Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

Ah this was perfection! A thrilling way to conclude the trilogy. Robin and Edwin team up with their associates to find the pieces of the final contract. It's a thrilling ride and I absolutely recommend!

Lord Hawthorn and Alan Ross continue to find themselves drawn into the magical power struggles around the Last Contract. They're drawn closer together and deeper into magic as the magical world comes to a reckoning over the Last Contract.

This was somehow the best book in what was already an incredible series. It managed to be tense and surprising with a satisfying conclusion to the series.

The narrator did such a wonderful job with the voices. It was so easy to tell at any point which character was the narrator because they each had such distinctive ways of speaking.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced audio copy of the book.

A POWER UNBOUND is the final book in Freya Marske’s The Last Binding Trilogy. In this instalment, Lord Hawthorne and Alan Rossi (who was introduced in book 2) are the central characters, but we get a lot more of Edwin and Robin (my favorite couple of the series), Maud and Violet (ugh!) and a few others, namely Adelaide Morrissey.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into this one. My biggest struggle - and likely the root of my dissatisfaction - came from the narration. The narrator was not able to capture the essence of the different characters and it was often difficult to figure out who was actually speaking. Maybe it would have been easier to follow if I’d read the book, but I never felt truly invested enough in the story or the couple to switch formats and really make the effort. Everything took way too long to get going, which is acceptable in a first book of a series, but not the last. And this one felt really heavy. I guess the conclusion was decent.

I think coming off the painful experience of skimming book 2 (I hated it and found it incredibly difficult to finish), I just didn’t have it in me to really appreciate this book right now. Maybe I’ll try again some day….

I read books 1 & 2 to prepare for this ARC and I am SO glad I did, they were great! But without reading them I would have totally been lost in this 3rd book. This was a great read and I loved all the characters and the redemption for Lord Hawthorn!! I can't wait to read the next book in the series b/c there just have to more of them!

This series and I have been on a journey. I somehow always read them when I don't have time to read them meaning that I start the audiobook on days when I can only listen to a little bit at a time and these books lend themselves better to finishing it in fewer sprints.

There's something about the magical system and all of the characters that you really need to try and absorb as much as you can in one sitting and unfortunately I wasn't able to do that.

I feel like I'm in the same spot I was after I finished the first book the first time. Where I can recognize that this book is really good but I don't actually feel like I liked it that much. I don't dislike it and I'm definitely going to recommend it but I didn't love it and I hate that I didn't love it because I want to love it. One day I'm going to have all the time in the world and I can sit down and just breeze through these books again and really appreciate the storytelling and the magical system and the character development for how beautiful it really is. I hate that my brain has not caught on.

Out of the three books the second is still my favorite. I did really like this one and I'm here for some kinky historical fiction. We love that. I do somehow always forget how much smut is in these ones. Like they're not smutty books but they do have a handful of fairly lengthy explicit scenes. I'd rate it like a three on the spice scale out of five.

Anyway I did really like Jack and I liked Alan and I liked all of them I just wish that I loved them.

I do especially appreciate all of the queer representation and the lavender marriage that we got here and the potential for one of these characters to be aroace. She was a secondary character in the first book and it's a secondary character in the third book and she talks about how she has no desire for a relationship or to marry etc.

One thing I can say I genuinely loved was all of the platonic relationships between the characters. Sure there's the three couples but the single characters are not left out and there is such a strong sense of bonding and family that is one of my favorite things in Queer books.

I’m a Freya Marske fan for life! A Power Unbound was just as magical and romantic as the first two books. Definitely would recommend this and the entire series!

I've enjoyed the other books in this queer historical fiction romance series with touches of magic but I had a really difficult time getting into this latest one. Totally a me thing or maybe just a not jiving with the narrators thing. I'll try again in print perhaps later on but it was a DNF this time around. I did enjoy that there was a lot of character crossover from the other two books! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

What you'll get:
Disasters to Lovers
Let's Do Crime as Foreplay
Magic Society
Writer (of secret erotic literature)
Very polite kinks
Grief

So this book was hard for me to get into. The sheer amount of names would have been fine but then people were addressed by their last name by some or first name only by others so it took a minute to even figure out who was in every room. As far as the romance goes, these two are completely repulsed to learn they're super into the other. Alan and Jack go way back because Jack's a big fan of Alan's secret books and has a whole shelf of them in his private library.

I thought this helped to finish out the overall story arc on this series but it felt like a lot of plotting and standing around while plotting. I'm not even 100% that I understand everything that happened but I enjoyed myself anyway.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Man, I love the final book in a trilogy, and this one was no exception. All the characters come together, which is such a treat, and the overarching plot starts to rev up and wrap up. I absolutely loved Jack and Alan’s banter, but their whole dom/sub thing in the bedroom was not really for me. But I loved hanging out with the whole cast and really enjoyed seeing how much they’d all grown together! And the audio was absolute perfection!!

