[Abyss]

Malaclypse, on 18 September 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

I bought a load of the Dresden books for a holiday in Turkey and was ultimately disappointed - formulaic much? Dresden just barely survives, just baaaarely coaxes that extra little bit of power or gets an extremely timely helping hand from whoever he's hanging out with at the time? And if worse comes to worst, he just gets angry and all of a sudden wins!

Weaksauce, sorry but that's my opinion.

An overdose of dresdencrack leads inevitably to a crash.
I binge read the first few. Enjoyed 1-3 because they steadily improve, but GRAVE PERIL is my least favorite likely because i was semi-bored. Took an extended break, then loved SUMMER and MASKS but again, liked BLOOD less because i was a bit overread. From DEAD BEAT on it's been one a year, so no issues, but i am not blind to the formulaic elements for the first few books at least, and that reading 'too many' in one burst can be offputting.

But as a glorious yearly dose... oh, i don't think much comes close.

Btw, this...

Quote

And if worse comes to worst, he just gets angry and all of a sudden wins!

...doesn't apply to every book by a long shot.

Some, yes, and i can't/ won't break down how he beats the big bad in each book, but to grab a few examples, in FOOL MOON he wins by working with Marcone despite their enmity, in SUMMER KNIGHT he wins by being clever enough to have Toot and The Pizza Fae in reserve, and in DEAD BEAT he outsmarts the necromancers, not outpowers.

As far as i can remember, the 'Harry gets ANGRY, SMASH' thing only happened in GRAVE PERIL, BLOOD RITES, ... and actually that's all i can think of off hand.

(and keeping in mind that the OP is only thru DEAD BEAT).

Harry does tend to get beaten down a lot, that's part of the story and why he's fun to read. But he does use his brains, allies, etc. The brute force thing is far from the point of his wins.

[QuickTidal]

Is it wrong I read the title of this thread in the same voice as "Lowered Expectations" from MAD TV?

[Malaclypse]

Abyss, on 18 September 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

Malaclypse, on 18 September 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

I bought a load of the Dresden books for a holiday in Turkey and was ultimately disappointed - formulaic much? Dresden just barely survives, just baaaarely coaxes that extra little bit of power or gets an extremely timely helping hand from whoever he's hanging out with at the time? And if worse comes to worst, he just gets angry and all of a sudden wins!

Weaksauce, sorry but that's my opinion.

An overdose of dresdencrack leads inevitably to a crash.
I binge read the first few. Enjoyed 1-3 because they steadily improve, but GRAVE PERIL is my least favorite likely because i was semi-bored. Took an extended break, then loved SUMMER and MASKS but again, liked BLOOD less because i was a bit overread. From DEAD BEAT on it's been one a year, so no issues, but i am not blind to the formulaic elements for the first few books at least, and that reading 'too many' in one burst can be offputting.

But as a glorious yearly dose... oh, i don't think much comes close.

Btw, this...

Quote

And if worse comes to worst, he just gets angry and all of a sudden wins!

...doesn't apply to every book by a long shot.

Some, yes, and i can't/ won't break down how he beats the big bad in each book, but to grab a few examples, in FOOL MOON he wins by working with Marcone despite their enmity, in SUMMER KNIGHT he wins by being clever enough to have Toot and The Pizza Fae in reserve, and in DEAD BEAT he outsmarts the necromancers, not outpowers.

As far as i can remember, the 'Harry gets ANGRY, SMASH' thing only happened in GRAVE PERIL, BLOOD RITES, ... and actually that's all i can think of off hand.

(and keeping in mind that the OP is only thru DEAD BEAT).

Harry does tend to get beaten down a lot, that's part of the story and why he's fun to read. But he does use his brains, allies, etc. The brute force thing is far from the point of his wins.

Yeah, I bought a couple of them years ago with no concern for the order and enjoyed them and then kinda forgot about it but given the play they seem to get here I thought I'd dive in and was disappointed. No biggie. I just find them boring and predictable.

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 19 September 2014 - 06:02 AM

[Malaclypse]

five or six.

[End of Disc One]

I haven't really read this thread but I have one growing concern to add.

The good guys win at the end of every book. Sure there's always a cost, but they win in the end. Surely with 15 books there should be room for some losses. And Nicodemus, who is supposed to be on of the most clever dudes out there due to his thousands of years of experience, continually loses to a ~40 year old wizard. The guy has some great lines but he'd be much more intimidating if he actually won every now and then. This series hasn't had a real Empire Strikes Back.

