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Storm Front (Dresden Files) Mass Market Paperback – April 1, 2000
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As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put it mildly—stinks.
So when the Chicago P.D. bring him in to consult on a double homicide committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name...
“A great series—fast-paced, vividly realized and with a hero/narrator who’s excellent company.”—Cinescape
- Print length372 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRoc
- Publication dateApril 1, 2000
- Dimensions4.19 x 0.94 x 7.5 inches
- ISBN-100451457811
- ISBN-13978-0451457813
- Lexile measure830L
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff will love this series.”—Midwest Book Review
“Superlative.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.”—Cinescape
“Butcher...spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting. The supporting cast is again fantastic, and Harry’s wit continues to fly in the face of a peril-fraught plot.”—Booklist (starred review)
“What’s not to like about this series?...It takes the best elements of urban fantasy, mixes it with some good old-fashioned noir mystery, tosses in a dash of romance and a lot of high-octane action, shakes, stirs, and serves.”—SF Site
“A tricky plot complete with against-the-clock pacing, firefights, explosions, and plenty of magic. Longtime series fans as well as newcomers drawn by the SciFi Channel’s TV series based on the novels should find this supernatural mystery a real winner.”—Library Journal
“What would you get if you crossed Spenser with Merlin? Probably you would come up with someone very like Harry Dresden, wizard, tough guy and star of [the Dresden Files].”—The Washington Times
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I heard the mailman approach my office door, half an hour earlier than usual. He didn’t sound right. His footsteps fell more heavily, jauntily, and he whistled. A new guy. He whistled his way to my office door, then fell silent for a moment. Then he laughed.
Then he knocked.
I winced. My mail comes through the mail slot unless it’s registered. I get a really limited selection of registered mail, and it’s never good news. I got up out of my office chair and opened the door.
The new mailman, who looked like a basketball with arms and legs and a sunburned, balding head, was chuckling at the sign on the door glass. He glanced at me and hooked a thumb toward the sign. “You’re kidding, right?”
I read the sign (people change it occasionally), and shook my head. “No, I’m serious. Can I have my mail, please?”
“So, uh. Like parties, shows, stuff like that?” He looked past me, as though he expected to see a white tiger, or possibly some skimpily clad assistants prancing around my one-room office.
I sighed, not in the mood to get mocked again, and reached for the mail he held in his hand. “No, not like that. I don’t do parties.”
He held on to it, his head tilted curiously. “So what? Some kinda fortune-teller? Cards and crystal balls and things?”
“No,” I told him. “I’m not a psychic.” I tugged at the mail.
He held on to it. “What are you, then?”
“What’s the sign on the door say?”
“It says ‘Harry Dresden. Wizard.’”
“That’s me,” I confirmed.
“An actual wizard?” he asked, grinning, as though I should let him in on the joke. “Spells and potions? Demons and incantations? Subtle and quick to anger?”
“Not so subtle.” I jerked the mail out of his hand and looked pointedly at his clipboard. “Can I sign for my mail please?”
The new mailman’s grin vanished, replaced with a scowl. He passed over the clipboard to let me sign for the mail (another late notice from my landlord), and said, “You’re a nut. That’s what you are.” He took his clipboard back, and said, “You have a nice day, sir.”
I watched him go.
“Typical,” I muttered, and shut the door.
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. My ad looks like this:
HARRY DRESDEN—WIZARD
LOST ITEMS FOUND. PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS.
CONSULTING. ADVICE. REASONABLE RATES.
NO LOVE POTIONS, ENDLESS PURSES, PARTIES,
OR OTHER ENTERTAINMENT.
You’d be surprised how many people call just to ask me if I’m serious. But then, if you’d seen the things I’d seen, if you knew half of what I knew, you’d wonder how anyone could not think I was serious.
The end of the twentieth century and the dawn of the new millennium had seen something of a renaissance in the public awareness of the paranormal. Psychics, haunts, vampires—you name it. People still didn’t take them seriously, but all the things Science had promised us hadn’t come to pass. Disease was still a problem. Starvation was still a problem. Violence and crime and war were still problems. In spite of the advance of technology, things just hadn’t changed the way everyone had hoped and thought they would.
