Take a photo of a barcode or cover
thegreatmanda 's review for:
A Restless Truth
by Freya Marske
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Maud Blyth bores me to death and I feel bad about it. It was tough to get interested in the early part of this book because my interest in her was mostly as a conduit to Robin and Edwin, who I spent this book missing, the Last Contract quest, and what Robin and Edwin would think about the current situation or whichever character she’s talking to. Her entire personality in A Marvelous Light consisted of "rebel against brother", and here it seems to be "strong moral center". There's nothing wrong with that, but there also isn't another piece of the story that desperately needs that goodness, in the way that Edwin's downtrodden heart soaked up Robin's kind certainty like a sponge. She has the back story of the bad parents, but we've already heard about that via Robin as well. Maud's character doesn't add a lot to the backdrop of the story and other players, and it produces a very low-contrast color situation, which gives a book a rocky start when that's your main character.
I do like Violet well enough; her personality and back story are a common trope, but still entertaining. As she and Maud got to know each other, their relationship was... fine, I guess. Considering her knowledge of Robin and Edwin's relationship, I felt a lot like Maud should have known lesbians were a possible thing before Violet told her, and I also felt like she fell in love with the first available prospect after being told lesbians are a thing.
Hawthorn is his usual self, ready to take all of his true feelings and secrets to the grave even as he tosses sexual adventures and snide comments around like parade candy. I’m excited to get inside his head and watch him turn into a fully formed human being in the final volume of the trilogy, which this book feels like some sort of endurance trial in order to get to. In fact, as I finally made it farther into this book, the main characters of A Power Unbound met as side characters here for the first time, and as the sparks flew in each of their interactions, the two of them stole the entire show and ran off with it. I finished this book with more fondness than I ever expected to have for Hawthorn, after the way he treated Edwin in A Marvelous Light, and very hungry for more of him and Ross taking jabs at one another.
Favorite Quotes:
I do like Violet well enough; her personality and back story are a common trope, but still entertaining. As she and Maud got to know each other, their relationship was... fine, I guess. Considering her knowledge of Robin and Edwin's relationship, I felt a lot like Maud should have known lesbians were a possible thing before Violet told her, and I also felt like she fell in love with the first available prospect after being told lesbians are a thing.
Hawthorn is his usual self, ready to take all of his true feelings and secrets to the grave even as he tosses sexual adventures and snide comments around like parade candy. I’m excited to get inside his head and watch him turn into a fully formed human being in the final volume of the trilogy, which this book feels like some sort of endurance trial in order to get to. In fact, as I finally made it farther into this book, the main characters of A Power Unbound met as side characters here for the first time, and as the sparks flew in each of their interactions, the two of them stole the entire show and ran off with it. I finished this book with more fondness than I ever expected to have for Hawthorn, after the way he treated Edwin in A Marvelous Light, and very hungry for more of him and Ross taking jabs at one another.
Favorite Quotes:
"The man who cleans windows deserves a bit of pleasure in his life just as much as the man who owns them."
Ross named a price. Maud winced. Hawthorn named a much lower one. Ross called Hawthorn an inbred skinflint arsehole, pointed out that he was including the suitcase, and lowered his own price by an infinitesimal margin. Hawthorn, wearing the same expression he'd directed at the chessboard, called Ross a bloodsucking Mediterranean gutter-rat.
Violet had been neglecting her strumpetly duties when it came to Lord Albert. She had no idea how really promiscuous women kept strings of lovers all at one time. Surely one would need vast organizational skills, or a secretary.
A pause, in which the table warily weighed the question of whether Lord Hawthorn was familiar with the concept of humour.
"You have a real knack for beating people around the head with the truth like it's an umbrella, did you know that?"
"It is rather a lot to tell," she said. "But I suppose I should start with the parrot."