Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Powerfully written and epic in scale, the book amply demonstrates the author’s many talents; indeed, the concluding chapters (including the previously released Christmas Story) are some of the best in the entire Dresden canon. But all of that is undone by the author’s continued reliance on a hackneyed plot device that is long past its sell-by date. The author excels at creating strong female characters, but looking over the novels since at least Turncoat one can only conclude that they are as flies to him. At this juncture, the series has devolved to a theater of torment where the reader endures Harry’s monologue of pain as women around him suffer mental or physical abuse. It is moving, and artfully written, and gritty and grim and real (if one care about that in one’s fantasy) — but it has grown repetitive, and numbing, and misogynistic, and cruel. Add in the fact that splitting the story into two books is a blatant cash grab, and a one-star review is appropriate.