Customer Reviews

Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4)

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the previous volume of this series, 'Grave Peril,' Harry Dresden's heroics had ruined a relationship, made enemies of just about every vampire in the world, and put all his fellow wizards at considerable risk. It is no surprise to find this volume opening with Harry succumbing to severe depression, hiding in his basement laboratory desperately seeking a cure for Susan's vampire curse, while his life gradually crumbles around him. Nothing is worse than a guilt filled wizard who has given up on housecleaning.

Harry's life being what it is, in no time at all things get very much worse. First, a little old lady turns into a ghoul and nearly eats him, then Queen Mab of the Faerie's Winter Court informs him that she now holds his debt, and then the White Council of the wizards comes to Chicago to have a wee chat with their most wayward member. The only way Harry can avoid becoming toast is to make a deal with (you guessed) Queen Mab herself. This will provide the wizards have another option besides offering Harry up as a blood bag. Mab doesn't want much, she just needs Harry to find out who killed the Summer Knight before Armageddon breaks out all over.

Other than some assistance from a troop of pizza eating pixies, a den of young-adult werewolves, and a few faerie may-not-wannabees, Harry is on his own in this one. Unless you want to count the people (and not quite people) who are trying to kill him as company. Whatever the reason for the murder was, no one wants Harry to find it. Out of the six queens who rule Faerie, one has hired him and the other five just might kill him on sight. Yet he must talk to them all, as well as their supporters. Sometimes it seems that the vampires would have been a better choice.

I grumbled a bit about Harry's haplessness in my review of 'Grave Peril,' and 'Summer Knight' started out the same way. Harry has this compulsion to be a hero. And this continually gets him in trouble. Unlike the previous volume, however, the crises of this one seem to make Harry begin to pull himself back together. He develops enough gumption to keep him from always playing the role of victim, and this makes 'Summer Knight' a very likeable effort. The result is an interesting story with a rich variety of characters. A good read all around.

Hard-boiled, tongue-in-cheek, wizard detectives are a rare commodity, and need to be nurtured. The dash of grittiness that Butcher used is just what is needed to keep the fantasy from becoming overblown. Harry's spell casting is a bit too theatrical for me (everyone else waves a hand, Harry uses a wand AND a staff, as well as shouting in Latin). But a wizard has to do what a wizard has to do. I believe that Jim Butcher has begun to show the quality of which he is capable. This bodes well for the future of the series.

The fourth book of Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series continues the adventures of Harry Dresden, Wizard for hire. His girlfriend has left town to deal with issues resulting from book three, and Harry is down in the dumbs. Enter Queen Mab, the Sidhe (faerie) Queen of Winter, with a case for Harry: Find out who killed the Summer Knight. Harry becomes the emissary of Winter.
We see the first gathering of the White Council, and learn some of Harry's allies, such as his second mentor, Ebenezer, along with enemies like Morgan and The Merlin. There is also the shadowy Gatekeeper.
With a battle brewing between the White Council of Wizards and the Red Court of vampires, the wizards need safe passage through the Nevernever world of the faeries. However, there is also a struggle between the faeries of Summer and Winter. Harry must solve the murder and power struggle or be handed over to the vampires by the White Council. There's a lot at stake for poor Harry.
Luckily, Dresden has some allies on the Council, and enlists the aid of the young Alphas, the werewolves from book two. He also begins to regain his friendship with Lt. Karrin Murphy of the Chicago police Special Investigations unit. They have a couple key scenes, including one that involves a fight with an ogre, a ghoul and a plant-monster at a WalMart.
Add to all of this the return of Harry's first lover, the wizard Elaine, plus the various faeries, and we get the makings for a bit of intrigue.
As with his other books, the story is well-paced, with plenty of action along with plot development. Harry's use of magic is always interesting, and his humor carries him (and the reader) through some of the darker periods. There is a good balance of levity with shadow. Harry's character continues to develop, and his talk with Lt. Murphy is a major step forward for him. For the other characters, we mostly see them through Harry's viewpoint, but the way they react to him also reflects some development, if only at a minimal level.
Some of the things I bumped on were the way that characters seem to disappear for large chunks of time. Michael Carpenter, Harry's ally from book three, isn't even mentioned this time. Also the identity of the murdered was no big surprise, but here the who is not as important as the why. There are plenty of twists and surprises to keep a reader guessing.
With book five due out soon, I can only wonder what adventures will come Harry's way next. Will he be able to help Susan? What will become of Elaine? The vampires loom at the edge of twilight, but I suspect that Harry Dresden will be ready.

