Review: Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher

I think we need to have a conversation about cover art, because these covers are fire, but a little sexist. The new ones all look the same though, cause they're just Harry.

Rating:

🧚🏻🧚🏻🧚🏻🧚🏻🧚🏻

First Response:

I need Michael and Morgan to duel.

One Sentence Summary:

Under heat for kicking off a war between the White Council of Wizards and the Red Court of Vampires, Harry is “asked” to investigate a supposedly accidental death that might have major ramifications for the magical beings on both sides of the Nevernever.

Tell Me More:

Harry Dresden is in hot water. After the events of Grave Peril, the Red Court of Vampires wants his head on a platter. The White Council is under attack, and given Harry's unfortunate history with them, they just might be willing to serve him up.

This book expands on the inter-species, inter-plane politics set up in the last book, while still having it's own monster- of the week flavor: This is the one with fairies.

Butcher's fae mythos is both more and less complicated than the other books I've read featuring fae (Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl being the titles in question). Butcher's fairy realm features only 2 courts (a major step down from Maas' 7, and a major step up from Colfer's 0), but 6 queens, all of whom have their own schemes. Not to mention the assortment of 'wild fae' who populate the various nooks and crannies of the Nevernever.

This book brought back a number of characters from previous books in substantial roles, something that makes me happy not only because I enjoyed getting to see Toot-Toot again (and the guy got a promotion! He leads his own squadron of fairies now!), but also because it means Michael might come back in a later book. I realized after I finished yesterday's review that I forgot to mention how much I LOVED Michael. He's probably my favorite character in the series so far (sorry, Toot)! My love for him is matched only by my hatred for Morgan. In the first book, I tried to give Morgan the benefit of the doubt, and saw him as a guy just doing his job (his job was to hold a magic sword over Harry's head, but I thought it was still just a job). In this book however, it became clear that Morgan is a little unhinged in his fervor for getting Harry killed. Harry jokes that Morgan eats "fanatic-o's" for breakfast, and I think that's accurate. The only question I have now is: Why? Why is Morgan so fanatically interested in Harry's execution?

We've gotten bits and pieces of Harry's backstory over the past three books, but this book is the first time someone walked straight out of the past into the present (not literally, though, and while in other books that distinction might not matter, I think I need to specify for these). I won't say who it is so as not to spoil the book (though it's not a particularly important plot point and it happens pretty early), but suffice it to say that Harry's understanding of what happened the night he killed his master might not be particularly accurate. And if he was wrong about this, what else is he wrong about?

Like previous books, this one was a ton of fun to read. Harry's wisecracks are fun, and his rebellious streak is relatable. He reads like a really young wizard trying to stay alive in a wild world. Do his descriptions of women sometimes make me cringe as they say everything but "her boobies boobied boobily"? Yes. At the same time, though, it's hard not to roll your eyes at a guy who fights demons in the nude (book 1) and fights vampires in borrowed rubber ducky boxers (book 3). Ok, Harry. Sure. Go take another cold shower (or, dump a glass of ice water down your pants, like he did in this book).

Summer Knight gets 5 fairies out of five. I've already got Death Masks on my phone to read tomorrow, and based on the blurb, it seems to be the one with... the Shroud of Turin?!