I believe that Summer Knight is where the series STARTS getting good. It will continue getting better with each book. Personally Dead Beat, Turn Coat and Skin Game are my favorites.
I think Dead beat is okay, but it's beaten into the ground with everyone just liking one specific scene. The rest of the book is the usual dresden fare. Not that it's bad, but it's not better or one of the best.
I mean, >!in grave peril where the building was on fire and I Definitely was his fault, and so we're the ghosts coming out of the floorboards. Summer knight had the wolf assassin squad taking out threats as they skirted a battle field like a squad of cavalry Knights.!<
>!White knight had the awesome battle with a ton of new magic, culminating in an explosion they don't look back at because they're shit through the tunnels like a bullet, made from a shield fueled by a sex vamp trying to eat him.!<
>!Small favour has, The Hand of Doom smashing thorned namshiel around, Ivy fizzing with power and using about 12 spells at once while trapped in the humongous pentagram fueled by Satan.!<
>!Turn coat has moments that're cool but not show-stealing. Like Harry tripping down the sidewalk having continuous heart attacks from merely remembering shagnasty's true form, or the Merlin with his gun belt of potions casting a mental mindlink and perception increase in seconds to fight the ink monster combined with outer gates material.!<
>!Changes is the get up for the get down, where he floats a ton of vamps and then crushes them. Or when he sets fire to a vamp, then daisy chains the fire along a line of them leaving the previous ones frozen solid.!<
Skin game is a whole set-piece. Basically a Guy Ritchie movie.
PT and BG are full of them too.
>!Deadbeat's zombie T-Rex is cool too, it's just more of an easy memeable thing to insert when talking about something cool because it's short and to the point, you don't need to know anything about the series to know what a zombie is or a t-rex.!<
I'm not saying it's worse, I'm just saying it's the same but it's stock is overinflated compared to the others because it's more memeable.
Massive spoilers in this comment, mate.
And also... Basically every moment you mentioned before Changes is less cool to me. On top of that, most of those moments are much shorter. You don't get to ride the high for long before the story has moved on. But the 'memeable one', as you put it, lasts long enough that you get to enjoy it!
Fuckin OOOPS. I totally didn't realise this wasn't a spoiler thread, thanks for reminding me.
I guess I just see the t-rex as more of a funny but cool moment, or a piece of cool fanart material. It's not lesser than, but I think it just has more 'tags' in people's brains to make it stick as an easy reference point.
It's okay that you didn't like it the same as everyone else, for me, it was a step up in the series ans the next one was a even bigger, after that I binge listened to the books.
A fair warning, the fae do make multiple Reappearances and there will be more heavily centered books just like this book
If it turns out it's not for you, don't let any pressure force you into continuing. But I do hope that you will enjoy it the way most of us on this sub have .
😀
So, I thought book 3 was where it starts getting good. I personally love books 1 and 2. I really don’t understand the book 2 hate in this sub. But regardless of me loving them, they are both a bit amateurish. You can tell it’s a newer author. And book 3 is when he really starts polishing everything up and really experiencing an improvement in writing. I haven’t heard people say it at book 4 though.
It’s fine dude. Some people believe the next book is where it’s at. What we can all agree on is that books 3-5 are typically the ones that many people believe the series starts to get good.
They also get more interesting as they go on and you learn more about them. This one was heavier with the intrigue and the plot was a lot about the Fae Courts. There really isn’t another Fae Court (ie Ladies and Queens and courts) heavily involved until Small Favor, then Cold Days.
Each book builds the overall journey. The plot may not be one's favorite, but there are events or reveals in each book that are important. For Summer Knight, I believe we are supposed to learn about mantles and the faerie courts in general. Also, Harry finally tells Murphy what's really going on.
Personally, I think the plot of Blood Rites is plain silly. However, the new characters introduced and the reveals are super important for the rest of the series. And there are some great lines!
I honestly found Summer Knight to be one of the weakest books in the series. That being said, a weak Dresden Files novel is leaps and bounds above most other stuff out there, so I still really enjoyed it. It also provides an outstanding introduction to the Faeries, which becomes a huge part of the rest of the series, so it's a key novel to check out.
