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 Queens of Faery   August 30, 2007
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

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


Harry vs. Faeries in the Windy City   May 17, 2003
 18 out of 18 found this review helpful

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.


Loved It! A Captivating Read!   November 2, 2002
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

"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!


Hits the spot!   September 4, 2002
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

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.