Book Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Storm Front is the first book in a fantasy series by Jim Butcher.  It was recommended to me by my fiance, Kyle, and he was told to read it by a friend of his.  Kyle doesn't read as often as he let on in his online dating profile where we met.  ;)  But, this friend was persistent and Kyle finally read it over this past winter break.

He raved about this book.  It was funny.  It was clever.  It was interesting.

It. Was. Not.

I have a Master's degree in Library Science.  I have 10 years of experience working in libraries.  One of my main memories from growing up is visiting the library every Saturday.  One of my favorite things to do is to spend an afternoon reading a book.  This hasn't happened lately because of my current addiction to The West Wing, but I digress.

It is extremely unusual for me to not finish a book.  I can count on less than one hand the number of times it has happened.  I did happen to finish this one, but it was a mighty struggle.

I don't often read books from the Fantasy or Science Fiction area.  I'm honestly not sure why this is.  I have been a Potterhead ever since The Chamber of Secrets came out.  That is a fantasy series at its best.  This book was just unable to reach me.  I did not find any of it amusing or remotely funny.  Kyle enjoys his puns, but I didn't read any of those either.

Premise: Harry Dresden is a wizard.  He owns his own business and is even listed in the yellow pages.  Harry is also a consultant for the Chicago Police Department.  When they don't understand something and it looks the least bit strange or magical, Harry is called upon.  A double murder is committed that has Harry stumped, but the person who committed it knows Harry is on the case.   This person is out to ensure that this case is never solved- no matter what the price.

It sounded ok.  A little iffy, but I can work with that.  What I can't work with is magic being performed and not knowing why.  Why are certain words being said rather than others?  Why certain elements in the potion?  Explain what these different levels of magic are.  Give me an overview of the agencies that govern what magic is being used.  I need to understand all this to connect with the magic being performed.

Most of the time, these weren't explained.  Or if they were, I still had more questions.  With Harry Potter, you learn with Harry as he encounters all these new elements of the wizarding world.  This is not the case with the Dresden files.  Perhaps things are better explained as you read more into the series, but I'm not willing to take the time to do that.

I do agree with Kyle on one thing.  One of his favorite aspects of this series was that there is a limit to the amount of power a wizard has.  Once it's gone, he or she has to wait for it to come back, kind of like a charge, I suppose.  Elsewhere, often, it seems wizards or magical creatures have unlimited power.  It was nice to see a difference in that for a change.

Consensus:  1 out of 5 stars.

~M