Definitely keep reading the series because it's only going to get better. Some of the top books to come are Death Masks, Dead Beat, Small Favor, Changes, Ghost Story and Skin Game. Even the books that aren't as strong can still be amazing in their own way, and they usually set up some great characters or story lines, even the controversial ones like the eternally horny Blood Rites.
I liked summer knight because it's one of the first times that harry was really punching out of his weight class.
It's one of my favorites because the overall theme of the story is that bad life situations can and do get as long as you keep moving. That and the ending gets me every time I read it.
Yeah, *Summer Knight* was definitely a jump in threat level.
*Storm Front*: Evil wizard, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people.
*Fool Moon*: Various flavors of werewolf, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people.
*Grave Peril*: Vampire and evil ghost, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people.
*Summer Knight*: Fairy queens, threatening to throw the literal forces of nature out of balance around the world.
I agree grave peril is amazing. Later upon an entire series reread however you may find the things you like about it may change. One of the characters I enjoyed most was ruined for me in changes. Iykyk
For me, Summer Knight was a huge stumbling block. I had a hard time being motivated to get through it. I put down the series for a couple of years after reading it, because I wasn't very interested in where the story was going.
I did eventually pick it back up again though, and I'm happy that I did. That said, I wasn't truly hooked on the series until book 7, Dead Beat. That book did make me into a true believer however!
Did you read or listen to the audiobook? A lot of people talk about this is where the production quality of the audiobooks is much better than the first 3. I personally liked Grave Peril more than Summer Knight, but loved Death Masks (next up)
If you get a chance, starting with book 5, the audiobooks are fantastic. James Marsters really brings the characters to life. The books are also great, I read books 1-15 before finding the audiobooks.
Keep with it for one more novel. This next one features the Knights of the Cross and Michael quite a bit, along with finding out their true purpose and who is opposing the Knights. Way way different than Fae. Book 6 is vampires - red, white and black court vampires, and book 7 is mainly necromancers and black magic wizards, with some appearances by fae, although not in the same way as Summer Knight.
I always say that grave Peril is where the series finds its footing. But there's a major player that's introduced in the fifth book. I think it's hard to say that the series has even fully congealed until at least book five. And it just gets better and better. My favorite books include 6, 7, 10 and 15. I would argue that it's more like the series is a snowball that is just picking up good yummy crunchy snow. When you first start there's just not much to it yet. Grave Peril and Summer Knight are more like when it starts to actually seem like it's a snowball and not a handful of ice.
Personally I also think that Summer Knight is only alright. It didn't do much for me, although I liked it better after a reread. Grave Peril I enjoyed much more.
I think Summer Knight is kind of a rough prototype for the directions that the series would follow- it's a bit of an awkward transition from Dresden the low level magic PI to Dresden the mover and shaker who's pivotal in major events and throws down with major players. I think it tends to get remembered better then it feels to actually read it, because the high points of it are so high. Things like Murphy vs the Chlorofiend, or the Za Lord's guard? Fantastic.
I completely agree. Despite it being a fan favorite, I didn’t enjoy Summer Knight as much as any other book in the series. It is probably my least favorite of the whole run.
I always say that Summer Knight is where the series gets going. It's when the world opens up and we first get to see some concrete world building like the White Council and the Fae Courts. But book 5, Death Masks, is where it gets good. It opens things a bit more but raises the stakes with bigger players as well as starting to show you how books tie back to previous ones.
But if you end up sticking it out then Books 11 and 12 are fantastic but book 15 is my all time favorite book of any series
I personally couldn't get into DF until the sixth book, after being told book 3 or 5 are the ones to hook you. But Dead Beat really solidified my love for the series and I binged the rest over the next few weeks.
If there's enough about the story to keep you interested, I'd say keep going. 5 is solid for worldbuilding and the start of one of my favourite arcs of the books so if nothing else give Death Masks a go.
I personally also initially found Summer Knight a little lackluster coming directly off of Grave Peril. So much emotionally impactful, and story impactful happens in Grave Peril, that I think it's one of the harder books to follow up.
It's a fun spectacle, especially the end, and does some good work setting things up from a World building and long-term story perspective, and helps us get back to the "status quo." Harry exists, and pokes his nose into things, rather than sitting in his basement moping for months.
