Reviews - A Restless Truth

4.09k reviews for:

A Restless Truth

Freya Marske

3.98 AVERAGE

hannahst's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i enjoyed the ensemble in this one more than in the first one bc it was more fun and it made me really excited for the next book in the series! think i liked the romantic storyline of edwin/robin more but that’s just because i love angst but this one was still also really fun!

lesleyt20's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

netrix's review against another edition

This was fun but I miss Edwin

red_raven22's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 51%

Tried to finish series but could not when a trope I hate showed up.

gbnz's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous 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

jaelynx's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

An Edwardian murder mystery set aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic while a magical MacGuffin goes missing. As Maud is thrown into tracking down the killer and retrieving the MacGuffin, she is thrown into the arms of a scandalous magical actress.

This follows on from A Marvellous Light, but with a different location and cast. To be honest I forgot large chunks of the first one but followed just fine. While Marvellous Light focused a lot more on romance between Robin and Edwin than the broader plot, this also focuses on Maud and Victoria. Although I feel it held its pacing for the plot a little better as they slowly unravelled the mystery trapped at sea for the voyage. Oddly enough keeping it in a tin can seemed to help the world building a bit more than the first.

I certainly enjoyed the constant ribbing at the endless spectre of societal scandal (excellent pillow talk with “I should have looked into this debauchery business years ago”), the history of the secretive magical women’s Forsythia Club and the relationships between most of the main characters. That said, I found the villains of the plot to be incredibly lacklustre and unmenacing which undercut a fair bit of drama along with the stakes being quite hypothetical.

elanashyong's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

terranstorm's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny lighthearted 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: Complicated

The way this series weaves together different pairings and character threads is really, truly brilliant. The lead pairing in this one is a raucous, roaring hoot of a good time (I love Maud so much, god damn it all), clever and fun and HOT all on its own, while also reminding me how much I loved book 1’s protagonists AND getting me very much invested in the chemistry of the pair that’s coming next in book 3. Like a tantalizing little tease. I’m rushing right on to read the last of the series now so I’ll try to come back and update this review with more detail later—but suffice it to say, I’m hooked.

Content Warnings