Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic, Book 6) (Part 2)
Welcome, all, to the second and final part of Triumph of the Wolf review. Please see Part 1 for the big-picture elements and general bookkeeping. Otherwise, let’s get right into it.
STATS
Title: Triumph of the Wolf
Series: Magnetic Magic (Book 6)
Author(s): Lindsay Buroker
Genre: Fantasy (Urban)
First Printing: August 2025
Publisher: Self-published to Amazon
Rating: 6.5/10
SPOILER WARNING
Mild, unmarked spoilers for the entirety of Triumph of the Wolf will be provided throughout this review. The first paragraph of any given section will be kept spoiler-free. Any heavy spoilers for this book will be confined to clearly labelled sections.
Heavy spoilers from the previous books of the series will appear throughout this review. These will not be marked. I’m also going to assume that you have already read my reviews for these books, though it’s not necessary to understand this review.
TERMINOLOGY
The names of the book in this series are all rather similar, so we’ll be abbreviating them as follows.
Way of the Wolf (Book 1) = Way
Relics of the Wolf (Book 2) = Relics
Kin of the Wolf (Book 3) = Kin
Quest of the Wolf (Book 4) = Quest
Curse of the Wolf (Book 5) = Curse
Triumph of the Wolf (Book 6) = Triumph
Also, I will be referring to the werewolves in this setting who are capable of assuming a half-human, half-wolf form as “hybrids”. Those of you who have read the past reviews know why.
CONTENT WARNING
The handling of violence and gore in this entry is mostly same as the previous, though we do get a couple of rather graphic deaths via various magical liquids in the climax. The sexual elements, though … very different matter.
This book features:
A scene of foreplay (in front of Luna’s mother, no less) in Chapter 4
Another scene of foreplay in Chapter 8, with Luna getting her shirt off before the ghost hunters and wizards interrupt them.
Four pages of porn in Chapter 14.
A paragraph with multiple rounds of implied sex (enough to deplete the “stash” of condoms in Luna’s purse) in Chapter 15
A two-page sex scene in Chapter 17 that isn’t quite detailed enough for me to equate it to the porn but is explicitly described as rough, sweaty, and animalistic.
Triumph serves the series very abruptly from heavy innuendo and longing into fetish-based erotica. The nudity, the animal natures of Luna and Duncan, and even the promise of pregnancy all become heavily about sex. It’s very weird, both in terms of tone and what I remember about Buroker’s work. The romance in Fallen Empire was heavily focused on restoring the cyborg Love Interest’s ability to have sex, but I don’t remember it being this overt as a fetish or this graphic in execution.
PLOT
Most of what I have to say about the plot was already covered while discussing the series-spanning elements in Part 1. There are only two items of note that are exclusive to this book.
Chad and the Real Estate Developers
It turns out that Chad wanted the druidic artifact for its anti-werewolf properties because he’s employed by a shady land development. Luna’s pack owns several parcels of land that overlap with a hot spring and some historic mines. This developer wants the werewolves driven off so he can then defraud them of the land without consequence, then built a hot spring resort themed around the mines and the werewolves.
The land Luna’s pack owns has been a topic since early in the series, and the lurking threat of shady developers was brought up in Curse. The idea that Chad would twist his knowledge of Luna and her pack to profit at this expense likewise makes sense. It’s just that this is oddly anticlimactic after the stakes of Quest and Curse, what with children being held hostage and Duncan dying. Even the biker gang was a bigger threat than this. All Luna has to do to overcome this threat is scare people off, which her pack was doing a pretty good job of without her.
Weird as it may sound, though, I feel like this would have been a fantastic if this were a major focus of the series, rather than something introduced at the eleventh hour. Luna’s whole thing is wanting to buy up her own real estate of her own. It could have been interesting if, say, her mother had died earlier in the series, leaving her in charge of the pack’s land, and she then had to deal with Chad and this shady developer trying to wrestle the land away from her.
Abrams
It makes sense to have a final showdown between Duncan and Abrams to tie off this series. The issue is merely how Buroker went about it. Abrams doesn’t feel like a credible antagonist without Radomir or the device to control Duncan. So, while I do like having this showdown with him being the climax of the book, I can’t help but wonder if this would have worked better if Abrams had been the one killed in the last book while Radomir stuck around to take revenge.