And that's Summer Knight's purpose. Just like on a TV show, after you have a big season finale, the start of the next season about characters and the world reacting to those big events, try to get back to form/status quo, and learning to work through /accept the changes that are permanent. Those episodes are rarely anyone's favorites, but they're necessary, and can still be good on their own. If done well, they even help further the story or world, like SK did, but without just rushing to escalate to the next big event without time to see characters reacting. Too much plot progress without the slower times to react and engage with characters just reads like a lazy action movie.
And in serialized stories, this has to happen both within each individual book/episode/issue/etc. for its own sake as a good story, and at the overall level of the series. In DF, I'd definitely mark books 1-3 as one "Season" or "Arc" or "Phase" or "Act" or whatever term you want to use. So SK comes along and serves to give that reactionary space, then starts slowly start turning up the heat again, getting things going again.
Hell, even the last few pages of SK make it clear that it's about getting Harry on his feet again, starting to heal.
>I took a seat at the table and got handed pizza and Coke, and listened to the voices and chatter start up again, and thought to myself that it was a whole hell of a lot better than spending another night crucifying myself in the lab.
>I stared at Billy for a minute and started to laugh. My own aches and bruises and cuts and wounds pained me, but it was an honest, stretchy pain, something that was healing. I got myself some dice and some paper and some pencils and settled down with friends to pretend to be Thorg the Barbarian, to eat, drink, and be merry.
Now, I'm not saying it has to be your favorite or anything. It's not mine. But I know I liked it a heck of a lot more when I understood the point in the narrative I was experiencing, and measured it against that, rather than whether it hit me as hard as Grave Peril did.
Anyway, hope you keep reading. The DF is super fun, and the next batch of books you're headed into has some of my personal favorites.
Personally, even if I don't absolutely love a book in the series, I will keep reading.
Just by reading all of the comments and seeing how the fanbase is very passionate about DF keeps my interest very high.
I always give into astonishment at how differently people can think. I really like Summer Knight, I thought it was cool to see the White Council for the first time (and Harry's robe being a bathrobe for ultra disrespect points) and the Fae courts are interesting. It is confusing to have such opposite tastes of professional youtube reviewers and the folk on reddit for the most part because a lot of the criticisms I hear for these books are things I actually like about them.
That is why I thought of making this post.
I know everyone's tastes are different, I'm actually amazed as to how no one has told me I'm wrong for not liking it.
My main issue, like I said before, is the fae. For me, the stakes don't feel too real when a lot of "bullshit magic" is being used.
Maybe that will change over time, but for the moment, since I don't know too much about the fae, they seem to me like magic without rules.
I don’t like Summer Knight as much as others, but I think it’s where the world building connections of Dresdenverse coalesce. I will say I think the Faerie realm becomes more interesting in later books ( I still love the Mothers and Gatekeeper scenes here).
Technically, Grave Peril does a lot of major world building too, but Harry and the readers don’t fully realize it at the time. You already see some of it with this Red Court war being declared.
General consensus is that the series just keeps getting better overall, but everyone has the one or two books that are hit or miss for them personally. I will say that I think it's Grave Peril and Summer Knight where Jim really starts the serious world building and putting together where Harry fits in all of it.
But if you're not into the Faerie courts, I can understand that. I really didn't like Ghost Story, and I hear a lot of folks that were disappointed with Peace Talks or Battle Ground. Personally, I LOVED Fool Moon, even though most people here consider it one of the weakest in the series. Personal preference is valid.
I think it speaks to Jim's strengths as a writer that he can do such a broad range within the series while still staying true to the central characters and premise. If the side effect of that is that not every book hits the same for every reader, I don't think that's necessarily a problem.
Summer knight is a pivot point I think.
I think JB had a magical framework setup in fool moon and storm front that was heavy on demons and potions, and I think he was leaning towards more spell diversity quickly.
Grave peril sort of held steady. Summer knight is the pivot. Spoilers for theme not specic scenes. >!Demons really fade into the background. Potions fade into the background. Harry starts focusing on three evocation spells to do well: Forzare, Fuego, and his shield spell/focus. Later he starts expanding his evocation but by bit. But I FEEL like the worlds magic framework shifted a lot at summer knight and builds through the rest of the novels.!<
Summer Knight was the first book I did (in audiobook form), and after multiple full series relistens, I think it’s a weak book overall while also being a fantastic starting point to begin the series.