"Summer Knight" by Jim Butcher is the fantastic fourth instalment in the Dresden Files series, and it may just be the best book to date. Butcher has once again created a hugely entertaining mix of genres, blending fantasy, mystery, horror and comedy into one witty and compelling tale. "Summer Knight" is a fun-filled and riveting read that had me turning pages all through the night, and I can't recommend it enough!

"Summer Knight" begins with our hero, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, in a deep depression. He has spent nearly all his time of late down in his sub-basement lab, trying to find a way to reverse what happened to his girlfriend Susan, who he lost to the vampires in the last book, "Grave Peril". Not only is he mourning the loss of the woman he had just discovered he loved, he is also dealing with the guilt of starting a deadly war between the White Council of wizards and the Vampire's Red Court. Attempts on Harry's life come almost daily, and he is barely able to survive them in the sorry state he is in. Harry still has a few friends left in the world, including the Alphas, a group of young adult werewolves who we first met in "Fool Moon", and Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, head of Special Investigations in the Chicago PD.

But Harry's few remaining friends aren't going to be able to save him from his own people. The White Council is coming to Chicago to deal with Harry and the mess he has caused with the Vampires, and they are none to pleased with him. And when you factor in Harry's less stellar past with the White Council, it seems Harry may not have to worry about the bad guys at all. Because unless he can figure out something fast, the White Council is going to get rid of Harry permanently.

Then Mab, the Winter Queen of Faerie, makes Harry a proposition he literally can't refuse. All Harry has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's Knight, retrieve what was stolen from him, and prove that Mab isn't responsible. If Harry can do that, Mab will give the White Council free passage through the land of Winter Faerie in the Nevernever, which would give them a huge edge in their war against the vampires. Harry needs to do this to keep himself from being executed by the White Council, but getting involved in faerie politics is a potentially fatal endeavour. Not that Harry has much of a choice in the matter.

So Harry sets about trying to solve the mystery of the Summer Knight's death, enlisting the help of the Alphas and Murphy whenever possible. But someone definitely doesn't want Harry to figure this out. Attacks on Harry and his allies occur with a frightening regularity. In addition, Harry must speak with the five other Queens of Faerie, each of whom might just murder him on sight! With so many complications, Harry has to pull himself together and think fast, which he does. In "Summer Knight" Harry seems to come into his own, finally taking charge and giving the bad guys a run for their money. And it's darn important that he does so, because the fate of the mortal world depends on Harry solving this mystery and preventing the impending war between Summer and Winter!

"Summer Knight" is action-packed and filled with thrills and excitement. The suspense builds to a gripping final showdown that will have readers tearing through the pages. Harry's wonderful self-depreciating sense of humour and dry wit are present throughout, creating the perfect atmosphere for the story. Butcher has penned an absolutely fabulous tale, with a well-thought-out out plot and characters who readers can't help but be intrigued by. "Summer Knight" is an all-around excellent read, and you'll be sorry if you miss it. I guarantee you'll love Harry Dresden and all his adventures, so buy this book today!

Summer Knight (2000) is the fourth urban fantasy novel in the Dresden Files series, following Grave Peril. In the previous volume, Harry called upon the spirits buried below the Red Court mansion and they took down Bianca. Susan escaped from Bianca as the spirits attacked. Harry finally told Susan that he loves her.

The hospital was so crowded that Harry had to share a room with Charity Carpenter. Despite her ordeal, Charity had plenty of energy to chew out Harry for endangering her husband and her child. However, Michael decided to name the boy child after Harry. Susan sent flowers and called every day, but she stayed away from Harry; her Hunger was too intense to approach him.

In this novel, the White Council comes to Chicago and toads rain down in Lake Meadows Park. When Harry goes over to check the unusual weather, Billy the Werewolf is waiting for him. Billy chastises him for becoming a hermit and then saves his life from a ghoul.

