Liam's Reviews > Fool Moon

“‎It isn't enough to stand up and fight darkness. You've got to stand apart from it, too. You've got to be different from it.”

2.5 Stars .

Unless things drastically improve by book three, I think it's safe to say that The Dresden Files is one of the most overrated series of all time. At least the first two books, anyway ;]. For the life of me, I can't figure out why these are so outrageously popular. A good friend of mine read them around the same time that I did, and these were the words he used to describe them: "a celebration of mediocrity".

If that doesn't sum up these first two books, I don't know that else can. Completely, utterly, forgettable and did not leave even the barest of an impression on me, beyond a few minutes of mindless entertainment. And that is NOT what I look for in a book. . Is this a bad book? No, I honestly don't think that it's a bad book. I didn't hate it. But like.... there is nothing that would make it a good book, either. The more I think about it, the more I feel like this book fails in everything that it is trying to do.

Considering the genre (Urban Fantasy), you already know that you are going to have fantasy/supernatural elements mixed in with real world elements. The Dresden Files does this by packaging everything into a private investigator mystery/thriller type of book. That's not bad. I love mysteries and thrillers. I LOVE reading fantasy. You'd think that combining the two would make for something really special.

What do most people (myself in particular) like in a good mystery? Well, for one, you like it to be mysterious. You want to be constantly guessing at who the killer is and what is going to happen next. You want to be shocked and taken aback at the climax when the killer is revealed, and feel the thrill of the chase to figure it all out.

What do most people like in a good fantasy? Originality, for one. Interesting and convincing magic systems. A good plot/story. Solid characterization. An "epic" quality that almost takes you out of the real world. Great world building. The list goes on.

The problem here is that, particularly in book two, Jim Butcher is trying to combine all of these mystery and fantasy elements, but he does it in a way that waters down both different aspects of the story. So in the end, we're left with a mystery that isn't actually a very good mystery, and a fantasy that isn't a very good fantasy. I mean... he picked werewolves, of all things, as the topic of this book. Werewolves (or something along that line) make up the material for the most iconic mysteries of all time (Hound of the Baskervilles), and are one of the most overused Urban Fantasy ideas ever made.

It's frustrating.

And to top it off, the main characters are completely mundane. Harry is cool half the time, but then the other half the time he is this boring, brooding, depressed character. Murphy is just flat out annoying. Susan is feisty but also very annoying. And there is precious little character development - it seems like Butcher hordes information about Harry's background, but like a fifteen book commitment is A LOT if you're trying to get into the character.

To finish this lovely review, I thought I would mention how often we hear about Harry's hair - particularly the hair on the back of his neck. I've included just a few of the quotes in the book that reference the hair on the back on Harry's neck. Please enjoy =].

"The hairs at the nape of my neck prickled and stood on end."

"It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and mine snapped to attention."

"Once more, the hairs on my neck were standing up."

"at the same time the hairs on the back of my neck prickled up as the potion's magic took effect."

"It... made my teeth hurt and my hair stand on end."

"My teeth ached and my hair stood on end."

Let's just say it gets exhausting. And Butcher talks even more about the hair of other characters. Like... he legit has an obsession with hair.

Maybe we should stage an intervention?

Anyways. I'll give book three a shot, but if it doesn't rock my world, I'm dropping this series for good, I think.

Happy reading =].