A couple weeks ago my boyfriend’s friend recommended a book series called The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. He told me it was about a wizard private investigator and that was enough for me to want to read the series. The series has 15 books currently, with the most recent one coming out about a month ago.

I began the series, obviously, with the first book, Storm Front. When I first started reading it I was excited, but I also had a kind of hard time reading the first couple chapters. I’m assuming it’s because I went from reading Gone Girl (also known as “The Most Fucked Up Book of All Time”) to reading about a wizard. It was just a really big change, and it was hard for me the first two chapters. But then the book got awesome.

The story is about a man named Harry Dresden who has his own kind of detective-like business. He has a little office where people come to ask him to find lost items and things of that nature, but he is also in cahoots with a special division of the Chicago Police Department. They call him for any weird crimes that they believe might be supernatural. In this case, it was a double homicide. At the same time he is trying to figure out the homicide, he is also approached by a woman who says that her husband has gone missing, and was becoming increasingly more involved in wizardry.

The story itself is awesome. But what makes the book really wonderful is the author. He has a way of bringing each character to life in a way that seems real. These characters are flawed, and they make mistakes. They’re cocky and they’re suspicious. Introverts and completely awkward. They seem like regular humans – people you would encounter any day of the week. The interesting part is that he can do that with characters, but he can also do it with creatures. He brought to life a vampire that is so much more the old definition of a vampire. A sort of Dracula/Vampire Bat figure rather than the cast of True Blood. It was a great book to read, and I can’t wait to read more of his books.

Butcher also has a way with words. And by that I mean he is insanely sarcastic which makes me insanely happy. The main character actually has a t-shirt that says, “EASTER HAS BEEN CANCELLED – THEY FOUND THE BODY.” appropriate timing, Butcher, appropriate timing.

I really loved reading this book, and anyone who loves witchy or fantasy novels is going to love this book – even anyone who just loves a good crime book will love it! I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and I’ll let you know when I finally pick up the next book!

Until next time! Happy reading!

Also, thank you, Nate, for introducing me to Harry Dresden. I’ve made a new friend.

Rachel