Fantasy – Storm Front

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Published April 2000 by ROC: New American Library, New York: 322 pages

ISBN: 978-0-451-45781-3

Set in Chicago, Illinois

Wizards – fiction; Dresden, Harry (fictitious character) – fiction; murder – fiction, magic- fiction, Illinois – fiction,

Fantasy – fiction; Mystery – fiction

Storm Front, Jim Butcher’s first novel, is also the first book in his Dresden Files fantasy series featuring the wizard private eye, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Harry’s father, a stage magician, named Harry after three magicians, Harry Houdini, Harry Blackstone and David Copperfield. (A classmate suggested Butcher should not have used the name “Harry” made so famous by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter character, but I did not find much similarity between the two so I wasn’t bothered by the coincidence.)

Storm Front, an example of Urban Fantasy, is set in dark, bleak modern-day Chicago, Illinois. The streets of Chicago seem realistic and gritty but with the added dimension of magic, faeries, vampires and demons (only visible to those with wizard’s sight or “third eye”). As the novel opens Dresden has been called upon to help the Chicago PD solve a particularly gruesome double homicide in which the victims’ hearts have exploded from their bodies in the love suite of a downtown hotel. His police contact, Karrin Murphy, often consults the wizard private eye on cases she believes involve magic. This time she challenges Harry to find out how this crime was committed and who might have such destructive ability.

Lieutenant Murphy, director of the special investigations unit, has street smarts and police knowledge, but she doesn’t understand that use of magic “to wreak havoc on another” breaks, the White Council’s (wizard governing body) First Law. And if Harry experiments to find the power needed to perform such a spell and thus the wizard or witch behind it, he is putting himself in danger with the wizard council. (Harry is on probation for using magic to kill though it was in self-defense and could be executed if he violates any other wizarding laws).

Storm Front has all the characteristics of a true fantasy. It details a setting of a different Chicago that can only be glimpsed with wizard sight; there is a struggle between good and evil; it is the first book in a series; Dresden and his police buddy are “good” and the murderer, demon and vampires are “bad;” and the pace increases as Dresden works to solve the mystery. Although I typically love fantasy, I wasn’t swept away. This was my first experience with Urban Fantasy and Dresden does a great job of using detective/police jargon and style. As I was reading the short, choppy, terse sentences, I kept expecting to hear the Dragnet theme… dum-de-dum-dum, dum-de-dum-dum DUM… and some of the wording reminded me of Garrison Keillor’s Guy Noir adventures. But perhaps I just am not going to be an Urban Fantasy fan. I like to live a book as I read it and I really did not enjoy the dark Chicago setting.

This series had been recommended to me by a high school English teacher who said many of his male students enjoyed the series. It does have violence, magic, mentions sex often and there is a television series based on the series on the Sci Fi Channel. I would recommend this series for readers who want a little detective story mixed in with their mythical creatures and dark humor.

Titles in the Dresden Files Series by Jim Butcher:

1. Storm Front
2. Fool Moon
3. Grave Peril
4. Summer Knight
5. Death Masks
6. Blood Rites
7. Dead Beat
8. Proven Guilty
9. White Night
10. Small Favor
11. Turn Coat
12. Changes