I have to give Jim Butcher credit for his punny titles – I almost wonder if he starts with the title and develops a story to fit it. In this fourth volume of The Dresden Files, Harry finds himself getting perhaps more deeply involved than he would prefer with the realm of the fairies. While most of the books in this series so far have featured fairies to some extent and certainly set the baseline definition of what these creatures are in the Dresden-verse, Summer Knight puts Harry right in the middle of a fairy-realm power struggle.
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself – the start of this volume actually deals with another power struggle the weight of which falls squarely in Harry’s lap. As a result of his impulsive actions in the last book, the vampire Red Court has declared war on the White Council. And now the White Council must decide how to proceed – do they take on this struggle or serve up the catalyst of it on a silver platter to end the violence before it can gear up. Based on some manipulations from the few wizard friends that Harry has, he manages to get a pass on any immediate “justice” pending his success on dealing with a case the fairies have asked him to investigate – the murder of the Summer Knight.
In this book, we learn a lot more about the fairy realm and its balance of power as well as the existence of half-fairies (changelings). We also learn more about wizards and their history and role in the world as well as the different types of vampires that had been introduced thus far (for more details, look here for a decent summary). We also see Harry battle with internal struggles in addition to the external forces against him as a result of what had happened with his girlfriend back in book 3. And as Harry struggles with his life sinking to new lows, he also finds himself sinking to new physical depth by having to delve into “Undertown” – the underground sub-strata of Chicago where the supernatural and paranormal seem to flourish and dominate.
As usual, Harry is out of his depths and yet always manages not only to hold his own, but stay a step ahead of the game when it counts. Harry is quick on his feet and committed to see things through to the bitter end (even if it might also mean the bitter end for him – which it often comes very close to being). I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – I’m in for the long haul with this series. It seems that according to this book many wizards can live for centuries. At the rate Harry is going, he’d be lucky to make it to 50. But if there are end up being books written about a 50-year-old Harry Dresden, I’ll keep reading them.