"Keep reading the series," they said. "It gets really good around book 4," they said...Well, they were right. Butcher really kicked it up a notch in this latest Harry Dresden novel. (Okay, latest for me. I realize this series is years old and I'm very late to the party. It's like I just discovered Facebook. Have you guys ever heard of it?)In this book, we find Harry at his lowest point. His life basically sucks and he is in a deep depression. His girlfriend rejected his proposal and left town because she is turning into a vampire, the vampires have a contract out on his life and have made multiple attempts to kill him, and the White Council is bringing charges against him - again. He has stopped working, eating, sleeping, paying his bills, cleaning, and even bathing. He's a hot mess. I think that sign is talking to you, Harry! I looked like Death warmed over, provided someone had made Death run the Boston Marathon.But, if Harry thinks his life sucks and is complicated now, he is about to find out that it can get a whole lot more sucky and complicated-er. Because the Fae are in town, and they are forcing Harry to get involved in their war. And, there ain't no crazy like Fae crazy, cuz when Fae go crazy everyone dies.Harry had made a bargain with his Fairy Godmother when he was young and stupid, and she is a sadistic bitch. He has since had to make different bargains with her in order to save his life or change the rules of the first bargain. But, now, she just sold his bargain (basically, the rights to Harry) to the Queen of the Unseelie, Mab, and now she wants him to bargain with her for his freedom. The noose just keeps tightening. the fae have a way of making sure that further bargains only get you in deeper, instead of into the clear. Just like credit card companies, or those student loan people. Now there's evil for you.So, Harry has no choice but to get knee-deep in Fae politics, and it's just as twisty, sadistic, and manipulative as ever. The best part of all of this is the amazing descriptions of the different parts of Faery. Butcher does a great job of creating scary, yet beautiful macabre creatures and scenery. I really enjoyed those parts of the book. The writing really took off from just a mystery noir feel to something more substantial.On top of the Fae problems, Harry has White Council problems, and we finally get to meet them. Just like our politicians, they are self-important assholes. I was worried for a minute there that Butcher was going to Star Wars Episode 2 us with an endlessly boring council meeting - complete with motions filed and votes. And, he did dance around the edges of it. But, luckily, he kept it brief enough to show us what assholes the council is without making us feel the monotony of sitting through a town hall meeting discussing the new drinking fountain plans at the local high school. There's always got to be that one loud-mouth parent that has a problem with it. "My kid needs the drinking fountain to be 6 feet to the left of there. I demand that you re-plumb the building to accommodate my precious baby!" Okay, that was me.Anywhooo...So, the Vampires want to kill him, the White Council wants to kill him, the Fae will probably kill him - even if they don't mean to... Harry is so screwed! Just another day for Harry Dresden. I can't wait to start the next one.
4.5 StarsI don't like fairies/faeries/fae. I just wanna get that out there up front. I think they are boring and oh-so-scurry with all their dancing and laughing and pipe-playing blah-de-blah. The current trend where fairies/faeries/fae are all the rage and everyone is trying to "re-think" them? Not my thing. Pass. I'm good on that. Now I know that maybe lots of people will probably rush to defend the fairies/faeries/fae and say "They aren't all like that! Read [book] -- the fairies/faeries/fae in that one are AWESOME!" so let me clarify more. I think one of the things that makes all of the fairies/faeries/fae stories that I've read so mind-numbing to me is all of the tedious description of the eternal merrymaking. Too much of anything is a bad thing. Too much merrymaking for a mortal who is forced into it is bad... and too much of making me read about it is also bad... *cough* Susanna Clarke. (But in all fairness, I'm not big on those kinds of descriptions anyway. I don't like reading through descriptions of parties, or fairs, or carnivals or festivals or anything like that in ANY book. The more variety the author tries to show to let me know how great a time the merrymakers are having, the more bored I get.) The magic is another thing. I like rules to my magic. I like to understand the basis of the power that fairies/faeries/fae have, and how it works. What its limitations are. Too often in the fairies/faeries/fae stories I've read, there's none of this. It's just whatever imagination can conjure and that's that. Blah. And for the love of Pete, no long walks in the woods (Ash). "Oh, look the magical woods are magical! Ooooh!" BO-RING. Nothing but filler and Ambien to me. All that being said, Jim Butcher's faeries are ones that I can appreciate. They actually are dangerous and tricksy and alluring and... most of all, they are actually interesting. Butcher kept the dancing and whatnot to the barest minimum. He showed that's one of the reasons fae are dangerous, but didn't feel like he had to describe every single detail of the party. The magic had understandable parameters and rules, and there was not one single long walk in the woods. A+ Jim Butcher. You rule. :DPlus, for extra credit, Jim threw in the CUTEST teensy faerie troops, with ranks like Caption and Star Jump and Loo Tender. A++dorable. :D Moving on... I really enjoyed this book in the series. There was a lot of fae/Nevernever/Red Court politics, and I didn't really follow completely, but there was quite a lot jammed into this book to enjoy. I loved the brokenness of this book, and how just going on when we're hurting allows us to keep going on to help heal the hurt. There was a lot of, I dunno, philosophical wisdom that just felt so obvious coming from Harry, but is true nonetheless. I love when an author can make the important stuff come out in a realistic way, without feeling holier than thou or stuffy. Can't wait to read the next in the series.
