Book Review: Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
Nov. 23rd, 2014 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inverarityHarry Dresden vs. a taxonomy of werewolves.
Roc, 2000, 401 pages
Dresden fans insist the series takes several books to hit its stride. I don't know when it's supposed to become awesome, but the first two books have been passably entertaining urban fantasies with decent worldbuilding, so-so writing, and pretty lame characterization.
In Fool Moon, Dresden has to stop a murderous werewolf. It turns out there are several kinds of werewolves, and they all show up here. This is a moderately interesting spin, except basically what Butcher does is take all the different versions of the loup garou legend and say "They're all true!"
The returning secondary villain is Johnny Marconi, Chicago's biggest gangster and Harry's nemesis from the previous book, apparently destined to be the ongoing mundane antagonist to our hotshot wizard, as opposed to all the demons and dark wizards he's pissing off on the supernatural side.
Dresden's cop friend, Karin Murphy, is under investigation by Internal Affairs because of stuff that happened in the last book. The FBI shows up to investigate the killings, with their usual lack of humor, and lack of appreciation for so-called "wizards" babbling about werewolves.
Butcher's writing isn't bad in terms of dialog and even turns of phrase. The sequence in which Dresden himself experiences what it's like to be a loup garou was rather well done. On the other hand, the scene where he has a protracted conversation with his subconscious in order to drop a ton of exposition on the reader and spell out all of his deep, hidden insecurities, as well as make several deductive leaps that were apparently too hard to write into the actual story, was just lazy.
The weakness in this book was the same weakness as in the previous book - Dresden is supposed to a great wizard, with "darkness in his soul," but he's constantly broke, harassed, and mewling about women troubles. He makes a lot of speeches about how noble and chivalrous he insists on being, as if the reader is supposed to admire him for this. Meanwhile, the author still throws tons of beautiful women at him, many of whom are given conveniently contrivanced reasons to flash some T&A, so Dresden can continue to wax knightly. As in the first book, he alternates between giving gritty heroic speeches and being an absolute idiot and getting kicked around as a result.
The ending is obvious by the mid-point, but Fool Moon is still a decently entertaining story. The author is starting to hint that the supernatural is becoming more active and more of a threat to the mundane world, so I am guessing the scope of Harry's adventures will expand in future volumes.
I'll probably keep reading. But I'm already sick of the dance with Murphy, and sick of Dresden roaring like a lion and getting beaten down like a lamb.
Verdict: The Harry Dresden series is basically paranormal romance for guys. Fool Moon, the second book in the series, adds only a little bit to Dresden's world, and rehashes a lot of the plot devices and characterization from the first book. It's entertaining but nothing special; I have yet to understand why this series is so massively popular. 6/10.
Also by Jim Butcher: My review of Storm Front.
My complete list of book reviews.
Roc, 2000, 401 pages
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is Chicago's only openly practicing wizard. He is also dead broke. His vast knowledge and magical skills are unfortunately matched by his talent for making powerful enemies and alienating friends. With little more than his integrity left, he accepts an offer of work from Lt. Karin Murphy of Chicago's Special Investigations Unit. He wants to redeem himself in Murphy's eyes and make enough money to quiet his rumbling stomach.
Soon he finds himself pinned between trigger-happy FBI agents, shape-shifiting motorcycle gang members, a threatened mobster boss, and an heir to an ancient curse along with his primal fiance. Throw in environmental activists and a pair of young werewolves in love and you have something of Fool Moon.
Dresden fans insist the series takes several books to hit its stride. I don't know when it's supposed to become awesome, but the first two books have been passably entertaining urban fantasies with decent worldbuilding, so-so writing, and pretty lame characterization.
In Fool Moon, Dresden has to stop a murderous werewolf. It turns out there are several kinds of werewolves, and they all show up here. This is a moderately interesting spin, except basically what Butcher does is take all the different versions of the loup garou legend and say "They're all true!"
The returning secondary villain is Johnny Marconi, Chicago's biggest gangster and Harry's nemesis from the previous book, apparently destined to be the ongoing mundane antagonist to our hotshot wizard, as opposed to all the demons and dark wizards he's pissing off on the supernatural side.
Dresden's cop friend, Karin Murphy, is under investigation by Internal Affairs because of stuff that happened in the last book. The FBI shows up to investigate the killings, with their usual lack of humor, and lack of appreciation for so-called "wizards" babbling about werewolves.
