Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Power Unbound

He said: “I would take your heart between my ribs and guard it like my own. Is there any way I could make you believe it?”

This was a lyrical, heartbreaking, triumphant conclusion to The Last Binding trilogy.

Jack and Alan’s story was one of trauma, healing, love, and family, and I loved every single word. The historical accuracy was stunning, the romance both sexy and deeply moving, and the prose raw and evocative. Marske’s unique magic system is once again skilfully expanded and brilliantly realised, while her vibrant characters continue to captivate the reader.

There is little else to say other than that this trilogy is breathtaking, and Marske has established herself as a powerful new voice within the Historical and Fantasy genres. This is a book (and a trilogy) that I will read over and over again.

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stacyaj's review

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adventurous 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

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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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akirokis's review

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adventurous medium-paced

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

5.0

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cassielaj's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I think this is an excellent close to a delightful series. A LOT is addressed, introduced, and resolved throughout, so it’s definitely plot-heavy, but the characters still shine. It had the “last battle” feel of a good fantasy series closer, with emotions and tension running high. I will say, though I love the characters, I didn’t like the romance as much in this one. It necessarily took a back seat to the larger plot, which I don’t mind at all, but I didn’t find myself rooting for Jack and Alan as much as the other couples (though I was absolutely rooting for them individually!). Overall, a great read — love this series ✨

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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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reinynights's review

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While Jack turned out to be my favorite character out of the entire bunch, I was having a difficult time maintaining interest in the main conflict of the series that often felt like a second thought over the spicy scenes.

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