Graham

Yeah, it's a bit of a period piece. I completely understand why folks say you should skip the first one. Jim Butcher can't really decide what's important: Is it building an interesting world where magic is prevalent, but just out of sight? Is it living in the shoes of a mage whose life unravels more every hour? Or, is it describing the physical attributes of every woman Dresden meets in, frankly, unnecessary detail? There are a handful of cool moments, but I get the feeling that this book suffers from an existential desire to sell more books. Will I be reading more? Yeah, probably. I watched the TV show as a kid, so I'm attached to Dresden anyway -- and now I'm curious how he evolves over time, along with Butcher's writing.

Very stylish. It's heavy-handed in what it tries to do -- setting up D as a character of intrigue, emphasizing his miraculous skill, and trying to hook your interest for the next book -- but I feel like that's standard for a book of this type. The language and imagery can feel overblown, but this is an older translated work, so I don't really mind. I haven't really read a lot of works like this, but I know enough about D's legacy (20+ books!) that despite my middling reaction, I'm going to keep reading the series anyway.