Butcher's writing isn't bad in terms of dialog and even turns of phrase. The sequence in which Dresden himself experiences what it's like to be a loup garou was rather well done. On the other hand, the scene where he has a protracted conversation with his subconscious in order to drop a ton of exposition on the reader and spell out all of his deep, hidden insecurities, as well as make several deductive leaps that were apparently too hard to write into the actual story, was just lazy.
The weakness in this book was the same weakness as in the previous book - Dresden is supposed to a great wizard, with "darkness in his soul," but he's constantly broke, harassed, and mewling about women troubles. He makes a lot of speeches about how noble and chivalrous he insists on being, as if the reader is supposed to admire him for this. Meanwhile, the author still throws tons of beautiful women at him, many of whom are given conveniently contrivanced reasons to flash some T&A, so Dresden can continue to wax knightly. As in the first book, he alternates between giving gritty heroic speeches and being an absolute idiot and getting kicked around as a result.
The ending is obvious by the mid-point, but Fool Moon is still a decently entertaining story. The author is starting to hint that the supernatural is becoming more active and more of a threat to the mundane world, so I am guessing the scope of Harry's adventures will expand in future volumes.
I'll probably keep reading. But I'm already sick of the dance with Murphy, and sick of Dresden roaring like a lion and getting beaten down like a lamb.
Verdict: The Harry Dresden series is basically paranormal romance for guys. Fool Moon, the second book in the series, adds only a little bit to Dresden's world, and rehashes a lot of the plot devices and characterization from the first book. It's entertaining but nothing special; I have yet to understand why this series is so massively popular. 6/10.
Also by Jim Butcher: My review of Storm Front.
My complete list of book reviews.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-11-23 07:43 am (UTC)I didn't like the Dresden files at first, but it was a fun, popular enough series that I continued. I only decided I liked it in the later books. It depends on how much you can ignore that basically every character is a trope. I can actually enjoy that a lot of the time, but it does hurt the writing of the female characters. There are not a lot of feminist friendly tropes for females. Or at least, they aren't used in this series often.
A lot of the problems do stick around even though the writing improves as a whole. But I think Butcher must have seen people complain about Harry's attitude and gaze because later books have a lot of bits thrown in that try to combat any blatant sexism on Harry's part.
For this book, the worst part was that stupid exposition self. It didn't feel like magic, it felt like the author didn't know how to get Harry to where he had to be.
I agree with your rating and review.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-23 08:21 am (UTC)It's a) it's one of the first series that started the trend and he got the benefit of that while he improved his craft and b) it becomes a lot better after the first two books. The second one's the worst one and it's after this one that he goes 'huh maybe I fucked up with Murphy's characterization' and tries to fix it.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-23 09:20 am (UTC)That said.. let's see.. the following will be FAINTLY spoilery. Not massively so but faintly. Kind of like saying "there will be a big fight" or "you'll see that bad guy again" ... rather than "he's not actually dead" or "they totally bang".
So if you're allergic at all to even spoilers, don't read any further.... but I don't think I'll be saying anything too bad.
Anyway. The first one is where things start spinning away from the 'expectable' adventures. Dresden has some character traits that never really change, but the books take place over more than a decade. and he grows and changes. a lot in some places.
In the same breath, his relationship with Murphy changes a lot too. Murphy is not always the dubious naysayer who makes Dresden's life difficult. And while there are women willing to flash some T&A here and there... that's not too different from Real Life... and Dresden does stick decently well to his early on character traits of trying to be a nice, chivalrous guy.
I will say that I think 'paranormal romance' is a very bad description for the series in general. there is not a 'girl of the day' and Dresden is not any kind of casanovah wooing his way into bed after bed.
It's also important to note that The first Dresden books were Butcher's first forays into published novels, nearly 15 years ago. Early books are never as refined as what the later ones are.
Stick with Dresden--hopefully you'll see what the rest of us love too. Not every book is 10/10, would read again, but there wans't one I didn't enjoy :)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-25 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 12:36 pm (UTC)Some people started getting into the series with Summer Knight (Book 4), but I wasn't a big fan of that one. Probably because I could never get into the Fae, then or later.
But Book 5 (Death Masks) is where I stopped just reading the books anytime I was bored and needed something for a flight and started reading them because I was getting into it. It doesn't immediately become awesome here, but it's where things started to tie together properly for me.
You might not ever get into them though, hard to say. Just glad you intend to keep going (for now).
As for me, yeah. I'm a big fan. :P