I read the A Power Unbound and The Last Binding Trilogy because its author, Freya Marske shares an office with me and is a woman doctor in the ACT. In 2020 she was awarded the Australian National SF (Ditmar) Award for Best new talent.

A Marvellous Light, her debut novel was an international best seller and is the first volume in the trilogy. The entire series has become internationally acclaimed.

If one needs to categorise, this series could fit into the category of queer romantic fantasy and until I started sharing titles with Freya, it’s not a genre I was at all familiar with and even less familiar with its magical elements. However there was a time that I read the Georgette Heyer books in one of my mother’s book cases-and feel it also fits somewhat within the historical fiction vein and particularly of the Edwardian era of England as evidenced by the sumptuous covers of all three volumes with the allusions to William Morris wallpaper designs.

Freya was careful to warn me of the very detailed sexual scenes. I believed she also warned her mother of these as well. I came to view them as part of the erotic frisson that runs through all the books and which is just as readily evidenced in the humorous banter that goes on between all the couples. Because she warned me, I also warn you.

The final book, A Power Unbound brings the interwoven stories of the 6 characters together to untangle the secrets of the magic of the fae, a magic that is threatening all England and is central to Spinet House, itself one of magical edifices of manor houses and hedge mazes . Each book tells the stories of the relationships between the characters and the magic.

The story of Edwin and Robin is told in A Marvellous Light and there Jack Hawthorn and Alan Ross are in the background. The second volume, A Restless Truth – is a locked murder mystery on board a ship and the story of Violet and Maud unfolds.

The final volume in the trilogy, A Power Unbound gives us the explosive relationship of Jack and Alan, also known as Alanzo Rossi. It’s Alan’s immunity to magic AND his authorship as The Roman of an underground volume of queer erotica, that can finally bring the protagonists to the compelling and for me, unexpected but wholly satisfying conclusion of the series.

The author explores the theme of healing from profound loss. She writes about family and love. And explores the issues of wealth and power and poverty. I think I am now a little better equipped to understand magic from Freya’s exploration of it.

[A Power Unbound and The Last Binding Trilogy by Freya Marske is available in multiple formats including audiobook]

Dr Marjorie Cross, OAM

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