This series is an absolute delight, and the third installment does not disappoint! I have loved getting to know and falling in love with these characters, and I'm so sad to see the series end. I'll happily read anything Marske writes.

A Power Unbound, like the first two books in the series, is told from alternating points of view of the main couple. In this case, it’s Lord Jack Alston (aka Hawthorn) and Alanzo Cesare Rossi aka (Alan Ross). However, unlike A Restless Truth, which was almost entirely set on an ocean liner and only mentioned many of the characters from A Marvellous Light, in this book, the team is back together. With all the major players finally in one place, the group is attempting to find the last piece of the Last Contract before the bad guys do.

First off, I have to address the relationship between Jack and Alan. It’s extremely compelling, as all the relationships in this series have been so far, but I wasn’t quite as invested in their relationship as I was with Edwin and Robin’s. I will say that they do “enemies to lovers” much better, and their encounters – at least to start – are more about playing a role than any real sort of feelings. That’s not really my thing. But this has been the slowest of slow burns, as it builds on their interactions from the previous book, and once you get to the end, everything feels worth it.

I am so unbelievably happy that everyone is back together. I missed Edwin, Robin, and Adelaide, and I am super in love with the found family aspect of the group and their meetings. The group splits into different factions every so often, so there are a variety of different dynamics that get to be explored. This ragtag bunch of misfits really do care for each other, even if some of them aren’t very obvious about it.

A Power Unbound introduces the concept of wealth inequality, which has been absent from the other two books. In A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth, the two main characters – and therefore the points of view – were on similar if not equal standing. However, Jack and Alan are on opposite ends of the social spectrum. Seeing Alan with his family – who are essentially all living on top of each other – makes you understand his motivations and helps you understand him so much better. Having his perspective gives him depth as a character instead of treating him like comic relief.

In the past, there have been book trilogies where you can tell that the concept just eventually fell apart – where everything the series has been building to just topples under the weight of its own premise. (I can name a handful of them off the top of my head.) That is decidedly not the case in A Power Unbound. Three books in the making, and the final battle is delicious. In fact, the last approximately 50% of the book is spent setting everything up for that ultimate confrontation. And it ends in potentially the only way that it could end, and yes, I’m being deliberately vague.

I honestly cannot recommend this series enough. The characters, the relationships, and the world-building are all amazing. The mysteries are compelling. With all three of these books, I could not put them down. And A Power Unbound is the perfect conclusion, as it wraps up the main arc while still leaving enough open-ended that Marske could return to this universe if she so chooses.

The sweetest conclusion to this lovely trilogy. I can’t believe when I first met Jack in Book 1 I didn’t like him. Loved the found family element as well.

A Power Unbound was a fantastic conclusion to a trilogy set in a world I wanted to spend more time in. I appreciated the development of Hawthorne's character (which began in A Restless Truth) from someone kind of remote and removed from those around him to the fighter and commander he once was. I liked how the class disparity between Hawthorne and Ross added to their relationship and also played out in terms of privilege within magicians as well as between magicians and those without magic. There was a lot of spice and banter between our couple, and we were reunited with couples from the previous books as the story concluded with a very fitting end.

What an excellent conclusion to the series. I enjoyed the one before this, but I didn't love it as much as the first, so I was interested to see where this one would go = and whoa did it go. Honestly a brilliant conclusion to the series,

WHAT a conclusion!!!! While I was a bit underwhelmed by the 2nd book in this series, I was absolutely blown away by this final volume. Marske keeps the stakes incredibly high for the entire book, and there were multiple times where I had to set it down & almost scream because how on EARTH were the characters going to get out of it this time?? I LOVED getting to see more into the minds of Alan & Jack (especially Alan), since they'd both been written so interestingly prior to this volume, and their depths were pretty opaque previously.

Genuinely SUCH a good conclusion, it did not disappoint in any way. I cannot wait to read whatever Marske writes in the future!!

Freya is a master at storytelling and has quickly become a fave author of mine! I loved how all of the couples came together in this story to finally solve the mystery. The banter was great, the spice amazing.

