I’ve been into Science Fiction since I was a pup, but fantasy never appealed to me. I don’t know why, possibly because it always seemed like there would be princesses and a bunch of moping around. Fair or not, that’s how it seemed to me. I don’t know how I started on Storm Front by Jim Butcher, but I was sucked in.
Storm Front is the first book of The Dresden Files series, and he’s up to 17 books with a couple of novellas. The audio books are narrated by James Marsters, who was Spike from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Marsters does such a good job, the one book that wasn’t narrated by him, was re-recorded when Marsters became available.
Harry Dresden is a salty, smart-arse private detective and a wizard, so the series is considered urban fantasy. Dresden has magic skills, but what makes the series enjoyable, apart from the entertaining dialogue, is that his magic has limits. Dresden explains the magic in a plausible way, so it isn’t like Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie.
In about every book, Dresden thinks his life is settling down, a threat presents itself, he gets his ass kicked a few times, then being clever, rather than powerful, he prevails.