And so it begins.

I’ve probably read this series roughly half a dozen times. This time I’m listening to them on audiobook. It certainly goes by quick.

Storm Front has a direct and mostly guessable plot, mixed in with hints at a much larger world to come. Although the story is straight forward, that doesn’t mean it’s boring. In fact, it helps to keep driving the story on page after page (minute after minute)?

The magic system isn’t particularly well defined yet, which I’m not sure what I think about. I like magic systems with rules, even if I don’t know them and I’m not sure that this world fits that. There are hints of a much much larger world to come though, so that’s cool.

Characterwise, Dresden is a ‘good guy’ to a fault. Despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that he seems himself as an old-fashioned kind of chivalrous, he tends towards the sexist. I’d forgotten how blatant that is, especially in the early books. Part of it, I think is that we’re entirely in Dresden’s headspace and he still has a lot of growing up to do.

I know a fair few people that won’t read the Dresden Files because of this. To each their own.

Other than that, Muphy has potential as a tough cop, but she isn’t quite there yet. Macrone has the core of a ‘mob boss who cares’. The bad guy(s) are fairly one dimensional, although there are hints of something more beyond them even this early.

Overall, Storm Front is the first book in a series and not nearly as strong as some of the later entries in the series, but it’s a good start.

Onwards!