A Restless Truth

by Freya Marske

Hardcover, 2022

Call number

823.92

Series

The Last Binding (2)

Tags

last binding, 02, fantasy, historical fantasy, fantasy of manners, lgbtq, hb

Genres

Publication

Tordotcom (2022), 400 pages

Pages

400

Description

"A Restless Truth is the second entry in Freya Marske's beloved, award-winning Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light. Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady's companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago. What she didn't expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who's also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can't help but desire: a magician, an actress, and a magnet for scandal. Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of suspects, Maud and Violet must first drop the masks that they've both learned to wear before they can unmask a murderer and somehow get their hands on a magical object worth killing for-without ending up dead in the water themselves"--… (more)

Awards

LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — November 2022)

Language

English

Original language

English

Original publication date

2022-11-01

Physical description

400 p.; 8.25 inches

ISBN

1250788919 / 9781250788917

Similar in this library

User reviews

LibraryThing member jennybeast
Great continuation of the series, and highly amusing shipboard shenanigans. Very much looking forward to seeing where this goes from here. Excellent smut, in addition to the fascinating magical system and the endearing alt-historical setting.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
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
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 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 has in store for her readers.
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LibraryThing member JorgeousJotts
I really dislike giving this a low score, but I just didn't enjoy it enough to round up to a 3. I liked the first book above average, but I felt pretty mediocre about these characters (except, strangely, their very begrudging aly from the first book. He's so prickly, but I'm quite curious to hear
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 more about how he got that way. Fingers crossed that he gets his own book). I tried to care about the adventure/trials/mystery/etc., even if I wasn't taken with the characters, but it was a struggle as well. I didn't want to dnf it, but I did look forward to it just concluding already.
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LibraryThing member tornadox
In search of other members of The Forsythia Club, Maud Blyth finds herself under an assumed name as an elderly woman’s companion on an ocean liner sailing from New York to Southampton.

Contains murder, magic, amateur sleuthing, greedy relatives, scandalous rumours, an African Gray parrot named
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 Dorian, and a sexual awakening.

excellent sequel. I liked how Marske expanded the magic system of the first book. I can’t wait to read the next book. I really want to see Edwin interact with Violet and Alex, as well as Robin, Edwin, Violet, and Maud all be disasters together.

I have many theories about the happenings in this trilogy/series after I read the first book that were not confirmed or denied the second book. But I’m calling it now: Lord Hamilton is A Roman.

Read ARC from Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member Black-Lilly
It was a good continuation from the first book. Taking the story into a completely different setting took away from the normal let down and repetitiveness middle volumes of a trilogy often suffer from.
I took this book more as an introduction to the characters we will most likely see again in the
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 conclusion, as where the object they were all looking for, was hidden, was very obvious from very early on.
All in all was it good fun (the sex scenes were not as awkward as in the first book, even though, again, "folds" is getting quite repetitive ...), Maud was sometimes a bit too exhausting but that gave a bit pace in a setting where you can't change the scene quickly, which doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the ship setting, on the contrary actually.
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LibraryThing member caedocyon
Knocked stars off for it being hard to get into (maybe it's been too long since I read the previous book). Once it got going, though, very fun and enjoyable!

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