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Language: English (Original Language) Language: English (Unknown) Language: English (Published)

RRP: £27.61
I don't believe in fairies!
Review date: 2008-08-08 Rating: 10 out of 10


After three books of battling evil wizards, ghosts, vampires and werewolves, Harry Dresden has a brand-new threat to the world on his plate -- warring faeries.

But worry not -- "Summer Knight" does not descend to drooling over benevolent Tolkienian elves or airy Victorian sprites. Instead, Jim Butcher crafts his fourth Dresden Files adventure-fantasy with plenty of solid action, intriguing characters, wizardly backstabbing, and a brewing supernatural war with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. It's clear that Butcher has hit his stride in this book, turning a merely solid urban fantasy series into one of the best.

It's been nine months since Harry's girlfriend was half-vampirized, and he's spent all that time trying to find a cure. Even worse, the White Council wizards are getting their butts kicked by the Red Court. Oh yes, and it's raining frogs.

The Council is hoping to hand him over to the Red Court in hopes of stopping the war, but he just accepted a case from Queen Mab -- find out who killed the Summer Knight, and stole his power. If he can solve the case, then the Council won't have him killed for peace. And as Harry prepares to do some major-league detective work, he finds an old friend is also involved -- Elaine, his first lover whom he thought he had killed as a teenager.

But Elaine isn't the most surprising thing about his new case -- he finds himself dealing with a little gang of half-fey, hostile wyldfae, pizza-loving sprites, and the various Sidhe royalty from the Summer and Winter Courts. And Harry and his friends are assaulted by some of the nastier creatures from the Nevernever, as he comes closer to finding who murdered the Summer Knight -- and who is trying to destabilize the entire world into eternal summer or winter.

Not many authors can handle the whole "faerie" thing. Most of them come across as twee, drippy, absurd, or just longing for an ethereally beautiful Legolas clone. No thank you.

Fortunately Jim Butcher is not one of those authors, and "Summer Knight" is what faerie-oriented urban fantasy should always be. He handles the world of the fey as adroitly as he previously handled werewolves and various kinds of vampires. Even better, he gives us a deeper look into the heretofore shadowy world of the wizards, by taking us straight into the White Council and introducing readers to its colorful -- and sometimes bizarre -- members.

Even better, this is where Butcher's series transformed from a solid fantasy-noir series to a brilliant fantasy-noir series. The seemingly straightforward mystery story blossoms out into a complex weave of conspiracies, lies, subplots and various potential enemies, all of which are neatly tied together at the end. He builds up a sense of suspense all the way to the grand finale, without losing his sense of humor -- it's pretty terrifying and bloodspattered, but Harry still has enough presence of mind to shriek, "I don't believe in faeries!"

Even Butcher's writing has grown more mature, adding in ethereal details and haunting atmosphere, and even a tinge of horror in some of the scenes. But he hasn't lost his knack for wacky humor ("Generous" TootToot and his little pizza-loving army, including the Star Jump, Loo Tender, Corpse Oral...). And it's dotted with some solid action scenes, where Harry gets beaten up by an ogre, and Murphy defends a Wal-mart from a plant fey... with a chainsaw. You gotta love that part.

Oh yes, and Butcher gets extra points for the Tolkien homage -- a kindly old man named Ronald Reuel, who is described as a "creator of worlds of imagination." Gotta love that, especially in a book with elves.

Harry is wracked with guilt and obsession when the story first begins, and the fact that his fellow wizards seem to hate him doesn't help. So it's nice to see him pulling himself out of his little misery hole, and struggling to overcome some of the nastier hands that fate has dealt him with the help of his werewolf and fey friends. Not to mention Murphy, who still has some nasty psychic scars of her own to deal with, and her own unspoken sorrows to overcome, and a gang of outcast half-fey who struggle to decide whether to be human or faerie.

"Summer Knight" is an intricate little mystery that delves into the beautiful, dark world of the fey, which has been ruined by many lesser urban fantasy authors. But Jim Butcher was just hitting his stride with the fourth Dresden Files novel -- and it only gets better after this.