A review by itsnotalakeitsanocean
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

After my last disasterous choice in books, this was a great pick-me-up. Perhaps not the most robust of mystery stories, but if you come into this looking for a fun time with incidentally gay leads and a sprinkling of sex scenes you'll be satisfied.

What I liked
  • (Disclaimer that I am not a history nerd so apart from a few things that raised my eyebrows, I didn't find any glaring faults): The two leads were believable, well-rounded characters both plagued by different forms of inadequacy and lacking what the other has. It was nice to see them come into their own and find love with each other with a nice balance between the romance and the working relationship. I did enjoy a lot of the side characters too, but as below you'll see I wish we got more of them sometimes.
  • The romance between the two leads was sweet, and I enjoyed a lot of the descriptions of them pining in their minds. It was also refreshing to see that they had a healthy sex life but weren't constantly horny and trying to fuck each other in life or death situations like a lot of romantasy couples seem to do these days.
  • Despite my complaint below, I like what we get of the magic system and the magic is used in creative ways. I especially liked
    Robin trying to get a grip on his foresight so he could control it and the tantalising glimpses of the future we got, and Edwin inheriting Sutton Cottage and him being able to control the house (rushed as his mastery of it was)


What I didn't like
  • I think the beginning is a tad slow but once the main pair get to the house is when things get interesting.
  • This definitely feels like a book that's setting up for a series (of which I accidentally started reading the final book of, oops) so although there is a decent amount of worldbuilding and exploration into the magic system, there is a sense that there's something grander that's missing from this installment.
  • A lot of the women in this book tend to be sidelined which, yes women in this period didn't have the same independence as their modern counterparts, but the only woman that really contributes to the plot
    dies so that Edwin can inherit her residence and move the plot on.
    From what I can gather the next book semi rectifies this with an f/f pairing which I want to read eventually.
  • This book does the classic third act misunderstanding which is rectified in a couple of chapters too early for my liking, ESPECIALLY because it was genuinely heart-wrenching to see them part for a valid reason.
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