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A review by poisonenvy
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
5.0
Read #4, Nov. 2023: Look. This book was published two years ago, almost exactly. This is the fourth time I've read it.
I think that says all there needs to be said. (Except man, do I wish I knew where the fandom hung out because I have t h e o r i e s)
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I picked this up because I absolutely judge books by their cover and this cover was gorgeous. I bumped it to the top of my TBR list for the exact same reason.
And I'm glad I did. This scratched all my itches. The writing style is a real delight, the story held my attention, all the characters in this book are delightfully crafted. The world building is simple and elegant.
JK Rowling has done a pretty good job at destroying my love of Harry Potter, but I'd say a lot of the book draws from the world of Harry Potter and improved on it by leaps and bounds.
And it was unexpectedly smutty. I really don't read a lot of smutty books, not because I dislike sex scenes but because it just isn't prevalent in a lot of the types of books I like to read. But it was a nice change from the usual.
Overall, excellent and hit all sorts of notes that I've been into lately.
Reread January 2022
Second readthrough was even better than the first. With a firmer understanding of everything and where it was going to go, everything was a lot clearer; smaller details were easier to pick up, and certain scenes only make sense in the context of having read the whole book once before.
The running motifs of colour and plants were much more obvious to me on a second read through, and they're both delightful through lines that filled me with joy. "Woe", I think, will never not make me laugh, and somehow I missed "idiot flower of English manhood" the first time I read, which... you know, just what a beautiful line. :')
A+. Can't wait for the second book in the series to come out.
Read #3, Nov 2022
I've read this book three times this year (this most recent time after finishing A Restless Truth for the first time in August), and I'm still finding stuff I missed or forgot from the previous reads to love.
Would not be surprised if I pick this up again in the coming months.
I think that says all there needs to be said. (Except man, do I wish I knew where the fandom hung out because I have t h e o r i e s)
-----
I picked this up because I absolutely judge books by their cover and this cover was gorgeous. I bumped it to the top of my TBR list for the exact same reason.
And I'm glad I did. This scratched all my itches. The writing style is a real delight, the story held my attention, all the characters in this book are delightfully crafted. The world building is simple and elegant.
JK Rowling has done a pretty good job at destroying my love of Harry Potter, but I'd say a lot of the book draws from the world of Harry Potter and improved on it by leaps and bounds.
And it was unexpectedly smutty. I really don't read a lot of smutty books, not because I dislike sex scenes but because it just isn't prevalent in a lot of the types of books I like to read. But it was a nice change from the usual.
Overall, excellent and hit all sorts of notes that I've been into lately.
Reread January 2022
Second readthrough was even better than the first. With a firmer understanding of everything and where it was going to go, everything was a lot clearer; smaller details were easier to pick up, and certain scenes only make sense in the context of having read the whole book once before.
The running motifs of colour and plants were much more obvious to me on a second read through, and they're both delightful through lines that filled me with joy. "Woe", I think, will never not make me laugh, and somehow I missed "idiot flower of English manhood" the first time I read, which... you know, just what a beautiful line. :')
A+. Can't wait for the second book in the series to come out.
Read #3, Nov 2022
I've read this book three times this year (this most recent time after finishing A Restless Truth for the first time in August), and I'm still finding stuff I missed or forgot from the previous reads to love.
Would not be surprised if I pick this up again in the coming months.