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Let me tell you how a wisecracking Chicago wizard-for-hire with the most rotten luck imaginable won a permanent spot in my heart, making me a devout Dresdenite.



'Twas a week before USMLE Step 1, the most important test for any medical school student as it pretty much determines which medical specialty you are supposedly smart enough to pursue. Basically, the stakes were high and the stress reached the previously unknown heights. By then my poor average-sized brain has been fully stuffed with all the medical trivia it was able to handle. Have you ever met an overcaffeinated, freaked out, sleep-deprived, shaky med student with bloodshot eyes and propensity to quote at you random basic medical science facts in a high-pitched shaky voice? If so, it was probably before Step 1, and this is an honest representation of what my friends and I looked like:



Lovely, no?
Anyway, physically unable to study any more, I stumbled upon this book on my Kindle app. And this is how Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, he of the magical staff and a black leather duster, entered my life. Suddenly the anxiety was gone, and instead of omg-it's-test-time-and-I-did-not-study-enough customary nightmares I dreamed about Chicago magical world that night. In the week that followed, I got through most of the series - 11 books at that point in time. The stress was gone with the help of Harry Dresden's adventures - and on the test day I beat my goal score by one whopping point! :D

“A man's magic demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him. There is no truer gauge of a man's character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power. I was not a murderer [...] I was Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. I was a wizard. Wizards control their power. They don't let it control them. And wizards don't use magic to kill people. They use it to discover, to protect, to mend, to help. Not to destroy.�

I loved this book despite all its imperfections. Harry Dresden, a wisecracking, self-deprecating, Star Wars-references-dropping, never-knowing-when-to-shut-up, and unwaveringly good guy with a penchant for attracting trouble was someone I'd love to be friends with. I even forgave him the annoying and eyeroll-inducing case of old-fashioned chivalry towards women. Plus, his assistant is an erotica-obsessed formerly-evil spirit living in a skull - how can anyone not love that?

“Harry," Bob drawled, his eye lights flickering smugly, "what you know about women, I could juggle.�

This book is a quick and delightfully pulpy read, modeling Harry's personality and adventures on the hardboiled crime noir detective stories with a generous helping of humor set against the paranormal background. It does not aspire to be life-changing or profound, it does not try to be the capital-L literature (that was an excuse to use my favorite Pratchett quote: "Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book."). All it does is take you on a fun and exciting ride, and that's what I love about it. Yes, sometimes it falls flat, or tries too hard, or gets a bit full of itself, but the feeling of sheer fun that Jim Butcher must have had while writing this story is palpable on each page, and it's awesome!

“Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.�

This is a "freshman" book, and is not perfect, but it is nevertheless really good. Jim Butcher's narrative voice gets more confident and more polished as the series progresses, especially beginning with book 4. But it was enough to keep me completely engrossed in Harry Dresden's world and read eleven books of the series in a little over a week. I love the Chicago mystical world, I love the characters, I love the fast, even breakneck pace, I love the detective noir touch, I love Butcher's take on mythologies. I absolutely adore the wisecracking - to me, it never felt annoying, maybe because it's a big part of my own (I assume, completely charming) personality.

““You don't go walking into the proverbial lion's den lightly. You start with a good breakfast.�

For all of that, I easily give it four stars. (I'd be tempted to call Harry Dresden my literary boyfriend, but as I learned from the sequels, nothing good can possibly come out of that).

“I don't want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I'd rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don't come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p's and q's. My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I'm in the book.�

—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�
2020 reread:

Listened to it on audio with my better half � his introduction to Dresden. It’s been a decade since I first read it now. Flaws definitely became more apparent this time, and Harry’s attitude towards women (that “chivalry� theme) is indeed annoying, and that noir feel sometimes is actually funny. But overall I still liked it. It’s interesting seeing Harry Dresden’s humbler beginnings, as I’m used to him being the magical powerhouse of the later installments. Anyway, I’m not as enamored by it this time, but magic still holds.