Science, the largest religion of the twentieth century, had become somewhat tarnished by images of exploding space shuttles, crack babies, and a generation of complacent Americans who had allowed the television to raise their children. People were looking for something—I think they just didn’t know what. And even though they were once again starting to open their eyes to the world of magic and the arcane that had been with them all the while, they still thought I must be some kind of joke.
Anyway, it had been a slow month. A slow pair of months, actually. My rent from February didn’t get paid until the tenth of March, and it was looking like it might be even longer until I got caught up for this month.
My only job had been the previous week, when I’d gone down to Branson, Missouri, to investigate a country singer’s possibly haunted house. It hadn’t been. My client hadn’t been happy with that answer, and had been even less happy when I suggested he lay off of any intoxicating substances and try to get some exercise and sleep, and see if that didn’t help things more than an exorcism. I’d gotten travel expenses plus an hour’s pay, and gone away feeling I had done the honest, righteous, and impractical thing. I heard later that he’d hired a shyster psychic to come in and perform a ceremony with a lot of incense and black lights. Some people.
I finished up my paperback and tossed it into the DONE box. There was a pile of read and discarded paperbacks in a cardboard box on one side of my desk, the spines bent and the pages mangled. I’m terribly hard on books. I was eyeing the pile of unread books, considering which to start next, given that I had no real work to do, when my phone rang.
I stared at it in a somewhat surly fashion. We wizards are terrific at brooding. After the third ring, when I thought I wouldn’t sound a little too eager, I picked up the receiver and said, “Dresden.”
“Oh. Is this, um, Harry Dresden? The, ah, wizard?” Her tone was apologetic, as though she were terribly afraid she would be insulting me.
No, I thought. It’s Harry Dresden the, ah, lizard. Harry the wizard is one door down.
It is the prerogative of wizards to be grumpy. It is not, however, the prerogative of freelance consultants who are late on their rent, so instead of saying something smart, I told the woman on the phone, “Yes, ma’am. How can I help you today?”
“I, um,” she said. “I’m not sure. I’ve lost something, and I think maybe you could help me.”
“Finding lost articles is a specialty,” I said. “What would I be looking for?”
There was a nervous pause. “My husband,” she said. She had a voice that was a little hoarse, like that of a cheerleader who’d been working a long tournament, but had enough weight of years in it to place her as an adult.
My eyebrows went up. “Ma’am, I’m not really a missing-persons specialist. Have you contacted the police or a private investigator?”
“No,” she said, quickly. “No, they can’t. That is, I haven’t. Oh dear, this is all so complicated. Not something someone can talk about on the phone. I’m sorry to have taken up your time, Mr. Dresden.”
“Hold on now,” I said quickly. “I’m sorry, you didn’t tell me your name.”
There was that nervous pause again, as though she were checking a sheet of written notes before answering. “Call me Monica.”
People who know diddly about wizards don’t like to give us their names. They’re convinced that if they give a wizard their name from their own lips it could be used against them. To be fair, they’re right.
I had to be as polite and harmless as I could. She was about to hang up out of pure indecision, and I needed the job. I could probably turn hubby up, if I worked at it.
“Okay, Monica,” I told her, trying to sound as melodious and friendly as I could. “If you feel your situation is of a sensitive nature, maybe you could come by my office and talk about it. If it turns out that I can help you best, I will, and if not, then I can direct you to someone I think can help you better.” I gritted my teeth and pretended I was smiling. “No charge.”
It must have been the no charge that did it. She agreed to come right out to the office, and told me that she would be there in an hour. That put her estimated arrival at about two-thirty. Plenty of time to go out and get some lunch, then get back to the office to meet her.
The phone rang again almost the instant I put it down, making me jump. I peered at it. I don’t trust electronics. Anything manufactured after the forties is suspect—and doesn’t seem to have much liking for me. You name it: cars, radios, telephones, TVs, VCRs—none of them seem to behave well for me. I don’t even like to use automatic pencils.
I answered the phone with the same false cheer I had summoned up for Monica Husband-Missing. “This is Dresden, may I help you?”
“Harry, I need you at the Madison in the next ten minutes. Can you be there?” The voice on the other end of the line was also a woman’s, cool, brisk, businesslike.
“Why, Lieutenant Murphy,” I gushed, overflowing with saccharine, “it’s good to hear from you, too. It’s been so long. Oh, they’re fine, fine. And your family?”
