Storm Front
Jim Butcher

Storm Front is the first book of the Dresden Files, about which I’d heard a lot of good things in the corridors of the internet. Urban fantasy has been my genre of choice since I first discovered it, but the books that I’ve read in the same vein as the Dresden Files normally have female main characters. (And female authors, of course, but that’s a much more convoluted issue.) The differences, under Harry Dresden, are a surprising pleasure.

With a female main character, there’s always this sort of desperate drive to prove herself, a ramrod tension where she can never relent, never give in, never show weakness. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry books are a prime example — every page she seems to be resisting someone else’s suggestion, trying to gain respect.  This, of course, reflects the entire feminist struggle for equality, but… I don’t know. My personal experience is so different that it’s never rung true for me.

In some ways, I have a very masculine assumption of power. Part of it is a refusal to back down, part of it is a deep independence, most of all is the ability to understand the power in a space, and to take hold of it and use it as I need it. For instance, in theater, often when I take on a character in improvisation, others are often unsure about the gender of the character. My own physical identity as a female comes up at odds against the masculine attitude — even in silent exercises, when it’s all about body language. Somehow (I don’t know how; it’s all instinctual for me) I transcend gender in taking power of a space.

So in my personal experience, I don’t have to struggle for respect. People just give it to me. A lot like Harry Dresden, in fact, which is why I attached to the character.

He’s comfortable with his own strength, his own abilities. He’s comfortable with his status as a maverick in both the wizard and human communities. He’s perfectly relaxed about people dismissing him as a charlatan, because their opinions matter nothing to his self-worth.  Even when a powerful presence like Johnny Marcone enters the scene, Harry meets him on equal terms, because he’s secure in his own independence. Very different from, say, Mercy Thompson against Adam Hauptman (Patricia Briggs), Meredith Gentry against Doyle/Kurag/Taranis/whoever else is the dominant in that situation (Laurell K. Hamilton), Anita Blake against Jean-Claude/Richard (also Hamilton… although I saw something about that in Narcissus in Chains… I haven’t gotten that far, yet), Kate Daniels against Curran (Ilona Andrews). Granted, these examples are all heavy on the werewolves, which don’t come in until the second book of the Dresden Files, but still. All that underdog scratching and biting gets tiring. Harry Dresden is a nice breath of air.

Otherwise, Storm Front very much has the same ‘serial’ feel to it, which means that the revelations are all little pieces that will eventually build to a grand whole, instead of any broad or sweeping world-truth that takes away the book. Not a criticism, just an observation on the nature of serials. But without the sweep, there’s not a lot to be awed by. A serial is not the kind of book you fall in love with. Instead, you fall in love with the characters over the long-term journey of the series.

Favorite characters — Bob the Skull. Hilarious guy, although I worry about how Harry would get anything done if something happened to him. Lt. Murphy is also a big favorite, because she is those female main characters mentioned above, except you don’t see her doing any underdog whining, do you?

And good hints at the fact that Dresden’s a lot more powerful than his poking about in human affairs would signify. Good to know he’s got some serious firepower.