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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I just realized I didn't care about what was happening or what was going to happen.
"She wanted to ask Maud, who was frequently terrified but never defeated, what she thought happened after death. Whether she feared it, or saw it as another quest, or a boat suspended on the world with no land in sight."
Magical Murder mystery to solve? Check
A Blossoming Sapphic love affair? Check
Smartass snarky reticent sidekick who will get his own book next? Check
A smidge of magical combat? Check
Freya certainly has a way with words, this book was immersive, entertaining, fun, insightful, full of emotions & perfect for this time period. In this continuation of her Broken Binding trilogy we follow Maud & Violet two feisty & fantastic young women with brilliant minds & hearts full of courage & mettle. Maud is Robins younger sister, Robin being one of the MC’s in A Marvellous Light, (one of my favourite books from last year) and Violet, an adventurous woman who has been shunned from the glittering high society of London after seeking her own way in life across the seas. The story takes place as Maud and Violet set sail for London for their own reasons, without realising just how intertwined they already are in each other’s futures. Maud was sweet & while a little naïve, she showed courage & fortitude beyond her years in her quest to save a piece of the contract for Edwin & her brother so that it didn’t fall into enemy hands. Violet was a fun piece of candy that I just wanted to nibble at until I got to the centre, she had so many layers to her, & I have no doubt we got nowhere near to the centre in this story, but it was a great start! The spice was definitely spicier in this one compared to AML, it had me blushing a little once or twice. The story was entertaining & for the most part the pacing was excellent. There was very little world building but then there didn’t need to be because it took place on a ship the entire time with the exception for a few flashback scenes. I loved how Maud & Violet both made statements on how unfair their positions in society were merely because of their gender & what they would do differently if given the opportunity. My only qualm was I missed my beloved Edwin & Robin, Edwin I felt such a kinship with, he & I have such similar personalities his story really hit my soul. I loved that Lord Hawthorn was in this & in a much bigger way, & was excited to discover the next book is his story. While I feel like I shouldn’t like him with his anti-hero attitude, I can’t help but love him despite his snarky attitude. All in all I loved this story, though I loved AML just a smidge more because I adored Edwin.
Magical Murder mystery to solve? Check
A Blossoming Sapphic love affair? Check
Smartass snarky reticent sidekick who will get his own book next? Check
A smidge of magical combat? Check
Freya certainly has a way with words, this book was immersive, entertaining, fun, insightful, full of emotions & perfect for this time period. In this continuation of her Broken Binding trilogy we follow Maud & Violet two feisty & fantastic young women with brilliant minds & hearts full of courage & mettle. Maud is Robins younger sister, Robin being one of the MC’s in A Marvellous Light, (one of my favourite books from last year) and Violet, an adventurous woman who has been shunned from the glittering high society of London after seeking her own way in life across the seas. The story takes place as Maud and Violet set sail for London for their own reasons, without realising just how intertwined they already are in each other’s futures. Maud was sweet & while a little naïve, she showed courage & fortitude beyond her years in her quest to save a piece of the contract for Edwin & her brother so that it didn’t fall into enemy hands. Violet was a fun piece of candy that I just wanted to nibble at until I got to the centre, she had so many layers to her, & I have no doubt we got nowhere near to the centre in this story, but it was a great start! The spice was definitely spicier in this one compared to AML, it had me blushing a little once or twice. The story was entertaining & for the most part the pacing was excellent. There was very little world building but then there didn’t need to be because it took place on a ship the entire time with the exception for a few flashback scenes. I loved how Maud & Violet both made statements on how unfair their positions in society were merely because of their gender & what they would do differently if given the opportunity. My only qualm was I missed my beloved Edwin & Robin, Edwin I felt such a kinship with, he & I have such similar personalities his story really hit my soul. I loved that Lord Hawthorn was in this & in a much bigger way, & was excited to discover the next book is his story. While I feel like I shouldn’t like him with his anti-hero attitude, I can’t help but love him despite his snarky attitude. All in all I loved this story, though I loved AML just a smidge more because I adored Edwin.
I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. This review also contains some spoilers for the first book.
A Marvellous Light was one of my favorite reads of 2021, and I loved it just as much when I went back to reread it before finally continuing the series. A Restless Truth is the second book in The Last Binding trilogy and follows Maud (Robin’s sister) and Violet instead. Sometimes it can be difficult to lose narrators, especially when I loved them as much as I loved Robin and Edwin, but I do think the switching helped the series! I generally enjoyed getting to see a new romantic and character focus for each installment, but with a strong central plot connecting all three books together.
Maud and Violet were unfortunately not my favorites though. I found them interesting as characters individually, and I enjoyed seeing their backgrounds and relationships with their femininity and how it shaped them in this society. However, I wasn’t super convinced by their romance and didn’t care for that subplot as much, even though Robin and Edwin’s romance was what carried the first book for me. It’s hard to explain or pin down, but I just didn’t like them together. It made some parts of the book more frustrating for me, especially when it started getting in the way of plot progression.
In terms of plot, I found it intriguing, but I felt like the reliance on Robin’s visions made everything seem too pre-planned. It felt like Maud was just following a blueprint and trying to make certain things happen, and I felt like the characters lost a lot of their agency in this one. I have since read book 3, A Power Unbound, and didn’t have this issue in that book though, so it was just an issue unique to this book, luckily. It might just have been the way Maud used and interacted with the visions that made it not work for me.
Overall, I still enjoyed this book and really liked the audiobook narrator’s performance for this one. I think I would’ve felt this book's weaknesses even more had I not had the narrator helping me connect with the characters more. I do still love this series, but this is unfortunately the weakest installment for me!
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's a small step behind the previous book in my opinion - but a small step from perfection is still perfect enough for me! The author's notes said that Marske wrote this during covid and wanted something FUN and about travel, and that's absolutely what we got! It's self contained, it's tense, it flows beautifully and Marske has absolutely brilliant prose that somehow is funny, witty, sarcastic, serious and historical yet still easy enough to read for a non-brit. Absolutely loved it! Already have the third one ready!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was fun and quite different from its predecessor! The whole plot taking place on the ship made for a closed-circle mystery of sorts (just with a very large circle). I’m excited to see how the story ends, especially knowing that all the major players will have to play a part in the resolution. Also, bonus points to the author for being able to write both MM and FF romance plot lines equally well, and weaving them in nicely with the non-romance plot.