“Save it, Harry. I’ve got a couple of bodies here, and I need you to take a look around.”
I sobered immediately. Karrin Murphy was the director of Special Investigations out of downtown Chicago, a de facto appointee of the Police Commissioner to investigate any crimes dubbed unusual. Vampire attacks, troll maraudings, and faery abductions of children didn’t fit in very neatly on a police report—but at the same time, people got attacked, infants got stolen, property was damaged or destroyed. And someone had to look into it.
In Chicago, or pretty much anywhere in Chicagoland, that person was Karrin Murphy. I was her library of the supernatural on legs, and a paid consultant for the police department. But two bodies? Two deaths by means unknown? I hadn’t handled anything like that for her before.
“Where are you?” I asked her.
“Madison Hotel on Tenth, seventh floor.”
“That’s only a fifteen-minute walk from my office,” I said.
“So you can be here in fifteen minutes. Good.”
“Um,” I said. I looked at the clock. Monica No-Last-Name would be here in a little more than forty-five minutes. “I’ve sort of got an appointment.”
“Dresden, I’ve sort of got a pair of corpses with no leads and no suspects, and a killer walking around loose. Your appointment can wait.”
My temper flared. It does that occasionally. “It can’t, actually,” I said. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll stroll on over and take a look around, and be back here in time for it.”
“Have you had lunch yet?” she asked.
“What?”
She repeated the question.
“No,” I said.
“Don’t.” There was a pause, and when she spoke again, there was a sort of greenish tone to her words. “It’s bad.”
“How bad are we talking here, Murph?”
Her voice softened, and that scared me more than any images of gore or violent death could have. Murphy was the original tough girl, and she prided herself on never showing weakness. “It’s bad, Harry. Please don’t take too long. Special Crimes is itching to get their fingers on this one, and I know you don’t like people to touch the scene before you can look around.”
“I’m on the way,” I told her, already standing and pulling on my jacket.
“Seventh floor,” she reminded me. “See you there.”
“Okay.”
I turned off the lights to my office, went out the door, and locked up behind me, frowning. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to investigate Murphy’s scene, and I didn’t want to miss out on speaking with Monica Ask-Me-No-Questions. So I opened the door again, got out a piece of paper and a thumbtack, and wrote:
Out briefly. Back for appointment at 2:30. Dresden
That done, I started down the stairs. I rarely use the elevator, even though I’m on the fifth floor. Like I said, I don’t trust machines. They’re always breaking down on me just when I need them.
Besides which. If I were someone in this town using magic to kill people two at a time, and I didn’t want to get caught, I’d make sure that I removed the only practicing wizard the police department kept on retainer. I liked my odds on the stairwell a lot better than I did in the cramped confines of the elevator.
Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.
Product details
- Publisher : Roc; 1st edition (April 1, 2000)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 372 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0451457811
- ISBN-13 : 978-0451457813
- Lexile measure : 830L
- Item Weight : 7.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.19 x 0.94 x 7.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #28,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #366 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Books)
- #1,387 in Romantic Fantasy (Books)
- #2,328 in Paranormal & Urban Fantasy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jim Butcher is a bestselling author and martial arts enthusiast. His resume includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least 200 years ago, and he turned to writing because anything else probably would have driven him insane. He lives with his family in Independence, Missouri.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Jim Butcher is an awesome writer; teamed up with James Marsters vocal acting is just *chefs kiss* wonderful and they just get better as the series continues.
This is, of course, the first book of the series. If… when (cause if you’re into this kind of stuff you won’t be able to stop)… you get through them and come back you’ll plainly see the growth and development of Jim’s writing, Jame’s reading and Harry along with all the other characters that tag along on his adventures. You’ll see it along the way, I just mean it’s glaring if you start over.
In general this series sets the bar pretty high and you might not be able to appreciate another series in comparison! I’m just sayin. I’ve seen some advertisements for other series that claim if you like Dresden Files you’ll love this. It’s the other way around.
Hands down this is my favorite adult series.
You’ll fall in love, love to hate, mourn what could’ve been and what is lost. You’ll laugh at subtle jokes, beg for mercy and cheer for victories.
I don’t want to leave any spoilers but I’ll say, this IS an adult series, not really spicy but definitely adult. It is an emotional rollercoaster especially as you get deeper.
