Review: A Restless Truth by Freya Marske
(The Last Binding, book 2)
by Freya Marske
Pub: Nov 1, 2022
The characters in this book were so great. Hawthorn and Violet both turned out to be a real highlight of the book for me. Lord Hawthorn really surprised me - I wasn’t expecting to like him! He’s the biggest grump ever to grump, he’s hilariously deadpan, feigns disinterest, and is, against his better judgment, caring (even though he’d never admit it). I enjoyed his character so much. And Violet is progressive, independent, ahead of her time and willing to push people’s buttons. She proudly refuses to be shamed or guilted for being herself. She is a feminist icon and I love her! She and Maud together are just delightful. I loved them as individuals and as a couple.
I loved the strong feminist undertone of the book. Between Maud, Violet, Mrs. Navenby and the rest of the Forsythia Club, this book is populated by women who are rule breakers. They all deal with being excluded in some way due to their sex. They are amazing, strong, smart women and I would love to be able to read more about all of them.
And it was fun to watch Maud lose some of her innocence and naïveté after hanging out with the much more worldly Violet and Hawthorn. Poor Maudie had a lot of eye opening discoveries to make and it was very amusing. (And what happens with her and Mrs. Navenby was a riot. 😂)
Edwin & Robin are mentioned a lot which I thought was cool. I was really wanting them to be part of this book and in a way they are. It’s interesting seeing them from Maud’s perspective. I feel like we actually get to know them even better in this book even though they’re not around.
Additionally, and thematically, something that more than one character illustrated is the sadness of having to hide who you are, never being allowed to indulge in the desires of your true self. It’s a cautionary tale, and not just one that stems from the book taking place one hundred years in the past but is unfortunately still relevant to today. The sexism and homophobia these characters experienced (or tried desperately to avoid) are examples of ways in which we’ve made great social advancement but still have so far yet to go.
One of the things I loved most about A Marvellous Light was the unique and intriguing magic system that was tied so closely to nature. [More thoughts on this topic can be found in this post.] The nature connection definitely continues here. (Hawthorn, Violet, Forsythia?) It’s fleshed out in ART a little more. We learn some specifics about how it works including different approaches like using rings and runes, and the ways different cultures and previous generations performed it, which I loved. There’s a scene where Maud communicates silently to Hawthorn in “cradlespeak” and it one of my favorite moments. Cradling spells in front of another magician but not putting magic into it is basically like using sign language as a way to converse silently and I thought it was genius.
The downsides of A Restless Truth for me were the exposition and the tedious work of mystery solving. This isn’t the first time I’ve struggled through a mystery. I think, generally speaking, they just aren’t my genre. I found it difficult to keep reading at times (it’s extremely plot heavy) and the sheer number of people involved in the story was a little head spinning. For me, my favorite parts were when characters were revealing something about themselves or interacting on a personal level. The book really shined in those moments in my opinion. The mystery plot was well executed but took time away from what interested me most, which was the characters.
That said, the book ended up going places I never expected and the ride was very eventful. With everything that happens and the highly amusing characters, I think it’d make a terrific movie. Overall I enjoyed it and look forward to the next (final?) installment.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Tor/Macmillan for providing the digital arc.
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