Review - Summer Knight

[wilderthan]

I probably liked Summer Knight best of the Dresden Files books so far, largely for the character development that happens and the sense of a wider plot -- of it being more than just a local problem. I can see what other reviews I've read mean by finding this book weaker because of the latter. Harry spends so much time whimpering about how outclassed he is that it goes from a case of the underdog narrowly winning to holy-crap-it's-impossible-that-he-actually-did-that. And Harry spends so much time thinking he's completely outclassed and yet he always comes through okay, battered but alive. It isn't realistic at all -- and even in a fantasy narrative, you have to have some vestiges of realism, perhaps especially in an urban fantasy where you have real-world detail. Sometimes you can put the rules aside, but mostly you can't -- people still have to act like people, so readers can relate to them. It's good that Harry is relatively normal, but he can't be too normal, either, or the idea of him going up against the supposedly hugely powerful Sidhe becomes ridiculous.

Still, those flaws didn't bother me too much. I was very very glad to start seeing some development from Harry in the direction of trusting his friends -- not just trusting them with personal information or whatever, but with trusting them to look after themselves. It was awesome to see Murphy kicking ass even better than Harry, and to read about him giving her some goddamn credit for being tough, for once.

If I were Jim Butcher, I'd probably have kept the Faerie Court stuff back a little longer and focused more on the war with the vampires -- to escalate the level of power Harry's facing more evenly. At the same time, I really liked having a book where these veiled hints from the earlier books come to fruition, and I'm guessing this isn't the end of that, since Harry has two more requests to fulfil before he's free of his deal, and there are all sorts of hints about Lea and Harry's mother.

Also interesting to see the hinted at Elaine, and I was glad the topic of Susan wasn't just dropped, even though she wasn't in the book. I missed Michael, and I want to know more about Thomas already. A lot of my frustration with the books has dissipated and now I just want to read them all ASAP!

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

Four down! You'll be done with the series before you know it.

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

Not with so much studying to do... Why do I love my degree again, someone remind me?