Read: January 2009 (and review mostly written then, too)
Title: Storm Front (Book 1 of the Dresden Files)
Author: Jim Butcher
ISBN:
0451457811Binding: Paperback
For years, several of my friends have exhorted me to read the Dresden Files novels. I finally gave in and I'm not sure if I'm sorry or not. Before I get into that, let me give you the background and plot summary.
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a wizard in modern Chicago and, unlike virtually all of his brethren, he's not trying to hide it. In fact, he's gone so far as to open a business and advertise in the yellow pages. It's not a gig that pays well, since most people don't believe in magic and he refuses to make love potions or perform at kids' parties. Pretty much the only thing keeping him in beer and nachos is the occasional consultation job for the Special Investigations (ie, weird shit) unit of the Chicago PD. And this time, they have a doozy. A mob guy and a high-class escort have been found dead in a nearby hotel, their coitus interruptused when their hearts literally exploded out of their chests. He loses his lunch, but takes the job of figuring out what happened and who did it. Almost immediately after, he gets another job from a woman who wants him to find her missing husband (he doesn't figure it'll take long). Of course, both jobs are interconnected - as is the new drug that's hitting the streets, giving people second sight and consequently driving them completely insane.
Storm Front is Butcher's first published novel and I've been told it was created as an exercise in use of cliches for a writing class he was taking. Unfortunately, it shows. There's something you run into from time to time in books and movies (usually horror or thrillers) when the characters do something extremely dumb for the sole purpose of advancing the plot. They split up "to cover more ground" or go alone into the unlit basement or leave their weapons in another room, and what they're doing is so manifestly moronic that the reader or audience shouts imprecations at the book or screen. I call this "The Screaming Stupids", and Butcher's characters repeatedly suffer from 'em throughout the whole book. It doesn't really help a lot that the characters realize that they're about to do something dumb and then still go ahead and do it. If you're aware enough to have your main character think something like "this will probably kill me for no good reason", then you're aware enough to maybe come up with something that isn't the spiritual equivalent of having your character shave with a chainsaw because he doesn't want to admit he's run out of razor blades. Just for emphasis, AAAArrgh!
Regardless, the idea is interesting enough that I'll stick with it for at least a few more books. Hell, I kept reading Laurell K. Hamilton's
Anita Blake books (pre sexy covers) up through
Obsidian Butterfly before giving up. Also, I love Butcher's
Codex Alera stuff, so I know his writing gets better with time. I just hope it happens soon.
