#BookReview ‘Storm Front’ by Jim Butcher

About the book…

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago’s first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out that ‘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 whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn’t just slow, it 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.

The latest Harry Dresden novel, ‘Peace Talks’ , is due out on July 16th from Orbit, and I am getting excited by re-reading them all in time-ambitious, bold and given my recent starts and stops, possibly foolhardy, but that’s me!

I started reading the Dresden Files quite some time ago, my edition of ‘Storm Front’ is 20 years old….yikes!
And from the very beginning, Jim Butcher has become one of those writers whose books you pre-order, there are a select number of them where I don’t need to read the synopsis. A new Dresden? I am there!

In this series opener, not only are we introduced to first person narrator, Harry Dresden, we are brought into the world he inhabits as a specialist police consultant on supernatural issues.

”Those who deal in magic learn to see the world in a slightly different light than everyone else.You gain a perspective you have never considered before,a way of thinking that would just have never have occurred to you without exposure to the things a wizard sees and hears.”

The issue under investigation in ‘Storm Front’ is the gruesome, and decidedly unnatural,ripping out of a couple’s hearts, whilst in flagrante delicto. Called in to assist by Detective Karrin Murphy, they quickly establish that someone, or something using dark magic for nefarious gains, is at work.

Add in a mob boss in the form of the unforgettable-and impossible to ignore-‘Gentleman’ Johnny Marcone,Bob, a Middle Ages relic trapped in a rune decorated skull, Dresden’s Blue Beetle car,Mister, Harry’s tomcat, stir in fairy tales, folklore and you get the beginning of something special.

From the fairy rings used to summon Toot, a character who always falls for Harry’s literal honey traps, to the use of Lake Michigan as a focal point of a gathering storm, this is a universe into which you feel welcomed .

Magic exists and is bound by rules and regulations as the world it inhabits exists alongside the world of humans. Vampires are real, magic is not used for birthday parties. The White Council, brought into ‘Storm Front’ in the form of Morgan, Harry’s ‘Warden’ who seems more than willing to kill him for the slightest infringement, represents the higher echelons of magic society. Mostly they exist to provide a union for the magical amongst us, and to protect humans from those who would use magic for ill gotten gains.However, it is a fascinating insight into the organisation of worlds away from ours.

So, we have two mysterious deaths, the hiring of Harry to find a missing husband, the suspicion of the White Council that Harry is the killer, and a mob boss who won’t take no for an answer.

The world building is natural and feels like it has always been that way, like a pair of worn in shoes that fit just right. It dips a little into Harry’s background, but doesn’t dive too far, so your interest is piqued for further instalments.

Harry walks a fine line between unravelling the use of black magic without using black magic himself, the wrath of White Council on one side, and the vampire Red Court on the other.

How will he get out of this ?

As you read, you begin to see that although advertising himself as Chicago’s only wizard for hire brings nothing but trouble, Harry is so immersed in this world that he cannot say no.

And by the end of ‘Storm Front’, neither will you.

About the author….

Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.

Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990′s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.

All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.

Links-http://www.jim-butcher.com/

Twitter @longshotauthor @orbitbooks