A Restless Truth

I wondered how Freya Marske would continue Edwin and Robin’s story in A Restless Truth. It turns out that she doesn’t. Instead, she focuses on Maud Blyth, Robin’s sister, for a new adventure while still progressing the story of the mysterious Final Contract. Occurring on an ocean liner, Maud proves how much she is like her brother in her ability to get into trouble. Once she pairs up with Violet, shenanigans become the name of the game, as does the very real danger they uncover. As with the first book in the Last Binding series, the spice is hot, and the action is almost nonstop. Also, we get a few more answers. Most importantly though, Ms. Marske sets up the series for one hell of a finale. I, for one, cannot wait to see what she show more has in store for her readers. show less

I loved the first book in this series SO MUCH, and this one is so different it had me a little worried. (A Marvellous Light was a very slow burn "English manor house book about vulnerability and wallpaper" (as Marske days on the acknowledgements), and this a romp on the high seas.) Not all of this worked for me, but I couldn't help but love the impulsive but principled Maud, and that carried me through any occasional wobble. Magic, mystery, sapphic discovery, and lots of feelings on the roles allowed women in (mostly British) society, and the available avenues for rebellion. Very ready for the third piece!

Freya Marske, Author of A Restless Truth—and A Marvellous Light, which preceded this new novel—is one of the best world-builders writing today. The world in these two novels is based on a very familiar Edwardian England, but with a complex upper crust of magicians, unrecognized by ordinary humans, and whose struggles for power over one another and the world at large create crises of enormous scale.

Yes, there are plenty of books out there that layer magic onto the world as we know it—or knew it, or may know it in the future. But Marske's novels have a richness of character and depth of structure that are nearly impossible to match.

In A Marvellous Light, we followed the struggle of non-magic foreseer Robin Blythe (because an ability show more to sometimes glimpse the future is not the same as owning magic) and weakly magical Edwin Courcey, who face a conspiracy that could lead to a magitotalitarian (so pleased to be able to coin that term) England. Like the Edwardian England of our history books, Marske's Edwardian England is splintered by brutal hierarchies of wealth and gender. And magicians with greater powers take pleasure in tormenting both non-magic people and magicians of weaker powers.

As Robin and Edwin struggle through this uneven battle they also fall in love, which makes economic and gender divisions dangerous in ways beyond the usual—and sets them up for abuse by those whose magic is particularly powerful.

In A Restless Truth, we don't see Robin and Edwin, but they are key background figures because Robin's sister Maud, who like Robin has no magic, has agreed to try to protect and bring to England Elizabeth, an elderly, female, ex-pat magician who holds one of three crucial magical objects. Almost as soon as Robin and Elizabeth board the White Star Line's R.M.S. Lyric to return to England, Elizabeth is killed and Robin is left to puzzle out who killed her and whether any of the objects the killer stole was a transmogrified form of the magical object Elizabeth held. Maud needs to locate and build alliances with magical individuals who have been half-glimpsed by brother Robin's foreseeing.

The novel takes place aboard ship over the six-day journey to England. Add into the mix non-magical individuals who have strange powers of their own, a fraudulent medium, and any number of magical villains wanting the power which the lost object could provide. At the same time, romantic tensions build between Maud and Violet Debenham, a "ruined" upper-crust magician who fled the restrictive structures of her family to build a very different life working in a Bowery theater.

Phew! It's complicated. There are many, many characters. And one really should read A Marvellous Light before taking on A Restless Truth. Nonetheless, A Restless Truth repays readers generously for the demands it will make on their time and mental energy. Like many readers, I enjoyed A Marvellous Light more than A Restless Truth—but that's like saying I prefer a four-star meal to a three-star one. Both are well above the usual.

My advice: find and read A Marvellous Light. Fall in love with Robin and Edwin as they fall in love with one another. Learn how the English system of cradled (as in cat's cradle) magic works. Then read A Restless Truth. Fall in Love with Maude and Violet as they fall in love (maybe?) with each other and fight against the restrictions they both face as women. Learn about the American system of ring magic. Then sit back and wait anxiously for the next volume in this fabulous series.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of violence, blood, gore and death from the beginning including poisoning and kidnapping. There are scenes discussing abusive relationships, homophobia, misogyny and classism.

