Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Marvellous Light

A good example of the "secret magical parallel society" genre. I appreciate a magic system which has internal logic and was, imo, an original concept with the cradling. The characters were mostly likeable and believable.

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lollymac's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

4.25

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oatmeal_oatmeal's review

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2.5

Mixed feelings here. I love the premise of historical, fantasy, mystery, drama, and romance mingling together and having a nice party, but I feel like none of them are balanced in a satisfying way. (Fantasy without expansive world building so lore payoffs don’t feel earned, mystery without enough defined clues so the big reveals don’t hit how they should, etc etc.)

It was also difficult for me to finish due to the beginning having a fairly slow pace. There’s a lot of exposition to dig through before things pick up about a third of the way through. I mostly continued because I enjoyed the prose— I personally enjoyed the descriptions of interior design and opulence in Edwin’s family home.

Also there are a few graphic sex scenes in this book and that threw me off, though it’s mostly on me for not checking the content warnings (which will come in clutch in the future).

For better or for worse, there are only around 4 likeable characters, and that’s by design. While I enjoyed the two lead characters, I’m not sure I’m invested enough to continue this series.

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t expect this book to be as good as it was. An excellent achillean fantasy romance perfect for fans of Jane Austen and Harry Potter, this book focuses on Robin and Edwin as they try to solve the mystery of Robin’s predecesor in his role as government liaison to a secret magical world.

The romance was well done, as was the mystery, and both of the central tensions made this a page turner. The strong world building supported the plot and characters.

Really liked this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous 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 can't believe this book slipped under my radar as long as it did especially when I got the copy of the book itself in a monthly book box. This was an amazing read, a great and unique magic system, and the world-building was easy to follow without being too convoluted or simple. I loved reading Edwin and Robin's relationship developing, as well as their own character developments.

And, of course, the mark of a good reader, IMO, is how well a villain is written, and how they can piss you off with their existence in a book, and Marske was able to do that very easily. One of the reasons I kept reading this trilogy was to read the Big Bad have his ass handed to him, though how he went at the end of this book was also somewhat satisfying.

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abnormal_shadow's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

I really liked this book. The magic is well explained and the characters were fun, their pain

internal and external

was well described. The way that people react to to the characters is interesting and so is the ways the characters use thier traits to gain or lose the upper hand in certain situations.

Favorite part has got to be the "sentient" house, its so fun to see how much magic impacts the lives and lineages of magic users and how absolute power (or merely the idea of it) corrupts so many.

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bergha1998's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

I think it’s a lovely story, I just found the pacing a bit off. It took me awhile to really get into it. But as soon as the characters get fleshed out more and the mystery grows it is quite enjoyable. I also didn’t expect so many spicy scenes.

Fantasy Mystery, MLM Romance, 2 1/2 🔥

“You look like a Turner painting and I want to learn your textures with my fingertips. You are the most fascinating thing in this beautiful house. I’d like to introduce my fists to whoever taught you to stop talking about the things that interest you.”

“I am nothing like you, and yet I feel more myself with you.”

“And I’m sick to death of being afraid, and I want you. Enough to risk it. More than enough. You make me feel like something—extraordinary.”

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gondorgirl's review

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adventurous 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

5.0

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