Reviews with content warning for Death - A Power Unbound

I really enjoyed the plot and resolution of the series, it was very satisfying and brought our gaggle of characters, who've become a found family by now, plus some new characters (Hawthorn's mother!!) together in such delightful ways. I can't say often enough how amazing the magic system is, I love the concept of magic of the land so much, and this book had it in spades. Introducing the heirs to the house by showing the newborns to mirror! Bowing to the bee hives! So awesome!

Unfortunately I disliked the dynamic of the new couple so intensely I had to skip many pages. Alan and Hawthorn are forever hissing, spitting venom, using derogatory language, it was extremely exhausting. Class is a huge wedge between them and an important issue the book discusses, but the way it was done imo undermined those efforts, not least because the power difference is such a defining feature of their sex role plays. About those I can only say, dom/sub all the way, degrading language, consensual non-consent etc, no romance until the very end and then it was suddenly too sentimental. Alan's pov additionally undermines the camaraderie because for him everyone is rich and privileged first and a human being second.

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bootrat's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

An wonderful end to this trilogy!! I loved Jack and Alan, this was probably the sexiest relationship of the three. I love these characters and this world, and I'm sad it's over, but it all concluded really well. 5 stars for all the books, and I can't recommend them highly enough to anyone!

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tomoshiekah's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think that's my new favourite series.

But I would be interested in more info on how their lives and the magical society are after the contract is broken.

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lillelow's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.25

Sadly, a quite weak ending to a series with great potential. I feel that it tries a bit too much in being both a spicy romance *and* a magical period drama. I believe focusing on one of the genres would have worked better. In the end, I guess this is a series for those who want to read romance sprinkled with some magic, whereas I would rather have a faster pace, action and magic guide the story.

I tend to not read the blurbs of books once I’ve started a series, so upon beginning this audiobook, I was surprise to find that we were not returning to Edvin and Robin from the first novel, nor Maude or Violet from the second - but rather that the first point of view was Hawthorne’s. I was even more surprised once the second was revealed to be Alan’s, and quite disappointed. I expected the series to tie back to the beginning and starting to wrap things up by returning to Robin and Maude, the siblings. But instead it adds and revolves around a new relationship, weirdly sardonic and much harder to relate to this time, an angle I felt only served the purpose of not repeating the trope of the first two novels again.

It is not the sweet sweep-me-of-my-feet kind of romance turned fiery passion, but rather some weird angry hate-fuck setup that has its only, very shallow, foundation in that Hawthorn is filthy rich and Alan is poor. This, to Alan, seems to be the most awful thing a person can be, so for most of the book he complains about how horrible everyone is and how he hates them. Especially Hawthorne. And still they… very explicitly… everywhere. Yeah, I don’t get it.

As to Alan, he is constantly moody and depressed and not at all the mischievous, fun “sure let’s get into trouble” pickpocket from the second novel. The same change goes for Hawthorne. I was beginning to like him in the second novel, seeing him warming up to the others and somewhat reluctantly joining the crew. Yet in this one he’s just grumpy again, and not in the somewhat shy and caring way. I get that these are character traits that are well founded in both character’s backstories, and they’re written to overcome them, but I simply didn’t enjoy listening to half a book about moody characters who only complains. And no, adding kinky hate fuck scenes that I really didn’t understand the point of didn’t help.

I felt there was a shift about halfway through the book though, where things started to gain pace. We did get some heist action and some grand magical gala action… but in the end, I didn’t care much about ‘the Last contract’. Which I guess is the actual plot of the series (adding so much focus on relationships makes one loose track of the overall goal). I did expect answers in this one, but sadly realised I still didn’t understand most of was going on, who people were and why things happened.

Final rant: I expected Hawthorne’s sister‘s death to have MUCH more relevance. Adding Mrs Doufey only felt like a way to dump exposition no one asked for. WHY didn’t Adelaide get her own point of view? The grand showdown was underwhelming and quite confusing. I didn’t understand what happened to the last contract 🤷🏼‍♀️

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beepbeep101's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.5

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frenchpants's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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

3.75

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toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

I just think this series is so great and I thought this was a really nice conclusion to it. I absolutely love the worldbuilding and magic descriptions in this, loved seeing the characters from the other books again, and as expected, loved Jack and Alan's relationship.

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abnormal_shadow's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I LOVE THIS BOOK SERIS!!!!!

I started this book series like I start all the books i read: Bliond. I didnt know what i was getting into and i am happy to say that I had a wonderful experience with this book. The characters are all distinct and identifiable, all we it different interesting and complementing personalities. The twists that made me gasp the biggest gasps and the the loudest "omg nooooooooooo". Everyone seems to have this mutual queer understanding ang it thinks their entire friend group is astonishing. If I don't get to be the Addie in room with Violet, Maudie, Robion, Edwin, Alan and Jack, will I don't want the fucking group.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ♡

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