Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

            Three weeks and eight books later, I was jonesing for a fix of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. I had little choice but to drop by the local bookseller and plunk down $23 for White Night. Hardcover books have a certain smell to them, a certain weight that gives their contents more reason to demand attention. This was no exception. The world faded away and I dwelled in Butcher’s supernaturally populated version of Chicago for two days straight. When I came back to the real world, I felt like a sated junkie.

            Jim Butcher is an unapologetic dork, writing a series about a dork who happens to be a wizard, for an audience of dorks. He’s also a damn good author with an eye for self-improvement and detail. In White Night, he manages to balance the meta-plot of his series with the isolated “who-dunnit” model all of his Dresden books seem to follow. A recently demoted Sgt. Murphy calls Harry Dresden, now burdened by an apprentice, in on a case. Like most of the series’ plots, this one features a supernatural serial killer who only the wizard for hire can hope to stop, but Butcher makes this case feel like Dresden’s first by incorporating the new apprentice and a few other younger characters.

            This is also how Butcher introduces readers who might be new to the series to his ever-growing cast, as well as the meta-plot. Beyond the “private eye with magic powers” bit, a carefully crafted universe helps to flesh out the novel. A secret society conspiring against Dresden and his cohorts seems to be behind this particular crime and a few of the previous crimes found in other novels of the series. At no time does Butcher make it a requirement to read his other novels in order to enjoy this one, however, so readers can pick up White Night and enjoy it on its own terms if they desire.

            The pithy references to dork culture act as Easter-eggs scattered about the book, and Butcher’s characters are well aware of the origins of their repartee. That said, the author still finds ways to create tension. Even with another novel already announced, readers will find themselves concerned for Dresden’s fate, and the fate of those characters close to him. Butcher is quite accomplished when it comes to putting his characters in peril and the mistakes they make are all too human. In my case, I had no choice but to keep barreling through to the end to find out who the actual culprit was and to see if the protagonists would make it out of this one alive.

            For fans of the series, Butcher’s writing has noticeably evolved. White Night is the least formulaic of his series so far. If he keeps it up, Butcher may well go down as the Elmore Leonard of dorkdom. The humor comes across as more natural and relaxed in this installment and he writes Dresden as a little bit older and wiser. Think Han Solo by the end of Return of the Jedi. There is a maturity to be found in the novel that seems to be replaced by cheesy sex or chaotic violence in the hands of other authors of this genre. Overall, it reminds me of the social changes I experienced when I became a father, and it isn’t something most authors even come close to capturing.

            Two days well spent, and I have to wait until April of 2008 for the next installment. See, though White Night easily stands alone on its own merits, there is something infectiously familiar about Butcher’s characters to a dork like me. Will Dresden survive his conspirators? Will Molly turn back to black magic? Who is the turncoat in the ranks of the White Council? Who will win the war between the wizards and the vampires? All these questions will have to wait until April, and even then, there is no promise of a simple resolution. Butcher, at the heart of these novels, is writing about people who make mistakes like everyone else, and how they cope with the fallout after. This book will answer questions for fans of the series, but it poses so many more that April seems too far away.