A review by loveyoulike
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

my favorite book in the series and definitely the best conclusion to this whole mystery as we could've ever gotten. marske's has truly outdone herself in terms of writing characters, relationships, mystery, tension, politics, and world-building. you can visibly see the improvements from the previous books, especially since most of the necessary world-building has been laid down so the focus on the story and developments take center stage. i very much love the character ross and how marske handled his class dilemma as it is often a very tricky road to balance.

however, my biggest problem from the whole series remains unsolved. marske tends to favor wordy writing that includes lots of dialogue and streams of thoughts, which works for introspective scenes and highlights of setting and character dynamics. which is fine on its own honestly, but the issue occurs when the action starts to happen and instead of an immersive flow, we still get stilted and convoluted descriptions that freeze scenes away from the overall picture. they take me out of the most important plot beats and complicate the pacing, especially when urgency is called for by the story.

nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable read (mostly thanks to ross and jack). if i had to reread this series, i would 100% do it just to get to this book.
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