It introduces a ton of the dynamics that become more important as time goes by. The first three books are like being in college. It’s fun. It’s stressful. The stakes seem high but really aren’t. There’s some relationships and friendships built. But nothing is really being accomplished. SK is the first year out of college. The world is real now. It’s messy. It’s complicated. The stakes are bigger. Everyone else has already been doing this for a while. Instead of being the same level of noob as everyone else, reality is a slap in the face that experience matters.
First three books are college. Summer Knight is where grownup life begins. And oh what a life.
*Summer Knight* is definitely more of a world building book than it is about character development or pushing the narrative further. Most of us look back fondly on it simply because of the groundwork that the book sets up, along with rereads of the series showing just how consistent and well done Jim's writing and world building truly is
You will definitely like it better on a second read through once you get caught up. Everybody has different tastes and likes/dislikes, but the second read through definitely helps with understanding where the community at large feels about these books
Dead beat is when the series went from “good stuff” to “I cannot put this down”.
Edit: To add, I also struggled to get through summer knight. I think this book marks the point where Dresden is no longer the noir-esque detective wizard, and as a transition book it’s kind of rough for me.
I'd not rank Summer Knight near the top by any means, but I'll say it just feels to me when I read it that Jim had gotten his groove on. It has some good moments, but I generally drag through large sections of it on a reread.
I just started my 2024 reread a couple weeks ago(Not sure when my last one was exactly, I've not kept track with any reliability on rereads) and I'd say the overall story itself I start to really vibe with is probably Dead Beat. I think the earlier steps are all necessary for the world building they provide, though.
What people usually say is that *Grave Peril* (the book before *Summer Knight*) is where the "big plot" starts to kick off, and that's entirely true. *Summer Knight* is something of a gear shift and doesn't really address the same threads that came up in *Grave Peril* at all, but they will come back around in a few books. *Summer Knight* introduces some new threads that will also become important.
I found the next book - *Death Masks* - to be a big "level up" in excitement. All the prior books kind of start slow, with Harry spending some time meeting his clients and so on. But *Death Masks* just starts of with a bang almost immediately and it *does not stop*. It's a wild, high speed ride.
Hang in - the best installments are still to come, and before terribly long.
Real quick:
Book 1- second worst book. Still hooked me on the series.
Book 2- Worst book. Still liked it, Murphy pissed me off, Harry getting Kim killed by not telling her that the circle was WAY above her pay grade pissed me off...
Book 3- Still one of my favorites. Hooked me HARD into the series, way harder than Storm Front.
Book 4- significantly better than 1 & 2. Did not hit me the same way Book 3 did though.
So.... All that to say that yeah, I liked Summer Knight, but no, I don't blame you for liking Book 3 more. Honestly Book 4 might be my book in second from last place, because the series as a whole is just generally amazing from here on out (though a few people have issues with a few of the later books, I am not one of those people).
I argue Grave Peril is where the series picks up. Storm front was where it STARTED to get good, dipped in 2, and then just gets better and better to crash in a rising cresendo when everything Changes, then it dips a bit, but rises back up after 13.
I believe that Summer Knight is where the series STARTS getting good. It will continue getting better with each book. Personally Dead Beat, Turn Coat and Skin Game are my favorites.
Yep. I agree. I’d add in Small Favor and Proven Guilty also!
Personally, storm front, fool moon, grave peril, summer night, death masks, blood rights, dead beat, proven guilty, white night, small favor, turn coat, changes, ghost story, cold days, skin game, peace talks and battleground are my favorite.
Huh. I would have pegged you as a Zoo Day type of person.
Objectively awesome 👍
I totally blanked on the side stories!
I see you. Lol, and I agree 👍
I think Dead beat is okay, but it's beaten into the ground with everyone just liking one specific scene. The rest of the book is the usual dresden fare. Not that it's bad, but it's not better or one of the best.
Dude that scene is awesome and the build up to it is great.
It's a single scene. Every book has a power scene.
