A Fistful of Warlocks

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Synopsis

Young warden Anastasia Luccio has been sent by the White Council in search of a warlock charged with triple homicide, whom she finds in company with several other magic users from the Thule Society. With the help of Wyatt Earp, a member of the Venatori Umbrorum, she manages to take one into custody, but when the others come after him, Luccio and Earp will have their hands full fighting off the dead who've been raised by a necromancer among the group.

Review

"A Fistful of Warlocks" is a short story set in the Dresden Files universe. Written from the POV of a young Anastasia Luccio, it predates the rest of the stories by over a century, taking place in the Old West. Warden Luccio has tracked a warlock accused of triple homicide to Dodge City, where she finds him in league with other magic users from the Thule Society, a foe of the White Council. After taking one of them into custody with the help of Wyatt Earp, who as a member of the Venatori Umbrorum is aware of supernaturals, they must fend off the others in a magic infused Old West-style gunfight.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the mixture of Dresden-style magic and the Old West. I guess it melded together pretty well, but it did feel a bit strange at first. I'm not sure why, but Warden Luccio has never been one of the supporting characters who has most caught my eye either. However, it was kind of interesting seeing her in her youth in this setting. She definitely appeared to be in her element. I also liked her näcken mount, Karl, that brought touches of humor with his hangdog attitude that reminded me a bit of Eeyore. Having a necromancer in the mix of magic users made the stand-off a little more exciting, too. So overall this was a pretty good story. It wraps up on a more open-ended note, which might be because, as Jim Butcher states in the preface, writing this inspired additional story ideas for him, so perhaps he wanted to leave more to tell just in case. I guess we'll see if he ever gets around to writing them. "A Fistful of Warlocks" was previously published in the multi-author anthology, Straight Outta Tombstone, before being reprinted in the single-author anthology, Brief Cases.

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Jim Butcher