A Restless Truth didn’t just live up to its predecessor, it blew it out of the water. A Restless Truth is described as “Knives Out meets The Binding “, but personally I would describe it as “Death on The Nile/The Titanic but make it gay with magic”. It has the mysterious death and crime solving of Death on The Nile, minus the limited guest list which is where the similarity to The Titanic comes in. The ship that is the setting for most of the book is large with guests from show more all classes. Unlike The Titanic, the journey is from America to London rather than the other way and there is no catastrophic event. There is still plenty of danger though! And of course, there is romance, steamy romance…

A Restless Truth continues on from the events of the first book where Robin Blyth and Edwin Courcey found out about a magical conspiracy that affects the entire magical community. The Last Contract, a contract between the fey and the magicians of the British Isles which in the wrong hands threatens the entire British Isles. It was divided into several pieces by the women who found it, for safety. While the boys remain behind in London to handle things from that end, Robin’s sister Maud heads off to America to make contact with one of the women who has a piece of the contract in her possession, Elizabeth Navenby. Maud’s job is to let her know that their secret is out, and that everyone who has a piece is in great danger. It’s deemed safer for Maud to escort Mrs Navenby back to London to ensure that she and her piece of her contract remain safe.

Mrs Navenby is a wonderfully wily old woman who despite her age is determined not to be counted out just yet. She keeps her piece of The Last Contract on her, and refuses to disclose the identity of it to Maud. She will reveal its location when they arrive in London. That’s all well and good, but it becomes a problem when Mrs Navenby is assassinated by the opposition! Maud is trapped on a ship with a killer, no allies and no idea where the hidden piece may be. With only her brother’s visions to guide her, supplied before her mission and with zero context, Maud must use all her wits to stay one step ahead of the perpetrators.

A Marvellous Light was great, and while I expected good (and steamy) things from A Restless Truth, Marske took things to a whole other level with this book. I have to admit I wasn’t that interested in Maud as a character in the first book, but she came into her own in this one and that was entirely the point. At the start she’s a young woman who has never had the chance to do or experience anything. This is her first time being given the chance to experience life and by god does she grab that chance with everything she’s got! There is something so very endearing about her naivety and bashfulness, and the way she navigates through all the new things. Unlike other characters in similar situations that I can recall, Marske stops just short of preventing those endearing qualities from becoming irritating. Maud is just naive and shy enough to be genuine, for it to feel real, and then she begins to learn, to understand what she wants, and likes.

I am talking about the romance and sex scenes, as well as other life experiences. For those who have read A Marvellous Light, you’ll be familiar with Marske’s saucy scenes. Personally I would say that she turned it even further in this one, but I am a bi woman, so naturally this one was more my speed than book one. There are scenes where characters discuss pornography which are absolutely brilliant. They are both racy and comedic, and that is something Marske does so well; interlacing emotions so that one moment you’re feeling one thing and then the next line the tension completely shifts.

Baron Hawthorn, a character that appears in the previous book, is one of Maud’s allies on the ship or should I say, the poor sod that Maud masterly manipulates into helping her. Oh yes, as I said there is much more to our young Maud than what we saw in A Marvellous Light. He was an interesting figure in the first book, and in this one we get to see much more of him, learning more about him as a character. He is juxtaposed with another male character from a completely different background, and along with Violet, that makes the four comrades in arms who investigate Mrs Navenby’s murder. He doesn’t get on with the other man in the group, bickering constantly, but it’s one of those relationships that you’re sure is going to lead onto something else…

I loved the character of Violet for so many reasons. She’s independent, fearless and charismatic, and yet so vulnerable. It wasn’t difficult to see why Maud was impressed with her because I was impressed with her. Watching the two women work together to investigate the murder, and work out where Mrs Navenby hid her piece of the contract, all the while unsure of whether they could trust each other or anyone else on the ship was such a pleasure. I lapped up every single detail of the scenes, from the banter and high jinks to the investigating and the magic.

A Restless Truth was a massive hit for me, combining my favourite genres with incredible world-building and irresistible characters.

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I liked getting to know Maud better, especially away from her brother. She is such a headstrong character and it was delightful seeing her essentially strongarm her way into being the leader of a mishmash crew. While Violet's characterization is understandable, it sometimes felt infuriating that she couldn't trust Maud the way we, the reader who knows Maud better, can. However, they made a striking pair and it was delightful to see how they wriggled their way through this seabound adventure.

Like the first book in the series, A Marvellous Light, this has entirely TMI and, like the first book, I really don’t care because with all the world-building out of the way it has even more going for it. It’s set in the same alternative Edwardian England where magic is real but it takes place on an ocean liner where two factions of magicians are after the second piece of the Last Contract. This way we get both a 'sort of' closed-room mystery and a steamy shipboard romance. Now that there’s only one last piece of the Contract to find I’m impatiently waiting for book three.

A beautiful, engrossing sequel with really thoughtful and character-driven work around consent, wanting, and what it means to be one's real self in a complicated and dangerous world.