The fact is there is plenty of reasons outside looking in for suspecting Harry associates with White Court Vampires, Winter knight,  never shares info fully ext and plus after Carlos ordeal he is going to be naturally suspicious of Fae and yes he probably does think Harry knows plus Harry isn’t the worlds greatest friend he wasn’t in a rush to try to find out what had happened to Carlos and yes Carlos put a tracking spell on him but there is a history of compromised wardens which again outside looking in looks an awful lot like Harry.

1. With ivy my main meaning wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to get hold of her at the party but that he hadn’t been in contact with her in general since perhaps her last in person book appearance other then his call for help I am basing that on A) his surprise at her changed appearance and wondering where Kincaid was who we know has been gone since the end of changes ( due to that short story sorry I can’t remember the name of ) and being about her only friend and knowing what molly went through you think he would have dropped the occasional phone call .b) with Carlos , yes it could have happened off page but again his comments about taking Carlos out for a drink to figure what’s wrong with him implies to me he hasn’t at least in any serious way. C) and if you wanted to be contrary you could even throw in butters threesome as a example since the implication to me , simply on the basis that the usual cheap jokes were lacking was that it was meant to represent a actual poly situation which I know is just developing but it’s implied the boys spend a good bit of time together so you would think that Dresden would suspect something, not necessarily that by any means , was up. But that I admit is a pretty poor example.

Sorry outsider was a poor choice of words on my part I didn’t mean the demon outsiders but people such as white council, Carlos ext people who aren’t able to share Dresden’s POV like we do and can only judge him from what they can see hangs out with vampires , winter knight ext willing to sabatage his friends such as Carlos then refuses to share info.

Again I liked the two books especially battle ground and I am loving the files being back it’s just elements that have always been there I just found that bit more overt and maybe abrasive then in previous books so Dresden has always been single minded but he always been involved with his friends and that wasn’t the impression here came off as cold as above, the tropes elements especially in regards to murphy were so by the book you could see it coming from space that entire scene was like it was a riff on the one from The 100 the one involving lexa and Clarke if any one watches that, the sexism especially in peace talks was way more obvious then it has been previously and seriously how is female bisexuality such a thing but male bisexuality is non existent on the page.

I know this sounds like an awful lot of moaning but I really enjoyed the books but those things for me, the negative bits, really stood out maybe just because it’s been so long since a installment but I did think they were worse then previously.

Overall I enjoyed the two books but with a few big caveats

Butters WTF? It’s like Jim owes his own creation money I love butters as a character but making him a mix of Casanova and Luke Skywalker it’s a bit much.

Peace talks especially was a little bit too horny maybe? Added in to the very predictable way that murphy’s story ended and it left a bit of a sour taste.

I am not loving how Dresden is becoming more and more egocentric the lack of trust his complete unwillingness to share info and his absolute conviction he knows best is really beginning to grate, it makes scenes where he gets kicked off the WC Instead of seeming unreasonable more like well what else were they going to do? Plus the Dresden files has one of if not the best supporting cast in the uf genre and I don’t think they were utilised that well in these two books.

But the bit I didn’t like the most was that scene with  Sigrun and Harry where Jim , in my hopefully wrong opinion, kind of berated readers who wouldn’t be happy with murphy’s fate it reminded me a bit too much of LKH for comfort.

Hey guys I want to run this one by ye all and see if anyone agrees with me because anytime I mention it on forums people think I am thrashing nico and don’t read the post properly.

Obviously this will be spoiler heavy so if your not caught up to skin game don’t read.

Spoilers

So my theory is simple enough since his first appearance we have been told the Nicodemus is the baddest of the bad ,feared , respected the oldest of the denerians nearly or maybe over two millennia in age. He has killed hundreds of knights pulled many a successful schemes to the point that Mab has a personal grudge. Yet from his first appearance while being a compelling character, and one of my favourites, he has been underwhelming in fact he has had his ass handed to him on a regular basis in essence what we are told doesn’t match what is on page yes he always nearly wins but that doesn’t cut it my theory is simple I think it’s dilerbrate and a long game is being played I don’t think the overall ineffectiveness and the near misses is accidental, I don’t know what the long game is but the reason I think there is one
* lots of other characters have told us how dangerous nico is, however we also know he regularly destroys all info about himself so while we knew he was dangerous we didn’t have details on how or his particular capabilities if he is holding back there’s a legitimate reason already built in why the knights ext didn’t know.
* Age is power: yeah I know this isn’t exactly scientific but so far in the Dresden files supernatural world the older you are the more powerful relative at least to the others of your kind you are, it’s why the position of eldest in faerie types is important. So ask yourself how come with centuries or millennia in the difference between him and other denerians where’s the personal power difference the ability or skills that the others don’t have yes he has his shadow but they have there battle forms I call that a draw not a overwhelming advantage.
We know from Tomas that even without any inherent magical talent it’s possible to develop some measure of ability Nico has had two millennia, no shortage of intelligence or will power and a fallen angel in his head.

* nickleheads aren’t seen as that dangerous overall fair point they have been underwhelming as a group but we know they divide between those who are cannon fodder and those who work with their angels it’s a bit strange that so many of the coins given out end up with cannon fodder we know that nicos wife did that deliberately what if nico is doing it two for his own reasons, to breed complacency?

* when I bring up his ineffectiveness the main point that is brought up is the fact that as a general rule of thumb wizards are more dangerous then knights
So A)while generally true that would depend on the wizard and his particular ability and strengths I would imagine b) Micheal has killed a dragon which woj has put at the level of mab on a purely personal power level so obviously if the knights quest is blessed they can be much more dangerous then the average wizard. B) and once your kill count is in the hundreds for knights some of them would have to be exceptional dangerous individuals even for knights.

* look I can’t provide details on who he has tangled with in the past , so I can’t really argue in good faith with people who say maybe he just hasn’t dealt with anyone as dangerous as Dresden before but I will say logically as the Devils emissary on earth and having survived two millennia being a active participant in events getting into grudges and feuds with beings like Mab it doesn’t make sense that he is such, a relative, pushover.

We know that his last appearance was framed as a loss yet he did get away with something from hades vault, in the first book we took it for granted that it was the genuine shroud that marcone got in the end but since it’s magic is faith based I don’t think that could be guaranteed ie Dresden would know if it wa fake all I am saying is I think that his appearances were all about set up and something is coming.

My final bit of evidence flimsy as it is is this, Jim is my favourite UF author for two reasons he loves a good sucker punch which this would play into, and he is very good about contunity and the little details at least relative to most authors I just think it’s strange that of all the villains that have appeared that nico is the only one with such a obvious difference between what we see on page and what other characters say when something doesn’t match up Jim has thought me to pay attention.