JIM. BUTCHER

STORM FRONT. BK # 1

High Fidelity

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.

Maybe my values are outdated, but I come from an old school of thought. I think that men ought to treat women like something other than just shorter, weaker men with breasts. Try and convict me if I’m a bad person for thinking so. I enjoy treating a woman like a lady, opening doors for her, paying for shared meals, giving flowers—all that sort of thing.

Have you ever been approached by a grim-looking man, carrying a naked sword with a blade about ten miles long in his hand, in the middle of the night, beneath the stars on the shores of Lake Michigan? If you have, seek professional help. If you have not, then believe you me, it can scare the bejeezus out of you.

I took off my duster and got out my heavy flannel robe before I went down into the lab. That’s why wizards wear robes, I swear to you. It’s just too damned cold in the lab to go without one.

I snorted, and started some water to boiling over one of the burners. “You’re supposed to be a spirit of intellect. I don’t understand why you’re obsessed with sex.”

Bob’s voice got defensive. “It’s an academic interest, Harry.”

The only things I had clean were more sweats and another T-shirt, this one proclaiming in bold letters over a little cartoon graveyard, “EASTER HAS BEEN CANCELED—THEY FOUND THE BODY.”

Jim Butcher

Book One of The Dresden Files

Storm Front

Bria

I love the plot and the writing, but I don't care for the misogyny. I know this was published in 2000, so I didn't take away as many stars as I would have if this were recently published.

Varjak Karga

'The Dresden Files is my favourite series ever' Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind ***THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING SERIES*** Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Harry's business as a private investigator has been quiet lately - so when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, he's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. Magic - it can get a guy killed. The first case file of Harry Dresden, private investigator and wizard, Storm Front is the first novel in the Sunday Times bestselling Dresden Files series, perfect for fans of Supernatural and urban fantasy fiction by authors such as Benedict Jacka and Ben Aaronovitch. 'Butcher's storytelling is satisfying on a level that's bone-deep' io9 'One of the most reliable post-Buffy supernatural thriller series on offer' Time Out 'Dresden has a vitality that few urban fantasy heroes can match' SFX The Dresden Files novels begin with STORM FRONT, and continue with FOOL MOON, GRAVE PERIL, SUMMER KNIGHT, DEATH MASKS, BLOOD RITES, DEAD BEAT, PROVEN GUILTY, WHITE NIGHT, SMALL FAVOUR, TURN COAT, CHANGES, GHOST STORY, COLD DAYS and SKIN GAME. For more of Harry Dresden's adventures, check out the Dresden Files short story collections SIDE JOBS and BRIEF CASES.

The Dresden Files, Book One

Luke Harkness

I have a new series to enjoy!

I absolutely loved this first book in the series. I don't tend to like Urban modern-day fantasy, but there was something about this that made it feel fantastical enough that it didn't feel like "yeah, someone would notice that". 

I like Harry as a character and I am a big fan of other supporting characters also. I do wish there was more of a group helping out as it leaves little in the way of relationships to grow, bond or break. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Zahra

I loved every second spent reading this book. It was brilliant and highly entertaining. All I know is I need to get to the second book ASAP!

Aaron J Mitchell

If Harry Potter grew up, hit the bottle and all his friends died he would have ended up like Harry Dresden. Tone perfect urban fantasy. Like Sam Spade with a magic wand. I love it.

Denaiir

This was very middle-of-the-road for me, mostly not captivating but well-written, probably just not for me, or I just wasn't in the mood? But I am not interested enough by the character to continue with the series. 
I love mysteries but in this book the plot was not entertaining, Harry's life was boring, I felt like not a lot was going on and I just got bored. 
The audio version did not agree with me, which made me super sad because I love James Marsters, but I realized after a few chapters that I could hear him breathe and swallow and it really took away from my enjoyment of the book.

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Harry is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get . . . interesting. Magic - it can get a guy killed.

Rebecca Lysaght

I read this in a day while down with a cold and I would like to attribute my feeling better at the end of this day to having read Storm Front. 
Honestly, this is such a fun read, it made me feel like a kid getting just so absorbed into a story. Urban fantasy doesn't usually do it for me but this just checked all my boxes. Cool magic, fun characters, enough darkness to make them feel real but not too much. Police procedural with magic done right. I also loved how much we're not told about how the world works. Harry explains enough that you can follow but still ravenously curious for more. Definitely making shelf space for the rest.

