When I
prepared my introduction to The Blog Fantastic, I had some authors and series
in mind. Books that I knew I wanted to check out or revisit. Some of those have
been a pleasure to discover or reread. A few of the books I revisited or tried
out where disappointments. One of them I didn’t even finish (consequently I didn’t
review it either). The flip side of these disappointing books is that there are
others books that pop up on my radar and inexplicably jump to the top of my
reading pile. Even better, some of those books I enjoy. Jim Butcher Storm Front, the first in his Dresden Files series, is such a book.
I’m not sure where my interest in this book came from, but it’s a good fit.
There was a distinct lack of urban fantasy in The Blog Fantastic archives.
For
those who aren’t all caught up in the Dresden
Files craze, they’re a pretty clever combination of private detective
fiction and urban fantasy (or paranormal fantasy). It’s a good mix, but
something has made this particular series very popular even in comparison to
other similar series. I don’t know why just yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out if
I keep reading past the first book. Let’s start with the setting, Chicago, the
windy city. This is the home of Harry Dresden, a wizard for hire which means
he’s essentially a private detective for hire and he specializes in cases that
deal with magic. One of his regular clients is the Chicago Police Department, most
often the Special Investigations Unit.