I loved this conclusion to the series, and the way that the magic system was reformed due to the actions of the characters. I also absolutely adored the relationship between Alan and Jack because it felt inevitable and if their dynamic had been written any differently, it would have felt odd for their characters. I was really impressed by how well Marske was able to pull off this concluding book and wrap up the whole series, because it felt like there was not a lot of ground to cover in this book but somehow the plot points all made sense. I will definitely be reading whatever Marske puts out next.

A stunning finale to an excellent series! I absolutely adored the first two books in this series and this was an excellent way to end it. The found family trope is so strong in this book and I still love discovering new pieces to the magical world that I fell in love with and the locked door element that Marske added. This was everything I wanted and more!

I liked this! The narration style seemed different again from book 2 ([book:A Restless Truth|59807966], but it's been so long since I read [book:A Marvellous Light|53217284] that I'm not prepared to even try to compare them.

This book's main character seemed pretty unredeemable when he appeared as a side character in the first book. He was more of an actor in the second book, and now we get his tragic history that contributed to him being a damaged jerk.

There's a lot of action and a lot of threads. It moved very quickly and, upon reflection a couple weeks later, I can't say for sure if all the loose ends were fully tied up, but I can tell you it absolutely didn't matter.

The mystery is solved, and a new set of rules sets up for a possible spin-off series. I'll be very excited to see what this author has in store next!

eARC from NetGalley.

Great end to an amazing series. Great characters and world-building. Best if readers binge-read the whole series back-to-back

It’s no secret that I LOVE this series and I’m genuinely gutted this is the last book, but what a finale it is! Everything came together perfectly and I could feel the pieces falling into place as the last reveals were made! The plotting for this is honestly immaculate.

I adore Jack, he’s my grouchy little cinnamon roll and I screeched like a banshee when my suspicions were confirmed about this being his book! I just KNEW he’d have an angsty backstory and I wasn’t wrong! BUT, while it’s heartbreaking, it brought a hopeful message about letting go of the past, grieving and forgiving yourself that eased the pain a smidge.

Having that that, I shan’t be letting go of my rage towards George (at least not until my next re-read) and I won’t be taking criticism for it at this time.

ANYWAY! Aside from George, the cast of characters are memorable and well loved so I was ecstatic to see them come together to provide a brilliant ensemble cast! While the focus is on Jack and Alan, everyone got a chance to shine! Speaking of our main duo, the tension between them was *chef’s kiss* I loved them in ART but they blew me away in this! The spice! The feelings! The BANTER! Absolutely phenomenal.

Honestly the banter in this series is top tier and I just love Marske’s writing! It’s humorous, atmospheric and can rip your heart out with a single sentence. Not to mention careful wording that evokes the era and conjures distinctive imagery to match the book’s themes! It’s so easy to get pulled into the book and feel right at home.

There’s great LGBTQIA+ focused historical detail and so much imagination! I was thrilled to discover a house that takes its protection duties VERY seriously, but I also love the cats cradle based magic system and the fun Marske has with it!

I’m going to miss this world but the series really goes out with a bang and reaches an incredibly satisfying conclusion! The blend of romance, magic, banter, loveable characters and brilliant writing & world building have made this an all time favourite of mine and Marske and auto-buy author!

I mean, it’s not often you find a series that’s a solid 5 stars all the way through!

Magic, Power, and Romance: Freya Marske’s A Power Unbound Sticks the Landing

It should come as no surprise that I read most of A Power Unbound at 2 a.m. That’s the time for romantic trysts in hidden places; for unexpected heart-to-hearts with estranged family; for epic showdowns. It also meant, as a reader, that I was silently sobbing my way through a ghostly reconciliation, or fist-pumping a big kiss, without waking up my husband or my dog snoring beside me. Freya Marske’s triumphant conclusion to her fantasy romance series The Last Binding is the kind of book that could certainly be experienced somewhere in public at a time where it’s more socially acceptable to be whooping with joy at how wonderfully all the series threads tie up. But there’s also something undeniably special about getting to read it in the most private and liminal of moments.

In true romance series fashion, everything has been building to this couple… and in true fantasy series fashion, everything has been building to this final book. Because although Lord Hawthorn was initially introduced as the grumpy casual ex of Edwin Courcey in A Marvellous Light, his involvement in the shipboard murder mystery of A Restless Truth reintroduced him as Jack Alston, bound by a terrible secret-curse, while also bringing in his perfect foil in journalist and thief Alan Ross. And while both men have plenty of reason to eschew love for themselves and especially to not see it in the infuriating other, it’s only through his dangerous flirtation with Alan that Jack will be able to process his twin sister’s death and the simultaneous amputation of his magic. In fact, the fate of all of Edwardian-era Britain’s magic hangs on it.

