Storm Front - Jim Butcher

Title: Storm Front (Dresden Files 1)
Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 288
Date read: February 2009, 2013

Harry Dresden is a wizard. And unlike Harry Potter and his crowd, he doesn't have to keep his magic a secret. No, he's able to advertise freely. Just look him up in a phone book, and you'll find him in the yellow pages. From his office in Chicago he helps people find lost things, investigate haunted houses and - once in awhile - assists the police as their magical consultant.

It's not always great working with the police though. Harry is introduced to a number of unpleasant murders obviously committed by the use of magic which leads him to a dilemma: does he help the police to get rid of a criminal by dabbling in dark magic himself and risking the notice of the White Council? Or does he pretend he can do nothing, and risk being named main suspect, since the police don't know any other powerful wizards?

It doesn't look like he has much of a choice though. Circumstances soon make the decision for him and he has enough to do to try to stay alive and keep his friends safe as he is threatened by the mafia, hunted by demons, surprised by giant scorpions and constantly aware of the fact that the murderous wizard may attack him at any time.

As the rating indicates, I found Storm Front good but not great. Its charm is that it allows the reader to see magic and 'reality' side by side. Harry Dresden attempts to be a part of modern society - as much as is possible when technology dies in the presence of magic - and thereby goes against most magical stereotypes as seen in other books. It is interesting to see a magical world that's not kept secret, but is readily available to us common mortals.

Reread in 2013: I actually enjoyed this a lot more than on my first read-through... possibly because my expectations were quite a bit lower ;) Everybody I know seems to love it though, so I figured I'd give it a second chance and perhaps move on to the rest of the series this time.