A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, 1)

The media could not be loaded.  This book is superbly written, full of fresh magic in Edwardian London. Also, super queer 😗✌️.Beautiful cover, beautiful copy! Five stars for the book. 4.5 stars for the story.(P.s.- those handwritten numbers were written by me, they are page numbers for quotes)I hope we see more of Robin and Edwin as this trilogy continues🥺♥️!

BOOK REVIEWA MARVELOUS LIGHT by FREYA MARSKEThank you to the publisher (@panmacmillanindia) for providing me with a review copy.As soon as I came across A Marvellous Light, I had it added to my tbr. Mostly because of that incredibly gorgeous cover, and also because of the blurb. I mean,magical realism,gay romance,set in Europe? Sign Me Up! So when I received my copy, I immediately got into it. Its a pretty enjoyable and engaging book,and the author has a really special way with her words,especially as this is a debut novel. However, it was also pretty disappointing.This book has a lot of story lines packed into it. It is described as a fantasy novel,with romance and mystery as its subplots. However, I found that the majority of it was romance. The fantasy is just in the world building,and the mystery is just barely there. So I found it kind of misleading,as after the first few chapters,the mystery just kinda gets lost among the romance.As a romance novel,its pretty great. But my expectations were not really met.That obviously does not mean that I disliked this book. The dual POV was very well written. The author really nailed the grumpy x sunshine trope too. The pacing and character development were just right,and the narration was pretty humorous. The book is more or less character driven,and I really liked both the main characters,as well as the awesome Punjabi side character.I realise this has been a pretty weird review. I guess what I am trying to convey is that I liked the book,but I couldn’t quite love it,despite having wanted to.Also,can the publishing houses please stop marketing every mlm romance novels as the next “red white and royal blue”? You don’t market every straight romance novel as the next “notebook” or “when harry met sally” now,do you?

Excelente

Oh, this is an astoundingly lovely book.I had heard vague things about A Marvellous Light, but going into it, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. I figured I would probably enjoy it, as it had been sold to me as historical romance, plus a magical mystery/conspiracy. Now I love a good historical romance, and anything with magic is right up my alley, so this book was practically screaming my name.A Marvellous Light takes place at the tail end of the 1800’s, in an England where magic exists, but is unknown to most. One of our heroes is Robin Blythe, a non-magical baronet who has been thrust into a job that deals with magic. Only problem is — he has no idea magic exists. On Robin’s first day at his new job, Edwin Courcey — a man who DOES have magic — shows up to get a report, expecting Robin’s predecessor. Said predecessor has been missing for several weeks, and no one has any idea where he’s gone. Here is where the mystery begins!These two are such wonderful foils of one another, that it was an immense pleasure watching their relationship unfold. Edwin grew up with minimal amounts of magic, in a household where being nothing less than the best was unacceptable. He was brutally treated by his cruel older brother, and as such, turned into quite an icy, stoic individual who would much rather surround himself with books rather than people. Robin, on the other hand, grew up in a house where public appearances were so much more important than being your true self. His parents die shortly before the novel begins, leaving him and his sister in dire straits, as they have left all their fortune to charities and ‘projects’ rather than their children. Robin is a bright, confident man, who is rather quick to jump on the metaphorical grenade rather than have someone else get hurt. Robin was my favorite.I’m not going to spoil anything more, other than to say this was such a fun book to read. The mystery is dealt out in lovely, delicious chunks leaving you wanting just enough to keep reading. The writing itself is absolutely gorgeous and just a tiny bit haunting in the best way.I cannot recommend A Marvellous Light enough. Please go read it.

I would love to read the second one!

Captivating. Intriguing. Marvellous!I loved this debut. The magic system was intriguing and I loved the ideas that it hasn’t been completely explored due to stifling society rules. I also loved how Robin took everything in stride and it took him awhile to process and take in all the information thrown at him which I love in a character and it is refreshing to see in a book that isn’t totally bonkers (I’m looking at you Lightning Struck Heart).I did find that there is more to the story and relationship between our hero’s and am slightly worried that the next books won’t expand on these as they are focused on different couples.I adored the two hero’s! I loved how they worked together but also apart and felt that they were absolutely perfect. Finding their own individual strengths and building their ideas of self worth and obligations was a joy to read and I can’t gush enough about how they worked through family, malicious bushes and arguments. I don’t want to spoil anything so you will just need to read this masterpiece to find out what I’m even talking about.This book is just “French kiss” 5 stars.

Eines der optisch schönsten Bücher die ich im Regal stehen habe, hat es mir A MARVELLOUS LIGHT die ersten 100 Seiten etwas schwer gemacht rein zu kommen. Aber, es ist der Auftakt einer geplanten Triologie, von der Band 2 Ende des Jahres erscheint. Allerdings kann ich sagen, dass als ich drin war, mich die Geschichte um Edwin und Robin gefesselt hat. Freya Marske hat eine stimmiges Setting und eine sehr coole Magie hier erschaffen. Das viktorianische England dient als Kulisse und gerade in der Magierwelt ist ein sehr ausgeprägtes hintergründiges Klassensystem zu erkennen. Nicht-Magier werden gerne mal zur Unterhaltung der magischen High-Society genutzt, man kann ja ihre Erinnerungen löschen, starke Magier sind mehr wert, als Magier mit weniger Zauberpower ... und dies ergibt den Nährboden für den Murder-Mystery-Plot, der im Laufe des Buches immer spannender wird. Ich freue mich jedenfalls sehr auf die Fortsetzungen.