Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

43 reviews

elizas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

How can I rate a book as both dark and light-hearted? Somehow, Freya Marske pulls this off. The themes are dark, people’s lives are constantly on the line, but the banter among the seven main characters sometime made me laugh out loud.

I have to admit that the obnoxious Lord Hawthorn grabbed my interest in the first book in the series, and midway through the second book it became pretty clear that he would be the hero of this third book. But it’s the son of lower-class Italian immigrants who steals the show. Alanzo Cesare Rossi (making his way in the hidebound London world as Alan Ross) can never resist waving a red flag at a charging bull, especially when he’s up against Jack Cheetham, Lord Hawthorn. The power should be all Lord Hawthorn’s, but somehow Alan manages to win every showdown. If you like gay romantic fantasy with a good magic system and lots of spicy sex, you’ll love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Death, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Sexual harassment

imds's review

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Classism, Confinement, Police brutality, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy and Rape

hannahrogers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Death

Moderate: Classism, Blood, Torture, Murder, Grief, and Bullying

Minor: Rape, War, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, and Suicide

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

This was a perfect conclusion to the series. All the threads of our mystery are entangled within our now-expanded cast of characters. It's a joy to have all three couples together for this final installment, and the sense of found family sets this apart in the trilogy. 

And first, I have to note how much I LOVED this audio production and narration by Josh Dylan. I would highly recommend this entire series on audio, but I particularly enjoyed this one. 

This romance has a harder edge than any of our others, but also resulted in perhaps the most heartfelt declarations of the series. Role playing scenarios from Alan's erotic stories allows Alan and Hawthorne to navigate the class difference and power imbalance inherent to their relationship. Consent is well-navigated, with both establishing boundaries within scenarios and ways of withdrawing consent. I felt it was really well done, and allowed both characters to be vulnerable within a protected space as they begin revealing themselves to each other. 

And the mystery! I loved that in each installment we get a new piece of the history of The Last Contract. In this, we get a deeper dive into the fae bargain with England's magicians, the ley lines, and magic houses (These! Magic! Houses!). I loved how this expands the world and magic system even further, and I thoroughly enjoyed every twist. 

This is a book about mending and tending, and I absolutely adored it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Child death, Grief, Blood, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual assault

Pregnancy and sexual assault in a side character's backstory.

quinnyquinnquinn's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy and Blood

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

A strong conclusion to this series, I think. I was a little disappointed by the 2nd book in the series, but I enjoyed this one much more. My favorite element was the found family aspect, I was really happy to have the whole gang working together and seeing how the romances from the previous books were still thriving. Jack and Alan are fine, but I wasn't as captivated by their romance and character arcs as I was by Edwin and Robin. Edwin and Robin are hard to beat, though. I will say I didn't really care for the type of spicy scenes we had with Jack and Alan, so I zoned out for those. All of the books in the series were great as audiobooks, so I do recommend reading the series that way if you're interested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Death, Murder, and Gun violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Infidelity

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Violence, Suicide, Child death, Infidelity, and Murder

ellenkennedy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

This one was my favourite out of the three. I really like both Jack and Alan, and was looking forward to their story since we met Alan in "A Restless Truth". They had great chemistry, and their kinks were depicted without judgment. I loved all the other characters meshing in this book - Maud, Robin, Edwin, and Violet work as great as background characters as they worked as the heroes of their individual stories. The plot overall was kinda silly, especially what happened at the equinox gala (

the entire magical high society were rather silent throughout all the crazy shit happening; and they left without a peep, even though they were drained of all their magic? Riiiiiiiiiight

), and the ending was like a sweet fairytale (

so now everyone gets magic? And they JUST discovered that it can be done this easily? Again - riiiiiiiight

). But I liked that Jack knew immediately what exactly went on at the Barrel, and he was the one to try and convince the others later. Made for such a nice character development - he who didn't care at all started caring so much! His backstory and Elsie's tragedy are heartbreaking. All in all, even with such a silly ending that made no sense whatsoever, I honestly enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Classism, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Suicide

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Blood, Classism, Violence, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Emotional abuse, War, Vomit, Suicide, Pregnancy, Torture, Rape, Misogyny, and Bullying

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Stalking, Vomit, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Classism, Alcohol, Cursing, Infidelity, and Bullying