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The fairy godmother that dogged Harry's footsteps in Grave Peril was forced to trade the debt-- Harry now owes a debt to Queen Mab of Faerie, and she is requesting him to look into the murder of one of the knights of the Summer Court of Faerie-- a person of great power, whom it would be difficult to kill, which may mean that it is one of the other Queens of Faerie. Mab wants Harry to prove that it wasn't her, in order to avert a war between the two courts of Faerie. There's also some wizard politics going on, fallout from encounters with the vampires in previous books, that forces Harry's hand and makes him accept Mab's offer even though he knows he should avoid entanglements with fairies at all costs. Harry begins the difficult task of investigating the other six Queens of Faerie (three for each of the Summer and Winter courts), and does his usual bang-up job of alienating people along the way. And, naturally, someone doesn't want him to succeed in his investigations and keeps sending warriors and beasts to try to stop him.

There are some clever, fun parts to this story. I liked the way Butcher worked in all the known names of the Queens of Fairies by giving the Summer and Winter courts each three queens-- sort of a past, present, and future queen, in a sense. I also liked the continuity from the other books-- the Alphas from Fool Moon are around, keeping an eye on Harry and helping him out of trouble, and eventually helping him out in the final showdown.

That final showdown is pretty exciting. There is a war going on in the heavens-- the beginning of a full on Faerie battle that, if left unchecked, could destroy the human world. Dresden and his allies climb up into turmoil and dark clouds over Lake Michigan in order to fight their way into the center of the battle and stop the unraveling that was caused on purpose, to upset the balance of the Winter and Summer courts of Faerie.

Title:	Summer Knight
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2002
Genre:	Fantasy
Series:	Dresden Files book 4
Number of pages:	371
Notes:	borrowed from Garvey

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This time around, Dresden is dealing with ghosts popping up everywhere. Someone is stirring them up, causing trouble, and the barrier to the spiritual world is thinner than usual. Then, there is some kind of nightmare demon that is destroying people in their sleep and coming after Harry with a vengeance. Eventually, Harry has to face off against vampires (three different kinds, one of them an uneasy ally) to figure out who is behind the ghostly disturbances. This book did not seem as well-written or edited as the previous books in the series, but it's still a pretty fun ride. I particularly liked the character of Michael-- he fights alongside Harry against evil, but he's a holy warrior with a sword that's some kind of relic. The part I like best is that Harry, with his wizard's sight, can see the visible aura of power surrounding Michael-- which is his faith.

Harry also has to keep dealing with a fairy godmother every time he goes to the Nevernever. She wants to make him a captive (like one of her trained bloodhounds) and take his power for her own, and she causes trouble for him-- but she also protects him, since she wants him for herself. And the times when she arrives and saves him it seems a little too convenient. Also, the ultimate answer to the mystery seemed a little too obvious (although it was fairly satisfying). When a book like this talks briefly about a case that happened recently, you know that someone or something from that case is going to be relevant to this one.

Title:	Grave Peril
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Contemporary Fantasy
Series:	Dresden Files, book 3
Number of pages:	378
Notes:	borrowed from Garvey

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The second book in the Dresden Files series features werewolves of every kind. There's a brutal murder and Murphy calls in Dresden to take a look; he notes the fact that it was done on the night of a full moon, and this one is a repeat of another about a month ago. At Murphy's request, Dresden does a report on all the different kinds of werewolves, how to recognize them, how to kill them-- werewolves, hexenwolves, lycanthropes, and loup-garou. And, of course, pretty soon Dresden runs into all of the different kinds of werewolves. Some of them are bad guys, some are good guys who are supposed to be bad guys, and the most vicious in wolf form is actually sort of the victim.

Eventually Dresden figures out that someone was trying to frame MacFinn, the last in a family cursed to be the dreaded loup-garou, the most vicious and destructive of the werewolves. They destroyed the mystical cage that MacFinn used to keep himself from wreaking havoc during the full moon, and then committed a few murders-- as wolves. Another piece of the puzzle is some corrupt FBI officials who have taken things into their own hands-- or rather, paws. Someone (a sinister, mysterious someone) gave them belts that allow them to transform into wolves, and they've been using this ability to do the dirty work of taking down known criminals that they can't get by legal means. But, of course, they are corrupted by the power and animality of the experience. In the final showdown, Dresden runs out of options and ends up using a stolen wolf-belt himself to fight off the attackers, and almost succumbs himself-- but, as always, he manages to prevail.

There are some interesting characters and great moments. Particularly interesting is the feral shape-shifter Tera, who loves MacFinn and is trying to rescue him from himself. Dresden determines fairly early on that she's not one of the bad guys, but he doesn't realize until the end that she's yet another kind of werewolf he hadn't included in his list-- a shapeshifter, but one whose natural, original shape is not human.

Title:	Fool Moon
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2001
Genre:	Contemporary Fantasy
Series:	The Dresden Files
Number of pages:	352
Notes:	borrowed from Mike

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Harry Dresden is a working wizard (at one point he calls himself a blue-collar wizard), listed in the Chicago phonebook-- not for parties or entertainment, but to use his power to help people, find lost items, etc. He also consults with the police on unusual cases, and this book finds him getting drawn into the investigation of a gruesome double murder which his own people (the White Council) think he may have committed. The book is narrated by Dresden, and at several points he talks about a wizards' perception; he's careful not to meet people's eyes, because if he looks for too long he sees into their soul and they see into is his, which apparently can be quite a shock. He also recognizes the non-human creatures around him that normal people don't see (and are generally safer because they don't know). When he's thinking about the power and movement in a storm going on, he gets an insight that opens up the case he's working on-- he realizes that the dark wizard he's trying to find is harnessing the raw power of the storm to do his dirty work.

An engaging story with an interesting mystery, and sub-plots that connect in fairly believable ways. I like the way the otherworld of magic and monsters is integrated into the regular life of Chicago. But sometimes it wasn't the magic that strained my credulity. In one long scene Dresden is fighting for his life against a demon summoned by the dark wizard he's trying to track down-- but the whole time he is supposed to be naked, with shampoo suds running down from his air into his eyes (he jumped out of the shower suddenly and grabbed a towel, but he loses it pretty quickly), and then of course the lady friend that is trapped in his house accidentally drinks a love potion (which is really more of a lust potion) instead of an escape potion. I'm not sure why this bothered me so much-- it just seemed completely superfluous and unnecessary. It doesn't advance the plot any, it doesn't really convey anything about Dresden's character (is it supposed to make him tougher that he survives in spite of these facts?).

Not a perfect book by any means, but it's a fun read and a great idea to stick a wizard in the middle of Chicago. I'll probably read more Dresden Files sometime.

Title:	Storm Front
Author:	Jim Butcher
Date published:	2000
Genre:	Contemporary Fantasy
Series:	The Dresden Files
Number of pages:	322

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