Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Roc (New York, 2003). 1st edition, 1st printing. 371 pages. $6.99.
Description
Fiction. Horror. Mystery. Science Fiction & Fantasy. HTML: Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a very powerful wizard and a dedicated private eye. He is also a wise cracking trouble magnet. Fueled by a tempest of guilt, sleep deprivation, malnutrition, bad temper and frankly awful personal grooming. Harry is hurtling toward oblivion. According to Harry that is nobody's business but his own. The Winter Queen of Faerie manipulates him into accepting a case to solve a murder and stop a war between the courts of Summer and Winter that could have literally earth shattering consequences. His own soul is up for grabs. Dresden must dig deep to discover that at time a willingness to accept a little help from your friends, be they a cub pack of werewolves, old loves in sheep's clothing, or a battalion of pizza loving dewdrop fairies, is a very good thing. Written by New York Times bestselling Author Jim Butcher. Narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Dresden tackles supremely powerful magical forces.
Extended review:
I've made it to book 4 in the series, and I must agree with the cheering squad: author Jim Butcher does hit his stride with this one. There's a kind of calm confidence of style, like that of an athlete who's done his
Not that Butcher is quite in the "masterly control" league. It's just an analogy.
He does, however, manage to preserve the virtues of earlier installments--good plotting, interesting variety of human and nonhuman characters, capable pacing, and above-average-for-a-page-turner command of the language--while incorporating original mythmaking that dovetails nicely with traditional magical lore and practice.
I did notice that the action quotient seemed to pick up in this installment, and I'm wondering how long it'll be before the relentlessly rapid succession of unwinnable lethal challenges against unbeatable foes begins to seem ho-hum: oh, look, another unimaginably horrible evil being that Harry can't possibly defeat, especially since he's tied up, paralyzed, frozen, sleep-deprived, divested of all his magical devices, and lovesick to boot. What do you think, five minutes? a few bruises? maybe a cracked skull, six broken bones, a gaping wound, and psychic rape? It's okay, he'll be fine.
A few things about Butcher's writing are getting on my nerves, mostly having to do with numbing repetition:
• He routinely repeats words that he's just used a sentence or two earlier, sometimes not twice but three times, and sometimes in the same sentence; for example, in the space of six pages:
p. 193, "quivering" twice, five words apart
p. 194, "bloody" twice in one sentence
p. 196, "looked wildly" followed shortly by "looked around wildly"
pp. 197-198, in back-to-back paragraphs, "writhed," "writhing," and again "writhing"
This goes on all the time. I blame the editing.
• He gets a run on one adjective and uses it over and over, whether it suits or not; for instance, "scarlet." Now, blood isn't scarlet, which is a bright red color inclining toward orange. It's crimson, a deep, purplish red. But he has scarlet everything. Not red, not crimson. Flames, blood, outfits--anything red--he doesn't say red. He says scarlet. It's contrary to use such a precise word imprecisely. (And even if you disagree about the names of those colors, won't you agree that fire and blood are not the same color?)
• His main character, Harry Dresden, first-person narrator, has a few pet phrases; one of them is "hell's bells." Someone might indeed use it as an exclamation as often as he does--people tend to do that sort of thing unconsciously. But this is writing, and nothing a character says ought to be unconscious to the author. Sounding the same note time after time after time really wears thin. It isn't cute, it's tiresome.
On the other hand, I'd forgive a lot to an author who has one character refer to a group of others as a swill-spouting pack of lollygagging skunkwallows.
A general piece of advice to no one in particular: you shouldn't use a word like "foofaraw" if you have no idea how to spell it (it isn't froo-fra, as on page 73) and don't know what it means (it's not a kind of lacy decoration; did he mean frou-frou?).
And "bereft" (page 204) isn't a verb. Or rather, it's the past participle of the verb "bereave," and as such it functions as an adjective. You can't say you're going to bereft someone of something.
However, I'm still reading. This book was fun, it entertained me, it didn't insult me or bore me, and I'm still coming back for more. There are popular authors whose work I've sworn never to read again, and some I take only in intermittent doses with long intervals in between. I've been reading Jim Butcher's Dresden series practically back to back (now on book 5), and he's holding up. That makes him a winner with me.
