A review by thebetterstory
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A light, easy read that I tore through in a few days. It's more romance than mystery, but the plot moves along at a nice clip, with obvious, character-related stakes to follow. The prose slips down easily, with some neat little turns of phrase and imagery that keep it from being too generic.

The romance is a classic warm/cold dynamic and works well for it. Both the characters it centers are likeable, with Robin amiably stumbling into the world of magic and Edwin reluctantly serving as his guide when he'd much rather be sealed away reading. I did find myself wishing for a little more time for the leads to develop their feelings and pine for each other, but I'm a fiend for slowburn and generally difficult to satisfy in that regard.

The setting, an alternate Edwardian England, has some fun hints of worldbuilding around the magic that never goes too far in-depth. Similarly, the narrative skims gently over topics like women's rights and colonization. Edwin and Robin are kept likeable by being perhaps unrealistically willing to see the women around them as people. Even the two Indian women, both of whom are enjoyable side characters that are apparently uninterested in bringing up any of the effects of colonization, or any discrimination they might face other than the few sideways looks the book includes.

It's hard to see how the book could keep its fluffy tone if it actually did decide to dig into any of that, and whether it'll grate on you to see the narrative sidestep the full the implications of its choice of setting will depend on the person. The topic of women's rights, at least, is likely to be explored further in the sequel, which focuses on Robin's suffragette sister.

I was also terribly disappointed by the ending, in which Edwin has full power over his brother and could take back the part of the contract that so many people have already died to try to prevent it from being taken, and just...doesn't. It's waved off by the fact that he's worried others will come after it, but he could simply serve him a hefty amount of lethe-mint to get him to forget that they even have it. Or keep him entangled and call for Kitty to wipe his memory if he can't before kicking him off the estate. Or really, any number of things. And then he additionally agrees to serve Robin and his foresight up on a silver platter to the Assembly, after the book stated repeatedly how bad of an idea that would be! It's a plot hole big enough to drive a cruise ship through, and it was a terribly disappointing way to end an otherwise enjoyable book.
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