Literary Compass Meets Harry Dresden

I can take a hint. First, there was the big display at my local Hastings store: Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden. I ignored it. After all, Hastings gets paid to display products. Then, I saw a few respected bloggers mention the names and I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should check this Harry Dresden thing out." So I did. The next time I was in Hastings I picked up Storm Front and started paging through it. It didn't take long for me to make up my mind. In fact, I can tell you the exact phrase that sold me. And it wasn't "Think Philip Marlowe meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer." No, it was a little phrase the postman used to ridicule Dresden on page 2. The postman asks if Dresden is an actual wizard. "Spells and potions? Demons and incantations? Subtle and quick to anger?" And there it was. Subtle and quick to anger. Any book in which the postman quotes Tolkien can't be all bad. So I bought it. I'll let you know how I like it.