Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm used to Dresden books being a bit sexist, a bit contrived, a bit much on the macho displays of power. I'd gotten used to Harry feeling more things that Deanna Troi since joining the Winter Court, and acting like an MCU character, both in terms of damage taken and dished out, and in his interpersonal relationships. He was a bit of a horny twerp. But... I was also used to him being clever like a british comedy, and sneaky. I was used to him having a third way through a situation. There was a very real, very squishy human under it all. An old man who was still a hotheaded 25 year old, who cared a lot about the world even if he pretended otherwise. A man who wanted respect and had goals, and prided himself on his moral victories more than his actual victories. He was relatable, and fun. There was a realness to him. This Dresden isn't that man anymore, I don't think. This books was terribly, terribly easy on content, and there was a ton of fluff, mostly of the male gaze variety. The sexual tension just sits around like its own character, but an unpleasant one. That one character you wish the author would figure out no one cares about (the Matrim Cauthon of this series, maybe.) Scenes of nearly boring descriptions of female bodies are interspersed with displays of raw power and random thoughts of extreme violence and anger. The book went no where -- it was a prologue that lasted 300 pages. The writing is choppy, unclever, and unpolished. It was a stinker.