Extended review:
I've made it to book 4 in the series, and I must agree with the cheering squad: author Jim Butcher does hit his stride with this one. There's a kind of calm confidence of style, like that of an athlete who's done his
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stretching and warming up and now proceeds to his performance with masterly control that looks like relaxed ease.Not that Butcher is quite in the "masterly control" league. It's just an analogy.
He does, however, manage to preserve the virtues of earlier installments--good plotting, interesting variety of human and nonhuman characters, capable pacing, and above-average-for-a-page-turner command of the language--while incorporating original mythmaking that dovetails nicely with traditional magical lore and practice.
I did notice that the action quotient seemed to pick up in this installment, and I'm wondering how long it'll be before the relentlessly rapid succession of unwinnable lethal challenges against unbeatable foes begins to seem ho-hum: oh, look, another unimaginably horrible evil being that Harry can't possibly defeat, especially since he's tied up, paralyzed, frozen, sleep-deprived, divested of all his magical devices, and lovesick to boot. What do you think, five minutes? a few bruises? maybe a cracked skull, six broken bones, a gaping wound, and psychic rape? It's okay, he'll be fine.
A few things about Butcher's writing are getting on my nerves, mostly having to do with numbing repetition:
• He routinely repeats words that he's just used a sentence or two earlier, sometimes not twice but three times, and sometimes in the same sentence; for example, in the space of six pages:
p. 193, "quivering" twice, five words apart
p. 194, "bloody" twice in one sentence
p. 196, "looked wildly" followed shortly by "looked around wildly"
pp. 197-198, in back-to-back paragraphs, "writhed," "writhing," and again "writhing"
This goes on all the time. I blame the editing.
• He gets a run on one adjective and uses it over and over, whether it suits or not; for instance, "scarlet." Now, blood isn't scarlet, which is a bright red color inclining toward orange. It's crimson, a deep, purplish red. But he has scarlet everything. Not red, not crimson. Flames, blood, outfits--anything red--he doesn't say red. He says scarlet. It's contrary to use such a precise word imprecisely. (And even if you disagree about the names of those colors, won't you agree that fire and blood are not the same color?)
• His main character, Harry Dresden, first-person narrator, has a few pet phrases; one of them is "hell's bells." Someone might indeed use it as an exclamation as often as he does--people tend to do that sort of thing unconsciously. But this is writing, and nothing a character says ought to be unconscious to the author. Sounding the same note time after time after time really wears thin. It isn't cute, it's tiresome.
On the other hand, I'd forgive a lot to an author who has one character refer to a group of others as a swill-spouting pack of lollygagging skunkwallows.
A general piece of advice to no one in particular: you shouldn't use a word like "foofaraw" if you have no idea how to spell it (it isn't froo-fra, as on page 73) and don't know what it means (it's not a kind of lacy decoration; did he mean frou-frou?).
And "bereft" (page 204) isn't a verb. Or rather, it's the past participle of the verb "bereave," and as such it functions as an adjective. You can't say you're going to bereft someone of something.
However, I'm still reading. This book was fun, it entertained me, it didn't insult me or bore me, and I'm still coming back for more. There are popular authors whose work I've sworn never to read again, and some I take only in intermittent doses with long intervals in between. I've been reading Jim Butcher's Dresden series practically back to back (now on book 5), and he's holding up. That makes him a winner with me.
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LibraryThing member PhoenixTerran
It has been almost a year between my reading Summer Knight, the fourth book in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, and reading the previous book, Grave Peril. Some of this is my own fault and some of this is because the series is just so darned popular. I've been borrowing the books from the library
The only wizard in Chicago's phonebook, Harry Dresden, quite frequently finds himself down on his luck, but it hasn't been this bad for a while. He's being blamed, not entirely inaccurately, for starting a war with the Red Court vampires and the wizard's White Council has come to town to figure out what can be done about it and Harry. He's racked with guilt over his girlfriend's developing vampirism and is desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to find a cure. And on top of all that, the Summer Knight of the faerie court has been murdered. The shift in the balance of power threatens both the Nevernever and the mortal world and he has been coerced into getting to the bottom of the whole mess. Things are not looking good for Harry at all.
