Storm Front

The Dresden Files, Book 1

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: James Marsters

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.

With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires, while he himself is under suspicion of the crimes.

©2000 Jim Butcher (P)2002 Buzzy Multimedia

Finally!!

Finally, I have found a writer in this genre that I can follow. This genre seems to be filled with so many crap writers that I had almost given up entirely. I thought the premiss for this sort of literature had so much potential, yet I could not find a good writer in the field. Jim Butcher is that writer. JB could write in any field he wants, but I am glad he chose this one.

The story is ok, the characters are even better. I especially like Bob and hope he is included in later episodes. I like how the main character, beats himself up, like we all do sometimes, but then he gives himself a pep talk and gets things done. The writing is descriptive without being overly so. A lot of time and effort was put into writing this intelligently and creatively. It is not perfect and I will have to admit I debated on rather to give it four or five stars. There are one or two times when the solution to the problem comes to easily, but this is minor and he is mostly faced with major road blocks that he uses his brain to get out of.

The narration and production is different from any I have heard before. I have listened to hundreds of audio books. In this production you will hear the narrator breathing, sometimes it is part of the acting and sometimes it is just the narrator breathing. You can also hear him swallow, change position in his chair, and parting his lips. You would think this would be distracting and for some reviewers it was. For me, it made me feel like I was sitting in a chair across from Harry Dresden as he told his story. I am not sure if they did this on purpose or not. The narrator is excellent either way.

I will be listening to more in this series.

The Wizard Sam Spade

The premise that there is a real Wizard working as a private eye in Chicago is brilliant. The execution of the story and the performance by James Marsters is similarly near perfect. There is a gritty film Noir feel to the story which makes it at once credible and compelling. It has amusing moments and enough adult content for this not to be a great read for the Harry Potter crowd. The action (of which there is a great deal) feels very cinematic; you can imagine Riddley Scott doing a great job with the mayhem and monsters. I came to this series from the Iron Druid Chronicles which I have seen described as “Dresden Light.” That’s a pretty fair assessment, the villains are darker, sexier more violent and less funny in Dresden; it’s a different kind of story. If Iron Druid is ‘Twilight’ Dresden is ‘True Blood’. That’s probably a bit unfair to the ‘Iron Druid’ as ‘Twilight’ is horrible and ‘Druid’ is terrific...but you get my point. If I have any criticism of Dresden (and it’s slight) it’s that the hero almost never has a good time. There seems to be a rule in fantasy writing that along with fabulous magical ability comes a generally horrible life …to quote the Genie in Aladdin “Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space.” Beyond that tiny reservation, this is a terrific story and performance which I can highly recommend.

P.I. with fun twists

The narrator really has the right tones and pauses for the real 1940's style gumshoe detective-lots of fun. There is solid story, suspense, and unexpected humor that makes you laugh out loud. I've already bought the second one... One thing, though - readers should know going in that this does contain adult content. It is tastfully done but nevertheless not suitable for young listeners.

New to Urban fantasy

Im new to Urban Fantasy but am really really enjoying this. Between Harry and Atticus from Iron Druid Chronicals i have a new favorite type of books

An excellent voice for this character

James Marsters is a perfect choice to read these books. His voice is perfect for Harry Dresden. I will definitely be watching for the three middle books in this set.

A great romp

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, including the narrator. It was the improbable made probable in a very engaging way. I thought the narrator struck the perfect tone of a slightly-on-the-skids wizard. I'm going to read more from this author.

Beware the Sound Editing!

What didn’t you like about James Marsters’s performance?

I'm not sure I liked Marster's rather deadpan interpretation of the main character. However, what made the book tough to listen to was the sound editing. You can hear every lip-smack, swallow, inhalation / exhalation from the voice actor. This is typically edited out and it's the first out of 50+ audiobooks I've listened to where the performer's breathing and swallowing is so readily apparent.

Any additional comments?

Full disclosure - this review is on the audio engineering only. Listen to the preview before purchasing! I returned the book and never finished it.

Fun book but not so hi fi recording.

Derivative but to be expected in a genre mash up tale. I'm late to the party with this series but the concept is really fun.

The recording leaves a lot to be desired. The reader is great, but clearly was not directed or edited well. You can hear stammers, saliva, lip smacking, etc. Doesn't ruin the ride but sure doesn't paint a talented narrator in a very good light. Producers and editors need to step it up.

fun and entertaining

I was drawn to these audiobooks when I learned James Marsters was narrating them. I actually joined Audible.com just for these books and have gone on to others as well now. I've listened to the first four Dresden Files books now, and have greatly enjoyed them all. In fact, I think the writing keeps getting better with each book, a fun and entertaining series. James Marsters does an amazing job of performing the books, better than I had hoped. Now I'm stuck waiting for the series audiobooks #5, #6, and #7 to come out as I don't want to jump to #8 and go out of order. Audiobook #5 is supposed to be out Nov. '09. Looking forward to it!!!

wow

I knew I would enjoy the book but the presentation was fantastic! I felt as if I was really in the story.