Storm & Shield by J. D. Evans

Sometimes when a series switches perspectives with subsequent books, you lose out on the characters that are already established, as though mentioning them would take you out of this new experience with these new characters that you are meeting for kinda the first time. Usually. But in this series, there's a building onto the overall story and these previous characters, along with future main characters, continue to be featured in a way that serves the story and the reader. She takes our love for and investment in characters like Naime and Mackram and uses that to continue their story without detracting from these new characters; she augments them. Some authors seem to feel that they must tear previous beloved characters down in order to build new ones up; this author understands that we readers have a limitless capacity to welcome new characters into our hearts without feeling the need to make extra room by evicting others. Or maybe she's just that good at writing. Could be that.