A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

Publication date: November 2023
Series: Book 3 of the Last Binding Trilogy
LGBTQ+ author: Queer
Setting: Edwardian England
Content warnings: Violent death and conflict, explicit sex

Freya has crawled into my head, figured out exactly what I want in a book and delivered. This breathtakingly perfect conclusion to the Last Binding Trilogy has suspense, betrayal, romance, magic, big houses that are like characters, and very hot spicy scenes. The audio book was 14 hours long (most books are around 8) and Freya could have just kept going for twice as long.

At first I struggled with understanding if this series was romance or fantasy, as the magically infused adventures share the stage with the budding very gay romances between our main characters. But it’s both, in addition to being set in Edwardian England. My dream.

Summary

In this third and final book of the series, we follow Lord Hawthorne — a grumpy aristocratic rake — as he begrudgingly agrees to help his friends on their quest to save British magical society from the bad guys who want to steal magic for their own selfish, evil purposes.

Has Lord Hawthorne already hooked up with almost all of his friends, male and female? Yes he has. Except for Allan, who we met in book two. Allan is a newspaper writer from a decidedly non-aristocratic background. Allan hates rich people. So naturally by the laws of romance novels, Lord Hawthorne and Allan find themselves in bed together.

I think talking about the plot anymore would spoil the fun, so I’ll leave it there. But the magical adventure bits are honestly a bit scary and violent at times. I found myself staying up late unable to put this book down.

House full of inverts

The book does not exist in some fantasy realm without homophobia. But Freya does not focus on it.

I wasn’t interested in telling a story about internalized homophobia or shame.

Freya Marske in an interview with Geeks Out

For example, it’s really common in historical queer romances to have the couple sneak back to their respective bedrooms after their romantic escapades, out of fear of being discovered. What Freya has constructed is a scenario in which that is not necessary.

Our three queer couples from the three books in this trilogy are all staying at Lord Hawthorne’s home towards the end of the book. When Allan gets up to leave his lover’s bedroom to avoid detection, Hawthorne tells him to stay by saying they are in a house full of inverts, so no one will care what they do.

Sexual inversion the way that sexual orientation and gender were understood at the time this book was set. Freya talks about her thoughts on terminology in an interview with Geeks Out that is worth reading. (And Before We Were Trans has a fascinating chapter on how inversion was not another word for gay. It was a totally different way of thinking about it than we are accustomed to.)

I also love that she made this setting for them — an island of safety and connection in a very scary, violent situation where none of the characters were sure they would live. Again, the life-threatening situation had everything to do with their magical quest and nothing to do with being gay. This is what we want!

Spicy scenes

Allan has been anonymously writing and selling illegal gay porn his entire adult life. Throughout the story Allan discovers Hawthorne happens to be one of his biggest fans. What a lucky coincidence for us … I mean them.

Allan has written many volumes in fantasy scenarios where powerful men “take advantage of” or “punish” people like himself. Allan says he hasn’t been able to play out these scenarios in real life because most people do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Lord Hawthorne very much understands. What unfolds is a very consent-aware exploration of sexually-charged power exchange.

Despite Allan’s submissive tendencies, he does not shy aware from telling Hawthorne what he thinks is wrong about the political and economic systems that have given Hawthorne his real life power. He also uses Hawthorne’s rather intense crush on him to take some of the power back in their internal personal dynamic.

Happy ending

Since this is a romance novel, it’s no spoiler to disclose we know that everything works out in the end for our three couples. In an interview with Bookseller, Freya calls happy endings for queer people an act of “defiance and triumph.” She says “I am still so used to the default being tragedy that I’m still actively seeking joy.”

Can you please write more books now. Until then I will just be re-reading this series.