Anyaconda

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook. Even my partner enjoyed it and he's the picky one when it comes to fantasy. 😜

James Marsters

Storm Front CD (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

Nast

Abdullah

ok so, this was really fun. this book has an urban setting with a protagonist who is a charismatic wizard and also a detective. harry dresden was such a fun character to read about. the book has a mystery which was gripping and i liked the world. even though, most of the stuff the book has is what we've seen before in most fantasy medium, this book had a nice spin to it with an engrossing story. i think the only problem i had was i wanted more complexity from the characters and i want to explore more of harry's magical part of the world, both of which i think we'll see more in the other books of dresden files. i also really liked the writing (which was very easy to read) and the mild humor in the book. in conclusion, this book had me interested enough that i want to read the next book sooner i thought i will. 

⭐🌟⭐🌟

James Winduss

Honestly, I enjoyed this book. I can see why people criticise the main character/author for being chauvinistic and misogynistic and I’m not saying they aren’t valid criticisms, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the novel. Every character has to start somewhere and I don’t believe that with 17 books in this series there wouldn’t be some kind of evolution/further development of Harry Dresden’s character. You also have to take into consideration that fact that the novel is written in the first person, meaning you have an unfiltered access into the mind of Harry Dresden. Does he say/do misogynistic things? Sure. Is he a bit of a chauvinist? Well, yes sometimes. Does the author also create a somewhat complex magic system, include other interesting characters and overall write a solid supernatural/fantastical whodunnit? Absolutely.

farah

decent debut novel. Its pretty YA and is far too straight forward a novel in my opinion. My usual preference are series like Malazan or The Black Company. 

I've heard it gets a lot better after the first 1-2 books though, so I might continue. I am not in love with the character of Dresden but he has potential.

Beatriz Aguiar

Had a slow start but it picked up towards the middle and after that I was hooked! I need to read the second one stat

Ryan LaFerney

Take your standard noir detective with a sarcastic frame of mind and a weakness for helping damsels in distress, add in wizardry, vampires, werewolves, talking skulls, pizza loving fairies and all things paranormal and this is what you get. It might not be original but its tons of fun. Storm Front's story is a delirious mishmash of noir and cop show clichés, by way of epic fantasy, and set-dressed by the art department of Hammer Horror, which means it was totally written for me. I look forward to reading more in the The Dresden Files series.

8/1/2021: Re-read. This series and this book is still highly entertaining and a great quick read.

Sally Salinas

This is about a wizard private investigator... Harry Dresden. This was good and fast paced. i want to continue reading this series but there's 15 books out uuuuugggghhghg....But already starting on the second book..lol. Really did enjoy! There's mystery, magic, potions, bad wizards, good wizards, cops, humans, demons etc. how can you not enjoy!

Jacalyn Boggs

Don't read it. Skip this one. Watch the episode from the Sci-Fi channel. Jump straight to book 2! That's when the story gets good! And it's all uphill from there!

I read this in a day while down with a cold and I would like to attribute my feeling better at the end of this day to having read Storm Front. 

Honestly, this is such a fun read, it made me feel like a kid getting just so absorbed into a story. Urban fantasy doesn't usually do it for me but this just checked all my boxes. Cool magic, fun characters, enough darkness to make them feel real but not too much. Police procedural with magic done right. I also loved how much we're not told about how the world works. Harry explains enough that you can follow but still ravenously curious for more. Definitely making shelf space for the rest.

sophia n

this was a super fun read. i want to get it out of the way upfront: if you can't handle reading a character's narrative voice that's coming from some tropey (and arguably inexperienced/weaker writing) places, plus just some general naiveté and mildly leaning into toxic masculinity/heteronormative thinking, then this book just ... isn't for you? there's a few lines that i feel taken out of context, read a little cringey. and yes, it was written in 2000, so we could say it's a product of it's time (which it is) but it didn't ping my radar of Actively Misogynistic Beliefs for me, frankly. there's just, imho, way more nuance here. the author never crosses any kind of line that felt like it was actually endorsing hatred against women? but there's ... a huge grey area, which tbh reflects a whole lot of reality, and if you can't see that or be okay with that, just avoid adult fiction man idek what to tell you

cool okay now that we've cleared that up let's move on.

i'm actually on the fence between 3 and 4 stars, but i'm rounding down to 3 because while i think it's a really solid installment in paranormal urban fantasy, i think it's also just technically a bit loose. plus a number of things about the world are introduced but there's almost zero infodumping (which some people might love the absence of?) but i missed it. i'm assuming we get a lot more as the series goes on, which is totally okay, it's just not my favorite. but it's also incredibly entertaining and non-stop energy, which i appreciated.

i actually tried to read this book when i was 18 or 19 i think, whenever the tv show dropped, bc i watched the pilot and really loved the premise/setup. i'm pretty sure i got halfway through the book but never finished? and looking back now, it kind of makes sense, because i think i was too young to really identify or feel any kind of connection to dresden and the world set up here. but now at 30 plus years cough cough, it's hitting me so different, and i'm so glad i finally decided to just give it a try again. i'll definitely be continuing with the series. also as someone who lives in chicago, i really enjoyed the added layer of imagining all of this happening in my actual city. so that was fun for me specifically, and that's all that matters lmaoooo

Rating: 3.5 

It was pretty good in the beginning, I felt like it lost me a bit in the middle and I was a bit bored during some parts. Harry Dresden is funny and a witty wizard. I may read the rest of them in the future. The story was a bit predictable when I got to the second half of the book. It was a lot of words but not much action. Not bad but not my favorite.

