Dresden Files Review

Who doesn’t love a good detective story?  Femme fatales, crime bosses, gruesome murders, and fairies?  Wait, one of those things is not like the others.  Unless you’re reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  The Dresden Files is a series of fantasy mixed with hard-boiled detective fiction.  Are they worth checking out?  Well, I’ll be the judge of that.

The Dresden Files follows the titular Harry Dresden, professional wizard and private detective operating out of Chicago.  His typical day consists of helping the Chicago police with a bizarre murder, managing clients and trying to avoid death just about every other chapter.  Some of the other series regulars include Karin Murphy, Harry’s contact with the police, and Bob, Harry’s sex obsessed spirit assistant.  Yeah, it’s one of those books.

One of the most appealing parts of Harry’s character is that he defies some of the tropes typically associated with his type.  He’s brooding one minute and cracking jokes the next.  He also takes more punishment than any other character I’ve seen.  It’s rare for him to go through a novel without getting the shit kicked out of him.  As such, you get a real sense of danger.  He’s mentioned several times as a powerful wizard, so anything that can work him over has got to be scary.  Harry is an extremely human character with many layers to his personality.

The series started out as a series of standalone novels, but has then developed into an overarching story across the current thirteen novels.  Butcher claims that he wants to do twenty books in total for the series.

The series is well written and has just about as many funny moments as it does serious and dramatic.  Butcher really captures the characters well, and shows how the events of the series are affecting them.  There is no magic reset button at the end of each novel, and Harry’s actions usually have reaching consequences later on in the series.

My one issue is that Butcher seems a tad too interested in sex scenes.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good sex scene as much as the next guy but sometimes it gets a little too much.  Other than that the series is very good with likeable characters.  The books are fast reads you may find yourself working through them at a steady pace.

Overall the series is pretty good, if at times shallow.  It’s certainly an entertaining read and if you’re not looking for something too heavy, than I recommend it.

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