that Lasciel felt more like a monster of the week. She was all rawr rawr and went down like a sack of potatoes.
What makes it even worse is that she was crushed under a pile of rocks in Hade's vault and left there, meaning that coin isn't being retrieved anytime soon.
Could say the same for Hannah almost, I was liking her as a character, then goes all evil and wangsty and gets crushed by a ton of bricks and dies. Harry could have handled that whole situation a whole lot better, instead of saying ''hey I did literally the exact same thing'' when she goes on about how she killed some dudes with fire in self defense, then pointing out that he isn't even affiliated with the White Council anymore, he just gives her some shit about ''welp you broke the first Law.'' The exact attitude he's always opposed. I mean she'd already taken the coin at that stage so it was game on either way, but that dialogue annoyed me almost as much as I loved the whole flashback chapter with OdinClaus and Harry's convo with Hades. I really dig his interactions with the big mythical figures in general.
Oh yeah that reminds me of something else.... Harry was going on about how Lasciel would know all his techniques etc. iirc - but Lasciel proper was never actually in Harry's head because he never took up the coin and invited her in, it was just just Lash, who destroyed herself. It was never suggested that there was any kind of communication between Lash the shadow and Lasciel the fallen angel, in fact it was fairly explicitly stated that they were disconnected, from memory (Lash saying something about Lasciel being pissed off at the stuff she'd done when she rejoined Lasciel as a whole).
Ok, no more nit-picking about tiny potential plot holes, I promise. I guess the more I think about it, the more it feels like the book could have benefited from a delayed release and a second round of editing.
What I did like is the hints at there being a greater plan, a goal, behind Nicodemus' work, something he's building up to and some ideology guiding it. It's nice to have something other than ''yeah cause he's evil,'' to go on. I really hope Butcher fleshes that out, and goes with something a bit more original than 'creation sucks so lets destroy it to begin anew' or 'God is an oppressor' or w/e. Seems pretty obvious Nic is gonna pop up with the Grail right around that 'apocalyptic trilogy' which Butcher said would cap off the series.
Also since it's been made pretty obvious that the Outsiders are gonna play a major role in the final outcome of things, interesting to consider the role the Grail could play - Harry grabbed the other 4 relics specifically as weapons for Mab, who works specifically to hold the Outsiders from breaking into reality, and Nic has relic #5. That interconnection play out a lot of ways.
