Red White & Royal Blue meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts, and conspiracies.
Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.
Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.
Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
PUBLISHED BY TOR
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MY REVIEW
This was a really enjoyable introduction to a series that promises to fully involve the readers in a magical world full of intrigue and romance!! And with such strong characters being allowed to develop in front of our eyes in book one, I am already eagerly anticipating the next installment in The Last Binding series trilogy!
Robin finds himself taking up a job he knows nothing about! Why has he been put in this position?! And what is this magical world he now finds himself faced with?! He wants answers and the man to give him them is Edwin. Very different in personality to Robin, but equally intrigued by this new addition to the team, the more time they spend together the more the friendship, and then the romantic feelings develop! It’s a touching and warm bond they share that soon turns very steamy!! If you don’t like explicit scenes, then you may want to skip a few pages!! But it never distracts from the world building and the humour is also on point as it really sets a feel for the time of Edwardian society.
Their quest to find out what Robins’ predecessor was involved in often takes second place against their relationship, but the mystery is always there and plays out quite nicely and gives you a as the reader plenty to take on board and want to know more about in this magical world!
I think we’re in for something special with this series if this starting point is anything to go by! Hurry up Book 2!!
★★★★
My thanks to the team at Black Crow PR for the advanced copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.
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