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A review by comebymoonlight
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I love the idea of this weird noir-detective/urban fantasy genre merge. The world-building was interesting. Even having read it, I still feel excited about the premise. It's a good start.
The biggest problem is that I just don't like the narrator. Given that it's in first person, I can't tell if it's the character or the author that I dislike, but I do dislike them. I've tried to cut the book a lot of slack, as I feel there was an attempt to emulate the tone of a more classic noir novel which can't quite extricate itself from the problems that come with just being from the 1940s. Harry prides himself on being "old-fashioned" but even when a female character is calling him a chauvinist for it, I still get the impression I'm supposed to like him for it. And I don't.
There are a handful of female characters, but every single one of them is a caricature or a plot device (or both). Ironically I think the most interesting among them is an alluring vampiress who runs a brothel which really should tell you how flat the rest of them were that I felt this trope was a step up. And I almost managed to forget a scene wherehilarious circumstantial hijinks result in Harry trapped in a 3ft diameter magical circle, completely naked, with a woman who has accidentally drugged herself with a potent magical aphrodisiac .
It's a shame, because I do find I'm still interested in the few longer term plot hooks which weren't resolved by the end of the book. I'm still interested in the setting. Popular opinion does seem to be that the series improves as it goes on, but... I'm just not sure I care enough to slog through more volumes of this to get wherever it may be going.
The biggest problem is that I just don't like the narrator. Given that it's in first person, I can't tell if it's the character or the author that I dislike, but I do dislike them. I've tried to cut the book a lot of slack, as I feel there was an attempt to emulate the tone of a more classic noir novel which can't quite extricate itself from the problems that come with just being from the 1940s. Harry prides himself on being "old-fashioned" but even when a female character is calling him a chauvinist for it, I still get the impression I'm supposed to like him for it. And I don't.
There are a handful of female characters, but every single one of them is a caricature or a plot device (or both). Ironically I think the most interesting among them is an alluring vampiress who runs a brothel which really should tell you how flat the rest of them were that I felt this trope was a step up. And I almost managed to forget a scene where
It's a shame, because I do find I'm still interested in the few longer term plot hooks which weren't resolved by the end of the book. I'm still interested in the setting. Popular opinion does seem to be that the series improves as it goes on, but... I'm just not sure I care enough to slog through more volumes of this to get wherever it may be going.