Amelia Lin

Witty and cute, but a bit too slick and light on the actual plot for my tastes. :) It's a fun and easy read but misjudged what type of book it would be--was looking for something a bit meatier.

Adam

The first of The Dresden Files series draws you into the world of Harry Dresden, a wizard in modern day Chicago who advertises his wizardly ways in the yellow pages and classified. What's involved with being a wizard now a days? Turns out it involves solving mysteries for the police that can't be explained by science as well as pursuing the occasional contract that walks through your door.

If this sounds a bit like Angel, the old WB show, well you'd be right. It's a whole lot like that. Funny enough, the audiobook is read by James Marsters, Spike from Buffy/Angel! Being a short one, it's worth reading a few. I'd still prefer Caves of Steel for the overall mystery side of things, but this was the first one in the series. The following ones were supposedly after Butcher got better at writing. Either way, a solid beginning.

Maggie Gordon

Dear UF community: WTF?

The Dresden novels are a powerhouse in urban fantasy. There are fifteen books in the series, almost innumerable short stories, and at least two more forthcoming novel releases. Butcher has received a Hugo nomination, and the Dresden books are on countless recommend lists. So it was quite a shock to pick up Storm Front, the first in the series, and discover that I disliked it. A lot. 

Now, first books in a long ongoing series often suck. That's just a weird fact of life in UF. Storm Front, however, is really weak. By the end of the book, I knew almost nothing about the world, have determined that the characters are all frustratingly brainless, and Butcher has severe problems with pacing. Oh dear...

First up on the list of why I was not a fan of Storm Front... Harry. A lot of UF is first person. Now, I think it's important to recognise that you don't have to like a character to find them interesting and worth listening to. However, first person perspective means you need to be able to tolerate a character because you are with them all the time. And, in this case, Harry is quipping directly at the reader a lot. Harry, unfortunately, isn't interesting, and he's annoying to boot. Butcher makes a lot of newbie author mistakes in having Harry just decide not to think about things so that readers are kept in the dark about stuff that he doesn't want to reveal yet. That's irritating. Worse, Harry has A LOT of thoughts about the women in the series. Specifically about how attractive they are. It's a constant litany of crap from him for the first 60 or so pages, and then whenever he meets a new lady character. I don't want to suggest that he's the worst misogynistic creep in the world. He's not. He never says anything particularly offensive. Just banally offensive. Somehow that's almost worse. 

Harry also doesn't have interesting thoughts. Because Butcher is withholding a lot of information about the world, we don't really get to see him think through his magic (which also means I don't understand it). It's jarring to be so involved in his head then have him come up with an idea he doesn't really think about and pull it off because... bad writing?

The other characters aren't all that engaging either. There's a police officer who Dresden works with, but has to keep secrets from for a variety of dumb reasons. She reacts rather irrationally and ends up being damselled. There's a horribly one-note character that is supposed to be... something akin to Harry's magical parole officer. He exists to be a dangerous thorn in Harry's side. There's a sexy reporter who is sexy. There's a sexy sex worker who dies. And the villain who is a power hungry drug dealer with POWERS. No one has a lot of actual character yet, including Harry. At the end of 350 pages, I expect to know the major players a bit more...

The plot of the book isn't terrible, but it's also nothing special and the pacing feels off. There's almost 100 pages of filler before interesting things start happening, and then scenes start to feel very jumpy at that point and too conveniently tied together. I feel like Butcher either needed to make the overall plot more intricate or condense everything into a novella. 

Normally I would be willing to forgive a lot of faults in a first novel if it gives me something intriguing enough to look forward to. Maybe I love the characters or the world, but I need something to make me want to read the next installment and hope that the author gets better. As it stands, I finished Storm Front with no questions about what happens next. I don't care about what happens to Harry or his friends. Nothing made an impact on me. Alas, I guess this UF series is not for me.

brendan sudol

Wanted to like more than I did. Writing a bit coarse and characters a bit basic. Needs a Hermione.

Brianna

Exactly what you’d expect in a good way.

STORM FRONT. BK # 1

Reviews

Highlights