[Abyss]

End of Disc One, on 28 October 2014 - 04:10 PM, said:

I haven't really read this thread but I have one growing concern to add.

The good guys win at the end of every book. Sure there's always a cost, but they win in the end. Surely with 15 books there should be room for some losses. And Nicodemus, who is supposed to be on of the most clever dudes out there due to his thousands of years of experience, continually loses to a ~40 year old wizard. The guy has some great lines but he'd be much more intimidating if he actually won every now and then. This series hasn't had a real Empire Strikes Back.

I don't want to spoil later books, but while Harry generally 'wins', it's hardly been without loss or consequence.


EMPIRE was cliffhangered to the next movie. That doesn't work as well in books that are intended to be self-contained and anyone's first, even ones that come out with relative regularity.

[Mcardle]

Nah I caught up pretty quickly, was going through two audiobooks a week so finished a while ago, I will say that a lot of my irritations softened over the course, my dislike of Karen disappeared and I generally had a blast, the books never really went into the storylines I wanted to read about mostly but they were a blast and the perfect diversion to the heavyweight literature of the Malazan, moved onto working my way through Joe Aborcrombie now... Things I read while waiting for Fall of Light...

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Abyss, on 18 September 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

Malaclypse, on 18 September 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

I bought a load of the Dresden books for a holiday in Turkey and was ultimately disappointed - formulaic much? Dresden just barely survives, just baaaarely coaxes that extra little bit of power or gets an extremely timely helping hand from whoever he's hanging out with at the time? And if worse comes to worst, he just gets angry and all of a sudden wins!

Weaksauce, sorry but that's my opinion.

An overdose of dresdencrack leads inevitably to a crash.
I binge read the first few. Enjoyed 1-3 because they steadily improve, but GRAVE PERIL is my least favorite likely because i was semi-bored. Took an extended break, then loved SUMMER and MASKS but again, liked BLOOD less because i was a bit overread. From DEAD BEAT on it's been one a year, so no issues, but i am not blind to the formulaic elements for the first few books at least, and that reading 'too many' in one burst can be offputting.

But as a glorious yearly dose... oh, i don't think much comes close.

I think this was my major problem with them - I read them all a bit too quickly and too close together, so by the end for each interesting new element I was increasingly frustrated with two or three formulaic ones. I had a break before Skin Game though and ended up really enjoying that, and I think the break before the next one will probably do me good too.

Although post-Skin Game I can't hear the word "Parkour" without descending into fits of giggles.

[Cause]

End of Disc One, on 28 October 2014 - 04:10 PM, said:

I haven't really read this thread but I have one growing concern to add.

The good guys win at the end of every book. Sure there's always a cost, but they win in the end. Surely with 15 books there should be room for some losses. And Nicodemus, who is supposed to be on of the most clever dudes out there due to his thousands of years of experience, continually loses to a ~40 year old wizard. The guy has some great lines but he'd be much more intimidating if he actually won every now and then. This series hasn't had a real Empire Strikes Back.

Disagree, Harry has been successful in treating the symptoms of the growing enemies influence. He does not even have a clue yet as to who they are.

[worry]

I went to a park the other day and there was actually a grown man and a lady running around the playground yelling "parkour!"

[Andorion]

Cause, on 05 November 2014 - 12:57 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 28 October 2014 - 04:10 PM, said:

I haven't really read this thread but I have one growing concern to add.

The good guys win at the end of every book. Sure there's always a cost, but they win in the end. Surely with 15 books there should be room for some losses. And Nicodemus, who is supposed to be on of the most clever dudes out there due to his thousands of years of experience, continually loses to a ~40 year old wizard. The guy has some great lines but he'd be much more intimidating if he actually won every now and then. This series hasn't had a real Empire Strikes Back.

Disagree, Harry has been successful in treating the symptoms of the growing enemies influence. He does not even have a clue yet as to who they are.

Actually, for the last 2-3 books an everarching larger enemy plot is being gradually developed, that Harry is stil clueless about. I would say that most of his victories, have been pretty small ones, or ones that don't matter a lot. If my instinct is correct, things will change a lot in the last 4 books or so of the series.

[Saitama]

Andorion, on 06 November 2014 - 02:13 AM, said:

Actually, for the last 2-3 books an everarching larger enemy plot is being gradually developed, that Harry is stil clueless about. I would say that most of his victories, have been pretty small ones, or ones that don't matter a lot. If my instinct is correct, things will change a lot in the last 4 books or so of the series.

