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Storm Front and Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

By Marra Alane | Books | August 31, 2009 |

By Marra Alane | Books | August 31, 2009 |


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.