A vast improvement on the previous volume! I was actually shocked when the first two women Harry ran into weren't described in terms of their tits, but then both of them had grey hair and so this apparently limits his ability to be insufferable in this specific area, though it probably won't last. It follows on from the last book, where Harry lost his girlfriend to the vampires, and he's dealing with it by moping and snarling and generally alienating the few friends he's managed to make. Happily, a war between two different fairy courts comes along to give him a kick in the arse, and Dresden is stuck where he usually is, i.e. the middle of trouble.

Four books in, and I've got an ambiguous relationship with this series. I think the worldbuilding is fantastic; it's mostly the reason I keep reading. I know that vampires and fairies and shapeshifters and miscellaneous magic users are all urban fantasy staples, but I do enjoy seeing the political manipulations and relationships within and between groups playing out, and credit where it's due, Butcher makes it all very entertaining. I just wish I liked his main character more. Half the characters in any book are out to kill him, and honestly, I can kind of see their point. He's a bit annoying, particularly in the way that he relates to women, but his characterisation does seem to be improving as the books go along. The improvement is glacial, but it's there, and I can tolerate him for the sake of the politics.