I imagine that some people will complain that Butcher's Storm Front
is misogynist, and I can see where they're coming from -- to a
point. There is a bad Vampiress who runs a brothel, there are a
couple of prostitutes, a sexually abused woman, a sexy journalist,
and a tough, rough-cut female cop. I can see these characters
striking a nerve with some women, thereby stripping any enjoyment
of the book for them.
And fair enough.
But these characters are classic archetypes in the fictions Jim
Butcher is bringing together, and his Magic Noir wouldn't work
fully without them.
If one pays too close attention to the "chauvinism" of Harry
Dresden, one can miss impressive stuff that is going on elsewhere
in the tale.
Not only does Butcher come at magic from a fascinating direction,
not only does Butcher capture the Noir feel of old dime store
novels, not only does Butcher create an entertaining treat, which
amounts to a really fun read, but Butcher manages to deal with
Black and White Magic, Dark and Light forces, without simplifying
motives and ethics to a simple, and unrealistic, battle between
good and evil. By my count the word "evil" only appears in Storm
Front once. This book has a bad ass wizard blowing people's hearts
out of their bodies, summoning demons and addicting the denizens of
Chicago to a new "magic drug"; it also has a Mob boss and a
Vampiress in charge of the town's organized crime; yet, none of
these characters are tossed into the rotten "evil" barrel.
They are just folks with anger issues, greed issues, power issues,
bloodlust issues, etc. And to maintain such an ethical stance over
the course of a novel, albeit a pulpy, fantasy/detective novel, is
impressive.
Beyond that, Storm Front and Harry Dresden are ideas I wish I had
thought of first. What a cool spin on some classic forms of
fiction.