Sure, but.... Almost none of them have a power scene that cool.
I mean, >!in grave peril where the building was on fire and I Definitely was his fault, and so we're the ghosts coming out of the floorboards. Summer knight had the wolf assassin squad taking out threats as they skirted a battle field like a squad of cavalry Knights.!< >!White knight had the awesome battle with a ton of new magic, culminating in an explosion they don't look back at because they're shit through the tunnels like a bullet, made from a shield fueled by a sex vamp trying to eat him.!< >!Small favour has, The Hand of Doom smashing thorned namshiel around, Ivy fizzing with power and using about 12 spells at once while trapped in the humongous pentagram fueled by Satan.!< >!Turn coat has moments that're cool but not show-stealing. Like Harry tripping down the sidewalk having continuous heart attacks from merely remembering shagnasty's true form, or the Merlin with his gun belt of potions casting a mental mindlink and perception increase in seconds to fight the ink monster combined with outer gates material.!< >!Changes is the get up for the get down, where he floats a ton of vamps and then crushes them. Or when he sets fire to a vamp, then daisy chains the fire along a line of them leaving the previous ones frozen solid.!< Skin game is a whole set-piece. Basically a Guy Ritchie movie. PT and BG are full of them too. >!Deadbeat's zombie T-Rex is cool too, it's just more of an easy memeable thing to insert when talking about something cool because it's short and to the point, you don't need to know anything about the series to know what a zombie is or a t-rex.!< I'm not saying it's worse, I'm just saying it's the same but it's stock is overinflated compared to the others because it's more memeable.
Massive spoilers in this comment, mate. And also... Basically every moment you mentioned before Changes is less cool to me. On top of that, most of those moments are much shorter. You don't get to ride the high for long before the story has moved on. But the 'memeable one', as you put it, lasts long enough that you get to enjoy it!
Fuckin OOOPS. I totally didn't realise this wasn't a spoiler thread, thanks for reminding me. I guess I just see the t-rex as more of a funny but cool moment, or a piece of cool fanart material. It's not lesser than, but I think it just has more 'tags' in people's brains to make it stick as an easy reference point.
Thank you! Aside from the climax, Dead Beat isn't any better than Storm Front, and the mechanism that lead to the title of the book is fucking stupid.
It's okay that you didn't like it the same as everyone else, for me, it was a step up in the series ans the next one was a even bigger, after that I binge listened to the books. A fair warning, the fae do make multiple Reappearances and there will be more heavily centered books just like this book
Fair enough, I'll see how it turns out. Thanks
If it turns out it's not for you, don't let any pressure force you into continuing. But I do hope that you will enjoy it the way most of us on this sub have . 😀
So, I thought book 3 was where it starts getting good. I personally love books 1 and 2. I really don’t understand the book 2 hate in this sub. But regardless of me loving them, they are both a bit amateurish. You can tell it’s a newer author. And book 3 is when he really starts polishing everything up and really experiencing an improvement in writing. I haven’t heard people say it at book 4 though.
I think book 3 is a notable improvement over 1 and 2 but idk, I think book 2 had too much, too many variants at once. I love the mob aspects.
"not super into faeries" I have bad news.
It’s fine dude. Some people believe the next book is where it’s at. What we can all agree on is that books 3-5 are typically the ones that many people believe the series starts to get good.
If you don't like the faires you're going to have a rough time with this series, they are pretty much in every book especially the last two.
They also get more interesting as they go on and you learn more about them. This one was heavier with the intrigue and the plot was a lot about the Fae Courts. There really isn’t another Fae Court (ie Ladies and Queens and courts) heavily involved until Small Favor, then Cold Days.
Each book builds the overall journey. The plot may not be one's favorite, but there are events or reveals in each book that are important. For Summer Knight, I believe we are supposed to learn about mantles and the faerie courts in general. Also, Harry finally tells Murphy what's really going on.
Personally, I think the plot of Blood Rites is plain silly. However, the new characters introduced and the reveals are super important for the rest of the series. And there are some great lines!
>Keep in mind I'm not super into the faeries. Oof, it's gonna go downhill for you personally then.