CHARACTER
We are back to purely plot-driven narrative here. The closest thing to character growth is Luna and Duncan deciding they are both on board with having a child together, and the only real conflict there is them not wanting to be forced by the expectations of Luna’s mother / pack.
The characters themselves are still likeable. I actually think that the way Luna, Duncan, Bolin, and Luna’s niece Jasmin are handed is the best we’ve seen this whole series. The dialogue feels sharp and true to their characters, and the banter between Luna and Duncan once more feels like something unique to their dynamic.
WORLDBUILDING
Pocket universes are apparently a thing in this setting, allowing Abrams to have an elaborate lair in the middle of Seattle. Buroker assures the audience that these things are rare and ancient, from the era when magic was more common and powerful, so I don’t feel like this breaks the setting.
The appearance of the wizards feels like it comes out of left field. With how Buroker has set up the paranormal community of this series, their inclusion make sense. It’s just surprising that she’d bring them up
PROSE / EDITING
As mentioned above, the quippy back-and-forth exchanges that I complained about in previous books have been dialed back here. This is now strictly something between Luna and Duncan again.
Again, Buroker delivers a polished product. The only editing gripe is that there’s a lot of unnecessary repetition of minor ideas throughout the story.
ROMANCE (Heavy Spoilers)
I was disappointed by how this was resolved.
Yes, the conception is a payoff. I also think that it makes sense for Luna and Duncan to settle down together at the end of the book.
What bothers me, though, is that the Romance just dissolves into pornography. Luna and Duncan start the story in a relationship, considering plans for their future. There’s no struggle at an emotional level, nor anything threatening to tear them apart. They’ve skipped straight to, “How are you feeling about having kids?” As for the conception itself, even that feels like a breeding fetish. It’s not so much a question of two people deciding to have a child, or even two people deciding to have sex in a moment when they fully understand that the odds are leaning towards conception. The way it’s framed, the sex is meant to be hotter and sweatier purely because a child is conceived. This isn’t character growth. It’s just a modifier on sex that was already promised to the audience.
If Buroker really had to go this route of Luna and Duncan deciding to have a child, I think she chose the wrong book for it. This should have been a subplot in Curse. Then, after Luna is already pregnant, she and Duncan could have to decide what their future will look like.
HOWLING AT THE MOON
While Triumph of the Wolf isn’t perfect, it’s still a serviceable ending to the series. I feel like most of these issues could have been corrected with more time, a higher page count, and/or more forward planning from book to book. I feel like this journey has come to a satisfying end.
The Retrospective for Magnetic Magic will begin on Wednesday, February 18th. This will be a series of mini-reviews focusing on specific aspects of the series as a whole (Plot, Character, Worldbuilding, Prose / Editing, and an analysis of the Romance). I hope you’ll return for it (perhaps after reading the Magnetic Magic novels for yourself).
RETURN TO THE DARK
Speaking on ongoing series, we have two more reviews in that vein ahead.
On Friday, February 13th, we’ll continue the deep-dive of The Strength of the Few with Part 2, focusing on the elements associated with the Res POV.
On Sunday, February 25th, we’ll review the second of the Ravenor short stories, “Thorn Wishes Talon”. This will be followed on Friday, February 20th and 22nd with a 2-part review of the second Ravenor novel, Ravenor Returned.
If you’d like more Buroker content, I’m also working through the reviews of her new Romantasy series, Fire and Fang. The review of the first book, Sky Shielder, went up in November, and the review of the sequel, Red Dragon, will wrap up this Wednesday.
Whatever you’re here for, thanks for stopping by. Please remember to subscribe for the newsletter if you’d like a weekly e-mail update with the latest post links, and share this review with others if you enjoyed it. Until next time, take care, and have a good weekend.
Volume I of my first serialized Romantasy novel, A Chime for These Hallowed Bones, is now premiering over in Tales of the Five Worlds!
Kabarāhira is a city of necromancers, and among these necromancers, none are more honorable or respected than Master Japjot Baig. Yadleen has worked under him since she was a girl, learning how commune with bhūtas and how to bind these ancient spirits into wights. Her orderly world is disrupted, however, when a stranger appears with the skeleton of a dishonored woman, demanding that her master fabricate a wight for him.
To protect her master from scandal, Yadleen must take it upon herself to meet this stranger’s demands. Manipulating the dead is within her power, but can honor survive in the face of a man who has none?
Chapters 1 and 2 are now available! I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure.