Storm Front

"The Dresden Files" is the first book of the very promising and entertaining urban fantasy series that started back in 2000. The main character is Harry Dresden is a wizard, the only one who openly practises his art in Chicago. He uses his wizardry to help the police and others deal with the supernatural phenomenon. Most of the time Harry has to deal with the scepticism towards his work but when bizarre murders start happening in the city, he is the one that is called by the police to sort it out, as an "advisor". And there is good share of humour in the story that is a real asset.

Harry is a character from noir detective novels: tall and slim with dark hair, wearing a duster and cowboy boots. He has a dark and tragic past, no family, and is suffering from the punishment for the crime he did not commit. The image is supplemented by the fact that all the machines and devices fail to work in his presence, so he often turns to the good-old pre-technical methods such as a fire place in his apartment, candles, and a talking spirit trapped in a human skull for a computer. He has many tricks in his pocket, but he does not take magic lightly. The way the magic works is a well-developed system, as there are rules that disallow abuse of power. Unless you are a creature of the dark side, that is.. And there is the White Council monitoring Harry but somehow failing to protect the citizens of Chicago from such powers.

There is magic, demons, adventure, detective story, an epic battle. The only downside of the story is the chauvinism and out-dated attitudes of the character towards women as the weak versions of men. Even though there are strong and intelligent female characters, Harry feels obliged to protect and patronise them, open doors to them and so on. I have read that this fact alone discouraged many of the readers from continuing/reading the story. Even though I do agree that such attitudes are demeaning, I believe this to be part of the character, and, hey, there are still too many people with the same attitude out there! And it is also said that the books and the writing gets better later in the series.

The narrator of the audiobook is amazing. The way he is telling the story and impersonates the characters is exceptional, and even the additional background noises and all the sighing feel so very appropriate for the character and the story. Highly recommended!