Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire. In a modern world, that is enough to have him laughed at by almost everyone who finds out about his profession. It gives him a funny mixture of cocky and reserved and utterly broke. Storm Front is the first book in the Dresden series.

I liked this book, the first in a series, a whole lot. Harry isn’t necessarily a good guy, he’s judgmental and often sexist. He also has a big weakness for not wanting to get anyone else into the troubles and affairs of “his world.” In fantasy terms, I call this the “Rand Complex” which anyone who’s read the Wheel of Time knows all too well. Even when he obviously needs help, he avoids it. This pits almost every woman in his life against him sooner or later. I read a lot of reviews that said all the women were weak and pathetic in this book, but I liked Murphy. She is your typical woman trying to make it in a man’s police force character, but she’s not weak by any means. The back-and-forth mistrust between her and Harry is amusing to say the least.

Storm Front is set in Chicago, but that’s not overly important to the story. You could take any city with mob connections and it would fit just as well. Having a specific setting does have the advantage of making it feel a little more real to the reader. In a fantasy setting, even one of urban fantasy, it’s nice to have a physical place to imagine while we read.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the way he wrote wizards. There’s nothing strikingly new here, you could research them in dozens of places and see bits of the magic system Jim Butcher uses, but it’s the mind of the wizard that is so much fun. A wizard is only as powerful as he is clever, and Harry Dresden is very clever (which is really where the cocky side comes from). The first person view is perfect for this setup. Harry’s success isn’t stemmed from the fact that he is stronger than his opponents, in many cases this is the exact opposite of the truth, but he can think quick and catches his enemies off guard.

So, all-in-all, if you’re looking for deep originality and intense characters, this may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out. It’s a fast read, and a fun one to boot. Butcher likes to beat the crap out of his protagonist and I love that. Poor ‘ol Harry gets battered pretty consistently throughout the book.

There’s also a fun television series you could check out. It’s not exactly true to the books from what I’ve seen so far, but it’s fun anyway. The actor who plays Harry does a good job with the arrogant attitude, though I don’t think he pulls off the sensitive side as well as Butcher does in the books.

I give this book a 3.5 out of 5.

Hip, hip, hooray to my little sister for graduating from high school tonight. It was great to watch all the kids walk across the stage and get their diplomas. She’s currently caught somewhere between feeling that great relief and crying that her friends won’t be joining her at college. It’s so hard to grow up! She’s definitely a people person though, and even though she may not see it yet, she’ll have plenty of friends soon enough I’m sure.

So here’s to you, little sis! I’m so proud. You have the world at your fingertips now, so go get ‘em!

Yesterday we went to my little niece’s graduation from kindergarten. They gave all the kiddos graduation caps to wear and let them line up on a stage. It was very cute. My niece is shaping up to be a very intelligent little girl. There’s an inquisitiveness about her that I don’t see in a lot of other kids, they are the ones that always fascinate me. She really enjoys taking the time to figure things out. So, of course, we get along great together.

The other day when we visited she said they (they being her and her little brother) wanted to play teacher with me. I laughed, a bit curious about what the game could be. So the two of them sat side by side and handed me a book. Teacher is a game where I get to read to them, showing them the pages. I got a kick out of it, I remember when it was just asking me to read a book.

I’ve always thought it would be fun to teach kids that young, but I feel I would be more useful when they are a bit older. I’m glad to get to help out with these kids though! It’s always a fun getting to be around them. Now that it’s summer I imagine we’ll be going swimming quite often. No complaints here!

Things are finally calming down around here. This means part 3 of Adventures Through the Window got finished up for a new podcast episode tomorrow! Huzzah! I’m happy to get back into writing. My other Summer project is to get a lot done of the rewrite of The Forest Awakens. I’m excited about this new take on the book. I’ve figured out places to add much richer descriptions, and more insight into the childrens’ reactions to the events unfolding around them. Multiple agents pointed out these changes to me, making me confident the effort will make the story that much more appealing to future agents, and the kiddos who will hopefully one day enjoy it.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to listen to the first podcast in over a month!

