Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - A Marvellous Light

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

179 reviews

haddy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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

Absolutely adored this book. The way the author describes how Edwin and Robin see each other, as well as the way magic works in this world, was so brilliant and lovely. I also really enjoyed mystery plot line and how that was interwoven into the story.
A couple things that I think let it down and the reason it didn’t quite make it to 5⭐️ is because I think the world building was a bit clunky at the start and so it took me a while to get into it, and then also unfortunately the ending felt rushed, a bit unsatisfying and didn’t make complete sense to me.
It was an absolutely gorgeous story that was so well written, but just book ended by a slightly disappointing start and finish. I still think it is well worth the read, I love Edwin and Robin with my whole heart🫶

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.5

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melshoo's review against another edition

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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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blacksphinx'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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anna_hepworth's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

3.5

What I thought I was getting was fantasy adventure (magic in England in the ~1910s) with a romance subplot. What I got was the type of romance plot that doesn't appeal, with a varnish of fantasy adventure sub-subplot, and quite a lot of sex scenes. Maybe if I'd had the right expectations, I'd have appreciated this story more.

As it was, there are lots of interesting details, and there were some fabulous paragraphs. But I finished it somewhat out of spite, and because I have book two out of the library, waiting for me to read it. I did want to know what happened, but I didn't really want to have to deal with the romantic couple and their emotional miscommunications.

I can see that there are some interesting overarching plot threads, with three items to be found, and three books to find them in, so I have hopes that book two won't slump.

Overall summary: world building fantastic, plot a bit rough, characterisation a little off and occasionally veering towards farce, writing shows promise, particularly as this is a debut novel.

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alli_gator's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted 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

4.5

I honestly felt like this book would’ve been so much better without all of the sexual encounters that happen. The amount of them disappointed me because it felt like it became a fetishization of gay sex, when it could’ve just been a beautiful tragic romance type.

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