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Storm Front and Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Cannonball Read / Marra Alane

Book Reviews | August 31, 2009 | Comments (18)

Meh.

I tried to like this series, I really did. The tv show was utter shit, but people I trust loooove this series, and I love me some fantasy/mystery hybrids, so good fit, right? Not so much.

I’m not in love with Butcher’s writing style, but that’s not always a deal-breaker. I don’t like Stephen King’s style either, but his plots are (sometimes) so good I can overlook it. But as much as I tried to like it, to be honest, Karrin Murphy bores me, my nerd-book go-to bookstore associate almost kicked me out of the science fiction/fantasy section when I told him I didn’t like Bob, I think soul-gazing weird and lame, Harry Dresden’s ineptness is less endearing and more irritating, and being unable to use technology as a side effect of being magical is gimmicky. Everything I was told was awesome about the Dresden files did nothing for me. But, said bookstore associate was so convinced I just needed to try it again to really get it that he lent me his own copy of Fool Moon instead of making me buy it. Which was really nice of him, and to be fair, I liked Fool Moon a lot more than I liked Storm Front. But not enough to like the series.

I think in the end, it was just personal preference. I can appreciate magic as a substitute for science when it comes to things like shape-shifters defying the laws of physics or when it comes to reanimating the dead; but when you have lengthy discriptions of magical powers being drawn through a stick or page after page of putting a spell together, I lose interest. Wizardry and witchcraft do nothing for me; and when that’s the focus of a series, I’m just not going to be able to get into it. Maybe had I liked the premise, the plot twists and universe rules would have seemed well-written and original, but because the premise of the series wasn’t my cup of tea, everything that came after just seemed dumb - especially that loup-garau bullshit with the magic ruins and folklore is true! crap. Which is a shame, because I’ve read a couple of interviews with Jim Butcher, and he seems like a great guy, and I always want to like people’s work when they seem nice, but this just isn’t for me.


This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. For more of Marra Alane’s reviews, check her blog.


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Comments

I have recommended many books to friends (The Time Traveler's Wife, The Sparrow, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Thirteenth Tale) with success. Jim Butcher has been, to this day, the only failure I have encountered. At first I thought it was a problem with single books and I encouraged my friends to keep reading the series. But I think my friends share your opinion; they are annoyed where I am endeared.

To me, Harry Dresden is crack. Kudos for trying twice.

Posted by: Agent Scully at August 31, 2009 9:15 AM

Well, I've read all of them so far and I like them. They're good, light reading for me but I'm a sci-fi/fantasy and science fiction junkie (yes, I recognize the difference.)

Try reading the Codex Alera series by Butcher. It's his fantasy series and it's really quite good.

Anyone else really, really hoping George RR Martin finishes writing The Song of Fire and Ice series before he kicks the bucket like Robert Jordan?

Posted by: acw189 at August 31, 2009 10:06 AM

acw189 yes!!! I hate bitching about Martin's slow progress, but I'm afraid the series will never end. Especially with the ASOIAF mini-series starting, I hope he keeps his focus on the books.

Posted by: Agent Scully at August 31, 2009 11:02 AM

To me, Harry Dresden is crack.

Word. Just finished Proven Guilty and he only gets better. With only a wee bit of the angst and drama of current "urban fantasy".

Posted by: Meander at August 31, 2009 11:05 AM

Seconded on George RR Martin.
I loooooove this series, so very much. I actually picked it up right after it was mentioned here on Pajiba, but I guess the difference in the way I enjoy them is that my biggest gripe with the series has always been that it doesn't spend enough time on the spells.
I quite enjoyed the series too, but then I watched it years before I started reading the books, so I'm not willing to go back and take another peek.
One of the things I love about this series is that it's basically never ending, I tore through the first 11 (I think?) books in a couple of weeks, but he says he's going to late 20's if I remember correctly, so plenty to look forward to.

Posted by: Chugga at August 31, 2009 11:08 AM

I'm on book 10 after 6 weeks of reading the series. Dresden and Murphy definitely get a little less annoying after the first 3 or 4.

My biggest problem with the books, however, is the geek-mullet on Jim Butcher in his author photo.

Posted by: laredo at August 31, 2009 11:11 AM

Good Godtopus, I need to start writing better reviews. Could have have any more run-on sentences?

Also, what's going to happen to daily book reviews when Cannonball read is over?

Posted by: Marra at August 31, 2009 11:29 AM

Holy cow, the timing of this review is uncanny. I am smack dab in the middle of reading Fool Moon and I'm having the exact same troubles you mentioned. Instead of being charmed, I'm annoyed. I have a friend that swears by these books and says they get better, so I'm going to muddle through just to see, but me and Harry Dresden are not off to a good start.

