halcyon_rising's review
4.0
Nice little short story on how Dresden met Murphy while doing his job, and not getting gratitude for it, again. ;-)
bookishpositivitea's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mapboy's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
tyrelljh's review
4.0
“Whenever it gets too dark, think of the good things you have, the good times you've had. It will help. I promise.”
Absolutely five stars. The fact that the author is able to provide a form of plot development and character development into a 12 page short story is amazing. This is essentially a prequel to the first book in the Dresden Files. I would recommend reading Stormfront, the first novel, first.
Absolutely five stars. The fact that the author is able to provide a form of plot development and character development into a 12 page short story is amazing. This is essentially a prequel to the first book in the Dresden Files. I would recommend reading Stormfront, the first novel, first.
izzy42's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rashthedoctor's review
4.0
As Always , You can find this review along with all of my other reviews on my blog at :
A Blog About Book [A.B.A.B]
So it's the first short story that Jim Butcher wrote in the Dresden Files saga , this was the story that Jim wrote to prove to his teacher that her suggestion about Jim writing a Modern Fantasy was a stupid idea , fortunately for him , She approved this story for a book series and now Dresden Files is one of the finest Modern Fantasy out there.
This is a short story and I mean very short , it barely reaches 20 pages and yet manages to convey a varied range of emotions from me as a reader , there's specially a particular touching scene between Harry and the girl he was saving .
In the short 20 pages we also get a quick insight into what makes Harry Dresden so special , we learn of how his brain ticks and what his morals are and more importantly we find out about the first meeting of Harry and Murphy .
The Battle with the Troll was fantastic as well , since at this point Harry was still a flyweight amidst the heavyweight creatures and wizards in terms of magic , and during the actual battle he himself was fatigued so this battle had very little magic used and the magic that is used is actually pretty insignificant magic in terms of what Harry has in his arsenal , And all this was also entertaining to read .
All said and done this is one of the first work of Jim Butcher and it's no surprise that the writing appears a bit clumsy , even for a short story . I mean , I have always stated that the first 3 Dresden Files don't really show up much in terms of writing and ergo this one is actually worse .
There is also very little magic used and a lot of cliched plot used which had it been a long novel been actually a eye-rolling experience , but since it's a short story it doesn't bother me as a reader much , but it is still there .
Honestly I won't necessarily suggest it for reading if you haven't read a Dresden files book yet , I think I've seen people say on Goodread that they read this book first as an introduction to Dresden Files and actually liked it , personally I'd say don't do so because Dresden Files itself is way different in every way possible from this book . So Dresden Fans , this is one to read if you can and non Dresden Files fan , go read the novels first than read this.
A Blog About Book [A.B.A.B]
So it's the first short story that Jim Butcher wrote in the Dresden Files saga , this was the story that Jim wrote to prove to his teacher that her suggestion about Jim writing a Modern Fantasy was a stupid idea , fortunately for him , She approved this story for a book series and now Dresden Files is one of the finest Modern Fantasy out there.
What I Liked :
This is a short story and I mean very short , it barely reaches 20 pages and yet manages to convey a varied range of emotions from me as a reader , there's specially a particular touching scene between Harry and the girl he was saving .
In the short 20 pages we also get a quick insight into what makes Harry Dresden so special , we learn of how his brain ticks and what his morals are and more importantly we find out about the first meeting of Harry and Murphy .
The Battle with the Troll was fantastic as well , since at this point Harry was still a flyweight amidst the heavyweight creatures and wizards in terms of magic , and during the actual battle he himself was fatigued so this battle had very little magic used and the magic that is used is actually pretty insignificant magic in terms of what Harry has in his arsenal , And all this was also entertaining to read .
What I Didn't Like :
All said and done this is one of the first work of Jim Butcher and it's no surprise that the writing appears a bit clumsy , even for a short story . I mean , I have always stated that the first 3 Dresden Files don't really show up much in terms of writing and ergo this one is actually worse .
There is also very little magic used and a lot of cliched plot used which had it been a long novel been actually a eye-rolling experience , but since it's a short story it doesn't bother me as a reader much , but it is still there .
Conclusions:
Honestly I won't necessarily suggest it for reading if you haven't read a Dresden files book yet , I think I've seen people say on Goodread that they read this book first as an introduction to Dresden Files and actually liked it , personally I'd say don't do so because Dresden Files itself is way different in every way possible from this book . So Dresden Fans , this is one to read if you can and non Dresden Files fan , go read the novels first than read this.
claudia_is_reading's review
3.5
A little story in which, while trying to help a little girl, Harry meets Murphy, which is a stroke of luck, if you ask me. Short and fun :D