Summer Knight (Dresden Files)

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 car

"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

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.

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!

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.