I really like Harry and have, for the most part, since reading the first book in The Dresden Files, Storm Front. But I think I like him even better in Summer Knight; some of his personality quirks, while still there, were not nearly as annoying as they were in the previous books. His over-protectiveness and his constant feelings of guilt are not gone, but they are toned down, allowing his characterization to be more even overall. And he is still delightfully sarcastic and flippant, too. I was hoping to see the return of some of the characters from Grave Peril, particularly Thomas Raith and Michael Carpenter, but I guess I'll just have to wait for later books. However, some of the werewolves from Fool Moon and Toot from Storm Front make reappearances which made me happy.
I wasn't grabbed as much by Summer Knight as I remember being by Grave Peril, which isn't to say I didn't enjoy Summer Knight because I most certainly did. Summer Knight is probably the first book in The Dresden Files that significantly relies on events and characters from previous books. But even then, Butcher did an excellent job at introducing important information within the context of the story and all without info-dumping. A new reader could fairly easily start the series here without too much of a problem. However, I did have a few minor issues with the plot of Summer Knight, the biggest being that I wasn't entirely convinced that Dresden could be the only person to help in the situation. I was also frustrated by the faerie court structure which never seemed to be explained as thoroughly as I would have liked. Of course, maybe it is just something us mere mortals are unable to comprehend. Regardless, I enjoyed Summer Knight and I am still looking forward to reading the fifth book in The Dresden Files, Death Masks.
Experiments in Reading
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and there was only one copy of Summer Knight in the system which happened to go missing for a few months and already had several people in line by the time I put myself on the waiting list. I was tempted to just go out and purchase a copy; I have been enjoying the series so far, and each book has shown improvements over the last. I particularly enjoyed Grave Peril and so was looking forward to reading Summer Knight anyway. It may have taken longer than I would have wished, but eventually I received the long awaited notification that the book was ready for me to pick up.The only wizard in Chicago's phonebook, Harry Dresden, quite frequently finds himself down on his luck, but it hasn't been this bad for a while. He's being blamed, not entirely inaccurately, for starting a war with the Red Court vampires and the wizard's White Council has come to town to figure out what can be done about it and Harry. He's racked with guilt over his girlfriend's developing vampirism and is desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to find a cure. And on top of all that, the Summer Knight of the faerie court has been murdered. The shift in the balance of power threatens both the Nevernever and the mortal world and he has been coerced into getting to the bottom of the whole mess. Things are not looking good for Harry at all.
I really like Harry and have, for the most part, since reading the first book in The Dresden Files, Storm Front. But I think I like him even better in Summer Knight; some of his personality quirks, while still there, were not nearly as annoying as they were in the previous books. His over-protectiveness and his constant feelings of guilt are not gone, but they are toned down, allowing his characterization to be more even overall. And he is still delightfully sarcastic and flippant, too. I was hoping to see the return of some of the characters from Grave Peril, particularly Thomas Raith and Michael Carpenter, but I guess I'll just have to wait for later books. However, some of the werewolves from Fool Moon and Toot from Storm Front make reappearances which made me happy.
I wasn't grabbed as much by Summer Knight as I remember being by Grave Peril, which isn't to say I didn't enjoy Summer Knight because I most certainly did. Summer Knight is probably the first book in The Dresden Files that significantly relies on events and characters from previous books. But even then, Butcher did an excellent job at introducing important information within the context of the story and all without info-dumping. A new reader could fairly easily start the series here without too much of a problem. However, I did have a few minor issues with the plot of Summer Knight, the biggest being that I wasn't entirely convinced that Dresden could be the only person to help in the situation. I was also frustrated by the faerie court structure which never seemed to be explained as thoroughly as I would have liked. Of course, maybe it is just something us mere mortals are unable to comprehend. Regardless, I enjoyed Summer Knight and I am still looking forward to reading the fifth book in The Dresden Files, Death Masks.