Jim pulls from a lot of lore from all around the world. Some you may know and some you may not and some he gives his own little spin to but not so much it pulls you from the story.
He’s built a world that is full of magic based in reality and you *almost* think… maybe… Nah that’s silly. (That’ll be a little funnier later)
Don’t forget the novellas. There are several short stories that aren’t pertinent to the main series but they are definitely fun little reads that get little mentions throughout the series.
Also, if you happened to watch the tv show based off Harry just well you know it’s only *based* off this series.
I've read a number of hardboiled detective novels (from back in the day) and I could see some of that influence here. Actually, that influence was stronger in "Storm Front" than it was in some of the later Dresden books (I'm up through #4 right now). I think Butcher was still trying to find his voice in this book. He's decent at the detective novel thing (clues planted in appropriate places, red herrings, etc.), but I found later books -- where there's more of a character focus, as well as more supernatural elements -- more fun to read.
One detail I like is Dresden's interference with electronic devices. The hardboiled detective style doesn't work as well, I think, with modern conveniences like the internet, cell phones, etc. But Dresden exists in the modern world and so the existence of technology has to be addressed. And I appreciate the choice that was made. Plus, it makes things more difficult for Dresden (unreliable car, making bargains with Bob the skull to get information, etc.). He's got wizardly powers but he's still sometimes at a disadvantage.
The first-person narrative works, in my opinion. I already knew that Dresden was going to make it out of the whole thing alive, because there are more than a dozen additional books in the series (a lot of times, first-person narration suffers from lack of tension because authors don't kill off the POV characters). But even if Dresden isn't going to die, there could still be consequences. In this first book, we know Dresden is already under a cloud of suspicion/distrust from his fellow wizards, plus he has mundane allies who could suffer. So there's still tension, despite the first-person POV.
There are a lot of what you might call tropes of the hardboiled detective genre in this book (house by the lake, mysterious woman coming to Dresden's office to offer him a job -- that he needs to take due to monetary reasons, mobsters, pesky reporters, etc.). I can't decide if Butcher is paying homage to the genre or just recycling ideas (or maybe a little of both), but he manages to keep the plot moving so you don't have a lot of time to focus on such details. Honestly, the same can be said for the supernatural side of things -- a wizard with a staff, potions, fairies, vampires, etc. In this case, I think the mash-up generally works.
One thing I will definitely say for Butcher's books (both "Codex Alera" and the four Dresden books I've read so far) is that they're very easy to read -- they're over before you know it! (I mean that in a good way. Also, the books are not terribly long.) Early on, I noticed a tendency for Butcher to use too many "-ly" adverbs, but these either became less noticeable or were dropped. The first murder scene is described in such a way that makes it anatomically impossible, but I'm willing to let that slide.
I'm not so sure how I feel about Dresden's attitude towards women -- these stories definitely have their sexist moments. Nary a female character is introduced that we don't hear about her build, her clothes, etc. Dresden also has something of a protective hero complex. On the one hand, sexism is a longstanding feature of the hardboiled detective story. On the other hand, I wonder if it's a little bit of the author's personality coming through. There's something of a fixation on cheerleaders (and one reference to a football team), suggesting certain difficulties during the teenage years for one or both of them (i.e., Dresden and Butcher).
One thing I wished for was more focus on the characters in this book. (That does come in later volumes and I'm glad for it.) It is clearly established that Harry Dresden is carrying around a lot of baggage from a not-too-pleasant past, but he doesn't want to talk about it. In this volume, we *are* introduced to the supernatural world, including fairies, vampires, various magical tools, and more. It is possible that this introduction took the place of some of the characterization that would normally be involved in a series like this. And we did need an introduction to those elements because they come back again and again in later volumes.
The book is set in Chicago, a place I've never been. I'm not all that sure it matters that I haven't visited there; Butcher keeps it pretty generic other than some broad references to neighborhoods, the Great Lakes, etc. It probably would have been just as easy to set these books somewhere else. On the other hand, there's nothing that leads me (admittedly, with my lack of knowledge of the area) to believe this *couldn't* have taken place in Chicago (geographically-speaking, anyway). At any rate, the setting is believable enough for my purposes.
