A Marvellous Light Review

Red White & Royal Blue meets Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts, and conspiracies.

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.

General Impressions

I'm in awe of this book. I loved it so much, I feel I can't even write its review properly, so you'll have to contend with this mess of gushing.

If you were a fan of Harry Potter (or still are) but would rather it was not written by a TERF and are still mourning the end of the Carry On series, pick this up now! It won't solve all your life's problems, but you will forget them for a while.

The plot? Amazing. The characters? I love them. The romance? Immaculate. The sex scenes? Everything but - this had Ao3 level of hotness.

This was such a wonderful book because was able to combine all the tropes we love while making sure they did not become cliches. The world-building was amazing, the writing was absolutely beautiful, and I can barely wait for the sequel.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Tor and Black Crow Pr for this book.

Rating: 5/5