Fool Moon is the second book in The Dresden Files series. This series offers a unique
mixture of detective/paranormal fiction, with elements from the
horror genre. Fool Moon expands the story of Harry Dresden
with a new adventure, featuring several returning characters from the
previous book. At 340 pages, Fool Moon is a quick read, just
like its predecessor. Today, I would like to share some of my
thoughts about Fool Moon in a book review.
Synopsis:
Harry Dresden runs a very unique
business in Chicago. He is the world's only practicing wizard for hire. Lately, Harry's business has gone from bad to worse. In fact,
“worse” couldn't even begin to describe Harry's desperate
financial situation.
As Harry struggled to pay for his next
meal, a phone call came from Chicago PD, bringing a promise of
employment. Apparently, there has been an unexplainable murder case,
and the PD once again, has a need for Harry's specialty in the area
of supernatural phenomenon. Harry was elated at this change of
fortune, and he latched onto this job as a drowning sailor grabbing
the last floating log in the sea.
Harry arrived at the crime scene to
start his investigation. Upon his arrival, he noticed three clues: A
savagely mutilated corpse, a set of paw prints, and a full moon.
Wait a minute, this seems too easy!
It looks like the answer to this murder
case is a no brainier. Or, is there something else hiding from the
plain sight?
What I think about this book:
I like Fool Moon, for the same
reason I liked Storm Front, the previous installment in this
series. Fool Moon continues The Dersden Files series with an
interesting, exciting story submerged in the atmosphere of neo-noir.
The writing style is vivid and impressionable. Author Jim Butcher did
an excellent job at world building in this book. where scenes in this
book are narrated with crisp, descriptive sentences, containing
sufficient details to help readers visualize the scenes, without ever
burdening the pace of the book with unnecessary details.
The pace of the story is fast and
rapid, taking readers on a wild ride full of plot twists and
unexpected surprises. The characterization is mostly good. However, I
observed, while Fool Moon is a stand alone book in its own
right, but it is very similar to Storm Front. Where the
stories in both book followed the similar structure: 1) A gruesome,
unexplainable murder took place. 2) Chicago PD hired Harry to solve
the case. 3) Harry took the job, and land up taking out the bad guys,
struggling against impossible odds while getting beaten to a pulp, detective John McClane style.
This means, despite Fool Moon
being a different story to Storm Front, I felt a sense of
repetitiveness while reading Fool Moon. It was almost as if I
had already read a book similar to this one, where the only
difference is Fool Moon has a new murder case. On top of this,
there is another story element in this book, that gave off a sense of
repetitiveness. This is where, several times in this book, Harry got
beaten to a pulp, then at the last minute, he tapped into his last
reserve of energy, overcoming the impossible odds. This happened at
least 3-4 times in this book. The first time this happened, it
immersed readers to feel a sense of danger for Harry. However, after
this trope appeared a few times in this book, it quickly became tiring, as the initial thrill faded with the repetitive structure.
Having said this, Fool Moon is
still a fun book to read. This book, like other The Dresden Files
books, has a neo-noir touch to it, making it stylish. Furthermore,
Fool Moon also has enough suspense, actions, and magic that
will quench most readers' thirsts for a good, urban fantasy novel.
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