Experiments in Reading
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LibraryThing member 391
Finally - after three books of misery and misunderstanding - things actually start going right in Dresden-land! He solves the case, gets himself out of trouble, doesn't piss off Murphy by acting like a misogynistic martyr, accomplishes the goal without everyone he loves dying and even manages to
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end on a high note. Bravo, Harry, bravo. Show Less
LibraryThing member silversurfer
Eversince his girlfriend Susan left town to deal with her newly acquired Vampire taste for blood, HARRY DRESDEN has been down on his luck. Depressed, brok, can't pay his rent and he's resisting help from his friends. And when was the last time he took a shower? A shave? A haircut? Our Hero is
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depressed and has hit rock bottom. And along comes the Winter Queen of Faerie, with an offer Harry just can't refuse. She promises to free him of the hold his Faerie Godmother has over him and end his run of bad luck. But before he knows it, he is caught up in the middle of a Faerie War for power and if he is not careful, he won't need that haircut...he could lose his HEAD! This is another terrific addition to the series. Fast paced, gritty and funny as hell. And now to BOOK 5.... Show Less
LibraryThing member ascexis
this is the first of the Dresden books I read -- I picked it up along with a handful of others when looking for new authors. I suspect that if I had started with teh first book, I might never have got as far as this one, the fourth. Fortunately, I started here, and fell in love.
Dresden isn't
Dresden isn't
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perfect, he's rude, careless, snarky, but powerful, smart and quick to act. The consequences of magic -- the incompatibility with the modern world -- are nicely played out, and I really like the throwaway stuff abuot his two worlds. At the same time, the story itself is neatly constructed, briskly paced and leavened with humanity and good humour. The characters are engaging, and I love that there are no black and white answers, that the 'good' people and the 'bad' people while overtly easy to spot are in fact anything but. Show Less
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Absolutely the best of the series so far, the writing style has settled and the continuity with the past is good - though I wish he's decide whether is was a brass or copper circle, more or less the same colour, very different metals - a minor gripe. The plot is lsightly less convoluted, which
Harry is in his darkest days, beset by his responsability to Susan he abandons work, and hygine, searching for a cure, hence he's hardly in the best of states when the White Council deem him responsible for the vampire war. Can he win the aid of the faeries? Ever the sucker for a damsel in distress he does his best. A great take on A Midsummer Night's Dream set in Chicargo with clever twists and loyalty to friends.
After re-read:
Oh yeah, the vampires still aren't happy with him personally, his faery godmother has sold his debt to her, and Murphy is becoming afraid of the dark - because of him.
We learn lots more about Harry's past, and the Council, I love the slow leaking of backstory into the novels which provides a realy sense of depth oterwise lacking in these light but entertaining tales.
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makes the story flow better for the reader. Harry is in his darkest days, beset by his responsability to Susan he abandons work, and hygine, searching for a cure, hence he's hardly in the best of states when the White Council deem him responsible for the vampire war. Can he win the aid of the faeries? Ever the sucker for a damsel in distress he does his best. A great take on A Midsummer Night's Dream set in Chicargo with clever twists and loyalty to friends.
After re-read:
Oh yeah, the vampires still aren't happy with him personally, his faery godmother has sold his debt to her, and Murphy is becoming afraid of the dark - because of him.
We learn lots more about Harry's past, and the Council, I love the slow leaking of backstory into the novels which provides a realy sense of depth oterwise lacking in these light but entertaining tales.
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LibraryThing member James_Patrick_Joyce
Fairies. Armies of them. But don't call them fairies, because they don't like it and they have claws and fangs and monstrous powers that mortals (even wizards) either fear or get cut down by.
And Harry is stuck working for one of their Queens, investigating the death of the Summer Knight (kind of
More fun, thrills, danger, and some heavyweight magic battles, along the way. Trolls, pixies, unicorns and a council of wizards who debate executing Harry, if he survives everything else.
Oh, and a blast from the past who may be the death of him. (you know, assuming everyone else fails)
I've definitely become a Jim Butcher fan.
And Harry is stuck working for one of their Queens, investigating the death of the Summer Knight (kind of
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the mortal weapon/sheriff for the Queens). He's trying to avoid an all-out war among the Summer and Winter Courts, which would be apocalyptic to the mortal realm.More fun, thrills, danger, and some heavyweight magic battles, along the way. Trolls, pixies, unicorns and a council of wizards who debate executing Harry, if he survives everything else.
Oh, and a blast from the past who may be the death of him. (you know, assuming everyone else fails)
I've definitely become a Jim Butcher fan.
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LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
Early in the series, number 4 for the full length additions, this is a little rough compared to Jim Butcher’s later additions to the series, but it fits Harry Dresden’s character very well. If you came into the series late, like I did, this will fill in a lot of background and material you
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encounter later in the series makes even more sense. Totally engrossing as a story, I’m giving this a four star rating. Show Less
LibraryThing member lewispike
Continuing the run of the supernatural cataloguing, but still a good read, the best of the series so far in fact.