Posted by: Ashley at August 31, 2009 12:26 PM

Ohhh!! I read the first book in the series less than two months ago! (A fact which is all the more exceptional if you know that so far this year I've only read two books: this one and The Time Traveler's Wife.) I thought it was an enjoyable read--quick, light, with a little bit of everything. And my sci-fi loving friend did indeed tell me the second book is better.

(And boy oh boy did the TV show suck!! I only made it through two episodes.)

Posted by: Thijs at August 31, 2009 12:33 PM

I almost gave up after book 2 as well, because they both follow the same formula - Harry is hopelessly outclassed by some magical monster, and manages to survive simply by dumb luck. But I decided to give book 3 a shot, and was hooked.

Books 1 and 2 are mostly for background. The series really picks up in book 3 which is where the main story begins.

Posted by: sandyk at August 31, 2009 1:11 PM

sandyk: What about Murphy? Does she get better? Because right now the only thing she seems to know how to do is to take every single piece of evidence that even slightly incriminates Harry and interpret it as OMG HARRY YOU LYING BASTARD WHY DID I EVER TRUST YOU OF COURSE YOU ARE A MURDERER. AND NO, WHY WOULD I ASK YOU FOR AN EXPLANATION WHEN I CAN JUST JUMP TO THIS HASTY CONCLUSION? I want to slap her in the face.

Posted by: Ashley at August 31, 2009 1:57 PM

Yes, in the first 2 books Murphy is annoying, mostly because Harry is trying to protect her from the scary truth by not telling her what's really going on. In book 3 or 4 (can't remember which) Harry decides that, with her job, keeping her in the dark is more likely to get her killed. He sits her down and explains how his world works. After that, she becomes more of a partner and less of an adversary.

Posted by: sandyk at August 31, 2009 2:16 PM

Okay, good, that makes me feel better. I bought the first three books, assuming that I would like them, so I'm sticking it out no matter what. But I'd really like to like them.

Posted by: Ashley at August 31, 2009 2:20 PM

To me, Harry Dresden is crack.

Indeed.
I really thinks the series gets better as it goes along and Murphy becomes more of a partner and we come to realize how powerful and potentially dangerous Harry is.
The last book with the inclusion of the Council (though it was easy to figure out who was the bad guy) whatever that thing on the island is, was a page turner...as they say.
I'm really looking forward to the one coming out in Nov.

Posted by: Jules at August 31, 2009 3:03 PM

the thing with Butcher's writing is that he's totally formulaic - hell, he'll even show you exactly how on his blog. It's always "start with the huge problem, then a smaller problem that gets solved, then a slightly larger problem that gets solved, then an even larger problem that gets solved, etc, until you solve a really big problem and the original huge problem," and he doesn't really deviate from that with Dresden. I find them quite readable, but I'm going in expecting just to be entertained and not much more. For the record, I like his technology hex. It's completely a writer's gimmick, but I think it's a clever one.

Posted by: ponch at August 31, 2009 3:40 PM

It makes me sad in the pants that you don't adore Harry Dresden the way I do, Marra. :( But oh well, everyone likes different stuff.

I will concur with the folks who say that, yes, Murph gets MUCH less annoying once Harry tells her what's what, and that the story really begins in book three or four.

I'm tempted to start reading the whole series again, though, since I have to wait all the way til next April til book the next is out.

Posted by: lizzieborden at August 31, 2009 5:04 PM

Marra, I know you've already criticised your own piece, but can you please tell me in which of the Faraway Tree's worlds your above sentences correlate to a review of a novel (let alone two)?

If anything, I know less about these books than before I read the above paragraphs.

Do any of the obviously interested commenters care to provide a synopsis of either of the novels? Anything at all? A plot point or two?

No?

DR, please exercise some editorial judgment.

Posted by: Peter G at August 31, 2009 9:19 PM

Peter, if you're interested: the novels' protagonist is Harry Dresden (hence the name 'The Dresden files'). He's a wizard and he has set up a little business solving problems and helping people through, well, wizardry. Think detective novel only with magic involved. The police - namely, detective Murphy - sometimes call on him to work on the "weirder" cases, the ones suspected of being due to paranormal activity. The first novel in the series, Storm Front, centers around one of those cases: a man and woman killed in a hotel room by having their hearts ripped out of their chests.

I don't read a lot of book reviews on this website, but I agree this one seems more like someone blogging about a book they've read than an actual book review. (But as far as I know that could be the entire point of the Cannonball Read. *shrugs*)

Posted by: Thijs at September 1, 2009 7:59 AM