Well, harbinger is pretty clearly a half-vampire or something. Also probably Shackleford II in disguise.

Seems like the Netori plot is getting played straight with the slight caveat that it's possible that Grant is dead, but let's be honest, he's probably not. Honestly, it's pretty mundane, the focus is clearly on the monster fighting, so Pitt pining over the girl was a mild character motivation at best, and an annoying distraction at worst. Certainly not a romance that defines characters or the book. The characters are still big loud archtypes. Convey exactly who they are and what they are about, distinct from one another, but lacking in detail unfortunately. The rest of the world building makes up for it IMO though. Really sort of a video game plot where slightly one-note characters are dragged through set pieces and encounters.