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A review by _isabel_
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.75
This was, pun intended, utterly marvellous.
Edwin and Robin are brilliant protagonists in an even more brilliant, gorgeous and riveting story. This is a seriously impressive debut for Freya Marske and I can't believe it took me so much time to finally start this.
The writing was a biiiiit fussy at times (and a tiny bit hard to follow), so that's the only reason this isn't a full five star rating. I got used to it fairly quickly though, and I can now appreciate how stunning and poetic Marske's writing is: emotionally charged, powerful and deeply vivid.
The world building, the historical setting, the magic system, the whole plot of this brilliant book were utterly masterful: I was so damn impressed with how clever everything was.
"A Marvellous Light" was a fantasy, a historical romance and a murder mystery all in one: I absolutely adored following Robin and Edwin on their wild, magical quest around the English countryside. Murderous mazes and murderous dinner parties, sentient houses and horrible families, secretive, magical societies and world-ending conspiracies... this story was truly spectacular, and addictive.
Both Robin and Edwin are unforgettable protagonists and I adored them to bits. Robin, in particular, was my absolute favourite: I fell for him from the very start and literally ten pages in, I was quite ready to take up arms in his name.
As individuals, they're opposites in so many ways, but ugh, they fit together so perfectly. Prickly, brilliant, frosty Edwin, with his deep insecurities and his fears, and generous, brave and wonderful Robin, with his glorious muscles and his even more glorious heart: both of them were fantastic, individually, but together they were a force to be reckoned with. Their chemistry, their slowly growing relationship, from antagonism to friendship to kinship to love, everything about them was wonderful and precisely why I keep returning to romances, time and time again.
I absolutely adored every single one of the side characters too: from the very wild, very lovable Maud to practical and brilliant Adelaide, to Flora and Kitty and the mysterious, and seemingly cruel, Hawthorn; every single one of them were unforgettable in their own right, and I cannot wait to discover more of them, and of the overreaching plot.
I'm excited to jump into "A Ruthless Truth"!
Edwin and Robin are brilliant protagonists in an even more brilliant, gorgeous and riveting story. This is a seriously impressive debut for Freya Marske and I can't believe it took me so much time to finally start this.
The writing was a biiiiit fussy at times (and a tiny bit hard to follow), so that's the only reason this isn't a full five star rating. I got used to it fairly quickly though, and I can now appreciate how stunning and poetic Marske's writing is: emotionally charged, powerful and deeply vivid.
The world building, the historical setting, the magic system, the whole plot of this brilliant book were utterly masterful: I was so damn impressed with how clever everything was.
"A Marvellous Light" was a fantasy, a historical romance and a murder mystery all in one: I absolutely adored following Robin and Edwin on their wild, magical quest around the English countryside. Murderous mazes and murderous dinner parties, sentient houses and horrible families, secretive, magical societies and world-ending conspiracies... this story was truly spectacular, and addictive.
Both Robin and Edwin are unforgettable protagonists and I adored them to bits. Robin, in particular, was my absolute favourite: I fell for him from the very start and literally ten pages in, I was quite ready to take up arms in his name.
As individuals, they're opposites in so many ways, but ugh, they fit together so perfectly. Prickly, brilliant, frosty Edwin, with his deep insecurities and his fears, and generous, brave and wonderful Robin, with his glorious muscles and his even more glorious heart: both of them were fantastic, individually, but together they were a force to be reckoned with. Their chemistry, their slowly growing relationship, from antagonism to friendship to kinship to love, everything about them was wonderful and precisely why I keep returning to romances, time and time again.
I absolutely adored every single one of the side characters too: from the very wild, very lovable Maud to practical and brilliant Adelaide, to Flora and Kitty and the mysterious, and seemingly cruel, Hawthorn; every single one of them were unforgettable in their own right, and I cannot wait to discover more of them, and of the overreaching plot.
I'm excited to jump into "A Ruthless Truth"!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Child abuse