Storm Front

by Jim Butcher

No cover — Jim Butcher: Storm Front (2010, Little, Brown Book Group Limited)

352 pages

English language

Published April 19, 2010 by Little, Brown Book Group Limited.

ISBN:: 978-0-7481-1606-5

(267 reviews)

The novels of the Dresden Files have become synonymous with action-packed urban fantasy and non-stop fun. Storm Front is Jim Butcher's first novel and introduces his most famous and popular character-Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.For his first case, Harry is called in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with the blackest of magic. At first, the less-than-solvent Harry's eyes light up with dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage. Now, that black mage knows Harry's name. And things are about to get very...interesting.

9 editions

Tom Goetz reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Meh. Adolescent male nerd fantasy.

govmarley reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Supernatural Chicago, the Windy City, city of my heart, and where my love affair with Harry Dresden begins. This is one of my favorite series of all time. Harry has it all, tall, dark and lanky with so much snark, bravery, and chivalry that I can hardly bear it.

The plot is a little weak in places but it introduces all of the characters well and sets us up for so many future plot lines. Gentleman Johnny Marcone and his seedy criminal underworld. We get to enjoy steak and ale at McAnally's with the ever reticent Mac, and we get a glimpse of the partnership between Murphy and Dresden that sustains the series over many books. And while we hardly get enough Bob, it's an introduction to his shenanigans and he is always good for a laugh. So much goodness here that I will choose to ignore my hatred of …

TimmyMac reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Pretty good, though I found myself wishing that the writing was stronger and the premise was fleshed out a little differently. Wizard/hardboiled detective is very clever, but the execution was just a little clumsy. Fun, for sure.

SaraT reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4.5 stars.

I would entitle the review "How Urban Fantasy should be written".
After reading this, I realized that this genre has been ruined by many stereotypes and the border between UF and Romance and other st isn't so clear.
I think that after I've read some UF series, I came up with the idea that they are all almost identical: the badass female protagonist (always first person POV) that alternates moments like "I'll kick your ass, you damn bastard" with others like "I go to the toilet, I put make up on my face thinking of that cool guy, I whine because I can't/...paranoic thoughts following". The cool and über-smartass alpha-and-so-on guy who inspires forbidden fantasies. The bad guy who always wants to kill the protagonist, because figured out she is special, however. The writing is a continuous sequence of "damn", "fuck", "dude" and monosyllabic sentences. I found all this so irritating. But the main critic I point to this genre is the lack of explanations. Without them, plot doesn't make sense and characters lose credibility.

After this previous "fed-up" moment, let's talk about this book.
1. I liked the writing.
2. I kind of loved Harry Dresden. He's a credible hero who isn't perfect but he's cool at the same time. He makes mistakes, he's stubborn as hell and wit.
please Mr. Dresden, run your office also in Italy!!
3. I loved Bob, even if he appeared only a few times. I hope we can see more Bob in the sequels.
4. Even if she's stubborn as hell and bitchy, I liked also Murphy because she is well depicted.
5. The plot: the reader is focused on following the detective story without any kind of st. Yes, there are vampires and fairies, but they are just pieces of the puzzle and their "personalities" are tricky and evil. ahem...they are not sex gods giving a nasty look at Jeaniene Frost, KM Moning, maybe Ilona Andrews

What I disliked:
- some absurd moments that left me a bit stunned, but I managed to pass over.

Eventually I really liked this first volume and I recommend it everyone.

RxBrad reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Listened to this in audiobook format. Thinking I would've liked it better if the narrator didn't sound like he was having an asthma attack on a subway. All of the sighing, wheezing, and background noise got pretty distracting.

loppear reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm front (The Dresden Files #1)' on Goodreads

3 stars

Enjoyable pulp.

Balise reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's the first book from a series called Dresden Files, which kept popping on my "stuff I should have a look at" radar, and it was worth the attention. Harry Dresden is a registered wizard (he's in the Yellow Pages and all that); he works more or less as a "wizard PI" (he has a specialty in finding lost things, apparently), and he occasionally helps the police when it comes to weird investigations. And when two people are found with their hearts ripped out of their ribcage, it's definitely in the realm of "weird investigations". It doesn't help that, as one of the few wizards potentially able to pull that kind of things, he's obviously a prime suspect in the investigation from the occult side of the force. All in all, pretty cool. And funny. Maybe a bit of a show-off for the ending - a bit too much "big …

HokieGeek reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A fun, light romp. I would read more in the series.

Misty reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Fun and quirky! Dig the restructured mythos and modern setting.

Ikwezi reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A little bit too much just-in-the-nick-of-time in the action sequences, and a few too many beautiful dames in the cast of characters, but a fun read

jonathan.brodsky reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm front (The Dresden Files #1)' on 'GoodReads'

2 stars

Not bad, but also not good. There may be something under the pulpyness, but then again maybe not. I will probably read other books from this series though, because they are really quick.

halkeye reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I think sandman slim was better, but this was still a good book. It kinda had that tv cop show feel to it, by the end you know who did it long before it was revealed.

I'm still going to read the next one.

Adrián Astur Álvarez reviewed Storm Front by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, #1)

Review of 'Storm Front' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

 Oh man... this one was pretty bad.  The writing in this book is really terrible, full of phrases like "A roomful of deadly drug." or "You know, sometimes I think Someone up there really hates me."  Wah waaaah.  Ranging from the cheesy to the grammatically incorrect, reading Jim Butcher was like being forced to sit with a socially awkward middle schooler and listen as he recites an intricate fantasy involving magical wizards and *blush* girls.  Sadly, the concept for this novel is pretty good: wed a tale of gritty noir with urban fantasy.  Unfortunately Jim Butcher gives little evidence that he has ever in fact read anything truly hardboiled and the result is a kinda sorta intimation of what someone might imagine noir to be.  Oh yeah, and once you throw out any interest in the philosophical underpinnings of that genre what you're left with is artificial, amateurish nonsense, which …

 Oh man... this one was pretty bad.  The writing in this book is really terrible, full of phrases like "A roomful of deadly drug." or "You know, sometimes I think Someone up there really hates me."  Wah waaaah.  Ranging from the cheesy to the grammatically incorrect, reading Jim Butcher was like being forced to sit with a socially awkward middle schooler and listen as he recites an intricate fantasy involving magical wizards and *blush* girls.  Sadly, the concept for this novel is pretty good: wed a tale of gritty noir with urban fantasy.  Unfortunately Jim Butcher gives little evidence that he has ever in fact read anything truly hardboiled and the result is a kinda sorta intimation of what someone might imagine noir to be.  Oh yeah, and once you throw out any interest in the philosophical underpinnings of that genre what you're left with is artificial, amateurish nonsense, which is exactly how I would characterize this novel.<br/><br/>     Then again, the pages flew by and this is his debut... no, nope.  There are so many incredible and well written books in the world.  There is absolutely no reason to read this guy again (or even the first time).  Moving on...