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nanashiame's review against another edition
1.0
A combo fantasy and detective noir novel, Jim Butcher’s Storm Front is the most unintentionally hilarious piece of drivel that I have ever had the simultaneous pleasure and pain of reading in my entire life. This book fails at every level to live up to even a scrap of the potential of the two genres it’s smashed together. My friends, if you want to be in the head of a misogynistic dunce who spends more time mentally undressing women than playing detective, you are in for a hell of a ride.
Wish fulfillment at its finest, our story’s star, detective wizard Harry Dresden, is a gangly, dim witted, wizard equivalent of a nerd shut in, who inexplicably has women falling over him at every turn despite the fact that he seems perpetually dressed in cowboy boots, wide brimmed hats, and a jacket that would make any steampunk cosplayer proud. Perhaps it’s the ponytail that drives them wild. Everyone knows the ladies like a good ponytail. Or maybe it’s because he’s not good with the ladies that they like him so much. Ladies like a good project, you know, and a lanky geek who makes love potions in his basement is a pretty hefty one.
As far as the fantasy elements go, the worldbuilding is shoddy at best. The magic is generic wizard-stuffs, like lighting, wind, and force fields, and the rules for magic inexplicably ping pong around with little rhyme or reason. Half the time, our hero is like “it’s time for magic, but I’m TIRED, so I can’t really do it,” and then whips out what seems like a substantial amount of magic shortly after. Other established rules, like “entering a house without permission is bad juju,” are broken twice after the first mention of it, with no care for the rule breaking at all. Then, there’s the mysterious White Council, which has it in for our intrepid staff wielding hero. Oh no! However, it’s soon clear that their only purpose is to serve as a ticking clock to speed up our flaccid narrative. That’s basically it for the magical intrigue. But wait! “What of the detective aspect,” I hear nobody asking. Excellent question!
Dresden is the worst detective, possibly ever. Any clues he finds are almost always happenstance, and his instincts are hilariously off kilter. Upon seeing the first murder scene, he postulates that our murderer is a woman because “women are better at hating than men.” …Sure. Spoiler alert, our villain is a man, and this line is easily forgotten, swept under the rug. Some clues are so easy to put together that it’s an embarrassment Dresden took so long. Other clues don’t add up, and feel more like the convenience of an author who knows his story than a genuine conclusion our detective could come to. The shining glory of an example of this is where Dresden breaks and enters the crime scene of a murdered prostitute (please recall our breaking and entering rules above), and sleeps next to the bed she was killed on, because of sadness or something, and when he wakes up, he notices a film canister under the bed. Ye gods, a clue! How the police investigation failed to find it is beside the point. A clue! Good gravy. The most detective-ey thing about Dresden is his hat.
But, I have saved the best for last. The crème de la crème of this book is the women. Sweet Jesus, the WOMEN. I know some things about the men in this book. They have faces and hair and eyes. Most are threatened by Dresden in one way or another. But the WOMEN. For every woman, I know the shape of their faces and the color of their eyes. I know exactly how their hair is styled and every detail of their makeup. I know the exact curves of their cupids bow lips and how their cheeks look when they blush. I know the shapes of their little noses and I know how their bodies probably look under their professional blazers. I know how their shirts emphasize their breasts and how their dresses cling to their toned thighs.
I know…too much.
The objectification of women never ends in this book. Every woman is described as “feminine” at least once, and everything they do is dictated by their woman-ness. When Murphey, a police detective and the only woman with a semblance of personality, snorts at a joke, it’s described as “unfeminine” and “an unladylike noise from such a small nose.” A woman meets him at a bar and leans over, which Dresden mentally notes would have made for a good view, but he doesn’t look, chaste as he is. Upon the closure of their discussion, the woman literally asks him, ASKS him, essentially “why didn’t you look at my boobs?” Oh yes, just the way we women talk. “Excuse me, male friend, but I have catered my dress and my boobs and my pose for you, why oh why are you not looking?” Spot on.
And, of course, the ceaseless crying. So many of the woman shed beautiful little tears in front of Dresden. Even our hard-boiled Murphey has some lady feelings to cry out in front of him. A vampiress he interviews cries because she transformed into a hideous beast in front of him, and upon reading her soul he sees that all she ever wanted was to be beautiful, and is ashamed that he saw her true form. How tragic. All her sex appeal is now gross to him, by the way, now that he knows she’s a monster. So sorry you can’t get it up for the vampiress now, Dresden, guess you’ll just have to jerk it to the twenty other inexplicably sexy and emotionally vulnerable women in your life. What a travesty.