A difficulty of reviewing audiobooks is that unless I have a copy of the text, which in this case I don't, or unless I take notes, which I didn't, I can't quote. So I'm left to say in a general way that this is a blast, that I was satisfied by how it took up and resolved the matter of how the Last Contract enshrines class privilege, and that the relationship between Jack and Alan was everything I could possibly have hoped for, to say nothing of the um "endearments" Jack comes up with for Alan. At a certain point I realized that "Master Perturbator" is two syllables away from something else entirely, and laughed so hard I had to pause the audio.

Speaking of perturbation, I might have wished for Marske to make more use of this talent of Alan's -- it's useful in investigating Violet Debenham's Spinet House (but that thread gets cut off when [spoiler redacted]), and it saves Alan's bacon a time or three, but it doesn't really figure in the climactic events. It's almost a red herring.

As for the narration, it was mostly fine -- excellent, in the exchanges (sexual [holy smokes, can Marske write a sex scene] and otherwise) between Jack and Alan -- but too often I had trouble distinguishing the secondary male characters' voices. Between that and Alan's underutilized perturbation, I guess I have to take off a star. The truth is, though, that I had a wonderful time and fully expect to listen to this again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

Ah, the end of a trilogy. So the good and the bad. The good is that I enjoyed Jack and Alan and their relationship. Some well-written 1800's BDSM was not on my bingo card but good for them. The overall conclusion was fun, action-packed, and exciting. Seeing all 6 characters united in the final story to save the day was super fun as well. My problem arises in that this book didn't actually feel like Jack and Alan's story. It feels like they were simply vessels of narration through which we viewed the other characters and thus the end of the story. I would have much preferred we had this third book about Jack and Alan and an adventure of their own and then had a fourth book that was multi-POV between all three couples. Really wouldn't have changed anything about the final book except the pass the narration around so it didn't feel so much like being a voyeur through the narration puppets Jack and Alan. I think the two of them deserved to have their own book and not just be storytellers for the others and that's how the story felt to me.

Unfortunately, the book was a complete miss for me. The series has something about itself that I do appreciate, yet at the same time I feel like we are bored with the same storyline and a bunch of archaisms that make no sense for a modern reader. With that come descriptions out of context, and at the end I'm finding myself wondering what I just actually read. Of course, with that being said, I do recognize that this is purely subjective and all that is a personal preference. I get why this book/series would convince anybody else. The one good side was the lector who tried their best with their diction to make it as possible to comprehend as possible.

I love the prose but just found this one a little difficult to get through. I thought there were a lot of secondary characters that made it a little hard to follow at times. I overall liked this, but it definitely was not my favorite in this series.

Thank-you Netgalley for this ARC.
PERFECTION. The third and final installment of the trilogy was pure perfection. The narrator in the audiobook was amazing as well. There's magic, TWO heists, a thief, a brooding lord, a tree, and bees! You can't get any better then that! I am really happy that the third book was as great as the first one because the second in the series wasn't my favourite. I can't wait to read more from Freya Marske!

This was a really nice finale to the trilogy!

I really liked the characters. This one was sorta fun because it brought together the whole little group of allies that included the characters from the previous books. They didn’t all get along very well all the time, but that just made the dynamic more interesting, and they still mostly cared.

And I really liked Jack (Lord Hawthorn) and Alan as narrators. I liked that Jack was one of those grumpy, surly characters with a heart of gold… but not too much gold. He was still sort of a jerk, still sort of pushed people away, still didn’t spend his days doing good deeds out of the kindness of his heart. But he also kept protecting Maud and Alan and whoever else needed it. He learned and realized some things and even made an apology or two. And Alan had so much conviction and fight and fire. He didn’t let anyone walk all over him. He’d had a difficult life. And he would do anything for his family.

They made a great couple, because Jack really did need someone who could take his snappishness and biting remarks and then give them right back. He needed someone who wouldn’t let him walk all over them. And Alan was that person. Despite all the verbal sparring (or maybe because of it), I believed the feelings growing between them. They also just had great tension and chemistry. I didn’t expect the sex between these two to be so hot. But they are really into the roleplaying thing they’re into, and their desire leapt off the pages (or out of the speakers, as it were). And they discussed the limits/rules before really getting into it, so I knew it was always being enjoyed by them both.

The magical conspiracy/contract was still the main thing the plot revolved around. The mystery got a little too bogged down in details sometimes, slowing down the story and losing my attention a bit, but not as much as Book 2. There was some danger and action and ultimately a conclusion to everything.

