Summer Knight by Jim Butcher on 2002-09-03
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 464
Goodreads
Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Barnes&Noble
Private detective/wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is suckered into tangling in the affairs of Faerie, where the fate of the entire world-and his soul-are at stake.
Of course I’m obsessed. I’m so invested in Harry Dresden’s character that I don’t think Butcher could do any wrong. Luckily for me, I’m in no danger of him trying to do so. I think I’m appreciating Butcher’s brilliance the more I read. It’s not just his writing that seems to come more alive with each book, it’s his knack for storytelling.
I have no doubt that this series is going to get darker. It has since the first book I read. And I love it. I love how Harry is constantly tested, how odds pile up around him, how beaten he is, how close he comes to giving up, but he pushes on.
In this book we get a few visitors from Harry’s past, and boy does one of them throw you. The other one gives a few insights into Harry’s past and View Spoiler ». Just tiny bits of information, but tasty ones all the same. We also get to meet the Council and it was enlightening and entertaining.
I’m not going to make this review long. If you’ve followed along this far, either you’ve decided to pick up the books or not. If you have, you’re in for a treat. I think instead I’ll just fangirl over Butcher. He truly has a knack for storytelling. He can unravel a plot slowly yet have you ensnared after the first book. He can maintain Harry’s humor when things look bleak without breaking down the intensity of the scene. He can spout descriptions that make you sure you’re feeling what Harry does. His prose might not be poetic, but it slips me into a reading trance to the point I lose track of time, meals, and showers. It’s comforting, like a blanket and hot chocolate on a cold day. I’m lost when in his world. I’ve come to trust him to deliver me a wonderfully entertaining story that I can’t put down, to make me laugh out loud in every book, and to make me tear up or ache in sympathy with his characters. He’s just a damn good writer.
So there you have it. I’m obsessed.
About Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher read his first fantasy novel when he was seven years old–
the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the time he turned eight,
he’d added the rest of the Narnia books, the Prydain Chronicles, every
book about Star Wars he could find, a great many Star Trek novels and
the Lord of the Rings to his count.
So he was pretty much doomed from the start.
Love of fantasy, his personal gateway drug, drew him toward a fairly
eclectic spread of interests: horseback riding (including trick riding,
stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery,
martial arts, costuming, music and theater. He played a lot of role-
playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and
eventually got into live-action roleplay where players beat each other
up with boffer weapons.
So, really, he can fly his nerd flag with pretty much anyone, and
frequently does.
He took up writing to be able to produce fantasy novels with swords and
horses in them, and determinedly wrote terrible fantasy books until,
just to prove a point to his writing teacher, he decided to take every
piece of her advice; fill out outlines and worksheets, and design
stories and characters just the way she’d been telling him to do for
about three years. He was certain that once she saw what hideous art it
produced, she would be proven wrong and repent the error of her ways.
The result was the Dresden Files, which sure showed *her*.
She has not yet admitted her mistake and recanted her philosophy on
writing.
Jim has performed in dramas, musicals, and vocal groups in front of
live audiences of thousands and on TV. He has performed exhibition
riding in multiple arenas, and fallen from running horses a truly
ridiculous number of times. He was once cursed by an Amazon witch
doctor in rural Brazil, has apparently begun writing about himself in
the third person, and is hardly ever sick at sea.
He also writes books occasionally.
Jim stands accused of writing the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.
He’s plead insanity, but the jury is still out on that one. He lives in
Missouri with his wife, romantic suspense and paranormal romance writer
Shannon K. Butcher (who is really pretty and way out of his league),
his son, and a ferocious guard dog.
