Reviews with content warning for Sexism - A Marvellous Light

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Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

91 reviews

theo_iwan's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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itsnotalakeitsanocean's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

After my last disasterous choice in books, this was a great pick-me-up. Perhaps not the most robust of mystery stories, but if you come into this looking for a fun time with incidentally gay leads and a sprinkling of sex scenes you'll be satisfied.

What I liked

(Disclaimer that I am not a history nerd so apart from a few things that raised my eyebrows, I didn't find any glaring faults): The two leads were believable, well-rounded characters both plagued by different forms of inadequacy and lacking what the other has. It was nice to see them come into their own and find love with each other with a nice balance between the romance and the working relationship. I did enjoy a lot of the side characters too, but as below you'll see I wish we got more of them sometimes.
The romance between the two leads was sweet, and I enjoyed a lot of the descriptions of them pining in their minds. It was also refreshing to see that they had a healthy sex life but weren't constantly horny and trying to fuck each other in life or death situations like a lot of romantasy couples seem to do these days.
Despite my complaint below, I like what we get of the magic system and the magic is used in creative ways. I especially liked
Robin trying to get a grip on his foresight so he could control it and the tantalising glimpses of the future we got, and Edwin inheriting Sutton Cottage and him being able to control the house (rushed as his mastery of it was)

What I didn't like

I think the beginning is a tad slow but once the main pair get to the house is when things get interesting.
This definitely feels like a book that's setting up for a series (of which I accidentally started reading the final book of, oops) so although there is a decent amount of worldbuilding and exploration into the magic system, there is a sense that there's something grander that's missing from this installment.
A lot of the women in this book tend to be sidelined which, yes women in this period didn't have the same independence as their modern counterparts, but the only woman that really contributes to the plot
dies so that Edwin can inherit her residence and move the plot on.
From what I can gather the next book semi rectifies this with an f/f pairing which I want to read eventually.
This book does the classic third act misunderstanding which is rectified in a couple of chapters too early for my liking, ESPECIALLY because it was genuinely heart-wrenching to see them part for a valid reason.

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sadetanssija'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

4.25

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aspyd05's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

Thrilling! I had a great time reading this book and can’t wait to start the next in the series!

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joensign's review

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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readwithria's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious tense 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

3.5

A Marvelous Light was a mixed bag for me.

This book felt so slow. It took me days and days and days to get through the first ~65%, and then less than 24 hours to read the last third. I wanted to love this book so much, but the whole stint at Edwin’s family home felt like it took an age to read.

I really enjoyed the romance aspect of the book, and the final third was quite interesting. That being said, it wasn’t enough to save the book for me. If I do read the rest of this series, it will be from the library. 3.5 stars

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kaneebli's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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adrilynn21's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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emily_mh's review

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emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book is what a true romantasy looks like for me. So often books are called romantasies when really they’re romances with a fantasy backdrop, or fantasies with a romantic element. A Marvellous Light is a book where one genre is given just as much weight as the other: the story is guided as much by classic romance-genre beats as it is by a thick, mysterious fantasy plot. I found this deeply enjoyable, as while I love a good queer romance, having a separate but relevant fantasy plot kept me fully engaged.

The romance was gorgeous. Robin and Edwin’s physical chemistry was palpable from their first meeting, but this was not to the detriment of their emotional chemistry. The slow, tentative path both men took to true vulnerability was lovely to read. I came away from the book with a full understanding of why Robin and Edwin fell for one other and why they loved each other. This may sound silly to say about a romance book, but I often find that authors don’t properly convey this in their romance plots and books. The romance here also had one of my favourite tropes: where the MCs have to live together because of x reason. The kinds of interactions this leads to are so fun to see play out.

On the other hand we have the fantasy storyline. I was greatly entertained by this, although I do have a couple of criticisms. What I really liked was that there was so much mystery. Robin and Edwin stumble upon and become entangled in a nefarious plot which they know nothing about, and want nothing to do with, but must get to the bottom of to save Robin’s life. Consequently, there’s a lot of researching and investigating, which was thrilling for me. The magical world that Robin and Edwin inhabit had quite a unique magic system. I could easily picture the system of cradling in my head, it being similar to the string games I played as a kid. It was really fun imagining how the movements looked, and what movements might set what spell boundary. I will say that it sometimes felt like the magic system had been written for the story, and not the story for the magical system, if that makes sense; like the way magic worked was at times too convenient.

One other criticism I had was that the characters would discuss the magical world and all these interesting magical places, but for the most part this book was set not at them but at country manors, which while magical, didn’t pique my interest in the same way. I think more variety of place would have done this book some good. Having said that, I don’t think the monotonous setting of the second book (a ship on the Atlantic) will bother me, as I find overnight transportation fascinating.

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melshoo's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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