Well, it’s not just dependent on these two working together. The fate of magic also hangs on Edwin researching the nature of magic itself, with his beloved Robin Blyth supporting him with his magical visions. Not to mention any clues to be found inside Spinet House, the very independent puzzle-box of a house that actress and illusionist Violet Debenham has recently inherited, which the group is searching under the eye of their de facto general Maud Blyth. Are you catching on? In all three books, Marske has inextricably woven these romances—as well as their attendant tertiary relationships, be they filial or friendly—with the mystery of The Last Contract, the human/fae bargain that predates them all by several generations.

By the start of A Power Unbound, this found family will be searching for the third of three magically disguised items from the original contract, before the Magical Assembly—led by Edwin’s cruel and ruthless brother Walter, conspiring with Jack’s cousin George Bastoke—gets their hands on it. By the end, it will transform humans’ relationship to the magic that has threaded itself into the very fabric of British society.

And what brings it all together is a collection of queer erotica written by a pseudonymous filth-peddler called the Roman. The slim books’ telltale purple spines are how Edwin and Robin, despite being on opposite sides of a magical divide, recognized one another in A Marvellous Light. Those same tracts helped Maud let go of her inhibitions on the R.M.S. Lyric, via late-night tongue-in-cheek performances that opened up her understandings of desire. And now… well, all I will say is that you have an avid lifelong reader in Jack, and a lifelong writer in Alan, and an entire library’s worth of ready-made scripted scenarios that they both know by heart. It’s the perfect formula for the filthy and freeing ways in which they play together and explore all manner of feelings.

But that’s the thing: It’s easier to play a part—to fulfill someone’s expectations about how you act according to class and privilege, or lack thereof; to push someone’s kinky buttons; to play out a scenario to its inevitable end—than it is to be truly authentic about your feelings. Each of the Last Binding’s couples are forced at turns to be vulnerable with one another in the bedroom, as well as with other figures in non-sexual scenarios, but Marske cranks those emotional stakes up to 11 here. She nails the enemies-to-lovers dynamic of Jack and Alan by really delving into the class tensions between them, which provide delicious frisson to their trysts but are actual potential obstacles to being able to trust one another. When we meet Alanzo Rossi’s Italian family and realize just how many ends he has to make meet for them, in ways that have never occurred to his new friends, it is destabilizing in a way that provides ever more surprises even two and a half books in.

And then, by the same token, there’s Jack’s grief. The loss of his twin Elsie—and with her Jack’s share of their power—has hung over the series like a specter, with more revealed in a devastating prologue that propels Jack away from his ancestral family estate Cheetham Hall. But if we’ve learned anything about the land upon which this series has sprouted, you can’t just abandon the grounds that fostered you and expect them to stop sprouting in your absence. Grief doesn’t disappear, it just changes (me, still processing losing my dad, drafting my own review: well FUCK), and if you’re lucky it grows into a part of you that you get to carry into the rest of your own life.

All of these poignant themes culminate in a truly excellent magical showdown during an equinox gala, that keeps the action taut and fast-paced. Truly, The Last Contract could have been resolved in any manner of ways, and part of the fun is not being able to predict how things will turn out in the end.

Especially exhilarating is how Marske takes such big swings with the magic. The series started with deadly curses and continued with magic used in exceedingly bloody self-defense, but back in England we get to really see the world-rending scope of it. Neither Marske nor her characters are afraid to transmute magic, to take it away, to blow the whole thing up. A thrilling set piece in the middle of the book involves a heist in a government building, and Edwin not. fucking. around., which is its own fantastic payoff considering his complicated personal history with having less magic than his peers.

In every line, Marske so carefully considers the nature of power, wisely channeling it through characters who, compared to nearly everyone else they run into, are lacking in magic. Violet might have the strongest affinity (at least, at the start of Unbound), but even she has had magic used against her in disempowering ways. That’s what makes these people the best ones to determine whether humans deserve to continue wielding magic like privilege, like access, like upper-class arrogance.

