Kat's Reviews > Dark and Stormy Knights

Concept: short stories based on the idea of the modern knight, who isn't exactly bright and shiny, but a little more tarnished and dented up. I largely read it for the Jim Butcher Dresden Files contribution, but I always read the whole book when I pick up short stories. Good for reading in between potty training sessions over Spring Break. :) I'm just going to give some highlights here.

"Even Hand" by Jim Butcher is set in the Dresdenverse, but doesn't actually feature our favorite snarky wizard. The story is told from Marcone's perspective and has nothing to do with current continuity, so anyone looking for hints to the new novel after the cliffhanger ending on Changes will be disappointed. Marcone's voice is developed ok, and the story was very short. It was interesting, but I didn't go nuts over it.

"The Beacon" by Shannon Butcher (yes, Jim's wife) was an interesting story about a demon hunter.

"Even a Rabbit Will Bite" was ok.

"Dark Lady" by P.N. Elrod (the editor of the series) has finally convinced me that Elrod is a much better editor than writer. She has edited multiple of these urban fantasy story collections, and I've liked all of them. Her story contributions to the books, though, have always felt a bit lacking to me, though. They're set in the 1930's, which I would like if they were written well. She doesn't have a very good voice developed for the time period, and somehow (I can't really explain it) one can tell that it is a woman writing from a first-person male perspective. Her narrator doesn't "sound" like a guy. It's annoying.

"Beknighted" was probably my favorite story in the whole book. Kept me intrigued from page one and I had to finish it in one sitting.

"Shifting Star" irritated me because I felt like I was playing catch-up through the whole story. If you aren't reading the series this story is based on, you're going to miss a lot. I've only ever read a couple of her other short stories, so I was lost through most of it.

"Rookwood and Mrs. King" by Lilith Saintcrow wasn't bad, but the ending was a bit anticlimactic.