It starts funny, and then gets more and more un-fun as the story progresses. At first, it’s a joke, but then a woman is dead and naked on her bed and Dresden takes the time to divert attention to her tan lines, and the laughter dies in your throat because, dude, that was a person…and now it’s a CORPSE. Give her some dignity. The further you read, the more miserably horrible the author’s lack of storytelling and total inability or unwillingness to understand women gets. Is this the male fantasy? To get to remain a geeky loser and have sexy women all around him that he never has to commit to? At least Twilight had the decency to give its two male romantic interests a semblance of personality.
Dresden laments over and over how people don’t respect that he’s a traditional man, and we’re supposed to feel for him when he’s called a chauvinist. But the problem is, he IS one. If he just opened doors for ladies that would be one thing, but we’re in his head. We’re privy to his every thought, and he’s absolutely disgusting. He gets walloped on the head at one point, and while recovering gets a call from a woman, and the first words out of his mouth are “are you naked?” Are we supposed to find this amusing? Titillating? How can we sympathize for a man so chronically distracted by so much as a woman’s ankle?
I certainly can’t.
In sum, this book is the type of terrible that should be legendary. Certain glorious pages of this book should be framed and immortalized in the Louvre, and the rest should be shredded, burned, and stricken from the collective memory.
I recommend the first five chapters, and then closing it forever, if only so that you can read the crowning glory of all sentences: “They say we wizards are subtle. But believe you me, we’ve got nothing, nothing at all, on WOMEN,” in context.
Wish fulfillment at its finest, our story’s star, detective wizard Harry Dresden, is a gangly, dim witted, wizard equivalent of a nerd shut in, who inexplicably has women falling over him at every turn despite the fact that he seems perpetually dressed in cowboy boots, wide brimmed hats, and a jacket that would make any steampunk cosplayer proud. Perhaps it’s the ponytail that drives them wild. Everyone knows the ladies like a good ponytail. Or maybe it’s because he’s not good with the ladies that they like him so much. Ladies like a good project, you know, and a lanky geek who makes love potions in his basement is a pretty hefty one.
As far as the fantasy elements go, the worldbuilding is shoddy at best. The magic is generic wizard-stuffs, like lighting, wind, and force fields, and the rules for magic inexplicably ping pong around with little rhyme or reason. Half the time, our hero is like “it’s time for magic, but I’m TIRED, so I can’t really do it,” and then whips out what seems like a substantial amount of magic shortly after. Other established rules, like “entering a house without permission is bad juju,” are broken twice after the first mention of it, with no care for the rule breaking at all. Then, there’s the mysterious White Council, which has it in for our intrepid staff wielding hero. Oh no! However, it’s soon clear that their only purpose is to serve as a ticking clock to speed up our flaccid narrative. That’s basically it for the magical intrigue. But wait! “What of the detective aspect,” I hear nobody asking. Excellent question!
Dresden is the worst detective, possibly ever. Any clues he finds are almost always happenstance, and his instincts are hilariously off kilter. Upon seeing the first murder scene, he postulates that our murderer is a woman because “women are better at hating than men.” …Sure. Spoiler alert, our villain is a man, and this line is easily forgotten, swept under the rug. Some clues are so easy to put together that it’s an embarrassment Dresden took so long. Other clues don’t add up, and feel more like the convenience of an author who knows his story than a genuine conclusion our detective could come to. The shining glory of an example of this is where Dresden breaks and enters the crime scene of a murdered prostitute (please recall our breaking and entering rules above), and sleeps next to the bed she was killed on, because of sadness or something, and when he wakes up, he notices a film canister under the bed. Ye gods, a clue! How the police investigation failed to find it is beside the point. A clue! Good gravy. The most detective-ey thing about Dresden is his hat.
But, I have saved the best for last. The crème de la crème of this book is the women. Sweet Jesus, the WOMEN. I know some things about the men in this book. They have faces and hair and eyes. Most are threatened by Dresden in one way or another. But the WOMEN. For every woman, I know the shape of their faces and the color of their eyes. I know exactly how their hair is styled and every detail of their makeup. I know the exact curves of their cupids bow lips and how their cheeks look when they blush. I know the shapes of their little noses and I know how their bodies probably look under their professional blazers. I know how their shirts emphasize their breasts and how their dresses cling to their toned thighs.
