After the previous October Daye entry, things were looking up for the protagonist. So I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that McGuire’s follow-up is particularly brutal. There is definitely more lost than gained here, and ending on a cliffhanger (which I don’t recall any of the previous novels doing) does it absolutely no favors. Even the short story at the end is pretty downbeat, covering as it does exactly how the sea witch ended up bound.
The sixth Hidden Legacy novel meanwhile continues the trend of the previous in no longer feeling like Kate Daniels fanfiction. It’s legitimately come into its own at this point… albeit as a fairly standard (if perhaps a bit action-heavy) paranormal romance series. This one marks the end of Catalina’s stint as protagonist, and if the hints at the end are any indication the youngest sister will be the focus of the next book.