What do You think about Summer Knight (2002)?
To reiterate my criticism of the series as a whole: Harry Dresden is a stupid, narcissistic, nerd (nerdcissist?) who's first impulse when it comes to problem solving is to run into the villain's lair and shout "Who's making all the bad magic!" and then get surprised when people attempt to murder him.The cover art for all these books, and the casting choice for the television show give me the impression that Butcher views Dresden as a sort of wizardly Han Solo, a roguish figure marginalized by both the human and magical worlds.But anytime I imagine him, he ends up halfway between David Tennant and Rincewind from the Discworld books. He's all stick legs and potbelly, the physique you'd get from eating nothing but junk food and coke, but not enough of either. I'm actually shocked he doesn't eat Cup of Noodles.Here's the thing: Harry Dresden is a well-realized character, he's just a person whose head I don't want to be inside. I don't want to hear his lascivious objectification of every woman every time they enter a scene. It's either how hot are they are, or how more or less hot they are than normal. He's also stubborn the way many real world nerds are, to the point of self-destruction where you want to choke them. Also, in third person I wouldn't have to listen to his rationalizations about how he's so awesome even while being self-deprecating.What's odd is the writing style has improved around Dresden, but the growth of the character is much slower. He certainly says "Hell's Bells" with a reduced frequency, but he's about as immature as he was in the first book. The pacing and the action packed set pieces really hold the book together. I nearly stopped near the middle because I simply have no patience for magical political intrigue from writers who don't seem to have that strong a grasp on politics, especially made up fantasy politics. Unless you are Frank Herbert or George R.R. Martin kindly stow that crap whenever possible. So I find myself considering, somehow, reading another Dresden book, since it's an easy read and reasonably amusing despite Dresden himself. But seriously, when is this crap wizard going to grow the hell up?
—Nicholas Karpuk
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is my very favorite wizard/private eye ever. In Summer Knight, Harry is mourning Susan and having a rough time of it. He's also got other things to deal with, faeries namely. It seems that Harry just cannot catch a break. He has some people on his side, though, like the werewolves who I have grown to love, and Murphy who I also love, but ultimately it comes down to him.What I really love about this book (and the series in general) is the emotional and personal development we see in Harry. Harry is just a great guy, and Butcher did an excellent job of making his character a real person for us. I also love the worlds Butcher creates. How does he come up with this stuff? Each supernatural creature has its own world and set of rules. It is completely complicated but yet drawn together to make all the pieces fit so wonderfully and completely together. Another thing I love about this series is that the plot is constantly evolving and growing. Of course, with 14+ books in the series you have to keep changing things up to keep it fresh, but Butcher is great at throwing in surprises. He ties up the storyline from the current book but leaves you with enough questions that there is no question whether or not you are going to read the next one. I know I've said this in previous reviews, but this is officially one of my favorite series, and I am dreading coming to the end. Luckily, I am only on book #5!
—Sheri
Before I start gnawing on the book, let me first say that I enjoy Butcher's writing overall. He does good character, a romping pace, and makes me care about his protagonists. In fact, Butcher's a good enough writer that he enters the "good enough to realize his mistakes, which makes it so frustrating when he misses them" category. So...yes...he's quite good.But....This is definitely the lesser of the 1st four books. I'm muchly bothered by the severe escalation of the power scale in this book, as Harry is now immersed in an all-out war between faeries that threatens to change the very fabric of reality. This goes a LOOOOOONG way towards Dresden entering the class of the Not Very Special At All...which is something to be avoided.And Dresden's habit of being in way over his head got a little tedious, especially as the character kept actually talking about being in over his head too many times, and how it would eventually mean his end. Yes...it would. And when I'm on the 40th or 50th instance of "Dresden only has a one-in-a-thousand chance of survival!" I start to wonder about the man making those odds, and I also start to yawn. And when Dresden puts down Yet Another Foe Against Whom He Has No Chance, I start to get reeaaalll sleepy. Also......(spoiler alert!!)...........I have been trying very very hard to just enjoy these novels and look at them as fun gothic horror/adventure, and NOT somebody's idea of a kickass gaming night put down on paper, the kind of thing where someone acceded to the wishes of their gamer friends who kept saying, "Dude! Our campaign mega-rocks! You should write a BOOK about it and make our sweeeeeeet characters FAMOUS!" That became impossible to do at the end of this book, which ends with....(yikes)....Harry Dresden setting down to a table in an apartment, with a group of young werewolves, to eat pizza, drink soda, and....yes...have a role-playing gamer session. Yep...a wizard sits down with werewolves to have a roleplay session. Awesome. I feel like I'm sixteen again. Except, you know, I'm not.
—Paul