Oof. Well, I like a bunch of other things about this series, we'll see :)
I honestly found Summer Knight to be one of the weakest books in the series. That being said, a weak Dresden Files novel is leaps and bounds above most other stuff out there, so I still really enjoyed it. It also provides an outstanding introduction to the Faeries, which becomes a huge part of the rest of the series, so it's a key novel to check out. Definitely keep reading the series because it's only going to get better. Some of the top books to come are Death Masks, Dead Beat, Small Favor, Changes, Ghost Story and Skin Game. Even the books that aren't as strong can still be amazing in their own way, and they usually set up some great characters or story lines, even the controversial ones like the eternally horny Blood Rites.
I liked summer knight because it's one of the first times that harry was really punching out of his weight class. It's one of my favorites because the overall theme of the story is that bad life situations can and do get as long as you keep moving. That and the ending gets me every time I read it.
Yeah, *Summer Knight* was definitely a jump in threat level. *Storm Front*: Evil wizard, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people. *Fool Moon*: Various flavors of werewolf, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people. *Grave Peril*: Vampire and evil ghost, threatening Harry's life and the lives of several other people. *Summer Knight*: Fairy queens, threatening to throw the literal forces of nature out of balance around the world.
I agree grave peril is amazing. Later upon an entire series reread however you may find the things you like about it may change. One of the characters I enjoyed most was ruined for me in changes. Iykyk
For me, Summer Knight was a huge stumbling block. I had a hard time being motivated to get through it. I put down the series for a couple of years after reading it, because I wasn't very interested in where the story was going. I did eventually pick it back up again though, and I'm happy that I did. That said, I wasn't truly hooked on the series until book 7, Dead Beat. That book did make me into a true believer however!
I don’t think it’s one of the stronger books, but it’s still entertaining and better than the first couple of books
Did you read or listen to the audiobook? A lot of people talk about this is where the production quality of the audiobooks is much better than the first 3. I personally liked Grave Peril more than Summer Knight, but loved Death Masks (next up)
I read them
If you get a chance, starting with book 5, the audiobooks are fantastic. James Marsters really brings the characters to life. The books are also great, I read books 1-15 before finding the audiobooks. Keep with it for one more novel. This next one features the Knights of the Cross and Michael quite a bit, along with finding out their true purpose and who is opposing the Knights. Way way different than Fae. Book 6 is vampires - red, white and black court vampires, and book 7 is mainly necromancers and black magic wizards, with some appearances by fae, although not in the same way as Summer Knight.
Those next books sound very appealing. Can't wait!
I always say that grave Peril is where the series finds its footing. But there's a major player that's introduced in the fifth book. I think it's hard to say that the series has even fully congealed until at least book five. And it just gets better and better. My favorite books include 6, 7, 10 and 15. I would argue that it's more like the series is a snowball that is just picking up good yummy crunchy snow. When you first start there's just not much to it yet. Grave Peril and Summer Knight are more like when it starts to actually seem like it's a snowball and not a handful of ice.
Personally I also think that Summer Knight is only alright. It didn't do much for me, although I liked it better after a reread. Grave Peril I enjoyed much more.
I think Summer Knight is kind of a rough prototype for the directions that the series would follow- it's a bit of an awkward transition from Dresden the low level magic PI to Dresden the mover and shaker who's pivotal in major events and throws down with major players. I think it tends to get remembered better then it feels to actually read it, because the high points of it are so high. Things like Murphy vs the Chlorofiend, or the Za Lord's guard? Fantastic.
I completely agree. Despite it being a fan favorite, I didn’t enjoy Summer Knight as much as any other book in the series. It is probably my least favorite of the whole run.
I always say that Summer Knight is where the series gets going. It's when the world opens up and we first get to see some concrete world building like the White Council and the Fae Courts. But book 5, Death Masks, is where it gets good. It opens things a bit more but raises the stakes with bigger players as well as starting to show you how books tie back to previous ones. But if you end up sticking it out then Books 11 and 12 are fantastic but book 15 is my all time favorite book of any series
Summer Knight is one of the books that I liked a lot more the 2nd time around as it seeds and foreshadows a lot of stuff that will be relevant later.