A Marvellous Light set this series’ standard for delving into the thorniness of contracts and how beautiful it is to freely consent. A Power Unbound beautifully carries through that thread as well as the concept of ownership—of magical estates via inheritance, yes, but also offering yourself up to belong to someone else. I hope you enjoy this accomplished ending, then find someone to text or shake awake at 2 a.m. to hand them A Marvellous Light and establish the contract between author and reader all over again.

Marske's quirky, funny, richly imagined magical world, complex character-building, relationship exploration, and storytelling continues in this third and last installment of the Last Binding series.

I've been sooooo excited to read this final installment in Freya Marske's Last Binding trilogy, a queer historical fiction fantasy-mystery series I've loved.

Jack Alston (Lord Hawthorn) swore that he was finished with magic for good after his twin sister Elsie died. But when a dangerous ritual threatens the safety of all the magicians in Great Britain, he reluctantly dives back into the world to try and help procure the Last Contract to keep safe his remaining loved ones--and the public at large.

An unlikely (and wonderfully mischievous and complementary) group of allies fights to reveal the source of the evil at work, and favorite characters (and villains) from past books are present throughout. Through unexpected attractions to each other and the uncovering of weighty secrets, the group works to unravel the mysterious roots of British magic once and for all.

I loved a deeper dive behind Jack's grumpy, closed-off façade. Marske continues the LGBTQ-positive storylines in a Jack-Alan romance that is frequently intensely steamy and develops into a sexual attraction heavy on the role-playing and specifics. The relationship is complicated, sometimes marred by betrayal, and also beautifully heartbreaking and heartwarming in its breaking down of emotional walls.

In A Power Unbound, Marske also explores class divides, gender-power imbalances, LGBTQ love, and the difficulty in--and sometimes necessity of--breaking long-held, outdated traditions.

The friends-like-family element and deep loyalty is strong among the members of Jack's group, and the magic of the situation is wonderfully imagined and rich in detail. There's danger, and justice served, and imperfect solutions, and compromise, and Marske's storytelling is yet again charming, funny, sometimes dark, and always fantastic.

I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group.

Marske is also the author of A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth (links to my reviews of these books available on the blog!).

Loved being able to continue in Robin's and Edwin's world, and you will fall for the two main leads as well. All in all a worthy conclusion to the series!

Freya Marske writes beautifully. I'm not...entirely certain I understood what was happening or why it needed to happen or what happens next, but she has just a really beautiful, lyrical, vivid style of writing.

DNF at 40%.

There was nothing wrong with this book AT ALL, it just wasn't working for me right now. I found it wasn't keeping my attention and I was having trouble remembering all of the people from the previous two books (both good and bad ones).

I'll likely come back to this one at some point, as I did enjoy the first two and I want to know how it ends, this just isn't the time for it.

While I deeply enjoyed the conclusion of this series the power dynamics were not as fleshed out as they could have been to provide a solid hfn or hea. Could have been stronger but I'm use to KJ Charles who is marvelous at this.

I want to see what you become when you're given the space for it.

In which the final book of the Last Contract arrives, and is both heartwarming and underwhelming. At least it made me actually kinda like Jack, who was a total dickhead in the previous books, and it had some solidly sordid D/s-light sex scenes, but overall the mystery and the resolution was...meh.

Throughout most of the book our intrepid heroes were bumbling inefficiently about while the baddies were hyper efficient in doing what it took to be Bad, and well, I wanted to smack every single one of them on the forehead at various points. And I thought it should have been about 100 pages shorter. I reached the 53% mark and was like, "wow, must be close now!" and was a bit stunned to realize I had only gotten a little more than halfway.

Anyhow, enjoyable, yes. But more frustrating than anything else.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

This is a stunning conclusion to THE LAST BINDING series. I enjoyed the exploration of the power dynamics between the two mcs and the kink! I can't decide if this was my favorite relationship to read....actually, I think it's tied with Robin and Edwin's--but my favorite character is definitely Alan. He's SOOO well-written, a very foxy, clever, always three steps ahead of everyone else. And it was really satisfying to explore this new couple without feeling like the other characters were left out of the conclusion of this story. Really well done.