Storm Front: Book 1 of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

The first entry in what is now a seven book series,Jim Butcher's work definitely feels like a first novel. I don't say this as an insult, the work just sounds like a decent craftsman figuring out his tools. The action is fairly tight, the plot is somewhat predictable, but the characters are unique enough to keep my interest.

Harry Dresden is a genuine wizard, one of the few openly operating in Chicago. He helps police solve crimes of supernatural origins and moonlights as a private detective to help pay the bills. He's cursed by the White Council (the Supreme Court of wizardry) because of his use of magic in an earlier duel with another wizard. It alludes to an interesting backstory for the character, but mostly provides a convenient stumbling block so he can't magic his way out of any bad situation. And Harry definitely finds himself in many bad situations, doing battle with overzealous wizard-cops, demons, and dark wizards. Several random events congeal into a plot involving a mortal man discovering how to harness black magic to commit murder. Harry comes through in the end, saving the day (barely) with some interesting uses of his magic powers.

My main beef with the book is the extreme use of detail. A tense scene would begin, and a new character would enter, at which point Harry would stop and describe their clothes, shoes, nose and face, hair length, cloth used in said clothes, and anything they might be carrying. People can't think this fast in real life, and it always drags a book down for me when narrators do it. I'm a thinking man, I'll paint mundane details on my own, thankyouverymuch. I may give book number two a try, as this was a solid effort and not nearly as groan inducing and stomach-churningly bad as the Rogue Angel book I reviewed a while back.