Storm Front by Jim Butcher

4.5 Stars

Based on my love of Urban Fantasy and the fact I am all caught up on PC Grant I have been branching out looking for other series that may sate my appetite.  Having seen the Harry Dresden books regularly referenced in reviews of other genre authors I figured I'd give the first one a shot.  Happily, I did enjoy it, it's not quite up there with PC Grant yet but if reviews are reliable then things do get better as the series evolves.  At least it gives me a whole slew of books to obsess over.

There was something missing in this book for me though and I still can't put my finger on it.  The delineations of the magical world are given a sound grounding and the author has clearly thought his mythology through before starting.  Dialogue is a little clunky - however, I like that because real life conversations are often clunky as all get out.  Characterisation is brief and you are sort of left to sift through the text to figure the various protagonists out from their actions, like that a lot.  I think it was the pacing that was off, initially this was going to be a 4 star review but seeing as much of the plot has stuck with me 3 weeks and a handful of books later I decided to upgrade it a smidge.

One frustration for me was allusions to Harry's past and the fact he now has the Doom Of Damocles hanging over him; along with a permanent Council shadow who seems determined to execute him.  It just all felt a bit superfluous somehow and as though it was added for deliberate intrigue that just falls flat.  We get that Harry could do very, very bad things with his magic if he chose and seeing as the book opens with a grisly murder that is potentially magical in origin we already know this.  Just felt a little like it was all a bit over done and needed to be pared back.

Allusions to other magical creatures inhabiting the Human sphere were handled well.  I was particularly enamoured with the skull spirit, sounded like a cross between a Sicilian Grandmother and an 80s Frat Boy.  The faerie element was well handled too and the thought of them just wanting lots of pizza made me very happy.  I was also happy with the magic that was outlined in the book, a cross between you just either have it or you don't and just knowing the right set of ingredients to make it work.

Overall, a good start to the series and I will definitely be reading more.