Book Review: Fool Moon

The second book in the Dresden Files series, Fool Moon brings back Harry Dresden as the only professional wizard in the telephone book who also happens to doubles as a consultant to the Chicago Police Department.  The second installment in the series finds Harry Dresden lending a hand in solving a series of murders involving the full moon.  One real interesting takeaway from this book is that Jim Butcher didn't just stick with plain old werewolves.  No, he broke them down into multiple types and styles of wolves.  This brings an added dimension as Harry has to find out who the murderer/s is/are and sort out who's good, who's bad, and who's neither.

Fool Moon also shows the reader more of Dresden's power than Storm Front.  In the first novel, I kept waiting for Dresden to do something spectacular, and was often left wondering if he was really so great after all.  Fool Moon definitely upped the ante in that respect, and I expect future installments will have Dresden growing even further in power and presence.  As far as writing style, it is on par with the first novel.

I read elsewhere that Jim Butcher wrote the first three novels in the series back to back and then approached a publisher, who picked up all three.  Friends have told me that in future installments Butcher's writing gets even better as he better learns his craft and really comes to know the characters.  This is good news, because as it stands the first two novels, Storm Front and Fool Moon, are good novels in and of themselves.

However, besides Dresden's power growing and a new set of baddies, Fool Moon wasn't as intriguing as Storm Front simply because the first time I was introduced to Harry Dresden, I was really interested in the character, the world, and the relationships.  In Fool Moon, I don't feel like a lot of new ground was broken with the relationships and Dresden's character from an interpersonal standpoint.  Sure he is more powerful (or shows more of his power), but we don't learn too much more about the magical world than
we learned from Storm Front.  I would, however, still recommend this as a solid fantasy read that gives hope that future installments will be even better.  If you liked Storm Front, you should read Fool Moon if nothing more than as a bridge to the supposed better installments to come.

Bookophile Rating: Good (For a solid read that shows promise for future installments)

Book Review: Storm Front

Storm Front, Book 1 of the Dresden Files, centers around Harry Dresden, a professional wizard you can look up in the phone book. He's basically a supernatural private detective. It's fitting then that the writing style hearkens back to a sort of Raymond Chandler feel of hard-boiled detective narration. It's certainly not a style I had seen before this series, which makes it that much more unique.

The plot of the first novel centers around a missing persons case that turns into a supernatural clash between two kinds of magic. The general plot outline was in step with detective novels of the past and I wouldn't expect it to have been more complicated than it was. There were enough twists and turns to keep my mind active. Dresden's back story barely scratches the surface in the first book, but interests me enough to want to read further installments to find out what has happened and will happen to him.

The novel was concise like an old detective story, but rich enough in detail to maintain a diverse audience. I would recommend this to both mystery fans and scifi geeks.

Bookophile Rating: Excellent