AAAA Wizardry By: Jim Butcher Series: The Dresden Files Book Number: 8.5 Star Rating:

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Synopsis

As Harry teaches a class of young wizards about the four A's of wizardry - Ascertain, Analysis, Assemble, and Act - he uses an old case to illustrate his points. During that case, he was called in to help a single mother of three children who is also an empath. Her children are experiencing night terrors, which Harry thinks are the result of a simple bogeyman, but things aren't always as they seem.

Review

"AAAA Wizardry" is a Dresden Files short that, according to Jim Butcher's introduction, takes place sometime after Proven Guilty in the series chronology. There seems to be a bit of confusion about this as I've seen it listed in a different order elsewhere, but that's what I'm going with. I figure the author knows what he's talking about, and based on my own assessment of events, it makes sense for it to be placed there. Anyway, it's a pretty simple story in which Harry is teaching a class of young wardens about the four A's of wizardry: Ascertain, Analysis, Assemble, and Act. To illustrate his point, he tells about a case he had in which an empath appeared to have a straightforward case of a bogeyman terrorizing her children, but as with most events in this world, things aren't always quite what they seem at first glance.

There might not be a whole lot to this story, but I did enjoy it. The action alternates between Harry in the classroom and the narrative of the case that he's using to teach the youngsters. It was nice to see him instructing young wizards, and he seems to have a knack for it. Of course, I've seen him teaching his apprentice, Molly, but never with a larger group like this. I also enjoyed the case, as I was waiting for the unexpected to occur, which it did. So overall, this was a good story that made a nice addition to the series. "AAAA Wizardry" appears to have originally been published as part of the Dresden Files RPG: Other Worlds and was later reprinted in the single-author anthology, Brief Cases.

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Jim Butcher