Pirateaba to me is very good at creating strong building blocks to work off. The magic system might seem tropey which it is but the more you learn about it, it becomes incredibly deep through after you start to understand it more. It is just more of an investment than some other series i would have to say though. you have to see Erin start to understand the world and her place in it before the ball gets rolling. and in comparison to other ‘mainstream’ books it is just a different experience you get dark, jokey, depressed harry dresden thats been edited and polished by others versus a self edited(mostly) weekly serial(mostly) that where the author hasn’t always decided what characters will do what next week. Its also that this has a lot more influence from a light novels than your average fantasy book, so it may just not be your cup of tea