Fool Moon by Jim Butcher Review

One of the great things about Fantasy is that its not so much a genre as a meta-genre. You can write other genres within the fantasy genre. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher is a good example of that.

This is the second book in The Dresden Files. A series which currently stands at six books, with a seventh on the way. The protagonist of this book (and the series) is Harry Dresden, a private investigator, who also happens to be a wizard. This results in a wondeful blend of horror, detective and fantasy genres.

At first I wasn't too sure about this book, because the plot seemed too obvious. I was pleased to discover that it was supposed to appear too obvious and that there were in fact several layers behind that first layer. While the final villain wasn't a huge surprise, the reasons were well developed and the twists entertaiing.

In keeping with the horror elements of the story, there are several deaths in the book and a fair amount of torture too. Harry Dresden is most definitely not a superhero. He makes a lot of mistakes and suffers the consequences. That does make him much easier to relate to, though by the end of the book I was having trouble understanding why he hadn't just curled up into a ball and started whimpering. Perhaps a little too much suffering?

The cast of supporting characters is well drawn too and Butcher manages to drop in brief references about Dresden's past, not to mention hints about his possible future. These elements help to create the feeling that this story is part of a larger sequence of events and a larger world in general.

Magic in the world of Harry Dresden is a powerful thing. Its also obviously difficult to control and dangerous to use. On the other hand some of the elements referenced seem strangely childish. The Never Never. The White Council. The tone of those names is at odds with the darker elements of the story. They seem strangely out of place, though they are very much background elements in this particular story anyway.

All in all I enjoyed this book and I've already moved on to the next one. Dresden is a likeable character, the plot fast paced and with a good mixture of horror, excitement and laughs. Definitely worth a read.

Buy Fool Moon at Amazon.com