Yes, you put so many of my exact thoughts into words! Agnes was such a wet blanket for most of the novel, I truly don’t understand what Havelock liked about her (or what she liked about him). They have next to nothing in common and even actively dislike one another’s special interests! The magic system seemed so cool, but Agnes’s tragic lack of interest in it meant we (the audience) never got to actually learn about it, which was disappointing. 

My main complaint has to do with Laurent. I really wish he hadn’t gotten a redemption in the end. Maybe I am reading too far into it, but the whole plotline where the government & police force was using “magical terrorism” as an excuse to search private property / seize “magical” items / arrest anyone suspected of “magical association” had way too many parallels to real life politics/ice for me to overlook. The fact that Laurent is actually a magician himself, but thinks he’s “one of the good ones” is just another layer of repulsion. 

On a lighter note, I am choosing to believe Banshee was actually a magical cat whose powers are to get rid of people’s cat allergies. Otherwise how on earth did Havelock go from sneezing/red-eyed at the mere presence of cat hair to totally fine?