Billy has checked the office before coming to the park. Harry has an eviction notice from the landlord of his office building and an appointment with a Ms. Sommerset at three o'clock. Harry drops Billy off at his apartment and leaves him in Georgia's capable hands. She is bandaging the wounds as Harry drives away.

Harry doesn't have time to go home and freshen up (although he really needs to do so). Instead, he drives to the office. As he enters the doorway, Harry readies his shield bracelet for action, but only finds his prospective client inside.

Ms. Sommerset is both stunningly beautiful and intimidating. Dresden pulls a .44-caliber revolver out of his desk drawer and commands Ms. Sommerset to put her hands flat on the desktop. Then he flicks an iron nail across the desktop toward her hands.

At the last minute, the Fairy jerks back her hand and hastily steps away from the desk. These actions impress her more than anything else Harry has said or done. Now she wants Harry to become her agent and soon informs him that she has acquired his debts from his godmother. Then she states her real name and title: Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness.

The Winter Queen wants Harry to discover who was behind the death of the Summer Knight and also to recover his missing powers. At that moment, the Summer Queen is assuming that Ronald Reuel was killed by Mab's catpaws. The Summer forces are gathering to start the war prior to the Summer Solstice while their strengths are maximized.

The Winter Queen would prefer that this war never occurs. Harry is charged with preventing the war by finding the true perpetrator. The Summer Queen will provide her own emissary to work with him.

In this story, Dresden goes to the White Council conference in an old plaid bathrobe. He claims that Mister -- his cat -- had used his good robe as a litter box (which was probably true) but no one inquired why he hadn't stored the robe in a more secure place. Maybe his attitude toward the Council had a little to do with his careless storage.

Anyway, the Merlin is rather irritated with Harry for starting the war with the Red Court vampires. Others realize that Harry had been lured into a trap and did the only reasonable thing by rescuing the other guests. His old mentor -- Ebenezar McCoy -- advises him on the political maneuvering and Harry survives the Council plots against him. However, Dresden begins to recognize some of the stratagems of the Winter Queen.

Harry enlists Murphy's assistance in retrieving the police reports on the Ronald Reuel case. Yet he is very concerned by the condition of the tough detective. She is having trouble sleeping, suffering from night terrors concerning Kravos and what he did to her. He finally realizes that she needs to face her fears to overcome them and that his protectiveness is not helping.

This story introduces Elaine, whom Harry had thought dead. She is the Summer Queen's emissary, but is closer to Lady Summer, the daughter of the Summer Queen. Harry is happy to know that she survived the fire resulting from his faceoff with his foster father. After she explains her enthrallment by Justin, he feels an unexpected relief that she had not intentionally betrayed him.

This tale has moments of introspection, but is the most action filled story to date. From the first chapter to the last, it involves Harry in situations where his powers are definitely inferior to his opposition. No more blasting away at his enemies; he has to use some subtlety and finesse to accomplish his mission. Somehow, I don't think that this approach will carry over to the next volume.

Highly recommended for Butcher fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of supernatural creatures, Council intrigues, and wizardly manipulations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Poor Harry! As if anything can get any worse, it does in this installment, Summer Knight. Harry has been wallowing in deep depression and seclusion. He has no money, no food, no nothing. He's about to be evicted and his business is going to the dumps. To make matters worse the Red Court wants his head, and The Wizard Council doesn't mind giving him to vampires so the war (that Harry started) can finally end. Then Queen Mab, Faerie Winter Queen, comes to him for help. Summer Knight has been killed and everybody blames her. She wants Harry to find the killer, retrieve a stolen mantle, and clear her name. It sounds simple enough--at first. But this is Faerie politics, after all, and there is no such thing as smooth sailing when it comes to these folks. Soon our Wizard has to stop a war between the Summer and Winter Courts of the Faerie. If he fails, the victorious in the war will cause catastrophic consequences in the mortal world.

Out of all the four books, this is the most satisfying and entertaining. Butcher--plot wise--is at his strongest here. Some characters do return in this round (Toot, Toot, Murphy, The Alphas), which is a good thing. The story ends with a cliff hanger, though. Somethings brought up since Grave Peril are still not resolved. Over all, it's a good read. Butcher is growing stronger in his writing and style.

