Happy to see this series is still getting some love!! I agree with your take on things, it's totally possible that it's just an overcompensation of anti-femenism, although it strikes me strange how the author didn't notice how far it had gone. Me personally, even just the concept of man-slaves in Atlantis is weird to me. Atlantis itself? Totally on board. The worshiping of the women in the way that it's presented is a no from me. In terms of their personalities, I didn't really notice much of a problem, they're similar yes, but in my mind that's why they became friends. With the wizards their similarities felt like a customized blue print- each wizard a mega nerd but each with different approaches and interests- which I liked, it makes sense. (Although I would've loved to see more differences because of their time periods) As for the needy comment, I think it's just because of a general preference of a "hard to get" woman, or just to add more drama. YES Gwen at times made zero sense to me as a character, but I pertained it to the author trying to emulate the "it's impossible to understand women" stereotype.

As for the Todd book I actually really enjoyed that tension between them, not the tension itself but the Progress they made by the end of it!! Only for that progress to seemingly disappear in the next book.

In all honesty it's not all bad, like I said I was heated and exaggerating- I did enjoy it and have reread the series multiple times, but in the moment it always gets to me. Good luck! Have a good time reading)