A Power Unbound

The Last Binding, Book 3

By: Freya Marske

Narrated by: Josh Dylan

Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Hugo Award Nominee

A Power Unbound is the final entry in Freya Marske’s beloved, award-winning Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light.

"Stunning—the writing is lush, the world-building is fascinating, and the romance is searing hot. I am completely obsessed with this story of unrepentantly dangerous people falling in love with one another."—Cat Sebastian, author of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

A Most Anticipated Book for Paste and BookPage

Secrets! Magic! Enemies to. . .something more?

Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world.

Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross.

Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package.

When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall—Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner—Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice . . . and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

©2023 Freya Marske (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Josh Dylan gives a stand-out performance in this stunning conclusion to The Last Binding trilogy.... Dylan's subtle narration brings each character to life; he especially excels at conveying Jack and Alan's electric chemistry when they finally give in to their obvious attraction and discover the dangers of falling for each other when so much power is at stake. Action and romance come together in a richly written and beautifully performed audiobook."—AudioFile; winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

“Maud Blyth shares a similar aversion to lying as Knives Out’s would-be murderer Marta . . . . Pair Maud with Violet Debenham, an actress and magician who can’t fathom making herself vulnerable enough to be truthful with anyone, and their romance unfolds along the same breathless plot beats as solving a murder that could shift the balance of all the magic in England.”—Paste

"If I had the ability to make everyone read one trilogy of books, it would be The Last Binding, Freya Marske’s phenomenal (and extremely spicy) fantasy series. No one intersperses gleeful, squeal-inducing sexual tension with tender and painfully human interactions between characters quite like Marske does. Think of your favorite romance trope. Is it rivals to lovers? Enemies to something more? Sunshine and grump? Forced proximity? Chances are you’ll find it in one of these books. A Power Unbound is a deeply satisfying conclusion to this series."—Polygon

Astounding!

I've been eagerly awaiting this book to find out what happens to the magic of Britian's magicians as well as Jack and Alan and everyone from the earlier books and was so thrilled with how everything worked out! I loved the dynamic between Jack and Alan, and the development of their relationship was woven so perfectly through all the drama and surprises of the Last Contract and the magic part of the story. The ending was simply perfect, though I'm really hoping we get bonus stories for each of the couples as I'm in no way ready to say goodbye to these characters. The narrator did a wonderful job with all the accents and bringing even more life to this story, and I'd love to listen to more audios narrated by him. I highly recommend this series!

Wow

Loved it. I will be returning to this book through the years for the rest of my life.

A B+ to Two A+ Books

The romance of the first in the series was heartwarming. The plot of the second book on the ship, very clever. The depiction of the couple in the second book in the series was much better than the third book itself. Unless you’re reading for dom/sub kink with a few spells thrown in. The dom earl went from intriguing in the second book to an off putting jackass in the third book. Despite his long and noble lineage, if he had sprung a surprise visit on the family I was trying to protect in an awfully imperious way, I would have shanked him the ribs. That would have been more in keeping with the characters. Instead, the author took a really interesting narrative and world and finished it with you’re tall, commanding, and hot. While that’s great, it is contrary to the entire philosophy of the MC. The hot Italian Botticelli angel MC. 🧐

Incredibly hot

The third book does not disappoint. Marske provides the depth of character to make the sex scenes incredibly rich. Love that all our fav characters are best friends now too.

Great end to my favorite series!

Perfect ending. Not predictable. Great characters, interesting plot and character development. I hope Freya writes more stories with some (or all) of these characters!

Bravo!

Fantastic ending to this trilogy. Feels like the author left the best for last. Loved Jack and Alan. They burned, of course, but also grew so much over the course of the story. This installment also benefitted from a grander scope and scale and setting than the middle book. These characters have become all familiar in a lovely way as has the world building. Magic for all!

Outstanding finale to the series

Extremely satisfying with lots of action, intention, and ultimately a very well crafted happily ever after. 

A very satisfying ending!

I really enjoyed this story! The narration was really good too. I was hesitant to read this book after the disappointing second installation; however, I was very pleasantly surprised by the romance between grumpy Jack and snippy Alan. Those two really do have soft gooey centers under those hard exteriors. 

This book tied up all the loose ends of the trilogy nicely, and had a happy ending, despite all the turmoil in the pages.

Best of the series

Thoughtful, beautifully narrated, and at times actually unexpected storytelling! If you liked A Marvellous Light and stuck it out through A Restless Truth, you'll love this. Was genuinely disappointed that I had to stop listening to live my daily life.

Wonderful

I absolutely enjoyed this series. The world creation was thorough, the character development deep, and narration was a pleasure to listen to.