He is clueless, but still manages to foil their plans. Out of the last 3 books, only Ghost Story victory is personal in nature;

Spoiler

In Cold Days Harry saves the world from an invasion of outer space demons.
In Skin Game he foils Nicodemus' master plan. Given how his 'plans of the week' are a serious danger, it would not be a stretch to assume that his grand plan was a threat to all of humanity(at the very least).

Abyss, on 28 October 2014 - 04:35 PM, said:

I don't want to spoil later books, but while Harry generally 'wins', it's hardly been without loss or consequence.

While it is generally true, if Harry won every time without any kind of consequences it would be a series aimed at elementary school readers. As it is, it fits into the 'has consequences, but not really' type. Harry is a cool guy, and like all cool characters, he has to have bad thing happening to him, otherwise it wouldn't be 'deep'. However, everything is structured in such a way that when a truly terrible thing happens to one of his friends, Harry cannot be blamed for it. Usually, it is either a Heroic Sacrifice, or somebody in 'the team' gets hurt while trying to save the world. Then, Harry mops around with guilt for a while, but other people tell him that it wasn't his fault. Because it wasn't.

What irritates me the most is how reactive Harry is. He has a number of methods to increase his skills and knowledge at his disposal, and yet his most powerful abilities are usually given to him by some external entity. He meets (and insults and antagonizes) creatures out of his league, and yet he rarely (if ever, I don't remember but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here) devises a plan of dealing with them in the future.

That being said, I enjoy reading the books anyway, for reasons other than the main character. Though if Ferrovax the Awesome eats Butters and his ridiculous sword in one of the future books, all minor grievances will be forgiven.

[Abyss]

Saitama, on 01 December 2014 - 12:27 PM, said:

...What irritates me the most is how reactive Harry is. He has a number of methods to increase his skills and knowledge at his disposal, and yet his most powerful abilities are usually given to him by some external entity.

Not really accurate but I don't want to spoil SKIN GAME.

Would be curious what you would use as an example of your point tho'.

Quote

He meets (and insults and antagonizes) creatures out of his league, and yet he rarely (if ever, I don't remember but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here) devises a plan of dealing with them in the future.

I think you're confusing 'meets and ... antagonizes' with 'refuses to be intimidated or bullied'.

Quote

... if Ferrovax the Awesome eats Butters and his ridiculous sword in one of the future books, all minor grievances will be forgiven.

I don't really know you, so I feel kind of bad for declaring holy bloodwar on you and your descendants unending until the heatdeath of the universe for this comment.

[Inane Babble]

Abyss, on 01 December 2014 - 04:13 PM, said:

Saitama, on 01 December 2014 - 12:27 PM, said:

...What irritates me the most is how reactive Harry is. He has a number of methods to increase his skills and knowledge at his disposal, and yet his most powerful abilities are usually given to him by some external entity.

Not really accurate but I don't want to spoil SKIN GAME.

Would be curious what you would use as an example of your point tho'.

Quote

He meets (and insults and antagonizes) creatures out of his league, and yet he rarely (if ever, I don't remember but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here) devises a plan of dealing with them in the future.

I think you're confusing 'meets and ... antagonizes' with 'refuses to be intimidated or bullied'.

Quote

... if Ferrovax the Awesome eats Butters and his ridiculous sword in one of the future books, all minor grievances will be forgiven.

I don't really know you, so I feel kind of bad for declaring holy bloodwar on you and your descendants unending until the heatdeath of the universe for this comment.

Polka must die. It's awful. Fully onboard with operation "Let's find out of Butters is into Vore"

[Andorion]

Saitama, on 01 December 2014 - 12:27 PM, said:

Andorion, on 06 November 2014 - 02:13 AM, said:

Actually, for the last 2-3 books an everarching larger enemy plot is being gradually developed, that Harry is stil clueless about. I would say that most of his victories, have been pretty small ones, or ones that don't matter a lot. If my instinct is correct, things will change a lot in the last 4 books or so of the series.

He is clueless, but still manages to foil their plans. Out of the last 3 books, only Ghost Story victory is personal in nature;

Spoiler

In Cold Days Harry saves the world from an invasion of outer space demons.
In Skin Game he foils Nicodemus' master plan. Given how his 'plans of the week' are a serious danger, it would not be a stretch to assume that his grand plan was a threat to all of humanity(at the very least).

Abyss, on 28 October 2014 - 04:35 PM, said:

I don't want to spoil later books, but while Harry generally 'wins', it's hardly been without loss or consequence.

While it is generally true, if Harry won every time without any kind of consequences it would be a series aimed at elementary school readers. As it is, it fits into the 'has consequences, but not really' type. Harry is a cool guy, and like all cool characters, he has to have bad thing happening to him, otherwise it wouldn't be 'deep'. However, everything is structured in such a way that when a truly terrible thing happens to one of his friends, Harry cannot be blamed for it. Usually, it is either a Heroic Sacrifice, or somebody in 'the team' gets hurt while trying to save the world. Then, Harry mops around with guilt for a while, but other people tell him that it wasn't his fault. Because it wasn't.

What irritates me the most is how reactive Harry is. He has a number of methods to increase his skills and knowledge at his disposal, and yet his most powerful abilities are usually given to him by some external entity. He meets (and insults and antagonizes) creatures out of his league, and yet he rarely (if ever, I don't remember but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here) devises a plan of dealing with them in the future.

That being said, I enjoy reading the books anyway, for reasons other than the main character. Though if Ferrovax the Awesome eats Butters and his ridiculous sword in one of the future books, all minor grievances will be forgiven.

I disagree on your spoilered comment about Cold Days. I am putting my rebuttal in spoilers for anyone who has not read Cold Days.

Spoiler

He does not in any way save humanity from an invasion. He finds out for the first time that an invasion is underway and has been for quite some time, and he takes some steps to reduce the severity of the threat. Thats it. In the scheme of the war its barely a single battle won.

Also a very serious thing happens to him personally and if I have read the books correctly he has not recovered from it yet. Huge Spoiler from Changes

Spoiler

In Changes he gets a very serious spinal injury which is temporarily fixed. Later he apparently makes a full physical recovery but its all because of the mantle of the Winter Knight which Mab gives him. Without it he would be a semi-paraplegic. I think Mab let him feel the effects once to convince him about this. I would classify this as serious personal problem. Also in what universe is it not a serious thing to have to slit the throat of the mother of your child?

[Saitama]

Abyss, on 01 December 2014 - 04:13 PM, said:

Not really accurate but I don't want to spoil SKIN GAME.

Would be curious what you would use as an example of your point tho'.

With Harry from the beginning of the series as benchmark and major powers/spells:

Spoiler

1, Skills he trained on his own (feel free to add some, bad memory):
-running=endurance
-parkour

2. Powers he recieved from somebody else :
-hellfire
-soulfire
-all that he can do on demonreach
-winter knight mantle

Other than that, there are those ice spells but I consider them perks from his new job, and not even remotely comparable to the four above. I'm obviously not recalling all the minor spells he picked up. Nevertheless, all the heavy hitters are presents he desperately needed.

3. What he could have used:
-/+ equipment, he has some nice new gear but nothing as useful as a warden's sword. I mean sure, they are hard to come by right now but the enchantment itself cannot be *that* unique. Enchanted staff or even a small dagger would do wonders.
- he has access to what is essentially a wikipedia of spells, why not use it more often? (Skin game: muggle Butters with Bob > a room of supernatural heavy hitters). Harry gets intel from him, but why not research new (old) spells?
- his gramps is arguably the most offensive-oriented magician alive. He could have trained more with him pre-butthurt, or even after if he considered his mission against demons/against mab/against everybody else/his survival more important than his hurt feelings.


Re: Skin game you mean the twist? If so:
I consider this a half measure at best. Sure, he acted swiftly and decisively which is nice. But if you cross (multiple times) such dangerous groups like the denarians or vamps, why not take some time to devise emergency plans, study the lore, train and learn from your friends who have dealt with them most of their lives? What are the chances that those powerful entities won't be back for revenge in the future? Harry is so proud of his pop culture knowledge, he should know that the bad guys are always back in the sequels

Quote

I don't really know you, so I feel kind of bad for declaring holy bloodwar on you and your descendants unending until the heatdeath of the universe for this comment.

Bring it. I will learn parkour so that I may defeat you with style

Andorion, on 01 December 2014 - 05:15 PM, said:

I disagree on your spoilered comment about Cold Days.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but:

Spoiler

Up to this point outsiders played the infiltration game, while the demonreach was a straight on battle. From wikipedia: "An invasion is a military offensive in which large parts of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory controlled by another such entity". So, an invasion. Or else, an attack to liberate those numerous monsters on the island. In which case, Earth would be invaded not by outsiders (or not only by them) but by evil monsters. End result for humanity I suspect would be the same. Unless monsters far worse than Naagloshii want to be friends with us

Quote

Also a very serious thing happens to him personally and if I have read the books correctly he has not recovered from it yet. Huge Spoiler from Changes

Re: Changes

Spoiler

Yes, he has a very very serious medical condition that is practially a death sentence in his line of work. How does it affect him? At the moment, not at all. What has he done up until now to remedy the problem? Not much, though I'm betting that within next 2-3 novels somebody powerful will offer him a way out

Susan: it is a serious thing, I never wrote that this was a comedy. But as usual, the impact* of the event is diminished by the fact that the actual decisions were made by others and Harry could have at most refused and in this way wasted their sacrifice.

*impact not in an emotional sense, because it was indeed heavy. It's the fact that while Harry 'the loose cannon fireball kill them all frontal assault wohooo!' Dresden is reckless, in those trully heartwrenching moments he is always shielded from blame. I consider this an example of how Butcher panders to his audience, who want something tragic (thus deep), but not tragic enough to have to deal with conflcting thoughts about their hero.

[Saitama]

Abyss, on 01 December 2014 - 04:13 PM, said:

I think you're confusing 'meets and ... antagonizes' with 'refuses to be intimidated or bullied'.

He is not refusing to be intimidated, he desperately wants to convince others that he isn't. True self confidence doesn't require recognition from others.

For example, Marcone has a true self confidence. You can force him to give in, but not in a million years would you believe that he was actually intimidated. You know you will have to watch your back now. In contrast, Harry talks loud and signals to his potential enemies that he has to be dealt with sooner rather than later, but he does not follow through with preparations for the inevitable clash. In short, he is arrogant.

[Inane Babble]

Saitama, on 01 December 2014 - 09:33 PM, said:

Abyss, on 01 December 2014 - 04:13 PM, said:

I think you're confusing 'meets and ... antagonizes' with 'refuses to be intimidated or bullied'.

He is not refusing to be intimidated, he desperately wants to convince others that he isn't. True self confidence doesn't require recognition from others.

For example, Marcone has a true self confidence. You can force him to give in, but not in a million years would you believe that he was actually intimidated. You know you will have to watch your back now. In contrast, Harry talks loud and signals to his potential enemies that he has to be dealt with sooner rather than later, but he does not follow through with preparations for the inevitable clash. In short, he is arrogant.

That's because Jim likes to give Harry a lot of Frenemies, like Lara, Marcone, Leanansidhe, or Erlking, and giving himself the option to ignore them; have them help harry, or be antagonists in whatever book he wants to write.

If Harry was serious about any his threats to kill Lara he could easily do it, and probably in such a way to put Thomas in her place as head of the household. Which would be massively more beneficial for him and the white council than Lara "probably-going-to-turn-on-us-soon-because-she-has-no-reason-not-to-and-is-a-fucking-vampire (see what I did there?)" Raith.

It's like a comic book with regards to how Harry's rogues gallery is growing, but also becoming more diluted and less threatening.

[Andorion]

Regarding Cold Days:

Spoiler

Recall the scene at the Gate, when Mother Summer took Harry there. There was a full scale battle going on and it was abundantly evident that it was part of a long term war. The Demonreach incident was more like a covert ops raid. Harry foiled this. he did not stop the war. he did not preclude other raids. He did not solve the problem of Outside infiltration that the Gatekeeper was struggling with.

Regarding Changes through Cold Days:

Spoiler

1. Medical Condition: He couldn't have done anything about it in Ghost Story, He didn't have time in Cold Days. I was hoping Skin Game, but its clearely a longer-term issue than that. What it is though is clear medical blackmail. Even if Harry found some way to get rid of the Winter Knight mantle, he cant, because instant paralysis.

2. I don't think not having a choice about Susan helps Harry at all. Harry is not rational about procesing guilt or in fact other emotions.

Regarding Harry's 'powerups'

Spoiler

1. Hellfire was a very questionable powerup, because though it added more punch it was takinga heavy toll spiritually. Moreover it was very bad PR. Harry gained by losing it.
2. Soulfire, Harry earned. He had managed to stand up to Lasciel for a very long time. When he lost Hellfire, but continued to be in the game, it was clear Heaven needed him to balance the scales a bit.
3. Winter Knights mantle is clearly seen by Harry to be more of a curse, as he knows its gradual mind-warping properties as well as all the potentials for abuse.

