... neither of them were given to trust. Both of them had been twisted up by the plain facts of their existence. The past could turn you into a strip of paper with a single side, so that comfort and vulnerability slid away down invisible channels and couldn't be grasped. [loc. 4436]
Concluding the trilogy begun in A Marvellous Light and continued in A Restless Truth, A Power Unbound focuses on Lord Hawthorn (he of the dead sister and dark past, more familiarly known as Jack Alston) and Alan Ross (journalist, pornographer and revolutionary), and their role in the increasingly urgent hunt for the final component of the Last Contract -- the tripartite physical representation (coin, cup and knife) of a contract with the fae, which makes magic possible. Jack and Alan, together with the Blyth siblings Robin and Maud, Maud's lover the dashing Violet Debenham, Robin's lover Edwin Courcey, and various free-thinking representatives of the magical establishment, are opposed by Jack's cousin George -- who turns out to be responsible for many of Jack's current woes -- and his cohorts. George, and many others, believe that dark times are coming* and that power should be concentrated in the hands of those best qualified to wield it: themselves. Jack's political and social tendencies are more Liberal, while Alan hates anyone with unearned power who uses it against others.
Power and privilege are very much in the forefront of this novel: the vulnerability of those who don't have privilege, and thus no protection against injustice; the difference between real-world power imbalances and how those imbalances play out in sexual fantasies (Alan is a pornographer); the ways in which privilege can be abused, or used to improve the lives of those without influence; ways of acquiring privilege, licit or otherwise. These issues are woven through a complex plot full of reversals, unexpected romantic and emotional developments, and explorations of the nature and origin of British -- or is it specifically English? -- magic. There are several excellent female characters (I'm particularly fond of the Countess of Cheetham, Jack's mother, and Adelaide Morrissey, as well as the Grimm), some vivid depictions of London life in the Edwardian era, and a truly unsettling wardrobe. Marske provides a tense, surprising and (eventually) very satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy: I enjoyed it immensely, and now want to reread all three novels! And I'm eager to see what she does next...
NB: beware of Amazon's subtitling: "A Power Unbound: a spicy, magical historical romp (The Last Binding Book 3)". Dear Amazon (and others), please never use the word 'romp' for anything except light-hearted erotica, which this is not: yes, there is quite a lot of explicit M/M sex, but there is also a great deal of serious plot, peril and unpleasantness.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK publication date is 09 NOV 2023.
*The novel is set in 1909...
No comments:
Post a Comment