Harry vs. the Sidhe, with blasts from the past when Elaine turns up. Harry is asked to solve a murder by Mab, which gets him horribly entangled in Faerie politics, but also helps save
The story twists and turns as Harry tries to understand what is going on, it has to be said without much success until it's almost too late. There's a lot more supernatural than is normal, with several trips to Faerie and the like, and relatively time for mundane allies, although Murphy and the Alphas both get to play significant bit part roles - the Alphas rather more than Murphy.
Although I'm sniping about the "ticking the catalogue boxes" feel when I read it through with time between books waiting for them to be published this hadn't really occurred to me. That's a testament to the fact that the writing is good and engaging, and the author makes each new supernatural group interesting and talks about their varieties, within the context of the story in enough detail to make it fun.
Harry vs. the Sidhe, with blasts from the past when Elaine turns up. Harry is asked to solve a murder by Mab, which gets him horribly entangled in Faerie politics, but also helps save
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his life when senior bodies at the White Council try to throw him to the Red Vampires.The story twists and turns as Harry tries to understand what is going on, it has to be said without much success until it's almost too late. There's a lot more supernatural than is normal, with several trips to Faerie and the like, and relatively time for mundane allies, although Murphy and the Alphas both get to play significant bit part roles - the Alphas rather more than Murphy.
Although I'm sniping about the "ticking the catalogue boxes" feel when I read it through with time between books waiting for them to be published this hadn't really occurred to me. That's a testament to the fact that the writing is good and engaging, and the author makes each new supernatural group interesting and talks about their varieties, within the context of the story in enough detail to make it fun.
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LibraryThing member lisa211
For the past couple of months or so, I have been indulging myself with The Dresden Files Series. It is pretty much a thriller with a twist. Featuring Harry Dresden, a private detective, who also happened to be the only um... "known" wizard in the mortal world. He also works as a consultant for SI
So about Summer Knight. The story just continues off from the last book 'Grave Peril', and yes you have to read from the first book cause it would just confuse you if you start reading from middle of nowhere. Harry Dresden faced the White Council for what he did in the last book and is also in the middle of a beginning of a breakdown. (sort of). The Seasons are running havoc, his werewolves friends are his sidekicks, and of course there's a girl involved to make things interesting. To make him more busy, he has to look for a missing girl so he could pay for his rent!
Things I've enjoyed: How the events just won't slow down and fast pace for read. Danger after danger and complication after complication. It's not too much but it's good enough to get through you as a reader and not put it down. Plus Harry just have a good sense of weird humor here and there.
Things I didn’t enjoy: Well.. nothing so far.
Reason for reading: I love it! I would like to finish the series hope Jim Butcher won't end it any soon.
Rating: Pretty high. Recommending it to Pre-Us up.
Recommends to: Harry Potter, Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff fans would love this.
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(Special Investigations), which specialised in unsolved cases. He has a ghost who inhabited a skull, named Bob, and a pet cat (that's pretty much abnormal as size), and they live in a basement somewhere in Chicago. The series pretty much pulling me into the story from one book to another and I can't seem to stop! The series, currently, is at it's 11th book in publication. It also has it's own TV Series, if anybody is interested.So about Summer Knight. The story just continues off from the last book 'Grave Peril', and yes you have to read from the first book cause it would just confuse you if you start reading from middle of nowhere. Harry Dresden faced the White Council for what he did in the last book and is also in the middle of a beginning of a breakdown. (sort of). The Seasons are running havoc, his werewolves friends are his sidekicks, and of course there's a girl involved to make things interesting. To make him more busy, he has to look for a missing girl so he could pay for his rent!
Things I've enjoyed: How the events just won't slow down and fast pace for read. Danger after danger and complication after complication. It's not too much but it's good enough to get through you as a reader and not put it down. Plus Harry just have a good sense of weird humor here and there.
Things I didn’t enjoy: Well.. nothing so far.
Reason for reading: I love it! I would like to finish the series hope Jim Butcher won't end it any soon.
Rating: Pretty high. Recommending it to Pre-Us up.
