2001;
342 pages. Book Two (out of 14; soon to be 15) of the “Dresden
Files” series. New Author? : No. Genre : Urban Fantasy; Murder-Mystery. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
Something has crashed through a window, assaulted
an armed thug, ripped out his entrails, tore his face off, and given him nasty,
claw-marked contusions all over what remained of his body. Needless to say, the armed thug is not in a
position to say anything about it.
The curious thing is that the assailant also left some huge dog-like paw
prints in the blood and gore. And I
suppose the police could start looking for a poodle on steroids, except there
is also a full moon tonight.
I
wonder if that has anything to do with things.
What’s To Like...
You’ll likely find Fool
Moon in the Horror or Science Fiction section of your
library/bookstore, but really, at its core, it’s a Murder-Mystery. Jim Butcher mixes all sorts of paranormal
critters and events into his stories, but Harry is still being called in to
tell the Chicago PD what sort of unnatural beast killed some unfortunate victim.
Here,
rather obviously, la bête du jour is
the werewolf. But Butcher creates a whole
genus of werewolves – Hexenwolves, Werewolves, Lycanthropes, and the
baddest-of-the-bad, the Loup-Garou. What
a great set of lupine theriomorphs to read about, with each one requiring a different way to
combat it.
The story is well-written, with wit aplenty. There are lots of plot twists, and they
didn’t feel forced or arbitrary. And
just when things are winding down, Butcher throws one last
unexpected-and-exquisite twist in the Epilogue regarding Tera. I love those extra little nuances in a story.
Dresden’s
resident spirit, Bob, is back; that’s always a plus. So is his cat “Mister”, as well as his police-buddy,
the tough-as-nails Karrin Murphy. There’s
lots of action, the pacing is brisk, and everything builds nicely to an
exciting ending. Some good guys get
killed; some beasties get away. Harry
isn’t always right, and he doesn’t win every fight he gets into. I like that.
Kewlest New Word. . .
Mince (v.) : To
walk with an affected delicacy or fastidiousness, typically with short, quick
steps.
Excerpts...
“I want you to
learn more,” I told him. “Go out and see
what else you can round up on werewolves.”
Bob snorted “Fat
chance, Harry. I’m a spirit of
intellect, not an errand boy.” But when
I said the word “out,” Bob’s eyes glittered.
“I’ll pick you up
some new romance novels, Bob,” I offered.
Bob’s teeth
clicked a couple of times. “Give me a
twenty-four-hour pass,” he said.
I shook my
head. “Forget it. The last time I let you out, you invaded a
party over at Loyola and set off an orgy.”
Bob sniffed. “I didn’t do anything to anyone that a keg
wouldn’t have done.” (pg. 64)
“Very well, wizard,” Tera said. “I will show you the nearest camera and help
you over the wall. Do not move from
where you land. We do not know who is on
the other side of the wall, or where.”
“Don’t worry
about me,” I said. “Worry about
yourself. If there’s a good way through
the wall, Denton might show up there, too, to go in. Or MacFinn might.”
“MacFinn,” Tera
said, traces of pride in her voice and fear in her eyes, “will not even notice
that the wall got in his way.” (pg.
279)
“Don’t mess with a wizard
when he’s wizarding!” (pg.
184)
There’s a slew of werewolf stories out
there. What impressed me with Fool Moon is how Jim Butcher steers away
from the stereotyped werewolf character, and the banal “please help me, I’m a monster”
plotline. To boot, there is usually just
one werewolf in a story in this genre, and it’s often pretty obvious who the human/lupine
is. Here, Chicago seems to be infested
with the beasts, so Dresden’s task isn’t so much finding one, as it is sorting
through a slew of them and trying to find out which ones did the killing, and why.
Fool Moon was my third book in the
series. I’ve read #1, #6, and #2, in
that order. They are all standalone
stories, but I can definitely see where it is a richer experience to read them
in order.
8½ Stars.
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