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Wizard for Hire (The Dresden Files)

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This is a special edition omnibus of the first three books of the Dresden files--available only from the Science Fiction Book Club or second hand.

The Dresden Files contains an implausible but brilliant mix of swords & sorcery and noir mystery. When I heard the premise, I never thought it would work. Never been so glad to be wrong.

The series gets off to a somewhat rocky start here, with three stories that were somewhat formulamatic, but nonetheless clever and frequently amusing. Harry Dresden is always likable and endearingly flawed. And his world is as unique as they come, combining regular joes who know nothing about magic with supernatural criminals (and cops), faeries, spirits, ghosts, and even werewolf street-gangs. Through it all, Harry gets help from a smart-@$$ talking skull, a tough-as-nails cop who's wise to the ways of the supernatural, a modern-day Knight of God, and some even less likely allies.

Plus you get three books for the price of one!!! What's not to love there? If you enjoy fantasy (with a fair bit of humor and a surprising ammount of heart), you'll fall in love with Harry, his side-kick Bob, and his friend and confidante on the police force Karrin Murphy. There's a trio I would want defending me against the forces of evil any old day...

Wizard for Hire and the stories within provide a good start for a GREAT series!

I bought my first Jim Butcher "Summer Knight" as a "Well, this looks interesting" on 1/12/07. Stayed up til 3 in the morning reading it and couldn't wait til the bookstore opened Sunday morning. I haven't gone through a series this fast since my father gave me "Ice Station Zebra". Excellent piece of writing, I'll be waiting for every Dresden book that he comes out with and will be checking others that he has written. Already recommended to all my friends.

His books are worth buying hardcover.

Great book. Includes the first three of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. If you love Wizards you'll love this series.

Harry Dresden is a modern day wizard in Chicago. The police call him in when they run into "something that goes bump in the night", something they cannot explain.
Harry is a loveable, much put upon character. Many of the police force thinks he is a fraud. Karrin Murphy is his only ally on the police force.
He drives a beat up ancient Volkswagen because his wizard force is deadly to modern day technology. He has a skull imbedded with a spirit named Bob. Harry must confront faeries, werewolves, vampires and trolls and other nasty supernatural characters.
Harry constantly gets into situations where it seems that all is lost but somehow manages to get out of it.
The book consists of three novels which is the beginning of a marvelous series. I adore this book and the whole Dresden File series.

This is the first 3 books, in 1 volume, of the case files of Harry Dresden, modern day wizard/investigator. Set in Chicago, Harry is pitted against the dark forces of magic, which are out there, but most folk would rather not acknowledge. I enjoyed it immensely, and immediately began buying and reading my way through the rest of the series. I'm up to the 9th book, "White Night", and have not been disappointed yet!

This product was well described and priced very low. I couldn't buy the book locally for the price + shipping i paid over amazon. The book was shipped exceptionally fast and was a great read. If anyone is wondering why use amazon, the answer is clear. Great books at great prices delivered to your door.

If Raymond Chandler had written about wizards, vampires and fairies, the result might have been something like the Dresden Files series.

And "Wizard for Hire" opens on a high note with the gritty urban fantasies "Storm Front," "Fool Moon" and "Grave Peril" -- the first three books in his wizard-PI series. These aren't quite Jim Butcher at his best, but these novels are still a great introduction to his likable wizard hero and a complex new universe full of vampires (in three flavors!), werewolves and monstrous ghosts.

Business has been slow for Harry Dresden, the wizard PI, so he's eager when two new cases come at once: a missing husband who may be involved in magic, and a couple slain in the middle of sex -- their hearts exploded from their chests. Talk about a heart attack. As he tries to investigate both cases at once, he finds himself suspended between a vampire madam and a gentlemanly Mafia don.

Unfortunately, it seems the White Council of wizards also believes that he did it, due to a terrible event in Harry's past. With his proximity to some nasty magics, Harry faces execution in just a few days if he can't prove himself innocent. And as he unravels an increasingly dark web of drugs, demons and sorcery, Harry discovers that he is the next intended victim...

"Fool Moon" gets Harry involved in a series of mystery killings -- the victims were torn apart by an animal, and a canine paw print is the only clue. Smells like werewolf spirit. Unfortunately, investigating this crime brings him into contact with Johnny Marcone's mob -- and even thrown in jail after Murphy goes postal on him.

But Harry has some unusual allies in a gang of teenage werewolves and a mysterious wild woman who wants to save her fiancee. Unfortunately, Harry's quest to stop the murders brings him between a deadly cursed werewolf and a government conspiracy. And getting rid of this problem might not be so easy, even with werewolves on his side.

"Grave Peril" is all over Chicago. Harry and Knight of the Cross Michael Carpenter (gasp!) are working hard to exorcise a sudden surge of violent ghosts. And a particularly evil spirit called the Nightmare -- summoned by an enemy of Harry's -- is targeting people near him. Oh yeah, and he's been "invited" to a vampire ball and his amoral fairy godmother (no, really) wants an old debt repaid.

But the situation becomes far more grim when Harry discovers that it's not just one enemy but many that are conspiring against him -- evil ghosts, malevolent vampires, and the Leanansidhe. Cornered on every side and with a bunch of innocent people threatened (including a newborn), Harry is faced with a terrible choice. And he might lose the person he loves best.

Jim Butcher's got the hard-boiled noir thing down, even in modern Chicago -- dark rainy streets, femme fatales (some vampires), and literally fiery climaxes to Harry's adventures. These aren't Butcher's most polished books, but his snappy writing and very expansive fantasy world (four kinds of werewolves! Three kinds of vampires!) keep it entertaining.

His writing strikes a nice balance between stripped-down Chanderlian prose, and detailed horror-fantasy (such as a mad ghost smothering babies in a hospital nursery -- cue creepy lullaby). But Butcher knows how to inject some dark humor and action, such as Harry turning up at a vampire ball dressed as a... vampire. A cheesy one, that is. Not to mention some nicely snappy dialogue ("Subtle and quick to anger?" "Not so subtle").

Harry Dresden himself is a great lead character -- he's wry, amusing and a little offbeat, but with some dark personal history that tends to haunt him at the wrong times. While the human characters seem a bit flat at first, the supporting cast is a colourful bunch -- feisty cop Murphy, the pervy skull-spirit Bob, Toot Toot the fairy, the calmly amoral Leanansidhe, and the lovable incubus Thomas Raith.

"Wizard for Hire" collects the first three books of the Dresden Files series -- not Jim Butcher's best, but definitely a nice triple dose of noiry urban fantasy.

I sent this book to a friend as a birthday present. He had the short lived tv series but had not yet been exposed to the books themselves. I knew that there was no way I could just send 1 book... so the ability to send 3 together was very appealing. My friend was pleased and is now an official Harry Dresden addict. :)

My son was pleased with the book and I was very satisfied with the service I received.