Fool Moon
by Jim Butcher (Penguin, 2001)
audiobook read by James Marsters (Buzzy Multimedia, 2009)
Another werewolf scenario where the beasties in question become slower than cows in the hero’s presence. Dresden himself is dishwater-dull but Marsters weaves some magic to make the no-frills prose sound half-decent and add a sense of profundity to his quasi-hardboiled musings.
Storm Front
by Jim Butcher (Roc, 2000)
audiobook read by James Marsters (Buzzy Multimedia, 2009)
A middling first instalment. Harry Dresden is likeable enough (a powerful wizard, too empathetic for his own good) but the plot shows its fold lines like a paper plane instruction manual. James Marsters earns his pay in an understated, charismatic audiobook narration.
Shadowed Souls
ed. Jim Butcher & Kerrie L. Hughes (Roc, 2016)
audiobook read by various narrators (Penguin, 2016)
A collection of urban fantasy stories whose protagonists are pitched as straddling the line between good and bad. There’s only one dud (Kevin J. Anderson’s ‘Eye of Newt’) but no real standouts. Few of the authors truly do justice to the premise.