Reviews

Originally read sometime in 2008 or 2009. Reread again in April, 2015.

Definitely a solid read, though I know often times people have a bit of trouble getting attached to the main character, Harry Dresden, in the first couple books. This is definitely a fair and valid point. The first couple books are a tad tricky to get through as Butcher is laying the groundwork of each respective core character and solidifying the cement in foundation around the characters, conflicts, and other fun supernatural tidbits.

If you are going to read this book, I would highly suggest sticking with it for at least the first five books. The fifth book is a changing book for The Dresden Files series, in which the ever-growing plot thickens even further and you get a real feel for the scope of the book.

I finished reading this book sometime in 2008 or 2009. However, I've begun rereading the series (albeit slowly) for the third time and finished this book once again April 2015.

Overall, the book is not as witty and full of action pact perfection as the later books, but it does a great job laying the beginning to an immense, beautiful series that leaves you on the edge of your seat and desperately wanting more.

rkaufman13's review against another edition

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3.0

This wasn't wham-o awesome for me. I thought, however, that the plotting was very well done (but that could have been just because I was coming off of reading [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320508797s/9361589.jpg|14245059] which had ABSOLUTELY NO PLOT WHATSOEVER so hey, a fantasy/mystery that actually had a storyline, where things happened for at least some reason, was pretty welcome.

Dresden just doesn't do it for me though. Way too goody-two-shoes, and he's either super-powerful or broke and barely able to scrape by with half-assed charms, depending on the plot needs at that exact moment.

I'm told the books get better around #4, so I may skip to that and give it another shot.