A Power Unbound

The Last Binding, Book 3

By: Freya Marske

Narrated by: Josh Dylan

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

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.

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. 🧐

Solid story but I struggle with one of the relationships

I loved the world that was built and the overall complexity of the plot. If you are uncomfortable with dom/sub relationships like I am, you may struggle with parts of Jack and Alan’s story.

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.

Excellent finale

This was a great end to a phenomenal series. Freya Marske is tremendously talented. I also really loved the respective three narrators for each book, but this one was probably my favorite. Full marks for the series and a well earned ending!