by Elton Gahr

Created on: August 19, 2009

I have heard about the Harry Dresden books for some time and even watched a few of the episodes of the sci-fi TV show when it was on, but I had never actually read anything by Jim Butcher. Part of this was because I was only marginally interested in the TV show, but mostly it was a matter of having a huge list of books I want to read. I am quite glad that I finally made time for "Stormfront", by Jim Butcher.

For those of you who don't know Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a wizard. The only wizard in the yellow pages in fact. He occasionally freelances for the police, especially for Murphy, a woman who is in charge of the strange cases that come in.

He is brought into the case of a man and a woman who have had their hearts explode out of their chest. Clearly black magic.

The problem is that since Harry has in the past been caught using black magic he is the prime suspect in the magical world, and so he must solve the case before the white council decides he has began killing and has him executed.

Magic does not make Harry's life easier in "Stormfront" in fact it seems to complicate it at nearly every turn. He is dealing with gangsters, wizards, vampires and almost always simply struggling to stay alive. This is how wizardry needs to be in a book like this.

Magic itself is similar to some other books but quite interesting. The major disadvantage is that it makes technology fail at an alarmingly high rate. Because of this Harry largely lives in a world without technology. He uses candles because light bulbs burn out to fast, drives the oldest simplest car he can find, a blue beetle, and doesn't even consider a cell phone. All of this adds a great deal of personality to the character.

Finally there is Harry himself. This is a man in conflict. He knows the rules of wizardry, and he knows he should follow them, but doing so in the past has only brought him trouble. He is on parole with the next infringement meaning his death, and perpetually broke yet he doesn't need to be. He could be very powerful and solve most if not all of his problems if he was just willing to turn to black magic.

Well written and smart this is a great detective story and a great wizard story and the connection of the two is what makes it truly fun.

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