Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
A Power Unbound, Freya Marske (Tordotcom 978-1-25078-895-5, $28.00, 432 pp, hc), November 2023.
‘‘Elsie Alston’s running feet hit the grass like pale secrets.’’ So begins the lyrical third and final installment in Freya Marske’s Last Binding trilogy, A Power Unbound. And like the previous entries, A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth, Marske’s deft and elegant use of language holds as much power and sway as her use of characterisation. As each previous book starred a growing cast of found family characters but concentrated on the growing romantic relationship between two (Edgar and Robin, Violet and Maud), A Power Unbound pairs the dashingly cranky Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn with the quick-witted commoner journalist/pornographer Alanzo Rossi (aka Alan Ross), as all three pairs of lovers attempt to save both their hides and the future of magic in Great Britain.
As stated, we open with the joyfully vivid image of Hawthorn’s twin sister, Elsie, as she and Jack run around and make trouble on their vast, magical estate, Cheetham Hall: as would befit the wealthy, talented, carefree 18-year-olds they are. This is the last day of their innocence, though. Elsie is soon struck down and Hawthorn rendered magicless by the power-hungry experiments of their Uncle John and cousin George.
After this, all Hawthorn wants to do is put such memories, as well as his family and his obligations to Cheetham Hall behind him… but he’s been sucked into the desperate search for (and defense of) the three magical items which make up the ‘‘Last Contract,’’ which contain the source of human magic as given by the fae, centuries before. George, who now has his own army of magical goons, is hell bent on seizing the power of the contract for himself – even if it means rendering every magician in Britain powerless. As much as Hawthorn hates it, he cannot allow this to happen, nor to have harm befall any of his friends.
Alan Ross, the now-unbusheled and unlikely hero of A Restless Truth, also finds himself drawn into the intrigue. His reluctance, however, has little to do with danger or obligation. Ross, quite frankly, needs money. He’s the sole support for his working-class family, and his job at the local Tory paper is far from lucrative. When he approaches the upper crust ‘‘Scooby gang’’ here, it’s not for the mystery or adventure. He’s looking for a bit of extra work or some dosh to steal.
The group soon discovers that Ross does have an incredible talent. Though he possesses no magic, he has a rare ability as a perturbator, or someone who can reflect back a spell – or even cause the spell itself to fall apart. Having the services of such a perturbator (as well as being something Edwin is desperate to study) proves key, so Alan finds himself employed by the group as both an experimental subject and as a secret weapon.
Thus, the aloof aristocrat and the argumentative writer find themselves thrown together… at first, unwillingly, and then, with a burning, raging, all-encompassing desire. If readers were fearful the final book in the trilogy would be all business, they’d be only partially correct. The book marches inevitably towards its bloody, operatic conclusion, yes. But there is plenty of hanky-panky.
Plenty.
There is a lot of plot to tie up. A lot of threads were laid out in the first two books. A Power Unbound mostly does a heroic job of bringing everything – and everyone – together. It does cause a bit of tonal whiplash, however. Pages and pages of lovingly detailed depictions of the growing affair between Hawthorn and Ross clang against the quickly moving plot. As I stated in the opening, Marske generously deploys her talent for gorgeous imagery, but as the book moves into the middle, there’s a sense we are watching a tennis match between language and action. Quickly moving plot chunks are slammed before and after pages of languid descriptive passages. The structure makes sense – there are not a lot of options for how to intersperse a tender love story within a book that must accomplish so much and pull together as many ambitious ideas.
Aside from that, A Power Unbound succeeds in doing what it needs to do as the final in a series. If there are unaddressed bits and bobs, they’re minor enough that I can’t call them to mind and feel confident other readers will be unlikely to do so either. We get the final ‘‘boss’’ battle in all its glory, and a new sense of order is attained. Each of the characters gets their deserved spoils and a fitting send-off (good and bad). As for the state of magic in Britain, well, I won’t spoil that. But know that there’s just enough for fans to stay hopeful that Marske will revisit this wondrous version of England again, in another series.
Caren Gussoff Sumption is a writer, editor, Tarot reader, and reseller living outside Seattle, WA with her husband, the artist and data scientist, Chris Sumption, and their ridiculously spoiled cat-children.
Born in New York, she attended the University of Colorado, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Clarion West (as the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia Butler scholar) and the Launchpad Astronomy Workshop. Caren is also a Hedgebrook alum (2010, 2016). She started writing fiction and teaching professionally in 2000, with the publication of her first novel, Homecoming.
Caren is a big, fat feminist killjoy of Jewish and Romany heritages. She loves serial commas, quadruple espressos, knitting, the new golden age of television, and over-analyzing things. Her turn offs include ear infections, black mold, and raisins in oatmeal cookies.
This review and more like it in the October 2023 issue of Locus.
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