Politics rears its ugly head in Book Four of the Dresden Files, particularly early on. There's a great deal of detail on the make-up and functioning of the White Council and the two faerie Courts. The information is important for understanding character actions and motivations; in the White Council's case, it's overdue. It's all carefully reasoned and well-written, but hardly pulse-pounding stuff. The actual story is slow to shift into gear, especially after the action-packed Grave Peril.

Harry Dresden's spent the past 8-9 months obsessively seeking a wizardly cure for girlfriend Susan's incipient vampirism. He's a mess inside and out, nearly broke, about to be evicted from both home and office. The vampires' Red Court wants him dead. Some on the White Council blame him for the current wizard/vampire war. Then the Red Court offers peace if Harry is delivered up to vampire justice. His only hope of averting that fate is to take a case from Mab, queen of Faerie's Winter Court. His task is to figure out who murdered Ronald Reuel (with a nod to Tolkien), designated Knight of Faerie's Summer Court, and to retrieve what the killer stole.

Relations between the faerie Courts are always strained; it's their nature. Reuel's death has drastically weakened Summer and is being blamed on Winter. The resulting escalation of hostilities is noticeable even in the mortal world. If Harry can't solve the murder and theft within a couple of days, the two Courts will wage a war that'll make the wizard/vampire flap look like a schoolyard scuffle. Harry doesn't trust Mab. The rest of her Court is less than cooperative. Summer Court thinks he's dangerously psycho. There's at least one professional assassin on his tail, equally likely to be working for the vampires or one of the faerie factions. He's perpetually hungry, sleep-deprived, injured, confused, and, well, harried.

The emotional pounding isn't much fun, either. Harry's stunned when someone he believed long dead turns up working for the faeries. Summer Court's Lady Aurora says he desperately needs to take a healing time-out, immediately. Echoing his own past concerns about his darker side, she tells him "[m]onsters are born of pain and grief and loss and anger. Your heart is full of them." Godmother Lea delivers up a jolt or three to his world view as well.

Luckily, he has allies. Some are old friends. Others turn up in unexpected quarters. Somehow, with their help, he manages to save the day and the world. And his own skin. At least for the moment.

For all its slow beginning, Summer Knight eventually serves up a story every bit as engrossing as earlier books in the series. Harry musters enough grit to offer his usual wise-cracking façade to the world, though the façade itself is showing a few cracks. Harry's becoming more introspective, whether he likes it or not.

I have been reading Jim Butcher's Dresden File series from the first, and the series just keeps getting better. It has been a pleasure watching Harry Dresden grow as a character, and the author grow as a craftsman.
Things are heating up in Harry Dresden's Chicago. The White Council is in town, and Harry is in trouble...The Vampire Reds are after Harry over a spot of arson last season, and Harry is in trouble...Someone has taken out a contract hit on Harry, (I think he's in trouble...) And now the two courts of Faerie are about to go to war, and Harry is the only one who can stop them. With the help of some old friends (Murphy, the Alphas, Toot-toot), some new friends, and some surprising sources, Harry just might survive this one.

The book is well written, with a well planned plot line. Mr. Butcher is an excellent story teller with a keen eye for detail, and a good feel for human (?) nature.

If you are looking for a good read, go to the book store, buy "Storm Front", "Fool Moon", "Grave Peril", and "Summer Knight", lock the doors, put the answer machine on, and have yourself a wonderful little weekend!

Looking forward to the next one!

Harry Dresden, our wizard gumshoe is back and up to his neck in trouble again! This time is targeted by the vampire council for destroying their leader in the last book and this causes a war between the wizards and vampires. To save himself from being turnover to the vampires and to stop the war he must solve the murder of Summer faerie's queen summer knight and he must do it or the courts of Summer and Winter will go to war and that's bad for the planet! Butcher's Harry Dresden series is gripping mix
of film noir thrills, fantasy and witty dialogue as Dresden's deadly new case will have him come face to face with a lover from his dark past who betrayad him and now seeks his help and he must deal with the deceptive faerie courts who uses humans as playthings. Butcher's knows how to write action scenes like a deadly battle between Harry and cop friend Murph against a deadly ghoul hitwoman and lethal plant monster that comes to life
and incredible battle between the faerie courts! Butcher is giving Laurell Hamilton and Tanya Huff some compeition in the dark fantasy detective genre. I hope Butcher is writing the next Dresden's adventure because this one was a corker!

