Iron and Magic is the first of a new trilogy set within Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels universe. It always seemed strange that Hugh disappeared from the series so indirectly so it makes a certain degree of sense that he’d be spun off into a sidestory (taking place between Magic Binds and Magic Triumphs), but while I like the expanded world-building I can’t say that his personality overhaul into a more relatable protagonist is sold well at all. The romance is also an issue (it feels very much like a re-hash of Curran/Kate) and the story probably would have been better without it.
The conclusion to Lilith Saintcrow‘s Bannon and Clare series does the reader a bit of a favor by picking up after an indeterminable time skip; whether you read it immediately following the second or years after you’ll be just as lost getting a handle on the new situation. Overall it holds up well however and so long as you liked the earlier books in the series there’s no reason not to pick this up one up as well.
Stephenie’s Meyer‘s The Chemist, sadly, does not hold up in any respect. It’s a major step backward from The Host, with some severe believably and structural issues which unfortunately remind me of The Drafter. On the plus side at least the epilogue is amusing and it’s nice that she didn’t go for the cheap love triangle angle.