A review by pantsreadsbooks
A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

Goddamn it, I love this series so much. This one took a bit to get into, and honestly I wasn’t super looking forward to Maud’s story— I didn’t particularly like her (or Hawthorn!) after book one, and honestly I was pulling for a book for Adelaide Morrissey. That said, this book changed my mind. Maud and Hawthorn are still clearly the same characters from A Marvellous Light, neither of them have huge personality shifts, but time spent with them and the development throughout the book have endeared them both to me. Violet is a delightful addition and I cannot wait to see more of Alan Ross in the next book. The scenes with the four of them are definite high points here, and the porn-dramatization scene had me cackling.

Marske expands on her worldbuilding here in ways I didn’t even realize was lacking in the first one. We get a much better sense of the magical world and how it all works, and what the Last Contract even IS. Some of the mystery I figured out, but even still, the turns were satisfying.

Aysha Kala does an amazing job with the audio. A few of her female characters end up sounding similar, but she kills it with the accents, and Violet’s English-American mashup especially. Definitely going to look out for more audios by her.

Immediately starting up the next book, hoping for more of ALL the characters now that we’re back in England.