The long-running plotline regarding Kate’s father is brought to something of a close in Magic Triumphs, which begins following a pair of large time skips (a nearly 2-year gap which will presumably be somewhat filled in by the remaining two parts of the Iron Covenant trilogy). Unfortunately, rather than Roland, it instead focuses far more on the Iron Covenant antagonists and for the most reads as little more than a string of exasperating deus ex machina.
Seanan Mcguire’s eleventh October Daye novel comes very close to reinterpreting the ‘it was all a dream’ trope. While not bad, there’s not much in the way of forward momentum and it seems very much like it’s setting the story up to retread old ground. The included bonus novella is quite good though and wraps up the remaining loose thread from A Local Habitation.
The follow-up twelfth installment, Night and Silence, does in fact retread old ground… though not at all in the manner I was expecting. It appears to be the start of a ‘third act’ of sorts and leads with about two chapters worth of recap. Then, much like Magic Triumphs above, starts linking together a bunch of highly questionable events that (while they certainly do have forward momentum) don’t really feel believable in the slightest. The bonus novella here isn’t as good as the previous one either and bizarrely enough actually goes and recaps something from its host novel. Just baffling.