The ambitious plot of Summer Knight is largely dependent on actions occurring in previous books and too complex to effectively do justice in one book. Readers diving into Harry's world for the first time may want to start with a different title. Those familiar with the series (like me) may also become confused by the multiple characters in Harry Dresden's faerie-war fantasy epic.

Based on Harry's heroic actions at the end of Grave Peril, the Vampires of the Red Court have declared war on the White Council. Meanwhile, the faerie courts of Summer and Winter are gearing up for war after the Winter Knight's murder, which has resulted in a power struggle that could potentially affect mortal kind with a new ice age. Harry Dresden, as usual, is unwittingly thrust in the middle of the faerie conflict after Queen Mab acquires his debt from his faerie godmother Leanansidhe, thereby forcing him to become the Winter Emissary and investigate the Summer Knight's murder to clear Mab's name. To that end, he receives an unexpected and shocking surprise in the form of a visit from the Summer Emissary, his lost love Elaine.

Harry wants no more involvement with faerie-kind--he is too busy wallowing in self-pity and seeking a cure for his girlfriend Susan's vampire curse--but the White Council has decided to hold a vote to determine whether he should be stripped of his Wizard status based on actions in Grave Peril, and the tiebreaker refuses to vote unless Harry can secure the Winter Court's support in their battle with the vampires.

The cast of characters is massive and too confusing to keep track of, and most of them are introduced for the first time in this novel. Faerie-kind abound in the form of foes and allies (Ogres, Trolls, Faerie-Wannabes, Seductress Queens, Plant Monsters, Toot-Toot and his pixie friends). Harry's chief source of aid are the Alphas, young-adult werewolves from Fool Moon, and Detective Karrin Murphy, to whom he (finally!) confesses the whole sordid, supernatural history about himself and the NeverNever.

Maybe it's just me, but having read the first four first Harry Dresden books back to back, I am starting to notice irritating idiosyncrasies that interfered with my enjoyment of the novel (the expletive "Hell's bells" is colorful and quirky, but grates on the nerves when used so repetitiously). Harry's penchant for guilt trips and stumbling headlong into danger because of rookie mistakes (gullibility chief among them) grows tiresome after four books in a row. One hopes the character will develop more maturity in future books. Some of Harry's decisions seem downright foolish for an experienced Wizard, but to be fair, Harry does accept help from friends on this case, a marked departure from his typical lone-wolf style of doing things.

Butcher seems to have a pattern of ending chapters on a high tension note, and following new chapters with a sluggish "explanation" of something before connecting previous threads, like TV episodes that recap the first half of the show after commercial breaks. This makes for bloated narrative, and while the story overall is fast-paced and full of action sequences, the prolonged descriptions can sometimes be tedious, especially towards the end of the book. Harry's last-minute magical escapes (often) seem to come out of left-field as he pulls the proverbial rabbit out of his hat, so to speak. Considering his Wizarding credentials, I would have liked to see him in a more commanding role during some of these magical misadventures.

In comparison to previous novels, Summer Knight just did not hold my interest as much. Perhaps reading the books back-to-back contributed to this lackluster appreciation of the story, but I am not giving up on the series. I will definitely be reading Book 5, but may have to take a break from Dresden's world to decompress first.

Butcher continues his Dresden Files with another breathless installment that begins bad (bad for Harry, good for us) and the tension rarely slackens.

Harry's caught in the middle in a war between vampires, wizards, and fairies that may be all his fault ... but can he stop it from getting even more out-of-hand than it already is?

If you've read the others, you know what you're in for. This is somewhat less tense, strangely, than Book 3 (other than the wonderful trial sequence at the beginning) but still a darkly comic thrill-ride of a book. Not the world's greatest literature, but unputdownable, and that's fine by me.

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.