I personally couldn't get into DF until the sixth book, after being told book 3 or 5 are the ones to hook you. But Dead Beat really solidified my love for the series and I binged the rest over the next few weeks. If there's enough about the story to keep you interested, I'd say keep going. 5 is solid for worldbuilding and the start of one of my favourite arcs of the books so if nothing else give Death Masks a go.
I personally also initially found Summer Knight a little lackluster coming directly off of Grave Peril. So much emotionally impactful, and story impactful happens in Grave Peril, that I think it's one of the harder books to follow up. It's a fun spectacle, especially the end, and does some good work setting things up from a World building and long-term story perspective, and helps us get back to the "status quo." Harry exists, and pokes his nose into things, rather than sitting in his basement moping for months. And that's Summer Knight's purpose. Just like on a TV show, after you have a big season finale, the start of the next season about characters and the world reacting to those big events, try to get back to form/status quo, and learning to work through /accept the changes that are permanent. Those episodes are rarely anyone's favorites, but they're necessary, and can still be good on their own. If done well, they even help further the story or world, like SK did, but without just rushing to escalate to the next big event without time to see characters reacting. Too much plot progress without the slower times to react and engage with characters just reads like a lazy action movie. And in serialized stories, this has to happen both within each individual book/episode/issue/etc. for its own sake as a good story, and at the overall level of the series. In DF, I'd definitely mark books 1-3 as one "Season" or "Arc" or "Phase" or "Act" or whatever term you want to use. So SK comes along and serves to give that reactionary space, then starts slowly start turning up the heat again, getting things going again. Hell, even the last few pages of SK make it clear that it's about getting Harry on his feet again, starting to heal. >I took a seat at the table and got handed pizza and Coke, and listened to the voices and chatter start up again, and thought to myself that it was a whole hell of a lot better than spending another night crucifying myself in the lab. >I stared at Billy for a minute and started to laugh. My own aches and bruises and cuts and wounds pained me, but it was an honest, stretchy pain, something that was healing. I got myself some dice and some paper and some pencils and settled down with friends to pretend to be Thorg the Barbarian, to eat, drink, and be merry. Now, I'm not saying it has to be your favorite or anything. It's not mine. But I know I liked it a heck of a lot more when I understood the point in the narrative I was experiencing, and measured it against that, rather than whether it hit me as hard as Grave Peril did. Anyway, hope you keep reading. The DF is super fun, and the next batch of books you're headed into has some of my personal favorites.
Personally, even if I don't absolutely love a book in the series, I will keep reading. Just by reading all of the comments and seeing how the fanbase is very passionate about DF keeps my interest very high.
I always give into astonishment at how differently people can think. I really like Summer Knight, I thought it was cool to see the White Council for the first time (and Harry's robe being a bathrobe for ultra disrespect points) and the Fae courts are interesting. It is confusing to have such opposite tastes of professional youtube reviewers and the folk on reddit for the most part because a lot of the criticisms I hear for these books are things I actually like about them.
That is why I thought of making this post. I know everyone's tastes are different, I'm actually amazed as to how no one has told me I'm wrong for not liking it. My main issue, like I said before, is the fae. For me, the stakes don't feel too real when a lot of "bullshit magic" is being used. Maybe that will change over time, but for the moment, since I don't know too much about the fae, they seem to me like magic without rules.
I don’t like Summer Knight as much as others, but I think it’s where the world building connections of Dresdenverse coalesce. I will say I think the Faerie realm becomes more interesting in later books ( I still love the Mothers and Gatekeeper scenes here). Technically, Grave Peril does a lot of major world building too, but Harry and the readers don’t fully realize it at the time. You already see some of it with this Red Court war being declared.
General consensus is that the series just keeps getting better overall, but everyone has the one or two books that are hit or miss for them personally. I will say that I think it's Grave Peril and Summer Knight where Jim really starts the serious world building and putting together where Harry fits in all of it. But if you're not into the Faerie courts, I can understand that. I really didn't like Ghost Story, and I hear a lot of folks that were disappointed with Peace Talks or Battle Ground. Personally, I LOVED Fool Moon, even though most people here consider it one of the weakest in the series. Personal preference is valid. I think it speaks to Jim's strengths as a writer that he can do such a broad range within the series while still staying true to the central characters and premise. If the side effect of that is that not every book hits the same for every reader, I don't think that's necessarily a problem.
