A Marvellous Light cover art

A Marvellous Light

The Last Binding, Book 1

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A Marvellous Light

By: Freya Marske
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

Set in an alternative Edwardian England, this is a comedy of manners, manor houses and hedge mazes: including a magic-infused murder mystery and a delightful queer romance.

For fans of Georgette Heyer or Julia Quinn's Bridgerton who'd like to welcome magic into their lives....

Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he's actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.

Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor—but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.

The Binding meets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light. Continue the thrilling series with A Restless Truth.

©2021 Freya Marske (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Queer Magic Users

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Critic reviews

"Mystery! Magic! Murder! Long looks full of yearning! This book is a confection, both marvellous and light." (Alix E. Harrow)

"Freya Marske's A Marvellous Light is an absolute delight. I was caught from the very beginning by the compellingly realized characters, the gorgeous and deadly magical world, and the fascinating mystery. If you ever wished Downton Abbey was sharper-edged and full of magic, this is the book for you." (Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians)

"A dazzling debut." (Shelley Parker-Chan, author of She Who Became the Sun)

"Prepare to fall in love with the gorgeous Edwardian setting, the sizzling character dynamics, and the murderous enchanted hedge maze." (Emily Tesh, author of Silver in the Wood)
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I did enjoy this story and the very different way in which magic was presented, I wasn’t overly keen on the narrator if I’m honest, I do generally prefer English narrators, but at times it felt like this chap was narrating a child’s story and the accent used for the secretary wasn’t consistent and the voice for the sister was just plain odd - it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t get through it, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to this story again, which is a shame, as with a different voice actor I’m sure I would have

Interesting approach and enjoyable romance

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A well written story with and interesting  concept.  The characters are likeable and the narration is very good.

Enjoyable Story

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A bloody marvellous piece of storytelling! Audiobook is spectacular and characters, setting and relationships are just stupendous. Can’t wait for more.

Marvellous

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I've just listened to this book for a third time. Great story, characters, and writing

definitely worth listening

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A great magical yarn with well developed major characters and interesting plot. The narration was excellent. A fab holiday listen.

A Great Magical Yarn.

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Enjoyed this so much! Finished quickly and can't wait to start A Restless Truth. Excellent narrator, which made the story

Excellent

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I never reread books but the dynamic between all the characters is just so unbelievably fun. The whole trilogy is great but edwin and robin are my personal favourites

My 5th reread

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This book was recommended to me by a friend and it did not disappoint. Very well written, with a wonderful and realistic central romance that runs beautifully alongside the main plot. An interesting take on magic and a great start to a trilogy, can't wait for the next two!

A wonderful story

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I listen to/read a lot of stories that involve magic, so I was happy to find another that looked promising. But this one hasn’t hooked me and I’ve given up after 3 hours. The plot hasn’t flowed very well and the characters and their relationships are not engaging. It’s all just a bit bitty. The narrator was decent.

I love magical stories but not this one

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I thought the narrator was exuberant, even during the spicy scenes, which fit with the written narrative, even if I’d rather it were more gently passionate. If you like the writings of Oscar Wilde you may enjoy this book. The romance was very heated and I liked that about this story. The games at the country house were goofy. Overall the narration was appropriate for the time period, in a blustery manner. The story didn’t really flow like a plot driven novel, more like scenario driven with crazy things happening that didn’t seem to lend to any plot, but some twists were linked in the end. As for character development Edwin and Robin had arcs that progressed through the growing lust for each other and through happenstance of magical afflictions. I’m not really a huge fan of reading Edwardian era fiction like Dickens and Wilde, outside of academia, so I’m glad this book was written in modern times and wasn’t completely stuffy as original works written in their own timeframes. I liked the main characters enough to finish listening to their story, but their personalities being very Edwardian and blithering, plus the blunt exuberant narration to go along with it, just doesn’t make me want to read on if there’s more books in the series. Too Edwardian for my tastes. I do like magical tales though. And I liked the fact that there wasn’t too much violence when fighting the bad guys, or surviving curses and sticky situations. Adventurous during those moments, but reflective narrative was stretched out a bit too much. This was definitely the most steamy male male novel I’ve ever read though. I loved it. Very spicy.

Elaborate writing and narration

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