Regarding Lara: I don't think Thomas has the plotting chops to rule the White Court. I also suspect he lacks the will.

Regarding Harry not doing dark/questionable things: Harry's character arc is very long term. In the first few books he was painfully anive and got tripped up easily. Later he wised up a bit. By Skin Game he has become way more cynical and is displaying plotting abilities. But fundamentally Harry is a nice guy. He is honest, old-fashioned chivalrous(which can be an annoying quirk), and has certain moral hangups. Throughout all his problems he tries very hard to hang on to these traits. In fact this tenacity defines him to a great extent. However he is increasingly pushed away from this, Changes onwards. I would be very interested to see the future of his arc.

As for Harry's arrogance, yes he is. But consider the plus points: Many would see him as some loud-mouthed cocky idiot who needs to be stomped on. The reaction is anger. Anger clouds judgements. Mistakes are made. Harry gets gaps in the defence ot exploit. Many would expect a more cool, calculating schemer as a wizard of the White Council. They would either be seriously perturbed by all the cockiness, wondering whether their info was correct, or they would see it as some sort of cover for a deep dark plan(which does not exist) this again makes them hesitate.

[Saitama]

Changes, Cold Days short & sweet:

Spoiler

Cold Days: wasn't the greatest battle of the conflict (though it was on earth) but if they gained foothold/freed demonreach prisoners, humanity would be doomed. So a pretty major win, not because of the damage dealt to the enemy but because of the destruction that was averted.

Changes/Cold:
1. I was hoping for skin days to be a two dimensional story: on one hand harry deals with a threat (nikodemus), on the other he secretely searches for a way out of his condition. He didn't have to find it, mind you - we not always get what we want. But it would have been nice if he put in the effort proportional to the seriousness of the threat.

2. It doesn't help him, that's the point. Sometimes we have to make hard choices that are questionable and live with them. All that Harry has to do in those moment is accept or decline (thus waste) sacrifices made by others. Or, like with Michael's injury, he doesn't have to do anything at all.

Not all feelings are rational, but Harry gets away with being a brooding tragic hero without having to pay the actual price. He takes the blame, but it is not his. So, his support network (or even in Michael's case, the victim himself) eventually absolves him of any responsibility (at least for the most part, the memories always remain) and he is good to go.


Powerups: they are the case of 'better have the gun and not need it'. And he needs them, and uses them often. Out of his own free will.
At least half of them are two edged swords. Seeing how he realizes that some gifts are poisoned, wouldn't it make sense for him to research things on his own so that he is not dependent on others/knows from the start what he's getting into? I think that would make perfect sense, especially for someone so independent like Harry.

Andorion, on 02 December 2014 - 02:24 AM, said:

Regarding Harry not doing dark/questionable things: Harry's character arc is very long term. In the first few books he was painfully anive and got tripped up easily. Later he wised up a bit. By Skin Game he has become way more cynical and is displaying plotting abilities.

The books are something like 75% finished right? I do enjoy latter novels way, way more. But at this point stakes are getting too high for his newly acquired finesse to be honed into something more complex. Which to a certain extent is fine, I guess. But I would prefer something more challenging.

Quote

As for Harry's arrogance, yes he is. But consider the plus points: Many would see him as some loud-mouthed cocky idiot who needs to be stomped on. The reaction is anger. Anger clouds judgements. Mistakes are made. Harry gets gaps in the defence ot exploit.

The counter argument is that Harry, being as emotional as he is, gets angry equally as fast So then we have a case of a baby and a horse in a screaming match, except the soundwaves are fire. I could understand if Dresden did his due dilligence before the case, so he knew those gaps in defence and needed something to uncover them. As is, he just throws the dice every time (while he has a handicap) betting that the outcome will be positive.
On a side note, this is why I like the winter knight mantle as a power - it's not that flashy but it makes Harry less of a glass cannon. Not to the point that it makes him go toe to toe with heavy hitters, but enough that I don't have to roll my eyes every time he survives a physical encounter with a superior foe.

Inane Babble, on 01 December 2014 - 11:34 PM, said:

It's like a comic book with regards to how Harry's rogues gallery is growing, but also becoming more diluted and less threatening.

Agreed. Though it's nice to see Harry being able to use his diplomatic skills once in a while.
I have high hopes (well, relatively high) for Ferrovax because I consider Nicodemus to be a wasted potential.