Recommends to: Harry Potter, Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff fans would love this.
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LibraryThing member candlemark
Much, much better than Book Three - Butcher's got his mojo back in this fourth installment of Dresden Files.Fast-paced, and also brimming with information about Dresden's world - this is how to do world-building exposition and internecine politics, people. Everything is PR, spin, damage control,
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accusations, scapegoating, finger-pointing...and it's all done so fast and so skillfully that you don't mind all the politics being thrown around, on behalf of the Red Court, the White Council, or the Courts of Faerie.There's a great deal fleshed out for us about how the White Council of Wizards operates, and some interesting new characters are introduced - I, for one, really want to see more of the Gatekeeper and of the Mothers.Slam-bang action in the Wars and in the political machinations of the Summer and Winter courts of Faerie, and an interesting new set of wrinkles to Dresden's relationship(s) with the Faerie world and the High Sidhe. My only complaint is that the wrap-up after the big climactic battle scene felt a little rushed. Only a few pages were spent on tying up a WHOLE lot of loose ends, and I could've done with a touch more exposition and detail there.That said...Harry playing D&D? AWESOME. Show Less
LibraryThing member gilroy
Jim Butcher begins the latest book in the Dresden series with Harry having been out of sight for months since the end of the previous novel. Life gets steadily worse for Harry as the book continues, eventually finding himself deeper than a city sewer in every kind of supernatural politics you can
This book takes the fun and interest of the previous book, and continues on the story arcs that were established, as well as creating a stand alone story that doesn't require the other books. Harry, due to lack of sleep and social contact, becomes more of a smart arse in this book, which I enjoy thoroughly. Complexity grew with this book as well, making the culprit more difficult to detect from just a chapter or two. The final twist holds unique Dresden-esque shift. I think the how-deep-can-we-pile-Harry plot gets overdone, which makes me believe that the series can only improve from here.
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imagine. This book takes the fun and interest of the previous book, and continues on the story arcs that were established, as well as creating a stand alone story that doesn't require the other books. Harry, due to lack of sleep and social contact, becomes more of a smart arse in this book, which I enjoy thoroughly. Complexity grew with this book as well, making the culprit more difficult to detect from just a chapter or two. The final twist holds unique Dresden-esque shift. I think the how-deep-can-we-pile-Harry plot gets overdone, which makes me believe that the series can only improve from here.
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LibraryThing member Wova4
Maybe Harry Dresden is finally coming around. I was worried that the small weaknesses of the earlier Dresden books would accumulate as the series progressed. Harry was in danger of becoming a one-man idiot plot generator, due to his apparent inability to communicate and trust others.
In Summer
Finally, kudos go to Butcher for developing Karryn Murphy's character more in Summer Knight. She's coping with the psychic damage from book three and seems to snap out of it when the situation gets dire at the Battle of Wal-Mart, which I'm sure will prove to be a pivotal turning point for Dresden and Murphy's partnership.
In Summer
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Knight, Harry appears to have learned when to ask for help and, as a result, the sequence of plot events feels more natural than in previous volumes. The number of characters and encyclopedic scope of Butcher's world-building are rich, but occasionally befuddling. I struggled at times to keep track of the names of the various Fairy Queens and the changelings. It's not helping that I'm not reading directly though the series, in order to keep a fresh perspective.Finally, kudos go to Butcher for developing Karryn Murphy's character more in Summer Knight. She's coping with the psychic damage from book three and seems to snap out of it when the situation gets dire at the Battle of Wal-Mart, which I'm sure will prove to be a pivotal turning point for Dresden and Murphy's partnership.
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LibraryThing member miyurose
I’ve really enjoyed the prior books in this series, but this one was pretty flat for me. Harry is even more of a mess than usual, and the faerie politics were just a little too complicated. There are a few decent spots of action, and the climactic final faerie battle is written well enough that I
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could picture it in my mind, but overall I was left wanting more. It may be that there just wasn’t enough of Harry’s supporting cast here… Murphy only plays a small part, and Bob, one of my favorite characters, is only in one scene. I do plan on finishing this series, so I hope they pick back up! Show Less
LibraryThing member redderik
Fourth book- Dresden Files, series.
One of my all time favorite series.
More about the fairy court, very good!
One of my all time favorite series.
More about the fairy court, very good!
