TBR Day: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

Summer Knight is the fourth in the Dresden Files series. After it's slow take off for me, I think this series is really picking up. It almost seems like the first one or two were warm ups and Butcher has hit his stride. Harry is much less whiny, much less needy, and his need to be a hero has acquired a little common sense.

In this installment we see Harry working for the Winter Queen to find out who killed a rival faerie. The vampires are going to war with the wizard's White Council because of what happened in book three. Harry has been called before the Council for his part in those events, and if he can't disarm the coming war with the vampires his career as a wizard is over. Unfortunately, the war between the Faerie is much more imminent and much more dangerous. Like the others, the action is non-stop. I'm pretty sure Harry doesn't sleep for days.

The recurring characters are mostly good. Murphy isn't overwhelmingly "you HAVE TO TELL ME, Harry!" The werewolves are back and in good form. Lea is great. Bob isn't in it nearly enough. The person from Harry's past was good, but I don't know that I like the idea of bringing them in just for this storyline. Almost made it TOO easy to make Harry get involved by throwing them into it. Overall, I think this was the best one yet.

On a related note, series books are almost impossibly hard to review. There's not a lot you can say without giving away the plot to the previous books. I almost hesitate to even mention the plot summary off the back of the book for fear it will spoil something for someone. I find myself reading more and more series books lately, so this is getting to be more of a problem. Off the top of my head, unfinished series waiting on my shelves include: Kim Harrison, Rachel Caine, Laurell Hamilton, J. D. Robb, Charlaine Harris (ok, the last one isn't on my shelf, yet), and Janet Evanovich (ditto), and the rest of the Dresdens. Soon this blog will turn into: "Yep, it was good."