Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Summer Knight

Title: Summer Knight
Author: Jim Butcher
Published: September 3rd 2002 by Roc
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 446 pages
Genre: Urban Paranormal
Series: Dresden Files #4

I am not a diehard Dresden fan. I cannot quote each book like a true aficionado. I have my favorite characters and wait impatiently until they appear and hope that I can keep other characters straight. What I can tell you is that the humor and Harry’s bad luck is what keeps me reading this series. Harry, and the spirit that lives in a skull, commonly known as Bob, tend to find humor when there is only death and destruction around them. I am aware that it is not a good thing to read a book solely to see what misfortune will confound Harry, but to be honest, very few breaks present themselves and when they do, there are always some serious strings attached that prevent a happily ever after. Yet, I find myself laughing at the situations that he gets himself into and his snarky comebacks.

Thankfully, Jim Butchers gave a brief recap of Harry’s past or I would have forgotten that he had a serious debt owed to his godmother Lea. Mab, the Winter Queen, has purchased this debt and is offering Harry his release if only he will perform three favors. Of course, it is not as simple as ‘pass the ketchup’, but then again, this would not be a Dresden book if life were easy for the only Wizard in Chicago.

I love faeries since they are seriously evil baddies. Each fae queen has a knight and the first request from Mab is to find out who killed the Summer Knight and recover his mantle. Nope, Harry wants nothing to do with this group yet he is being forced to comply and thus begins a trip into a hell that will bring Harry face to face with Elaine, his first love, the person that he has been mourning.

This is still not enough to confound Harry’s life. He gets involved with changelings and the power struggle between the Summer and Winter Courts and is transported into the eerie Chicago-over-Chicago where a stone table resides that balances the power between the two warring courts.

I got confused somewhere in the middle of this book. Harry comes through with his own wounds – both physical and emotional, and at times, you begin to wonder if Harry can find the strength to carry on. The burdens he carries from previous books begin to catch up with him and he questions his purpose. All Harry needs is hope, a clean apartment, the loyalty of friends and a vampire cure. I guess that last part will have to wait until another book, since that is what drives Harry, as they say to fight another day.

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