Murph is an interesting case, because her short story is actually good. Clearly Butcher <i>can</i> do it right, because her story is great. Dresden has the problem that Harry himself is a chauvinist, so there's extra color on top of Butcher's personal blind spots.

Man, I never even finished Cold Days, I hated it so much... but I <i>loved</i> Skin Game. Loved loved loved it. I had been rapidly losing my interest in the series, but Skin Game actually renewed it.

As for Alera, it has the bonus that it ends at book six and doesn't have the time to wallow like Dresden. My preference for the books tends to run First Lord's, Cursor's, Captain's/Princeps' equally, Academ's, and Furies (which had too undeveloped a writing style). Book five has some truly brilliant parts, particularly really getting to know the Canim and continuing book four's exploration of Gaius Sextus. Book six?

First Lord's definitely has its problems (most of which are, frankly, Butcher's gender roles issues; while some of those are in-world, because Alera is a misogynist country and intended to be wrong about it, Butcher is... well). Also, if you're the kind of person who needs a breather, it can be a hard read, as it is a constant sprint with The Final Countdown To Apocalypse. That said, it has a lot of fantastic stuff.  Two or three characters who had been placeholders get dimension, Amara gets a chance to be badass again <i>finally</i>, Ehren is clever, Fidelias is full of feelings, Varg continues to be a strong and wonderful presence, Tavi and Kitai have a lot going on, and... well. There is a new character. She broke my heart a little.