I had no intention of taking a month off the blog. I am sorry about that. Some of my last posts said our grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and was going to start treatment for it. Well, sometimes these things just don’t end well despite all the hopes and good thoughts coming from their family and friends. David, Daddy Dave to all his grandchildren, passed away in the hospital, his body was just too weak to fight everything going on inside it. It all seemed to happen very quickly.

His death hit me a lot harder than I thought it would, I thought I was pretty much ready to accept whatever happened. Even now it doesn’t always feel real. Everyone in the family will agree that the best thing we can do now is try to show as many people as we can why he was so special. It has meant the world to me how much Samantha’s family included me these last weeks.

One thing I do know is that DaDave wouldn’t want me to stay away from my writing or from my blog either. If anything he would keep urging me on like he always did, hoping I would strive for more. So I will not let my grief control me, because that is what I think he would want. Anyone still with me here, thanks for sticking around, I really do appreciate it. And in many ways it does feel good to be back.

Late-night post update. I’ve been sickly the last 3 days or so. It’s never fun being sick and my mind is moving very slowly. I said I wanted to give everyone a recap of where we left on in Adventures Through The Window. It’s been 3-4 weeks since we’ve had the podcast with sickness, family problems, and so on.

In part one, James suspected his substitute teacher was up to something when he saw the man fleeing from his Vice Principal! James followed him into a world like nothing he’d ever seen. Part two continued with James’ adventure in this strange new land by leading him to a mysterious floating staircase. When James finally found his way down, he’s in the clearing of a colorful, strange forest, no staircase in sight. There were three paths that James could take, and eventually he decided on one.

If you’d like to read the first 2 parts, you can do so here. The story starts again with part 3 next Tuesday, as we see where his choice of paths takes him.

Released in October of last year, Uncharted 2 was easily the best game of 2009 as far as I’m concerned. The dialogue is hilarious and the characters are as good, if not better, than the first. The new romance angles are pretty great as well. No, angleS was no accident, Drake gets to battle jealousy almost as often as bad guys.

For anyone who didn’t try the first game, Uncharted is just a great action movie made into a game. Nathan Drake is a treasure hunter–or smuggler, depending how you look at it–with a tendency to find trouble. The prize this time? The Cintamani stone and the Kingdom of Shambhala. I won’t turn this into a history lesson, but if you google those you’ll have hours of good reading, I promise!

The interspersed history added into the Uncharted series is what makes it so magnificent to me. They take places that have lived in the world’s imagination for years and make them quite a visual treat. I don’t really want to give away all the cool places Drake visits, but let me assure you that they will impress you as well.

And all of that isn’t the best part of this game. The characters, and the voice actors who played them, are just fantastic. They witty back-and-forth banter really is top notch and made me laugh constantly. Whoever is running around as Drake’s sidekick gets to help you with traps and triggers as well, making some of the puzzles a lot more fun to figure out. It’s the characters that make it all so much fun.

As with many games these days, there’s also a multiplayer system. There’s nothing unique here when compared to other shooters, but they did pull off a good amalgamation of other popular games. They also added a fun ranking system that lets you purchase upgrades and show off your ability. Everybody loves to show off their skills, yea?

Uncharted 2 easily gets a 5 out of 5. This game is worth checking out.

After much deliberation, Samantha and I have decided not to move to San Marcos. The decision came first and foremost because we really don’t want to leave her grandparents with DaDave in this condition. This is a time when they need us most, so we can’t just up and leave on them! They have been such pillars of strength and wisdom, always there when we’ve needed them.

So we’re looking at it in a positive light. It is true that San Marcos would have been beautiful and probably much more “us.” Who knows, perhaps we still might try to live there eventually (hopefully very near the Guadalupe River if so!). Since we’re not leaving, the plans have changed to fix up the house and the yard. We did a whole lot in the yard today. It was fitting for Earth Day, though we didn’t remember that until after the fact. We were just that attuned with nature I guess!

So I can cross moving off the 2010 to-do list! Which makes me think I need to do a post with updates about that.