And since this was the end of the series, the ending was sweet. Not overly explained, but I like that. The important things were wrapped up, and all the main characters had some cute moments together.

Just a note, even though each book in this series is about a different couple as the focus, I do think you should read them in order if you want to fully enjoy them. You might be a bit lost about the plot and who the characters are if you skip any.

I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Josh Dylan. He sounded natural, had a nice voice to listen to, and always suited the emotion of the scene. Voices for Jack and Alan weren’t super different, but they had slightly different accents.

Overall, this was a lovely ending to a series full of magic and mystery and sweet, sexy queer romances!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for an audiobook ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review!
I loved A Marvellous Light. It instantly became a new favorite read for me. So it gives me SO. MUCH. JOY. that this third book brings the overarching story to a satisfying conclusion.

This book, as was clearly set up in book 2, centers on the relationship between Lord Hawthorn and Allan. I was a bit nervous about this, but Marske does an excellent job building both these characters into people you can understand, and even like, which is quite a feat in Lord Hawthorn’s case. I found I really enjoyed their development as characters and the spice in this book was a bit kinkier than earlier books in the series. Marske did a good job exploring power dynamic and ensuring clear consent through this book, which definitely enhanced the reading experience for me.

It was also so wonderful to get Robin and Edwin back on the page. Having all three couples (and a character we’re meant to read as Ace) present together was a true delight. I love ensemble casts, and that’s what this felt like, more than the other two.

I listened to the audiobook for this and while it was a different narrator than either of the other two books, the narration was excellent and seamless. Absolutely delightful listen!

The finale of this books was tense, epic, and surprising. I found it incredibly satisfying and true to the themes these books have been exploring since the start. While it still won’t take the place of best book in the series, I wholeheartedly recommend this to fans of the series, even those who had more mixed feelings about book 2.

2.75 / 5 ⭐️'ˢ

“A Power Unbound” By Freya Marske

📕 Edition: Audiobook

So, after not loving the first book in the series, I skipped the second book and dove straight into this one. Similar to the first book, I just wasn’t drawn into the magic. However, the 🌶️🌶️🌶️ in this one was definitely better and kept more of my interest. If everything else had been removed, I'd give it 4 stars! 😆

If I ever reread the first book, I'll come back to this one as well.

Thank you @netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Thank you so much to Tordocom and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

"I would write you into immortality. I would trap you in ink and wear the pages next to my skin until they fell apart. Kiss me until I know you. Kiss me until you know me, and unmake me, and love me anyway."


I have absolutely adored this series and was both nervous and ridiculously excited for this conclusion. And this was absolutely everything I didn't know I wanted as an ending.

Our heroes were introduced in book 2, and the exact couple I hoped for after finishing that book. It's a perfect mix of some of my favorite tropes - different worlds, opposites attract, and CNC.

These two bicker to no end, push each other's buttons, and test each other's resolve. I loved their dynamic and intense chemistry from the get go.

But I also loved getting to see the characters we already know and love from the previous books. One of my complaints about book 2 was that we didn't get any time with the previous characters. And we definitely got plenty of it in this one!

I also think the culmination was a perfect for this series. It was a little dark, a little intense, but ultimately hopefully.

And the ending nearly had me in tears. The way the MCs fall for each other was all consuming and I couldn't help but be swept away.

I'm so excited to see what Freya Markse writes next! And I will 100% be picking it up, whatever it is!

3.5 stars rounded up

I think this concluding volume of the series delivers a solid queer romance across class lines that is thoughtful and steamy. And it does wrap up the overarching plot of the series. That said, I really feel like the first book in the series is by far the strongest. I wasn't really invested in the story here until we were already more than 30% of the way in and I think it's because, for a romance, it's relying too heavily on momentum from previous books of the series. Once it hit its stride, the romance element was excellent with a very different dynamic than what we've seen before that's certainly on the kinkier side, but also is incredibly good about clear consent. The rest of the plot was more hit and miss for me. Overall I liked this and do recommend it if you like the series, but nothing has quite lived up to A Marvelous Light for me. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I thought the first two books in the Last Binding trilogy were fine, but honestly, this book made me like the entire trilogy more. Unlike many other final books, A Power Unbound does a very good job of pulling together the series. And while the first two books in the series had some decent on page romance, Freya Marske really goes for it in this one, which I delighted in!

Like many other romance series, each installment follows a new couple from the same wider cast of characters, in this book, we follow Ross and Hawthorn. While I wasn't either of their biggest fans prior, they had a really delightful dynamic in this book.

While I read the first two books in the physical book form, I think listening to this as an audiobook was a bonus. The narration felt perfect for the story. I'm so grateful to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me access to an advanced audio copy of the book, and that I did finish the trilogy.