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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sarcasm Abound, Jul 9 2004
This novel is an amazing start to a series that will surely prove better with every sequel. Harry Dresden narrates in first person and therefore shares his opinions and witty comments about everything from interior design (he prefers interesting textures) to the talking skull he keeps in his basement (he can be a bit annoying at times -- but he's extremely useful).Throughout this novel, I pictured Harry Dresden as an ass-whooping Ryan Reynolds (star of National Lampoon's Van Wilder), Murphy as a slightly tougher version of Reese Witherspoon (Fear, Legally Blonde), Susan as the very sexy Shannon Sossamon (The Order, 40 Days and 40 Nights), and Gentleman Johnny Marcone as Fred Ward (Enough, Corky Romano, The Naked Gun 33 1/3). You'll enjoy this series if you enjoy a sarcastic sense of humor (Dresden once refered to it as his "rapier wit") but are looking for a book with more to it than just laughs. Similar to: Ill Wind, Dead Witch Walking.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a mixed bag for me!, April 30 2004
I really like the idea for this series. A wizard PI (Private Investigator) is a great premise and mostly I found the book enjoyable and real page-turner. However some things irritated me, like a couple other reviewers have mentioned (I'm obviously part of the the minority here due to the wave of glowing reviews here). Namely some plot holes, lack of realistic motivation for some of the character actions. Also Harry Dresden, the first person narrator, seemed a bit too smug in his world-view. After a particularly rough day on the job, Harry ends a chapter with "Do I have a great job or what?" Instead of coming across as a comedic or ironic counter-point to the obvious depression and despair Harry is feeling at the time, it comes across as a bit whiny, cliched and too cute. Sometimes I cringe at the lines Harry utters. Maybe I just read to many PI novels so Harry Dresden seems like a bad cross between the wise-cracking Elvis Cole from Robert Crais books, and the hard-hitting Heronymous Bosch from Michael Connelly series, except without as much humor and toughness from either character (both great series btw). Having read the gritty but fabulous sci-fi noir book, Altered Carbon, featuring Takeshi Kovacs, probably didn't help me endear myself to Harry Dresden either.The other point I want to make is the lack of intelligence I sometimes feel from Harry Dresden. Often a good PI character is more insightful or more crafty and generally more "with-it" than the reader but a couple times in this book I went "huh, why didn't you do this instead." Case in point, Harry comes across a certain piece of evidence, two duplicate tiny containers if you will.(I don't want to write any spoilers so I'm deliberately vague here). One container holding something important, the other one empty. At one point in the story he reluctantly has to trade the full container to person in exchange for information. During the converstation, Harry, as a form of payback, uses his magic to destroy the container with fire thus foiling the informant's hopes to use it for personal wealth. I'm thinking if Harry is such a high powered wizard, why didn't he trick the person and give the empty container to the person and keep the full one for himself, especially since Harry ends up destroying the traded item anyway before the informant can open and check the container. What Harry destroys would be vital I would think, to his case and to Murphy, his cop friend. Anyway, despite this I'm curious enough that I'll pick up the next book. The action in the book was nicely depicted and got me turning the pages in the latter half of the book. I hope Harry Dresden's character gets "smarter" and more insightful in the next novels. Sometimes its painful to read the events through Harry Dresden's eyes, especially after reading some books from masters of PI/Noir type novels. Check out a Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy, or Andrew Vachss book for some tough PI characters. Or for some truly funny PI's, check out the Elvis Cole series from Robert Crais, or the PI novels from Kinky Friedman. If those are too traditional and you want a mix of fantasy, horror or sci-fi. Read Joe R. Lansdale's Hap Collins-Leonard Pine series for tex-horror, or Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs sci-fi novels.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard-boiled detective meshed with fantasy, Oct 25 2009
I'm a fan of the old school feel of hardboiled noir detective stories, and so when a friend mentioned she had read a book like that where the detective also happened to be a wizard, I pretty much had to read it.
I'm glad I did. The concept is interesting and the combination of styles is pulled off well and reads as unique rather than tired. Harry Dresden, the wizard P.I. is a hilarious and like-able lead character who always seems to have a witty comeback in his pocket. Butcher does a good job introducing a world where magic runs amok, explaining the intricacies of this new world without devolving into long bouts of exposition in order to do it. He keeps it light and interesting.
The mystery develops well and there is plenty of action, fantastical and otherwise. The supporting characters are interesting enough that I am looking forward to seeing how they develop and change throughout the series. I ripped through this book in a single day and know that I'll be reading more.
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