Fool Moon
Date: Jul 20th, 2008 2:42:10 am - Subscribe
Mood: relaxed
Currently Reading: Lord of the Flies ( ISBN: 0-571-05686-5 ): Playing with the kittens
I finally finished reading Fool Moon written by Jim Butcher and the second book in the Dresden Files series and I have to say it's one of the better books that I've picked up this year which is saying a lot for me. Recently I've become bored with reading unable to find a book that really grabbed me and dragged me through the story with joy and ease. I think the last book that inspired that feeling in me was when I started reading The Satanic Bible which by the way is another one worth picking up even if you have no desire or intention of actually becoming a satanist, but that's a post for another day. Getting back to the book on hand Jim Butcher captured me with his first in the series Storm Front and sense then I haven't been able to put them down.
Butcher presents you with an intelligent and unique style of writing that draws you in with witty dialog and rich descriptions that paint very vivid pictures in your mind of what's going on. I mean the writing is just absolutely fantastic. His description of how the world and magic works are also so plausible that it makes you wonder if he isn't writing from truth instead of fiction. And his main character Harry Dresden is not only entertaining and smart, but realistic. Have you ever read those books where you're sitting there thinking about how beat up the main character would be and how they wouldn't even be able to walk after that and how stupid it is that they're not standing victorious over the main villain? Well believe me you won't get this here. When Harry gets beat he actually gets beat. There are no acts of super human strength, no ignoring wounds that would have obviously put him out of commission, and no doing things that otherwise would have killed him if he were a real person. Butcher is very realistic about his characters limitations and what they could take and what would put them out of commission. It makes for a very good and far more intense read when you're sitting there wondering how Harry is going to get out of this jam or that knowing that he isn't magically going to pull some super powered weapon out of his hat. And the way he does get out of trouble is very clever in ways that make you smack your head and wonder why you didn't think of that before.
The only real problem that I have with his books is Butcher doesn't seem to know how to write women. Some of his more out there characters ( such as Tera from Fool Moon ) he does a good job of, but his more common female characters are more over the top. All the women remind me of the over sexed women in the James Bond movies. All busty and beautiful and dangerous in manipulative ways. The only female character that seems to be different is Murphy who reminds me of the oversensitive femi-nazi type of girl who feels as if every man is an insensitive jerk out to get her. The type of woman that will yell at a guy for opening the door for her because she feels it means she's weak. While I do recognize there are women like this Murphy takes it to a level that would almost be funny if she didn't piss me off so much. Of course I suppose I would rather her piss me off with her arrogance then for me to remain apathetic to her as a character. It means that despite her unrealistic attitude she's still well written enough that she can get under my skin.
In the end though Jim Butcher does an absolutely amazing job and despite the fact that he doesn't seem to know how to write a good female character ( at least not yet though I've only gotten through book #2 ) it isn't so much of a big deal that it ruins the whole thing. I would defiantly recommend starting on his series if you haven't already yet.
Seriously buy it now. You won't regret it I promise.
And for my next book while I wait for parts three and four of the series to arrive I'm going to try and read Lord of the Flies. I missed this book during high school and figured it's probably for the better. A lot of books that I hated when I read them for class have become favorites of mine when I became more mature and patient enough to appreciate them. So I guess I'll see if this classic is all everything I've heard it is or if this is just more trash that schools try to shove down our children's throats.
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