Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) (edition 2001)

Entertaining urban fantasy with a good action. ( )

Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of urban fantasy

My Thoughts: Hexenwulf. Werewolf. Lycanthrope. Loup garou. In common, modern times, these are all used to describe the same creature, but traditionally—and in the world of the Dresden Files—these are four different creatures. One of the things I like about Butcher is he seems to have done a lot of research into the various paranormal/supernatural creatures, and incorporated that, but also twisted it just a bit to fit into his universe. I like that sort of traditionalism.

However, Harry did something very, very wrong early on in this book, when he faced the Streetwolves. What as it, you ask? I’m so happy you asked, ‘cause I might save your life someday. When faced with an angry predator, you should never, ever run away from it. You heard me right. If you run from a predator, you’ll click on its instincts, and it will chase you. This is not what you have to have happen, trust me on this one.

So, as my re-reading of the Dresden Files continues, I continue to remember exactly how much and why I have enjoyed this series. Wonderful stuff!

Disclosure: I bought these books for myself. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work: magical or mundane

But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses, and the first two don't count... ( )

The second in the Harry Dresden files was just as fun as the first. I'm getting to know Harry a bit better. He's awkward, sincere, inept, a terrible liar, not all-powerful, has a weakness for women in distress and women with long legs, wickedly sarcastic, flippant, irreverent, arrogant, sometimes slow on the uptake, worries about the little guy, hates bullies, tries to be responsible, doesn't always succeed, cries, worries about his cat, will puke after seeing a torn up dead body.

Harry takes risks, usually to help someone else, and this time, comes too close to magic he shouldn't play with. We get to see him go up against werewolves and mobsters, and it's not clear who he's more intimidated by. He succeeds in stopping those who would do nothing good, but he pays a price.

An oft-misunderstood wizard, blamed for many things he's usually trying to stop or prevent, Harry Dresden is perhaps unlike any character I've read. Certainly one of the most memorable. I had instant affection for this character, especially how he's read by James Marsters. I'm moving on immediately to the next in the series. ( )

The second book in this series suffers from the same problem as first - lack of originality (with one exception, backward werewolf, transforming from wolf to human is something I never encountered before). Otherwise, it's a good entertainment and quick read. ( )

I quite enjoyed the second Harry Dresden book. It made a good pageturner. It was fun to sprawl out on my sofa and just relax into reading it. I didn't think it was as fun as Storm Front, largely because things that had been slightly niggling irritations in that book became rather more irritating when I had them thrown at me again -- and again, and again -- in this book.

Mostly, I refer to the chauvinism. Murphy's tirade at the end is absolutely right. He's chauvinistic and his attitudes actively cause danger to the female characters he thinks he's protecting. I like that his subconscious pointed that out, re: Murphy, but at the same time I feel like the rest of the book kind of drowned that out. He calls women strong and capable and whatever and then refuses to trust them to take care of themselves in any way. That's partially why Kim Delaney gets killed. Yeah, part of that is her not explaining why she needs the information -- but that's again justifiable, re: Harry will not give her the information because he's trying to protect her.

He kind of has that attitude a lot, about anyone less capable than him, it's true -- and that's most of the world -- but still, he shows a lot more respect for male characters like Marcone, even Carmichael.

The characterisation of Murphy is also starting to get up my nose. She's supposed to be a capable police officer. She's supposed to know a little about magic, the supernatural, and Harry Dresden. It doesn't make sense for her to be so stupidly stubborn, so distrustful. Yeah, he's an ass and not telling her everything she needs to know, but that should get him yelled at, not arrested as a murderer.

I also didn't like the description of "a redheaded lass who filled out her robe a little too generously". Or the other descriptions that centred around the physical appearance of the female characters. "A little too generously" is a hefty (pun unintended) value judgement: it's an "in the eye of the beholder" thing. And the beholder describes and dismisses her just like that, "that one's a bit overweight", by his (male) standards. I can get behind it being Harry Dresden's character that makes judgements like that, and so on, except that it's getting to happen a little too much for me to be very comfortable with. With all these clearly capable, adult and mature women around, you'd think somehow this would work a change in his character, if Jim Butcher is aware of the way he's writing Harry Dresden.

It's also a little difficult to believe in the danger in these books. It was brought up in my creative writing class a while ago, I think -- you can't have a first person narrator and expect the reader to be on the edge of their seats wondering if he'll survive. Maybe if you make it how he'll survive, but in Fool Moon we already know the answer: he'll throw a load of magic at it, or there'll be a random prop (handcuffs, silver pentacle) to save his ass, and he'll limp away, battered but alive. I hope this gets more subtle/better done later on in the series, because having a good sense of suspense would help a lot.

Another slight irritation was the repetition of information. I know how, say, making potions works -- I read Storm Front. Given the relatively episodic nature of the series, at least so far, I can see why the information has to be repeated -- but I wish it wasn't so dry, wasn't given in exactly the same way as the first time. This too might get better later in the series: I don't know.

This all makes it sound like I didn't like the book very much. I still didn't find it very distinctive, and I'm hoping that stuff comes soon, but there things I like. I like the way the world is slowly being built, pieces clicking into place as needed, rather than everything being explained all at once. I like the way the magic is so normal, something you work using coffee and coke and everyday things. I like the moral ambiguity of Harry Dresden, the way it seems like he could go either way. I like the fact that there are strong women in the story, even if I think they should be better used. I've been assured that all of the detail ties in again later, that things I don't think are relevant yet will be, and I've seen enough that's good to still say "liked it" by giving it three stars, enough that's good that I've already opened up Grave Peril on my ereader. ( )