I enjoyed this book enough to finish it though it isn't without its flaws. I have read that the series improves significantly as you progress through the books, and I plan on giving it a chance.

I enjoy Dresden's character. I can understand why some readers wouldn't like his ongoing snark, but as someone who has a running narrative of snark in her own brain, it didn't bother me. I liked his sense of humour. I liked that he showed up somewhere in track pants and cowboy boots. I'm weird that way. For the record, his sarcasm isn't constant if you're paying attention to what you're reading.

The chauvinism wasn't lost on me, and I will hold off on a full opinion until I see more of the series. This booked read as immature writer + weak film noir = story problems. It bothered me more that several of the characters were under-developed, and the writing was on the weaker side. Aside from Dresden, I love Bob the skull and Mac the bartender (who I think says maybe 5 things in the whole book).

Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines here, but Dresden's decisions (or indecision) and self-deprecating and destructive behaviour weren't irritating - I assumed they are tied to the references of all the things that happened to him prior to this book. I took none of that as damaged writing; I took it as damaged character. Whether that proves true remains to be seen.

The reader has enough understanding of the magic system to make things plausible though occasionally you have to remember something that happened or was said previously.

My biggest annoyance with this book was (view spoiler) It was so forced it might as well been put in a hydraulic press to squish the rest of the life out of the book. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but it did put a dent in my enjoyment.

Aside from that, I like Dresden enough to keep going with the series.

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Created Feb 25, 2019 at 11:23pm • Submit your own review...