a great introduction to the series. It isn’t actively bad, but neither did it grab me and say “This is a writer to watch!” What you have is a fairly standard mystery novel: two people have been murdered and Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire, is brought in on the case.

The actual mystery is interesting and moderately well-handled. More interesting is the world-building on display. Harry is a pariah amongst Wizard-kind, due to something undisclosed that happened in his youth, and is watched over suspiciously by the Wizard Council. The world in general does not admit to the paranormal being real, and only two “normal” characters – a policewoman and a journalist – know that Harry is not a fraud. There are vampires, one of whom operates a brothel, and faeries.

However, these things are but lightly touched upon. The book feels moderately short – at 372 pages in the paperback edition, it isn’t really that short – but you only get glimpses of the world that Jim Butcher creates in the subsequent novels. More importantly, those glimpses are rarely engaging. For instance, the revelation of the true form of vampires feels thrown away; it’s incidental to the plot of the book. It’s just something creepy.

Perhaps most problematically, the characters didn’t engage. Harry Dresden reads as a person just getting by, lacking money and, more importantly, friends. Without those friends, there aren’t the interactions that the book really needs. Dresden will come out of his shell, but his shell makes this book a moderately tough read.

It doesn’t take that long for the series to really come alight, but Storm Front is much less than what comes later.


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Storm Front Dresden Files Jim Butcher Books Reviews

Well, I think I expected too much. I have two friends that love reading as much as I do and they thought I'd just love this entire series. It took me until about 70% in to start to like it. I thought it was very slow at first. If I like a book it takes me a day or two to finish it and I can't stop thinking about it. I fell asleep reading this several nights. I'm guessing the other books get far better because this is a well-loved series. But sadly it didn't hold me enough to continue.
I like to try to picture what I read as if it were a movie. If this were a movie the monsters/demons would be laughable. They were in my head.
That's what I get for trusting friends...lol!
BTW, no matter what many other parents say, I personally do NOT think this is kid appropriate. Maybe older teens. It does have sex as a large part of the plot, however, it is not graphic about it. But parents need to parent and stop letting kids raise themselves.
I knew going into this that I'd be entering a longterm relationship with Harry Dresden. I was willing, but skeptical. Even with the image of Paul Blackthorne firmly planted in my subconscious, I knew from experience that commitment requires more than a pretty face.

Little did I know how right I was.

You see . . . longterm relationships are WORK. And often, the things you love the most about another person are the same things that enable that person to drive you NUTS.

I love how realistically flawed Harry is.

I hate how realistically flawed Harry is.

He gets himself into a tight spot, so he rationalizes

"It wasn't as though I was actually going to be doing any black magic, I told myself. I was just going to be figuring out how it was done. There was a difference. I was helping the police in an investigation, nothing more."

But then he immediately calls his own bluff

"Yeah, right. And maybe one of these days I'd go to an art museum and become well rounded."

He's also incredibly self-aware. He knows his weaknesses as well as his strengths, and he presents both sides very matter-of-factly. It was refreshing. There was no false modesty or self-deprecation. No melancholy search for affirmation. Harry Dresden just lays it all out in plain site, do with it what you will.

But that same openness allows you to see (over and over again) how hapless he is when it comes to the fairer sex . . .

You know . . . for an self-proclaimed, socially awkward wizard with very little relationship experience, Harry Dresden finds himself surrounded by beautiful, flirtatious women with uncommon frequency . . . *rolls eyes*

But then he gleefully reveals his boyish, mischievous side by the sheer delight he takes at pulling one over on someone who has underestimated him. *rolls eyes again, but this time while grinning*

One second I wanted to smack him on the back of the head, and the next, I wanted to ruffle his hair and kiss him on the cheek.

So that's Harry.

There's also Bob the (peeping) Skull, Toot the pizza-loving faery, Mister the cat, Mac the surly pubkeep, Murphy the hard case female cop, and glimpses into possible future interactions with a literal faery godmother and the mysteriously intimidating White Council.

The plot was . . . eh . . . *shrugs* I'm giving it a pass this time, b/c I'm pretty sure a lot of groundwork was laid for future installments, and while this was a fairly entertaining read, it was also fairly predictable, and Bad Guy was just a stock power hungry Bad Guy.

On the world-building front, we were given a lot of hints, but nothing substantial, but that was okay, b/c so far, we've only been in the real world, so as much as I'd like to know more about the Nevernever (RIGHT NOW), there's plenty of time for that when we get there.

Overall, I definitely see this series being worth it (and not just b/c if I read this one, I will have read every, single one of the Big Deal UF series . . . which may or may not be a personal goal . . . *shrugs noncommittally*). Harry Dresden is a realistically likable character who I have a suspicion will turn out to be quite formidable, and Butcher lays a promising foundation with this first installment. Will it live up to my expectations? Only one way to find out . . .
As a mystery novel, this book was engaging– the mystery presented was well-written and cleverly revealed. But the writing disappointed me. Character development is scant (at points it read like badly written fan fiction), and the author indulges in lengthy descriptions of each female character's body and facial features and constant commentary on their attractiveness. Practically no appearance of a woman in the novel came without an evaluation of her sex appeal. Each woman fits neatly into a male fantasy trope (the secretly vulnerable "tough girl," the coquettish vamp, the victimized good wife, etc.) and ultimately needs to be rescued by the male protagonist. (YES, all of the women need rescuing! And NO, a woman never rescues a man.) No amount of good mystery writing can redeem this book from that persistent ick factor.
With the fifteenth volume of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series about to be released (just over a fortnight away as I write these words), I thought it was an appropriate time to reread the series. And to write a few words about it. I haven’t followed the series since its inception; I was finally persuaded to read the series a few years ago, and after reading part of Storm Front, I abandoned it and went to read something else. Two years ago, I finally sat down and read through the entire series and it’s a series I really enjoy.

Storm Front, on the other hand, is not a great introduction to the series. It isn’t actively bad, but neither did it grab me and say “This is a writer to watch!” What you have is a fairly standard mystery novel two people have been murdered and Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire, is brought in on the case.

The actual mystery is interesting and moderately well-handled. More interesting is the world-building on display. Harry is a pariah amongst Wizard-kind, due to something undisclosed that happened in his youth, and is watched over suspiciously by the Wizard Council. The world in general does not admit to the paranormal being real, and only two “normal” characters – a policewoman and a journalist – know that Harry is not a fraud. There are vampires, one of whom operates a brothel, and faeries.

However, these things are but lightly touched upon. The book feels moderately short – at 372 pages in the paperback edition, it isn’t really that short – but you only get glimpses of the world that Jim Butcher creates in the subsequent novels. More importantly, those glimpses are rarely engaging. For instance, the revelation of the true form of vampires feels thrown away; it’s incidental to the plot of the book. It’s just something creepy.

Perhaps most problematically, the characters didn’t engage. Harry Dresden reads as a person just getting by, lacking money and, more importantly, friends. Without those friends, there aren’t the interactions that the book really needs. Dresden will come out of his shell, but his shell makes this book a moderately tough read.

It doesn’t take that long for the series to really come alight, but Storm Front is much less than what comes later.