The Dresden Files

I watched the TV show on Sci-Fi and enjoyed it and was disappointed when they decided not to continue it. I recently took the next step and found that the show was based on a series of books written by James Butcher. I asked my wife to get me the first book from the library, and then started absolutely devouring them.

The premise is this: There is a private investigator in Chicago who advertises himself as a Wizard. He actually weilds magic of the most elemental sort-- he can fling fireballs and stir up windstorms and protect people with a nearly invisible shield of force. He works with the Chicago PD on all of the strange, fringe cases where the people are threatened by those from "his world;" i.e., vampire attacks, fairy incursions, other spellcasters doing diabolical things, etc.

The thing I like most about the books is that the they are written in the first person. This means you are always in the mind of Harry Dresden. You learn what he learns and figure out the mystery as he does. He also happens to be a very interesting and engaging person to hang out with. There are humor, suspense, horror, mystery, and a fair bit of sci-fi/fantasy in every novel.

Another thing that is nice to see is how Butcher's writing improves with each novel. While the first are not bad by any means, you can feel the author getting more comfortable with his character and his world with each book-- which is to the detriment of Harry! As the author gets more comfortable, he is able to put Harry through tougher and rougher situations. He also shows some steady growth of the character between and throughout each novel. He is more powerful now than he was in book one, and wiser. He learns frequently from his mistakes, too. Characters also grow, change, and even die around Harry, which shows the effects of this other world on the "real" world of Chicago.

Mostly due to my loving wife, I now own all but four of the series (and one of those doesn't count as it hasn't been published yet, but should be early this year). I have read the first eight novels already and I am about 1/3 of the way through book nine. I already have books ten and eleven lined up to read and, as I mentioned above, am waiting for book twelve to be released.

I definitely recommend this series if you are a fan of fantasy, horror, and mystery.

Learn more here: http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/