Book Review: Summer Knight (Dresden Files #4)
Title: Summer Knight
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 371
Summary on the back:
[the summary has some spoilers for the other books so..]
Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can’t pay his rent. He’s alienating his friends. He can’t even recall the last time he took a shower.
The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man.
And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can’t refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him - and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen’s right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen’s name.
It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case
What I thought:
Well, well, well. That was pretty awesome. claudiapriscus, as so often is the case, you were right.
Before I get into the meat of the book itself, I'd like to add this note. In my review of /Gravel Peril/ I complained about the First Person POV and how it was jarring to a reader. well... to me. I am happy to say that Jim Butcher has found his stride in this book and the POV was spot on. I was not taken out of the narrative by the oddness of some of Harry's views - instead everything flowed smoothly and naturally.
I read the book in one day, if that's any indication.
Summer Knight had the perfect mix of Detective style plot with mystery upon mystery and while they all neatly folded into each other, it didn't feel too forced or contrived. Instead, each sub plot was a natural extension of the main plot.
Murphy was back in full force and I love her. She's the kind of female character that endears herself to you through her spunk and humanity. Harry, while certainly on the ropes and coming out of a tough nine months actually made progress and that I like. That he didn't wallow in his misery and by the end of the book, things were looking up. The world of the Dresden files also expanded into more than just monsters and their plans. It felt like it had scope and impact with the faerie and the nevernever as more than just 'background' but fulfilling a functional role.
I really enjoyed it :)