I've been told by a couple of online acquaintances that you can skip the first two Dresden books and start right in with the third. However, I think to do that, you'd be missing out on some key early worldbuilding. I feel like this book contributes less to the ongoing storyline about Dresden's past than books 2-4, but I also think that Butcher was setting things up for later. Also, of course, he had to provide something that was basically self-contained because he wouldn't have been able to predict the reaction/popularity of the series.
All-in-all, I'm glad I took the plunge to get into this series. I expect I'll finish the books I got on promo in a week or two and have to pay full price for the rest of them. I'd say this was a decent effort but also that later books show definite improvement. 3.5 stars.
Top reviews from other countries

And Harry Dresden was a bit of a dick who said and thought a lot of thing about women that made me wince.
Over the past year I have heard that later on in the series, the world gets far deeper and more interesting. That in itself was enough to get me to at least finish the first book, considering how short it is!
The plot itself began brilliantly
I actually quite enjoyed this book! We are introduced to three separate issues almost immediately, and from there we watch as Harry Dresden tries to figure them all out.
The plot was engrossing and made the book difficult to put down – I suppose it goes with the genre, but there was always something at the end of a chapter that made me want to start on the next one!
Harry Dresden is a bit of a dick
Everyone knows that. He’s also witty and deeply cares about doing the right thing. A main character who has flaws he needs to iron out, or flaws that make his character more realistic, is an interesting character. I wouldn’t have him any other way.
The only reason I only rated this book 3 stars is because it’s a solid book, but not a great book. I don’t think it’s trying to pretend that it is. I have heard from other reviewers that future books become great, but the first few are introductions to the character, to the magic, to the world.
This leads me on to my only criticism of this book: setting
We are told it is Chicago. That’s all I know. I never felt fully engrossed in the place itself, as it is never mentioned really. I put that down to the author focusing on introducing Harry Dresden and making the plot as exciting as possible.
Perhaps we will get more of the setting in future books, and then look back on Storm Front as a bit of a prologue for what’s to come.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the shitshow that is Harry Dresdens life!
Some things I worked out straight away, like that the two cases were connected and who the evil doer was, but the author did a really good job of tying up loose ends and used the story to flesh out more of the side characters. Some stories can concentrate so much on the plot that it can leave characters, other than the lead, feeling very hollow. This book ticked all the boxes for me and I look forward to making my way through the rest of the series. From what I can tell there are 17 books to the series, so I will be pacing myself not to binge and then run the risk of not finishing the whole lot, so fair warning to anyone else wanting to start these books, there will be a lot of material to read!

It was interesting Harry is a wizard (not potter) a grown man and struggling to make money as a PI. Works with a detective sometimes (kind of reminds me of tv series Bones but with magic or Tv series medium kind of, maybe a little of both with magic) but it felt short for me maybe it will build with friends the bartender Mac and Morgan.there was a kind of slow burn love interest with susan, but it was just a date with the reporter (I guess she could start working for him) that was my problem there was no team it was just a lonely man not great for the first book not got me hooked enough to read on, if it was on unlimited I would or a pound maybe,so will wait for 99p offer to continue.sorry jim

The concept of a wizard private detective is a lot of fun in and of itself. Harry Dresden is a (mostly) fun character to follow, compellingly carrying us through the story whilst also displaying a snarky sense of humour. The magic system seems solid and the displays of magic are all great. The mystery is compelling and the stakes continuously rise throughout, making for a very tense experience.
Now, my few problems ... Yeah, they're with Harry. He's not totally awful—like I said, he's a fun narrator—but he's also a self-confessed chauvinist who thinks of women largely in terms of needing to protect them. When one of the lead characters is a badass female police lieutenant, you can see how this is a problem. Harry also takes this protective instinct to downright stupid levels and keeps a lot of vital information to himself for no good reason.
I'd recommend this book to fans of both fantasy and detective stories. Despite my problems with the protagonist, I love this book and think it's a ton of fun.

The bad is that the mystery was a bit predictable. There wasn't really any suspects or other things, so it became a bit obvious to me who actually did it, i was just waiting for thr main character to catch up
Also it's a bit "bloky" all the women are attractive and seen in that way. The main character is a gentleman and believes in the right order of things gender wise...it gets a bit much but that's definitely a personal thing.