LibraryThing member elbakerone
Fans of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files will not be disappointed by the fourth installment, Summer Knight. As usual, the story leaps to action with Chicago wizard Harry Dresden caught between a rock and several hard places - namely a conundrum involving vampires, the wizard council, and the powerful
Butcher's imaginative storytelling is as brilliant as his sense of humor and thrills mingle naturally with laughter as the book unfolds. With series entries tackling vampires, werewolves, ghosts and faeries the only question eager fans are left with is what will Jim Butcher write next?
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Faerie Queens.Butcher's imaginative storytelling is as brilliant as his sense of humor and thrills mingle naturally with laughter as the book unfolds. With series entries tackling vampires, werewolves, ghosts and faeries the only question eager fans are left with is what will Jim Butcher write next?
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LibraryThing member EowynA
Book 4 in the Dresden Files series. MUCH better than book 3. It starts with a rain of toads, and Harry doesn't even have time to so much as comb his hair before the next threat tries to kill him, crush him, or otherwise overwhelm him. He is in the thick of battle or twisty deals with faerie folk or
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threats from the White Council every time he turns around. But it all ends happily. The author was pushing it a bit with his similes -- clearly going for a film noir aesthetic. One of my favorites was describing a sword with multiple colors of blood and ichor dripping from it looked like it had slashed the throat of a baby rainbow. Show Less
LibraryThing member Elphaba71
The Dresden Files just keep getting better. Harry Dresden is a great character, Summer Knight was a Brilliant read, can't wait to get sucked into the next of the Dresden Files.
LibraryThing member Jenson_AKA_DL
In Harry Dresden's newest adventure we find our hero in the state of depression from months of desperately seeking a cure for his love with no luck. However, along comes your friendly neighborhood werewolf to give Mr. Dresden a kick start in the right direction. Soon things are back in the familiar
This book took me much longer to read than the first three Dresden books. I guess I just didn't get caught up quite as much in this story. However, that doesn't mean it bored me. We learn a lot more about fairy and wizard politics which is interesting. I also found that although Harry continues to get kicked around a lot, it wasn't as overwhelming as the last book. I really enjoy the relationships between Harry/Murphy and Harry/Billy. As usual this book is sprinkled with LOL one liners ("Behold the angry wizard puttputt-putting away.") A good installment in this intriguing series.
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arena of deadly peril, scary creatures and thick-headed wizards (not just talking about Harry either!)This book took me much longer to read than the first three Dresden books. I guess I just didn't get caught up quite as much in this story. However, that doesn't mean it bored me. We learn a lot more about fairy and wizard politics which is interesting. I also found that although Harry continues to get kicked around a lot, it wasn't as overwhelming as the last book. I really enjoy the relationships between Harry/Murphy and Harry/Billy. As usual this book is sprinkled with LOL one liners ("Behold the angry wizard puttputt-putting away.") A good installment in this intriguing series.
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LibraryThing member Shrike58
In the fourth book of the Dresden Files, Jim Butcher continues to increase the pressure on his hero. Having fought wannabe sorcerors, renegade werewolf FBI agents, and incited war with a vampire court, Harry Dresden now finds himself stuck in the position of piecing his shattered life back
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together. This is while under the interedict of his order and faced with the conundrum of staving off armageddon in Faerie. Besides displaying tighter plotting than in the third book, the scenario chosen allows Butcher to produce his best climax yet; the proverbial high-fantasy battle royale. I look forward to seeing how Butcher one-ups that. Show Less
LibraryThing member bigorangemichael
With the Dresden Files, Jim Butcher is doing the impossible–writing a series that gets more entertaining with every book. Easily the best fantasy series on the market today, I’d even go so far as to say that the Dresden Files novels are as good as, if not better than another series of books
The fourth book in the series “Summer Knight” is one that will not disappoint readers. Picking up a few months after the events of “Grave Peril” in which Harry lost a girlfriend, made a deal with his faerie godmother to save himself and his friend and precipiated a war between the White Council and the Red Council, Harry starts the novel in a bad place. He’s obsessed with finding a cure for his lost love Susan, he’s barely been in the office in months, he’s aliennating his friends and he’s got a price on his head by the Red Council. And that’s even before he finds out that his faerie godmother sold the favors he owed her to another and the White Council is coming to town.
