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A review by audra_spiven
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Did not finish book.
1.0
I could not get into this book. I wanted to REALLY bad because I love detective and/or investigative fiction, and since I've been trying to expose myself to more fantasy lately, this seemed like the perfect way to do it.
But I just didn't find the plot itself interesting enough to warrant continuing. I was bored all the way through 100 pages. Except for the first chapter, which had a humorous enough line that I laughed out loud. But it was downhill from there. This book read like somebody's NaNoWriMo draft--like every detail he possibly thought of was crammed in there just to up the word count, rather than each word being intentionally chosen the way more accomplished authors do.
What bothered me the most, however, was the blatant sexism. The narrative is told from a first-person POV, and the character clearly thinks a lot of himself, and clearly does NOT think much of women, and that drove me up the wall. He bills himself as "old-fashioned," which is just a term men use when they are admitting they are sexist as all get-out and just don't want to use that word.
There was a weird scene where a woman vampire sucked the blood of another woman, and it was clearly supposed to be erotic, which--if I'm gonna read woman-on-woman erotica, fine, but it needs to be written by a gay woman because straight men are just writing their own personal bedroom fantasies with that, and . . . ugh. I just don't need that. Also, EVERY description of a woman was overly and unnecessarily sexual, and I would just like to read a book where women and men can interact because they are both human beings, not because there's always some SEXUAL ANIMAL MAGNETISM between them.
I quit on page 112 when I read these lines:
The phone rang several times before a quiet, dusky contralto answered.
"Linda Randall?" I asked.
"Mmmm," she answered. She had a furry, velvety voice, something tactile.
A few lines farther:
"Harry who?" she asked.
"Dresden. I'm a private investigator."
She laughed, the sound rich enough to roll around naked in.
"Investigating my privates, Mr. Dresden? I like you already."
There were some creative aspects I did enjoy, showing this author DOES have some talent. For instance, I really liked the sentient human skull, inhabited by a spirit, that helped him brew potions and remember other important things. That was clever and funny.
When I complained about the book on Twitter, someone told me that this author has other series that are more well written and don't have the blatant sexism, so I may give them a try at some point, but for now I need to cool my heels and move on.
But I just didn't find the plot itself interesting enough to warrant continuing. I was bored all the way through 100 pages. Except for the first chapter, which had a humorous enough line that I laughed out loud. But it was downhill from there. This book read like somebody's NaNoWriMo draft--like every detail he possibly thought of was crammed in there just to up the word count, rather than each word being intentionally chosen the way more accomplished authors do.
What bothered me the most, however, was the blatant sexism. The narrative is told from a first-person POV, and the character clearly thinks a lot of himself, and clearly does NOT think much of women, and that drove me up the wall. He bills himself as "old-fashioned," which is just a term men use when they are admitting they are sexist as all get-out and just don't want to use that word.
There was a weird scene where a woman vampire sucked the blood of another woman, and it was clearly supposed to be erotic, which--if I'm gonna read woman-on-woman erotica, fine, but it needs to be written by a gay woman because straight men are just writing their own personal bedroom fantasies with that, and . . . ugh. I just don't need that. Also, EVERY description of a woman was overly and unnecessarily sexual, and I would just like to read a book where women and men can interact because they are both human beings, not because there's always some SEXUAL ANIMAL MAGNETISM between them.
I quit on page 112 when I read these lines:
The phone rang several times before a quiet, dusky contralto answered.
"Linda Randall?" I asked.
"Mmmm," she answered. She had a furry, velvety voice, something tactile.
A few lines farther:
"Harry who?" she asked.
"Dresden. I'm a private investigator."
She laughed, the sound rich enough to roll around naked in.
"Investigating my privates, Mr. Dresden? I like you already."
There were some creative aspects I did enjoy, showing this author DOES have some talent. For instance, I really liked the sentient human skull, inhabited by a spirit, that helped him brew potions and remember other important things. That was clever and funny.
When I complained about the book on Twitter, someone told me that this author has other series that are more well written and don't have the blatant sexism, so I may give them a try at some point, but for now I need to cool my heels and move on.