OP should be more careful, but this part isn’t that big of a spoiler. It happens early, and because of the book’s framing story the reader knows a lot about what’s coming anyway.

I try to use the entire 5 star scale rather than just the top end. The worst book I've ever read deserves my 1 star rating, even if I enjoyed parts of it. I don't need to save that 1 star for "the worst book I can imagine" because that is a book that I'll never read. By the same logic, I'm happy to give books I love 5 stars even if they have noticeable flaws.

My average rating on Goodreads is 3.41 stars.

Listening to audiobooks is a skill that can be improved, similar to reading words off a page. It's fine to have preferences, but the statement "audiobooks just aren't for me" sounds just as silly as "reading books just isn't for me".

If the introduction is by the author, I'll read it before I read the book. Even if there are spoilers, I trust the author knows best.

If the introduction is by someone else, I'll only read it if it's a name I already recognize and trust.

A single streaming streaming service (Netflix, say) provides more content (and more conveniently) than even the most comprehensive cable plans of old.

Most media has gotten much cheaper in the last 20 years. Streaming services offer basically unlimited television and movies for a fraction of what cable used to cost. Video games go on sale almost immediately after release. Music is essentially free everywhere you look, no need to even pirate it.

Books are weird because they haven’t gotten cheaper.

The biggest inconsistency is that Harry is repeatedly said to not wear hats, yet the cover artists invented a signature look for him that includes a hat. It's a running gag between the author and the art department at this point.

> The problem with this, though, is that he literally just got done saying that his trinkets were worn out or did not have any power in them anymore, so how was he able to use the shield if it wasn’t functional? This one really really bothered me.

I just checked my book, and this is what he actually said: "I didn't have my blasting rod or my staff, the other gizmos I brought with me were drained and useless, and my shield bracelet could only prolong the inevitable." So his shield still had some charge, but blocking 1 or 2 attacks isn't useful if the attacks are going to keep coming.

>In fact, he’s been shown to be able to control the wind just with a simple incantation to create extremely strong gust of wind, so he could’ve very easily just a blown the hair out of the guys hand, so the scene really really confused me.

Dresden has a lot of raw power, but it takes a lot of prep work if he wants to use that power in a controlled manner. He can unleash enough wind to demolish a building, but he has trouble unleashing just enough wind to safely blow out a candle. If he anticipates needing to blow out a candle, he can prepare a "blow out a candle spell" in a few hours, but when he's improvising he needs to use his magic differently. In the scorpion fight he uses the elevator shaft to naturally contain his power and aim it in a useful direction, but that's not something he could have done on his own.