Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, #2) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Mar 24, 2009 Bradley rated it it was ok

An urban fantasy I like. Surprise surprise. The hero is quirky and electronic stuff go fizzit when he is nearby. Very good stuff. =)

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Jul 17, 2013 Harold Ogle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, shapechangers, fantasy, magic, detective, supernatural

Enjoyable fluff still, but this second book in "The Dresden Files" (about Harry Dresden, professional wizard) begins to develop a bit more depth to the characters, as Butcher was probably realizing he was writing for a series at this point.

Like the first book, this one often reads as almost a parody of Chandler, with a bunch of World of Darkness tropes thrown in for good measure. Dresden is the handsome loner, unsubtly represented as a cowboy in New York (complete with duster and heeled riding b Enjoyable fluff still, but this second book in "The Dresden Files" (about Harry Dresden, professional wizard) begins to develop a bit more depth to the characters, as Butcher was probably realizing he was writing for a series at this point.

Like the first book, this one often reads as almost a parody of Chandler, with a bunch of World of Darkness tropes thrown in for good measure. Dresden is the handsome loner, unsubtly represented as a cowboy in New York (complete with duster and heeled riding boots, which is why the cover artwork in the series usually has him wearing a Stetson, too). He plays by his own rules and takes no guff from anybody. He gets beat up a lot, but never crippled (so far) or even hospitalized. He is equally as comfortable with a gun as with a magic wand (referred to as his blasting rod), and is very aware of the pulchritude of every woman he meets (at one point in this book, he has repeatedly been dismissing a set of college students as "little kids" and "amateurs," but Butcher does linger over describing each of the female students as they disrobe). It's not just the women, though. All but three of the men in this book are very handsome (and the unattractive ones all die). It's a bit like watching a network TV show: pretty much everyone is way above average appearance. My question, as I read this stuff, is why do we need to know so much about how attractive these people are? It really doesn't advance the plot in any way.

Another thing that people who haven't read this yet should know: while the plot follows a Chandler story, the dialogue is all straight out of Goodfellas. (view spoiler)

There are some interesting ideas: the dividing up of the different words for werewolf into completely different kinds of shapeshifters, with correspondingly different abilities, was very cool. We get to see a bit more of Dresden's magic than I remember seeing in the first book, which is also welcome. Also, Butcher writes in an engaging prose style that doesn't amaze but it keeps flowing along at a brisk pace. Finally, he does an amazing job in this book of repeatedly raising the stakes. You keep thinking that Harry has hit bottom, and then Butcher pulls the rug out from under him again, and things get even worse. It's not much of a mystery novel - we're never really given enough information or breathing room to start linking clues ourselves - but it is a fun novel about a detective told in a series of catastrophic action sequences that are presented with very visual descriptions. ...more

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Aug 24, 2008 Terri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal, urban-fantasy, shapeshifters-weres

Harry Dresden, Wizard is called to a murder scene that appears to be one by a werewolf. Harry finds out there are many kinds of werewolves, some a lot more dangerous than others.

I really liked this book. The monsters were really scary and the hero beaten down with little strength. With an intense finale, I definitely want to read the next book in the series.

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Jul 23, 2007 Dracolibris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2007

It is time once again to grab tight to something while Jim Butcher takes the reader on another crazy ride following the adventures of Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire. This time Harry finds himself hip-deep in fur as not one, not two, but at least four different flavors of werewolves come to town. Oh boy...

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Jun 04, 2012 Elizabeth rated it liked it

Not as much fun as the first book, in fact I put it down for a few days and considered not going back but did want to see how he was going to get out of trouble.

Everyone seems to really like this series, so I'm going to read 3, but if it is also "while trying to help police he leaves something out which causes officer to believe he is behind what is going on and try to arrest him, he must get away because bad is happening which only he can stop, bad happens and he mostly fixes it, uneasy cooper ...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Kati rated it it was ok

Shelves: urban-fantasy, in-english, 2012

I would love to give it more stars but I can't. I just can't. I gave book #1 4 stars but this... I understand that Harry's a bit of a klutz - but there's being a klutz and then there's being an idiot and a hypocrite.

Every other chapter it's the same spiel, my fault, it's my fault, I did that etc. and so on. But does Harry learn his lesson? I'm sick and tired of him keeping stuff from others, stuff they need to know to be able to protect themselves. And I'm not saying he should spill his beans ab ...more

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May 04, 2010 Bryan457 rated it liked it

Shelves: own-it, crime-mystery-detective, fights-n-fighters, urban-fantasy, shapeshifters, re-play, wizards-n-magicians, borrow-library-ebook

Harry Dresden, the best urban fantasy around!

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Aug 12, 2007 Lorena rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

This is a well-written book, with a well-paced plot that moves steadily towards an exciting conclusion, and yet something about this series just doesn't grab me. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I just don't connect with Harry Dresden as a character. ...more

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Aug 13, 2007 S.A. Parham rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal, shapeshifters, witches-wizards, magic, demons, modern-fantasy

Still a good series, with Harry being a likeable character who tends to succeed as much by sheer luck and bravado as by skill. I like the twists on the traditional werewolf mythos used in this one - much better than the standard Hollywood oriented wolf fluff.

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Dec 29, 2007 Shirin S rated it really liked it

second book of Dresden files. good, but very messy! blood, werewolves, hexenwolves and real wolves! and more blood! and above all, dear Harry Dresden who found out some mysteries about his parents.

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