I know…too much.
The objectification of women never ends in this book. Every woman is described as “feminine” at least once, and everything they do is dictated by their woman-ness. When Murphey, a police detective and the only woman with a semblance of personality, snorts at a joke, it’s described as “unfeminine” and “an unladylike noise from such a small nose.” A woman meets him at a bar and leans over, which Dresden mentally notes would have made for a good view, but he doesn’t look, chaste as he is. Upon the closure of their discussion, the woman literally asks him, ASKS him, essentially “why didn’t you look at my boobs?” Oh yes, just the way we women talk. “Excuse me, male friend, but I have catered my dress and my boobs and my pose for you, why oh why are you not looking?” Spot on.
And, of course, the ceaseless crying. So many of the woman shed beautiful little tears in front of Dresden. Even our hard-boiled Murphey has some lady feelings to cry out in front of him. A vampiress he interviews cries because she transformed into a hideous beast in front of him, and upon reading her soul he sees that all she ever wanted was to be beautiful, and is ashamed that he saw her true form. How tragic. All her sex appeal is now gross to him, by the way, now that he knows she’s a monster. So sorry you can’t get it up for the vampiress now, Dresden, guess you’ll just have to jerk it to the twenty other inexplicably sexy and emotionally vulnerable women in your life. What a travesty.
It starts funny, and then gets more and more un-fun as the story progresses. At first, it’s a joke, but then a woman is dead and naked on her bed and Dresden takes the time to divert attention to her tan lines, and the laughter dies in your throat because, dude, that was a person…and now it’s a CORPSE. Give her some dignity. The further you read, the more miserably horrible the author’s lack of storytelling and total inability or unwillingness to understand women gets. Is this the male fantasy? To get to remain a geeky loser and have sexy women all around him that he never has to commit to? At least Twilight had the decency to give its two male romantic interests a semblance of personality.
Dresden laments over and over how people don’t respect that he’s a traditional man, and we’re supposed to feel for him when he’s called a chauvinist. But the problem is, he IS one. If he just opened doors for ladies that would be one thing, but we’re in his head. We’re privy to his every thought, and he’s absolutely disgusting. He gets walloped on the head at one point, and while recovering gets a call from a woman, and the first words out of his mouth are “are you naked?” Are we supposed to find this amusing? Titillating? How can we sympathize for a man so chronically distracted by so much as a woman’s ankle?
I certainly can’t.
In sum, this book is the type of terrible that should be legendary. Certain glorious pages of this book should be framed and immortalized in the Louvre, and the rest should be shredded, burned, and stricken from the collective memory.
I recommend the first five chapters, and then closing it forever, if only so that you can read the crowning glory of all sentences: “They say we wizards are subtle. But believe you me, we’ve got nothing, nothing at all, on WOMEN,” in context.
paveley_poet_prat's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
aleksandra10's review against another edition
3.0
Thought I would be more impressed. The first person POV is an odd decision and the writing style could be more mature. I feel like I still don’t know who Harry Dresden is and random mentions of his childhood fall short of what one would call character development. There are hints of a larger magic system, but so far, it has been limiting and uninspiring. Very unlikely for me to continue the series.
kyillme's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Now say it with me folks: All cops are bastards! And this most certainly includes Murphy, Dresden’s frenemy in the police department. Oh yeah, I’m sure the overworked female Chicago police officer is really great at her job. To be fair — if you consider the job of police to be botching investigations and committing violence against citizens she’s doing a great job. I’m writing this as I listen to the second book in the series and God, I hope this character dies. Boohoo, Murphy is soooo damaged and can’t trust people or listen to anything anyone else says. This is surely the makings of someone who can be trusted with a gun and badge. Surely every reader will root for this character who references beating suspects in the interrogation room.
welktickler's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I think the author was going for 1930s detective hard boiled but it came off as corny and very sexist.
The book was predictable and very badly written., even for pulp.
I have heard great things about these books so I might give another one ago.
The book was predictable and very badly written., even for pulp.
I have heard great things about these books so I might give another one ago.
styo's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
mheckman0429's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Interesting premise. Ready to read more.
readaholicliv's review against another edition
4.0
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.
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
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.
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.