Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

Storm Front was the first in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series of books. As such it devotes a significant amount of effort into setting up Harry Dresden’s world. For those who aren’t familiar with the series, Harry Dresden is a Wizard / Private Investigator based out of present day Chicago. He’s a powerful wizard at that but with a lot of baggage and issues.

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The tone of the books is quite light hearted and definitely reads like a pulp detective novel which makes a pleasant change from much of the current fantasy output. Storm Front introduces us to not only Harry Dresden but also to three other key players in most of the Dresden Files books.

Karrin Murphy here is a somewhat reluctant and untrusting ally who calls in Harry on some of her more peculiar cases. Susan is a reporter with a personal interest in Harry and Johnny Marcone is a crimelord. These people are a key part of Harry’s life and continue to play a part in some or all of the subsequent books.

While the tone is light hearted on the whole, the book is also faced paced and there’s no shortage of action. Harry just gets progressively more beaten up as the story goes on. There are also moments where the humor is set aside and some of the events described are both touching and disturbing. Butcher isn’t writing one note characters, there is a range to them.

I’m a big fan of the Dresden files. They’re easy reading but fun with it. They also reward sequential reading. Although I believe you could start at any point in the series, starting with this book and moving forward will be more rewarding to you as the events in each book build upon one and other.