Reviews

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

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abcace's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

not_theonlyme's review

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3.0

Too slow and liminal, truly a middle book

freadomlibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

Trigger warnings: violence, death, murder, assault, stealing, betrayal

A RESTLESS TRUTH is the second book in the Last Binding trilogy, a queer, historical fantasy series. This book follows a young lady traveling with an older witch who gets murdered, and her efforts to find the killer with the help of some unlikely allies.

I read the first book of this series toward the end of last year and liked it well enough, but this book is soooo good! It unfortunately had the same kind of slow beginning of the first book, but it picked up so much sooner than I expected. I think the addition of the murder mystery element worked really well with the setting and made it that much more exciting. I loved the new characters introduced as well as being able to learn more about older characters. The romance was amazingggggg and I cannot wait to see how this series ends. Highly recommend!

reading_frogg's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

maxfelixwp's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Loved it as a sequel to A Marvelous Light - both as an immediate follow-up (advancing the intrigue, expanding the worldbuilding, and introducing new questions), and for the story itself (a sweet, silly, sexy WLW romp of a locked-room murder mystery on a 1910s cruiseliner)! Maud is so fun to walk with - similar to Robin in many ways (goodness, truth, courage), but definitely her own person with her own strengths and goals (freedom, meaning, worth). Violet couldn't be more different than Edwin in background and personality, but there's a little of that same breaking-down of walls and introducing the freedom to love and be yourself. I really loved it!

I did dock a star as I did find it to be pretty slow/filler at times. It felt like we were introducing some increasingly contrived circumstances to keep the drama going and keep the plot moving forward. Knocking off some length and making the plot maybe 25% tighter would have been a big plus. But I'm still very much looking forward to the next book!

greenbean_1's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I really didn't like either of the main characters. They were both pretty boring and not very relatable. The idea of never lying ever is so unrealistic and stupid, especially when these characters are in life threatening situations. Maybe if they had been placed under a truth spell or something that would make that skill useful would have been more interesting. I feel like a better character arc would have been her learning the lying is okay and sometimes necessary and that she isn't a bad person for lying. Its an excremely niave and unrealistic world view that is entirely based in her relationship with her mother, so when she stuck to her guns it felt like the narrative was validating her unwillingness to heal past her trauma instead of letting her grow and heal. This is not fun to read. I think the setting could have been used better as well. It never felt special or very interesting dispite being on a boat in the middle of the ocean in the early 20th century. Flash backs helped with the feeling of being stuck in the same few places and were honestly better than scenes in the present. This was a great oppotunity to explore the culture and unique activities of the time that wasn't used very effectivly. There were good moments like the climax with the antagonist or some character backstory. I also found Alan to be the most enjoyable character, which isn't great when he isn't there very often. Also, one character being a medium was fun and I enjoyed her dynamic with the ghosts on board. Overall it was fine but I have no desire to read the third book.

melanysocorro's review

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5.0

One thing about me, I love a second book!

There's something so special about the second book in a trilogy, and it has nothing to do with the doom and gloom that is Second Book Syndrome. This book embodies all aspects of fun that I tend to associate with a second book within a trilogy. We follow Maud, Violet (magician), Alan (thief), and Hawthorn (aristocrat, former magician) aboard the Lyric as they attempt to recover the second part of the Last Contract in the most chaotic and wildly entertaining way possible.

Maud's self-awareness and overall demeanor were so incredibly refreshing in a protagonist. It was almost startling to relate to a character as much as I found myself relating to her. Her desire to make her loved ones proud, prove something to herself, and experience as much debauchery as possible in six days was truly nothing sort of relatable. Maud and Violet's relationship was a sparkling chaotic mess of need and painstaking accuracy. It was familiar, and so utterly real. They fought and they cared and they learned from one another in ways that escaped stereotypical hair braiding and reflected a more honest depiction of the sapphic experience.

Special mention for Ross and Hawthorn, their dynamic is a huge part of why I have reread this book an embarrassing amount of times. 10/10.