Storm Front

The Dresden Files, Book 1

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: James Marsters

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.

With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires, while he himself is under suspicion of the crimes.

©2000 Jim Butcher (P)2002 Buzzy Multimedia

Don't judge the series by this one.

It's a solid beginning, but the author is still feeling things out. There are a few discrepancies, and the reader is unpracticed. That being said, it's still worth the listen. It's like a rough hewn sculpture.

Entertaining Magic

A thoroughly entertaining novel with an excellent reader who really "gets it" and paces the story correctly. Harry is a wizard who works as a private investigator of sorts in modern-day Chicago... he's a cross between Jim Rockford and a young Gandalf. I highly recommend this audiobook!

Solid Start

I liked it. Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire who turns detective when a damsel in distress and a brutal murder cross his desk while his rent is past due. Already under probation, Harry's seat-of-the-pants investigative work gets him into more trouble than he can handle, even with the help of a few fairies and a skull named Bob. Read by James Marsters of Buffy fame, this is a quick and easy listen.

Absolutely fantastic

Would you listen to Storm Front again? Why?

I likely won't listen to it again, but mostly because there are so many other books in the series!

What did you like best about this story?

The story is rich with both plot and interesting characters.

What about James Marsters’s performance did you like?

The performance was done well - emotive without being overwrought, and Marsters never tries too hard to use different voices. Instead, he relies on tones and pacing, making it easy to differentiate between characters, without being distracting.

Outstanding performance, ok story

Weak start compared to later books in the series, still, there are chuckles aplenty for us hardboiled detective fans. James Marsters is so good his voice has become dresdens in my head - oozing world weary cynicism, self mocking wit and outrage at the bad guys in equal measure. Start here and don't stop, this series is a jewel in the genre.

Down and dirty wizardry, human and witty

A great start to the series, very entertaining and suspenseful. It's definitely more detective novel than other-worldly tale, though the two are very well entwined, very believably - our world doesn't have to change much to allow for the wizards and vampires of Dresden's world. For me, who would be more likely to pick up a crime thriller than a fantasy novel, this made the book so enjoyable.

Harry Dresden is the ideal modern protagonist - reluctant, cynical and a bit awkward, accepting what life deals him, but also a fundamentally good man who stands by his commitments and will not watch idly as injustice is done to the defenseless. There is still a lot of room for character development that I hope will be further explored in the next books.

The story does not use magic gratuitously, which is crucial. Our hero is fundamentally human, magic is just a tool at his disposal, strictly regulated by the terrifying White Council. Harry is by no means all-powerful, he can't even pay his rent. He is as vulnerable, as emotional and as likely to be wrong as you and I, and he is fully comfortable with his humanity. This is what makes him so charming. Marsters' almost casual first-person narration captures him perfectly.

What keeps the book from five stars are a few insular disappointing twists, where something fortuitous happens that the hero had nothing to do with. The author has access to magic, he shouldn't need that much luck to write his hero out of trouble. He does this excellently other junctures.

Great series.

What about James Marsters’s performance did you like?

Narrator James Marsters does a wonderful job bringing the only "Wizard" in the yellow pages to life.

Any additional comments?

This book is a good staging ground for the rest of the series. Each book is able to be read on it's own but you get more out of it when you listen to them in order. I think the story builds from this, a good book, into a great series.

the dresden files are the best

my favorite series of books presently being written. the concept and characters are all great. if you have not tried jim butcher yet, you should do so.

Probably my favorite audio series.

I love urban Fantasy, and Jim Butcher does it better than anyone else. James Marsters' narration only makes it better. I can't say enough good things about this book and the Dresden Files in general.

The Narrator was Chosen for a reason.

Most of the comments list the story as great but the narrator as horrid. If you do your homework and read the instructions above the essay. We’ll never mind 80 percent don’t. Still reading? Go you smarty pants... James Marsters was selected for this book for a purpose. He matched the authors expectations of his created character and did a wonderful job. I really enjoyed his narration. It was as if he(the main) was telling me the story over a couple ales in a pub with 13 mirrors. Great job James. I look foreword to more.