A Power Unbound by Freya Marske (audiobook)

Pages: 432 

Publisher: Tor 

Released: 9th of November 2023 

A Power Unbound is the final entry in Freya Marske’s beloved, award-winning Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light.

Secrets! Magic! Enemies to. . .something more?

Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world.

Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross.

Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package.

When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall―Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner―Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice . . . and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.

What I Have to Say 

I really love this world and I'm honestly so sad to leave it, but the ending of this series was so clever. I spent most of the book wondering how the hell they were gonna get out of this, but the conclusion was satisfying and wrapped everything up. 

I did find it a bit hard to keep track of the characters. Because of the way the books are set out, there are some characters in this that we haven't heard from since the first book so I really struggled. There was also the fact that the two POV characters were referred to by their last names or first names depending who's perspective it was. But I got it all straight by the end! 

The audio was fantastic, they captured Jack and Alan's voices perfectly and was really pleasant to listen to. 

I would recommend reading this series all at once so that you don't have so much to remember, but overall it was a really strong trilogy! 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Tor and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted copy for review.