Tuesday, March 14, 2023

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

 


A Restless Truth is the follow up to A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske's M-M Fantasy Romance featuring a version of Victorian England complete with a secret magical underbelly that a nonmagical man Robin discovered when he was accidentally appointed as a liaison in the government to the magical world...and found that position putting him in contact with gruff serious knowledgeable magician Edwin. The book featured the two of them falling for each other (with great magical sex scenes) despite a world where such attraction is forbidden and a conspiracy of Magicians that winds up after the two of them after they discover a dangerous magical secret first unearthed by a cabal of older women magicians. It was a book that had some issues with its problematic setting honestly - it clearly is aware of the issues of Colonialism and Racism that its world was built upon and would reference it on occasion, but also fail to interrogate those issues and just accepts them to focus on its White leads (as opposed to a half Indian woman magical secretary who was a hoot). And yet at the same time its romance and romantic chemistry was just so so good, and its sex scenes incredibly well written, that I couldn't help but love it anyway.

A Restless Truth switches the focus to a F-F romance featuring old protagonist Robin's sister Maud, a young woman desperate to prove herself to the brother who's supported her through everything despite Maud having little experience with the world, and Violet, a much more experienced - and scandalous - young woman who is on her way back to Britain reluctantly due to a sudden unexpected inheritance. The setting this time also moves to a ship as Maud, Violet and a few others are forced to deal with a murder mystery and a search for a magical macguffin all at the same time, with dangerous magician murderers also after the same dangerous artifact, adding tension and intrigue to the story. And while the story suffers through the same problem of recognizing the inequality, racism, and injustice of this society - and only really dealing with the sexism issue in this book - it once again features a romance with such chemistry, and such great side characters, that made me unable to put this book down once more. If you're looking for sex love and romance amidst dangerous adventure? Well A Restless Truth will absolutely satisfy you.

More Specifics after the Jump:


----------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------
Maud Blyth has always been the sheltered child, the girl turned young woman who was the daughter of two conniving noble parents and whose beloved brother Robin tried to protect her from anything that could cause her harm. But she's always wanted for more in her life and to prove that she is capable and worthy of Robin's love and devotion. So when Robin became enmeshed in the magical world, found a love in the stodgy Edwin Courcey, and discovered and was threatened by a magical conspiracy dedicated to obtaining an artifact of supreme magical power, Maud was determined to find a way to help him. And so Maud made her way on a ship to America to meet with the woman, Beth Navenby, in possession of a third of that artifact, and to bring her back to Britain for safekeeping.

There was just one problem: on the way back to Britain, Mrs. Navenby is murdered and several of her possessions stolen. And Maud doesn't know which of those possessions is the all important artifact she was sent to retrieve.

But Maud wasn't one to give up easily - and so she sets out to find the artifact before it winds up in the wrong hands. To do that, she recruits several fellow passengers for help: the prickley Lord Hawthorn, a journalist/thief named Alan, and a young scandalous young woman named Violet. The four of them, led by Maud's boisterous charge, soon find themselves in a cat and ouse game with at least one murderer, who will surely strike again if they are found out.

But if adventure and solving a murder and finding magical artifacts was something Maud might've once imagined, Violet is anything but: a woman so beautiful, so charming, and so willing to do things Maud could never have envisioned that it holds Maud breathless. If Maud isn't careful, she'll find herself consumed by Violet and all of her passion....but would that really be so bad?
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Like its predecessor, A Restless Truth tells its story largely through the perspectives of its two protagonists, Maud and Violet, as they attempt to find the truth behind the mystery/murder on the ship and fall for each other along the way. And in a negative way, A Restless Truth shares some of the same big faults of its predecessor: it's a book that is aware of the racial and colonial underpinnings of its Victorian England setting, to the point where it makes references to those underpinnings - for example, there's a Black performer who is secretly married to a rich White noble and coming over to England to start her own troupe despite the struggle that imposes, there's class conflict between the various types of passengers (first class and....not), and there's a reference to knowledge of forms of magic being lost as their practitioners in Africa were taken by the Transatlantic Slave Trade. And yet while it has that awareness and makes small references to it, its main cast is entirely White again and the most they undertake to try and deal with these impacts is throw some money towards the Black artist in the epilogue. Books don't always have to deal specifically with the prejudice and underlying problems with their real world settings, but in this day and age, there's something a bit off-putting about using those settings without doing so, at least to me, and still featuring an entirely White cast.

But that problem out of the way, I still kind of loved A Restless Truth because the book's central core - the growing romance and development of Maud and Violet - is just done incredibly incredibly well. The two characters are very very different from their romantic predecessors as well, so the romance does not feel more of the same, but instead feels fresh and new. In Maud, you have a young woman who has been sheltered and wants adventure, but has never felt romantic feelings - at least not ones she's recognized at the time, since she's never had an interest in Men, or even conceived of all that there could be in sex. Maud is naive in many ways, but she's also incredibly good hearted and is basically a bulldozer in getting what she wants through her quick thinking, quick tongue, and eagerness to soak up new information. That helps with the book's central mystery of course, but it also helps with her learning about sex and attraction, such as when she acquires a large stash of creative pornography and in when she starts pushing Violet for more information. Maud is somewhat of an open book, but she's an open book that wants to grow and learn more and to be more, rather than just be Robin's beloved sister.

Violet by contrast is someone who is more than familiar with sex, and who has used sex and the scandal of it to flee her family once and to try and make a better life. At the same time, she's been hurt inside before for reasons the book teases out slowly, and she uses her scandalous nature and her charm to hide her core self from just about anyone. Violet means well - and when Maud first tries to romance her and to suggest Violet mentor her in sex she refuses to be used in such a fashion - but is afraid to open up and is more than willing to cause harm to make others go away before they get too close.

And together, the two of them work incredibly well, with just absolutely amazing chemistry in dialogue, development, and well - insanely sexy sex scenes, both with magic and in ordinary fashions. Like any romance novel, the development of their relation is not a simple straight line, with its bumps and turns along the way, but it just works so well in this book and is written in a way that draws you in and makes you care so much as the two grow closer - with Maud discovering more of whom she is and Violet learning that maybe a little closeness won't always result in betrayal. I'm bad at describing things, but the romance, sex, and chemistry between the two is just so so good and it makes this book a winner.

The book's murder mystery and adventure plot works well too, as does reveals that come within it that'll affect the next book (Violet and one other character were teased in the last book in its protagonist's visions of the future, as I'd forgotten till I looked back). The two major side characters are really great additions, and make this cast a general winner, and the story's themes of fighting back against sexism against female magicians, as exemplified by the women who first found the series' big macguffin, do hit the mark quite well. And it all finishes in action sequences that are perfect for the characters and really well done.

All in all, a winning novel once more that will be incredibly satisfying to romance fans. I look forward to the trilogy's conclusion.


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