STORM FRONT
Storm Front is the first book in The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher. I used to play on AmberMUSH with Jim, waaaaay back in the day, and consider him one of many people who used to be on there that have gone on to success.
The book read very much like a first book and feels very constructed. Having read a couple Laurel K. Hamilton books in the Anita Blake series, I found that many of the plot beats and the structure felt familiar. As well, the presence of so many female characters felt artificial - there really wasn't a positive male character in the book aside from Harry.
Even so, the book kept up a good pace and played fair with the detective stuff. I liked that the story construction included many of the expected genre tropes. We had the suspicious cops, the third party keeping an eye on our hero, the private detective forced to choose between principles and getting paid, a femme fatale, etc. etc.
What made the book work, and leads me to believe the series has merit, is how well Butcher integrates magic into the proceedings. It is the spice that makes the otherwise formula proceedings tasty and interesting.
Not sure when I'll get around to grabbing the next one in the series, but I do know I will eventually.
The book read very much like a first book and feels very constructed. Having read a couple Laurel K. Hamilton books in the Anita Blake series, I found that many of the plot beats and the structure felt familiar. As well, the presence of so many female characters felt artificial - there really wasn't a positive male character in the book aside from Harry.
Even so, the book kept up a good pace and played fair with the detective stuff. I liked that the story construction included many of the expected genre tropes. We had the suspicious cops, the third party keeping an eye on our hero, the private detective forced to choose between principles and getting paid, a femme fatale, etc. etc.
What made the book work, and leads me to believe the series has merit, is how well Butcher integrates magic into the proceedings. It is the spice that makes the otherwise formula proceedings tasty and interesting.
Not sure when I'll get around to grabbing the next one in the series, but I do know I will eventually.