Storm Front cover art

Storm Front

The Dresden Files, Book 1

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Storm Front

By: Jim Butcher
Narrated by: James Marsters
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under Wizards. Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.

With rent past due and a decent meal becoming an issue of some importance, Harry needs work, and soon. A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires, while he himself is under suspicion of the crimes.

©2000 Jim Butcher (P)2002 Buzzy Multimedia Fantasy Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Crime Magic Fiction Magic Users Paranormal Wizardry Chicago Exciting Funny Detective

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Slayers: A Buffyverse Story cover art
The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told cover art
Antimage cover art
Vanished: Greywalker, Book 4 cover art
Frost Moon cover art
Defiance of the Fall cover art
Monster Hunter International cover art
Limbus, Inc. cover art
Sworn to the Night cover art
Elantris (1 of 3) [Dramatized Adaptation] cover art
New Spring cover art
The Prof Croft Series cover art
SPECTR: The Complete First Series cover art
Wild Cards I cover art
The Long Way Down cover art
Relic cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
I confess that I am a great fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden series and was very much looking forward to hearing the audio version. Well, I am delighted to say that I was not disappointed - quite the reverse.

James Marsters (who played Spike in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is a superb narrator. He perfectly captures Jim Butcher's quirky, almost conversational style; he brings Harry Dresden himself brilliantly to life, as well as drawing the other characters with great aplomb; and he keeps the momentum rolling along without let-up. Great stuff.

As for the book itself, I think it is a model on how to write the first of a sci-fantasy series: it perfectly balances the need for thrills and spills, humour, human interest, goodies and baddies with developing the magical background and back-plot. The series improves with every book so I very much hope that Audible get the rest of the series after the first four, all of which are available on the US audible website.

Strongly recommended.

A great story & brilliantly narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Overall a pretty enjoyable experience. What the book gets right, it's great. But where it falters it does fall flat on its face. The mystery, magic, and world building is excellent, perfectly filling a fantasy noir checkbox. The action scenes are handled evocatively, and even though the magic system is quite soft in a sense, Sanderson's first law is quite strictly upheld throughout.
While not exactly unique, the take on magic is still refreshingly familiar with its own twist. I was personally rather fond of the interpretation of vampires.
The narrator is quite enjoyable as well, being versatile enough to emote as different characters

On the other hand, there are some questionable choices made which began grating on me after a while. Firstly, there is some questionable writing of women. There are numerous female characters, and they are all in some form or another sexualised by the manner in which they are described. Male characters are not subjected to this same uniformity.
In addition, the theme of sex and lust in general is quite pervasive throughout the book, to a slightly excessive degree. The main character often internally comments on his "hormones", and a lot of the plot heavily lust which made me a little uncomfortable, not being aware of this aspect going in.
While the performance of the narrator was quite good, perhaps a bit inconsistent at times, but still easily followed, the audio work could use some work. His lip smacking was very apparent, and one could often hear the rustling of paper or the creaking of a stool in the background.

Overall, a very enjoyable experience, though I certainly would have liked it a lot more if I had been prepared for the abundance of sexuality. I will soon purchase the next book in the series.

High highs and low lows

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
it's an amazingly written story and I can't wait to continue the series, I can't recommend it enough

Great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant from the first paragraph to the end I laughed and got some strange looks along the way

Just the right sarcasm

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
someone to got to do the editing in the first past the book as it constantly brakes and repeats itself which is a shame. but I didn't ruin my enjoyment of this book which was exactly what I needed.

I've seen some comments of other reviewers referring to to sexisism, but honestly I didn't see it. he was a gentleman, and although he may be guilty of using some stereotypes that's hardly a unique flaw.

unfortunately the world is now encouraging these overly politically correct people that want to live in a world where everybody is touchy-feely super sensitive and special. I expect most of these people live boring uneventful lives and need something to complain about

great story, well narrated. badly edited

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've never really been a fan of book written in the first person, so this book did take some getting use to on my behalf. However, now that I've first this book I've already brought the second book in the series as the story is really interesting.

Above all, James Marsters, did a fantastic job at narrating keeping me hooked until the very end.

Great performance...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Jim Butcher is a new-to-me author that I have heard lots about, with many friends recommending the series. I am glad that I finally got around to downloading this book. I also upgraded to the narration version too and alternated between reading my Kindle and listening to James Marston's narration.

I really enjoyed this story; it was a good balance of mystery, thriller, crime, detective, horror and raw emotion but with a dry humour running throughout that kept it from being too heavy. I loved James Marston's performance and felt it did the book justice.

I will definitely be adding the rest of the books in this series to my wish list.

A Gripping Start To A Series - I Can't Wait To Rea

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
fantastic book page turner you will not regret buying it xxxxxx xxxx xxx. 2 words

good read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
James Marsters is a wonderful narrator, putting emotion into his voice were it was needed and when it came to descriptive parts he kept me engaged rather than me zoning in and out.

Jim butcher is an amazing writer, flawlessly writing in a way that keeps the readers eyes on the ball. The Dresden Files is done in such a way that you dont need to be an expert in certain fields to understand, if a part comes up that may need some explaining you can bet that Mr Butcher has you covered so you dont get lost in the mysticism.

Thoroughly enjoyed the hard copies and thought I would give the audible a go so I can enjoy the storyline all over again whilst I can get things done.

A great start to prepare you for the Dresden Files

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, and have done so. This book for me came after the tv series and I'm always wary of reading after watching something. I ordered it on a whim and was really glad I did. The story builds slowly and of course the content of the books is so much richer than on screen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Storm Front?

The interview and date that turns into a catastrophe

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I like to drive to work to a good book so I actually want them to last as I enjoy my journey that way.

Any additional comments?

I was wary of James Marsters voice before I listened to the story, but actually after just one chapter you will find he really "gets" Harry's demeanor perfectly. He's definitely the right choice for these stories.

Unexpectedly superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews