Review: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Title: Fool Moon
Author: Jim Butcher
Series: The Dresden Files #2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Roc
Publishing Date: January 1st, 2001
Edition: Kindle Edition, 432 pages
Source: Gifted by a friend 
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

Harry Dresden--Wizard

   Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

   Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work--magical or mundane.

   But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

   A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses--and the first two don't count.

    I gotta say, Harry Dresden has some of the worst luck of anybody. It's truly remarkable how quickly and easily falls into messes and becomes so entangled in them he almost dies. 

    The title of this book kind of gives away what the monsters are, at least in my opinion it's obvious. But things lever unfold the way you assume. The 'bad guy' isn't always who you think it is. And even though this is only book-2 of a, so far, 16 book series it still had me wondering how he was going to make it out alive, and who else was going to survive, and what the cost was going to be to make sure that happened. 

    Dresden has a fantastic talent in pissing people off, considering his job, you'd think he'd try a little harder to not. But instead, he's out there making enemies, enemies who wouldn't have any issue shooting him given the chance. Harry is kind of dumb sometimes, which makes him a little relatable. Part of my brain expects the main character to have all the answers up his sleeve at any given moment. But it is nice seeing the main character misjudge, make mistakes and take real damage that forces them to think harder and work smarter to get out of their predicament. 

    All that being said, something about this book kept me from wanting to read it as quickly as I could have. Maybe it was the pacing, maybe it was the implication of how many potential antagonists there were could be. Something about this book just wasn't as engaging as the first book for me. It could just be something as simple as the slightly slower pace of the book.

    I am still 100% going to read the rest of the books. Hearing only praise for this series is a given, even my husband who doesn't get the same enjoyment from reading as I do loves this series. Hopefully, the third book is going to be just slightly more face-paced.