The story unfolds at a natural but rewarding pace. Butcher has a natural ability to have events build on each other and he pays off hints from previous novels as well as dropping in hints of things to come. And this book feels like just a snapshot of a few of the big events in Harry’s life over the course of a couple of days from the grander scheme of things. The strength in these stories is they’re rewarding to read just as stand-alone novels, but taken within the greater context of the series, they add even greater layers. And while I will recommend reading them in order, Butcher does enough to bring in new readers that you can drop in on Harry at this point and not feel hopelessly lost. All the while, he doesn’t aliennate long-term readers with pages of recap.
A great series of books that only gets better. This is the best I’ve read in the series and I can’t wait to start the next one.
Oh one word of warning: Don’t start any of the Dresden books if you’ve got things to do like sleep, go to work, spend time with the family. These are the types of books that will consume you, demanding your attention to savor every page and anticipating what will come on the next.
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with a guy name Harry in them.The fourth book in the series “Summer Knight” is one that will not disappoint readers. Picking up a few months after the events of “Grave Peril” in which Harry lost a girlfriend, made a deal with his faerie godmother to save himself and his friend and precipiated a war between the White Council and the Red Council, Harry starts the novel in a bad place. He’s obsessed with finding a cure for his lost love Susan, he’s barely been in the office in months, he’s aliennating his friends and he’s got a price on his head by the Red Council. And that’s even before he finds out that his faerie godmother sold the favors he owed her to another and the White Council is coming to town.
The story unfolds at a natural but rewarding pace. Butcher has a natural ability to have events build on each other and he pays off hints from previous novels as well as dropping in hints of things to come. And this book feels like just a snapshot of a few of the big events in Harry’s life over the course of a couple of days from the grander scheme of things. The strength in these stories is they’re rewarding to read just as stand-alone novels, but taken within the greater context of the series, they add even greater layers. And while I will recommend reading them in order, Butcher does enough to bring in new readers that you can drop in on Harry at this point and not feel hopelessly lost. All the while, he doesn’t aliennate long-term readers with pages of recap.
A great series of books that only gets better. This is the best I’ve read in the series and I can’t wait to start the next one.
Oh one word of warning: Don’t start any of the Dresden books if you’ve got things to do like sleep, go to work, spend time with the family. These are the types of books that will consume you, demanding your attention to savor every page and anticipating what will come on the next.
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LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
Summer Knight fits a bit more in the fantasy side of the line and a bit less on the detective story side compared to the earlier books in the series (with the exception of the required string of beautiful women in distress/causing distress). A different feel from the earlier books, but still full
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of the same wonderful action and humor. Show Less
LibraryThing member hoosgracie
Really liked this one. Harry is hired by Mab, Queen of the Winter Faeries to prove she didn't kill the Summer Knight. At the same time, he has to prove to the White Council that he is worthy of being a wizard - by getting Mab to agree to safe passage through the Nevernever. We delve more into
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Harry's past and he runs into interesting situations. Show Less
LibraryThing member thesecretllama
Jim Butcher delivers another grand escapade in his Harry Dresden, wizard detective series. With Dresden, there's fun for everyone: lover's of fantasy or mystery need not worry. In this installment the wizards and vampires are at war, the summer and winter faeries are at war and its causing all
Watch for box knives and .357 Magnums as Dresden makes the reader laugh and want to stomp somebody's face in. This is definitely an adventure worth reading. I'm looking forward to the next one.
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kinds of trouble in mortal Chicago. With Dresden feeling sorry for himself and looking even worse, he must save the wizards, the faeries, Chicago and himself.Watch for box knives and .357 Magnums as Dresden makes the reader laugh and want to stomp somebody's face in. This is definitely an adventure worth reading. I'm looking forward to the next one.
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LibraryThing member kayceel
Harry is forced out of depression and his obsession with finding a cure for Susan's half-vampiric sate when the Queen of the Winter Faeries hires him to look into the murder of the Summer Knight, as assignment which just might end the world.
Entertaining (I LOVE Harry and his sarcasm) and very
Recommended!
Entertaining (I LOVE Harry and his sarcasm) and very
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fast-paced.Recommended!
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2002-09-03
Physical description
7.52 inches
ISBN
0451458923 / 9780451458926