The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher

Links: Amazon BN


As promised, I'm going back to review some of my favorite series. Near the top of that list is the Dresden Files series. In this review, I will do my best to avoid any spoilers while still providing a helpful summary of the setting.

Harry Dresden is a wizard, living in modern-day Chicago. He's in the phone book under "Wizards". Not surprisingly, his is the only entry. Most wizards prefer to avoid advertising their talents to the world at large, but Harry has to make a living somehow, and this is his chosen profession. He is generally hired as a private investigator by individuals who feel his talents (if they're real) may prove useful in their case. In addition, Harry is an official consultant to Chicago PD Special Investigations section. SI is often handed the unexplainable supernatural cases, and Karrin Murphy, the head of SI, has made the intelligent choice to retain the services of Chicago's only professional wizard to help her take care of the bad guys. 

Most of the books are episodic in nature, with Harry being called on to investigate some strange occurrence or another. There is an underlying common thread in the plot, however, and that commonality is revealed more and more as the series progresses.

All of the Dresden books are told in the first person, from Harry's point of view. This allows the reader to become very well acquainted with Harry's opinions, as well as his uniquely dry sense of humor which is part of the series's charm.

Another characteristic of the series I quite admire is Jim Butcher's completeness and attention to detail. MANY facets of the supernatural are presented, including, but not limited to, faeries, vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and zombies. Harry often finds himself, with his friends and allies, involved in supernatural power plays and schemes whose intricacy speak to the amount of forethought Butcher puts into each story he concocts.

Particularly interesting to me is Butcher's treatment of faith. It is clearly a power separate from magic, and it has great influence in the world. Harry himself isn't religious, but he knows from firsthand experience that the Almighty exists and has agents in the world. The devil exists, as well, and has his own minions with which Harry must contend on occasion.

There are currently 14 books in the Dresden Files series, along with a number of short stories. According to Jim Butcher's website, we can expect approximately ten more books before the series is finished. For those interested, the first book is called Storm Front, and links for purchasing may be found at the top of this post.

The Unincorporated Man, by Dani and Eytan Kollin

Links: Amazon BN


This book and its sequels make up what is currently my favorite series that I've ever read. Please keep that in mind as I review the book. I hope I don't oversell it.

The setting of The Unincorporated Man is approximately 300 years in the future. Humanity has recovered from a devastating societal collapse, and the mechanism that has driven its recovery is the concept of personal incorporation. The idea is this: Each person is incorporated at birth with one hundred thousand shares of stock. These shares are initially held by the individual, with two exceptions: First, instead of taxation, the government holds 5% of each person's shares. Second, the individuals parents are awarded a 25% in each of their children, both as an incentive and as a reward for their efforts in raising the child. Siblings are also awarded stakes in each other. When a child enters school, he doesn't pay tuition; instead, the school takes some of the individual's shares as an investment in his future. Generally, by the time an individual has completed his education and entered the workforce, he retains less than 50% of his own shares, making him a minority shareholder. His goal, then, as a working member of society is to earn enough money to reacquire a majority share in himself, which status allows him greater freedom to choose his path in life or even retire.

There are many other exciting features of this futuristic civilization. Nanotechnology has progressed to the point that aging has effectively been eliminated. A person can choose to look as old or as young as he chooses. Space exploration has led to the colonization of the moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and the moons of the outer planets. There are other advancements, as well, but I'll let you discover those for yourself.

The title character of this book is Justin Cord. Justin was a billionaire industrialist from the near future who developed terminal cancer. Instead of giving up and allowing himself to die, Justin chose to have himself cryogenically frozen and stored underground until medical technology had progressed enough to cure him. Justin awakes in this brave new world after three centuries of hibernation, and must learn to cope with this unfamiliar society. He is the Unincorporated Man, owned by no one, and he intends to remain that way.

The authors of this book, Dani and Eytan Kollin, are wonderfully descriptive in their writing, and this above all else is what makes the story so engaging. As I read, I feel like I come to know these characters, and their struggles are very real to me as I'm sucked into the plot. I freely admit this book has brought me to tears on multiple occasions due to the power and quality of the writing. I recommend this book without reservation to any and all readers.