After defeating a demon and a powerful sorcerer in the process of investigating some bizarre murders in Storm Front, Jim Butcher charges into book 2 at full throttle. In Fool Moon, Dresden finds himself up against another type of supernatural creature – this time it is werewolves. And where the first book saw a slow schism forming between Dresden and his friend in the police force, this book slowly brings them back together.
One of the trends in Butcher’s works in this series that I appreciate is that of exploring a new branch of magical beings fully. In this book, he introduces 5 different types of werewolves. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses and not all of them turn out to be bad.
There is also plenty of development of the character of Harry Dresden. As usual, more is revealed of his background, and as usual he is not perfect – he makes mistakes and the occasional bad judgment call – but he is willing to do everything within his power to protect innocent lives from being taken (and nearly kills himself several times over in the process). Dresden is an easy character to relate to in that he is keen but not pretentious, powerful but not arrogant, and noble to a fault (his chivalry gets him into more hot water than it gets him out of) – he runs headlong into dangerous situations not because he is confident he will claim the day, but because he feels there is no alternative. If he doesn’t put himself on the line, then others who don’t deserve it will get hurt.
Fool Moon was a great read and I highly recommend it. It is a roller coaster of action … but with werewolves … and mobsters … and federal agents mucking up the works. And for Harry to get out the other end alive, he has to make some unlikely alliances.