Title: A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding #1)

Author: Freya Marske

Publisher: Tordotcom 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR; Unread Shelf Project - Book Bought for the Cover

Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.

Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it―not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.

Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles―and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.

Oh this was a delight from start to finish! I got a mix of The Magicians and Jonathan Strange, but much lighter with some great romance. We get thrown into the story and slowly start to unravel the pieces along with Robin. He was such a wonderful character that you cannot help but love him. As we get thrown into the mystery, we slowly start to meet the rest of the cast of characters. Edwin comes across as a straight-laced aristocrat, but we get to peel back the layers along with Robin. I absolutely loved their burgeoning friendship and then romance. (But be forewarned that there are some very open door steamy scenes in this book. Oh, definitely needed a fan to myself a few times.) The mystery was sufficiently intriguing and dangerous. I sped through the pages not wanting the book to end. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

The Last Binding

• #1 A Marvellous Light

• #2 A Restless Truth

Next up on the TBR pile: