Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) [Hardcover]

Jim Butcher (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dresden Files | Publication Date: November 6, 2007

The first novel of the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files-now in a hardcover edition.

As seen on the Sci Fi channel.

The novels of the Dresden Files have become synonymous with action-packed urban fantasy and non-stop fun. Storm Front is Jim Butcher's first novel and introduces his most famous and popular character-Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.

For his first case, Harry is called in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with the blackest of magic. At first, the less-than-solvent Harry's eyes light up with dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage. Now, that black mage knows Harry's name. And things are about to get very...interesting.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As in the audio adaptation of Butcher's first Dresden Files novel, Storm Front, Marsters (who played Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) slips easily into the role of down-on-his-luck wizard Harry Dresden. Marsters's self-deprecating tone fits the character perfectly; he reads with a dry, ironic humor that doesn't mask Harry's genuine concern for the lives of innocents. Marsters also displays a remarkable skill for lending even the strangest characters and creatures voices-including gentleman gangster Johnny Marconi, his henchmen, a sexy female werewolf and Bob, the British-accented talking skull. In this outing, Harry is again out of cash, and police detective Karrin Murphy, who's still angry at him over the events of the first book, isn't inclined to throw work his way. But soon a series of mysterious, violent murders sends her to Harry for help. Are the killings the work of a local motorcycle gang? Or a werewolf-and if so, which werewolf? Mac Finn, the werewolf environmentalist? The group of idealistic college kids who voluntarily become werewolves by night? Or the trigger-happy group of FBI agents turned werewolf vigilantes? Though the price of this audio package may put off some listeners, Marsters's lively telling makes it worth every penny.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

He handles the male and female, and the human and para-human, characters with equal aplomb, -- Audiofile

James Marsters does a nice, low-key job with the first-person narrative, -- AudioFile

even managing some moving pathos out of unpromising moments. Y.R. AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine -- Audiofile --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Roc (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451461975
• ISBN-13: 978-0451461971
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #942,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Butcher read his first fantasy novel when he was seven years old--
the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the time he turned eight,
he'd added the rest of the Narnia books, the Prydain Chronicles, every
book about Star Wars he could find, a great many Star Trek novels and
the Lord of the Rings to his count.

So he was pretty much doomed from the start.

Love of fantasy, his personal gateway drug, drew him toward a fairly
eclectic spread of interests: horseback riding (including trick riding,
stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery,
martial arts, costuming, music and theater. He played a lot of role-
playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and
eventually got into live-action roleplay where players beat each other
up with boffer weapons.

So, really, he can fly his nerd flag with pretty much anyone, and
frequently does.

He took up writing to be able to produce fantasy novels with swords and
horses in them, and determinedly wrote terrible fantasy books until,
just to prove a point to his writing teacher, he decided to take every
piece of her advice; fill out outlines and worksheets, and design
stories and characters just the way she'd been telling him to do for
about three years. He was certain that once she saw what hideous art it
produced, she would be proven wrong and repent the error of her ways.
The result was the Dresden Files, which sure showed *her*.

She has not yet admitted her mistake and recanted her philosophy on
writing.

Jim has performed in dramas, musicals, and vocal groups in front of
live audiences of thousands and on TV. He has performed exhibition
riding in multiple arenas, and fallen from running horses a truly
ridiculous number of times. He was once cursed by an Amazon witch
doctor in rural Brazil, has apparently begun writing about himself in
the third person, and is hardly ever sick at sea.

He also writes books occasionally.

Jim stands accused of writing the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.
He's plead insanity, but the jury is still out on that one. He lives in
Missouri with his wife, romantic suspense and paranormal romance writer
Shannon K. Butcher (who is really pretty and way out of his league),
his son, and a ferocious guard dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fully Automagic, March 14, 2007

By 

Ruach V. Emess (Rip Van Winkles Public House) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) (Audio CD)

From the first sentence this book takes off and kept me breathless to the end. Well OK, I was able to catch my breath but poor Harry hardly ever does. The Harry here is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden and the narrator seems to "get" him as much as the author does. The book starts with a pair of grisly murders and Harry has been brought in on the case by the Captain of Chicago's Special Investigations unit. There is a mob connection and a drug connection and people that seem to want Harry dead.
What James Marsters accomplishes in narration is nothing short of magical. He not only does justice to the voices of a host of characters, he makes you feel like you've traveled this journey with him and when Harry is bone weary you can feel it through Mr. Marster's voice. I know he has done the next 3 books in this series already, and I hope he does them all.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECTION!!, March 29, 2007

By 

K. W. "Eragon Fan" (Missouri) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) (Audio CD)

Harry Dresden voiced by James Marsters....beautiful! James Marsters breathes life into a wonderful character. Completely hooked me on the series. James Marsters skill as an actor brings this story and character to life. Prepare to obsessively listen to disk after disk as you will not want to stop even for a moment.

Harry Dresden is an inspired character. Intelligent, humorous and sexy. One liners in this series will make you laugh until you wet yourself. Guaranteed! Even when you think of them a week later you will giggle madly.

Series keeps to rules of it's own world. Book after book, adventure after adventure it stays true. Each book stands beautifully on it's own and fits into series without flaw. Extremely well written and imaginative.
Fun, fun, fun.

Also check out the book two and three in series as audio books narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Summer Knight is due as audio book soon as well.

If you have seen TV show but not yet read the books BRACE YOURSELF as you are in for a treat. Books are a million times better than the show.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad e-book translations, November 8, 2010

By 

R. Bennett - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

Ok, I really like reading the Dresden files. But the author, publishers, and all who are involved in making a quality book are ill served by typos, misplaced commas, and these strange annotation markings in the e-book versions. Amazon should NOT be charging top dollar for a poor product.

I went right through the first few in the series, the story is that good. But now on 'blood rites', I am beginning to get tired of the typos, and had to say something.