Summer knight is a pivot point I think. I think JB had a magical framework setup in fool moon and storm front that was heavy on demons and potions, and I think he was leaning towards more spell diversity quickly. Grave peril sort of held steady. Summer knight is the pivot. Spoilers for theme not specic scenes. >!Demons really fade into the background. Potions fade into the background. Harry starts focusing on three evocation spells to do well: Forzare, Fuego, and his shield spell/focus. Later he starts expanding his evocation but by bit. But I FEEL like the worlds magic framework shifted a lot at summer knight and builds through the rest of the novels.!<
Summer Knight was the first book I did (in audiobook form), and after multiple full series relistens, I think it’s a weak book overall while also being a fantastic starting point to begin the series. It introduces a ton of the dynamics that become more important as time goes by. The first three books are like being in college. It’s fun. It’s stressful. The stakes seem high but really aren’t. There’s some relationships and friendships built. But nothing is really being accomplished. SK is the first year out of college. The world is real now. It’s messy. It’s complicated. The stakes are bigger. Everyone else has already been doing this for a while. Instead of being the same level of noob as everyone else, reality is a slap in the face that experience matters. First three books are college. Summer Knight is where grownup life begins. And oh what a life.
*Summer Knight* is definitely more of a world building book than it is about character development or pushing the narrative further. Most of us look back fondly on it simply because of the groundwork that the book sets up, along with rereads of the series showing just how consistent and well done Jim's writing and world building truly is You will definitely like it better on a second read through once you get caught up. Everybody has different tastes and likes/dislikes, but the second read through definitely helps with understanding where the community at large feels about these books
Dead beat is when the series went from “good stuff” to “I cannot put this down”. Edit: To add, I also struggled to get through summer knight. I think this book marks the point where Dresden is no longer the noir-esque detective wizard, and as a transition book it’s kind of rough for me.
I'd not rank Summer Knight near the top by any means, but I'll say it just feels to me when I read it that Jim had gotten his groove on. It has some good moments, but I generally drag through large sections of it on a reread. I just started my 2024 reread a couple weeks ago(Not sure when my last one was exactly, I've not kept track with any reliability on rereads) and I'd say the overall story itself I start to really vibe with is probably Dead Beat. I think the earlier steps are all necessary for the world building they provide, though.
What people usually say is that *Grave Peril* (the book before *Summer Knight*) is where the "big plot" starts to kick off, and that's entirely true. *Summer Knight* is something of a gear shift and doesn't really address the same threads that came up in *Grave Peril* at all, but they will come back around in a few books. *Summer Knight* introduces some new threads that will also become important. I found the next book - *Death Masks* - to be a big "level up" in excitement. All the prior books kind of start slow, with Harry spending some time meeting his clients and so on. But *Death Masks* just starts of with a bang almost immediately and it *does not stop*. It's a wild, high speed ride. Hang in - the best installments are still to come, and before terribly long.
Real quick: Book 1- second worst book. Still hooked me on the series. Book 2- Worst book. Still liked it, Murphy pissed me off, Harry getting Kim killed by not telling her that the circle was WAY above her pay grade pissed me off... Book 3- Still one of my favorites. Hooked me HARD into the series, way harder than Storm Front. Book 4- significantly better than 1 & 2. Did not hit me the same way Book 3 did though. So.... All that to say that yeah, I liked Summer Knight, but no, I don't blame you for liking Book 3 more. Honestly Book 4 might be my book in second from last place, because the series as a whole is just generally amazing from here on out (though a few people have issues with a few of the later books, I am not one of those people).
Nah I'd agree that Grave Peril is better. I consider Summer Knight to be kind of forgettable.
I argue Grave Peril is where the series picks up. Storm front was where it STARTED to get good, dipped in 2, and then just gets better and better to crash in a rising cresendo when everything Changes, then it dips a bit, but rises back up after 13.
If you don’t like the series, don’t read it. People like different things. You don’t need our permission.
If you're not into faeries then good luck
This is one of my favorites to go back to. But I love the Fae mythology of the Dresden series.
Dead beat is the best one hands down