Sometimes you just need to let your characters have a win, even if temporary. You don’t need to immediately turn it into a loss just to have a cliff hanger. Same with cutting away from important scenes with a lot of tension just to describe it in vaguer terms later. It’s just getting harder and harder to actually get into these books when every time they start winning in any way you’re left waiting for the “but actually they lose!” Or get into the intro character drama when whenever that drama starts to show up you KNOW it’s going to cut away.