Delicious, but like a snack with too much salt rather than the healthy hearty meals to which my reading self is accustomed. Jim Butcher has built a picturesque world, but Storm Front is only going to give us tastes of what's inside. Still, I'm very intrigued and the series is huge, so I'm definitely enthusiastic about what will come. This review deals just with Storm Front though.

I gave 3 stars, but it's actually a little closer to 3.5, in that I really did enjoy the way the plot came together. I cannot give 4 because I wanted more depth, but maybe that doesn't really come with the territory. I also did not feel much affinity for any character (not even Lt Murphy who was the best described outside of Dresden, who basically is no one anyone would want to meet, including Dresden himself).

On the other hand, I did think Dresden was interesting, and I'm afraid if I read more of the series that I might end up liking the guy, which may mean that I will start to suck socially too. I'm sure an amulet or something can be found to stop it from happening.

I am interested in the magic, but I have this feeling that a spell is there whenever Dresden needs it. He seems to not have any power and then all at once have enormous mana to fire off one spell after another. This didn't bother me when I read it but later on it came to mind. I hope the magic system is fleshed out in the other books.

As for the characters, I've already read a lot of criticism about their "tropish" nature and I'm not going to add more here. Again, their lack of depth and diversity hits harder after the story is done than when I was reading. I was completely hooked to the story and devoured the book in only a few hours.

All in all, this was a nice way to enjoy some time on the noir side. I'm looking forward to more.