A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske
A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske
5 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

A Marvellous Light

Author: Freya Marske

Narrator: David Thorpe

Unabridged: 14 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/02/2021


Synopsis

"Narrator David Thorpe’s delicious depictions of steamy encounters between Robin and
Edwin are intricately woven throughout this magical realm." -- Booklist, starred review

An International Bestseller!
Winner of the 2022 Romantic Novel Award in Fantasy!
Locus Award Finalist!

An Indie Next pick and LibraryReads pick—with four starred reviews!
A Best of 2021 Pick for NPR | Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble

Red, White & Royal Blue meets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts, and conspiracies.

Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.

Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.

Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tordotcom

About Freya Marske

Freya Marske is the author of A Power Unbound, A Restless Truth, and A Marvellous Light, which was an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novel Award for Fantasy. She has been nominated for two Hugo Awards, and won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. She lives in Australia.

About David Thorpe

David Thorpe is a British actor who has narrated over one hundred audiobooks.  Some of his credits include Max Brook’s World War Z, Sam Christner’s The Stonehenge Legacy, Elizabeth Haynes’s Into the Darkest Corner, and Karen Maitland’s Company of Liars. On his various work, AudioFile magazine has praised Thorpe’s “amazing range of accents and voices:” from his “wry, almost sarcastic, tone” to his “commanding…foreboding and evil [voice] that mesmerizes listeners.”  He has recorded many of Margery Allingham’s works in addition to The School of Life series.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ellie

I cannot find a more apt way to describe A Marvellous Light than by saying it's like top-tier fanfiction - and anyone who's read top-tier fanfiction knows that equates to being a story that's incredibly fun, gorgeously written and includes a significant dose of steamy romance 👀 I really loved the wor......more

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I had a coworker looking forward to this book, and seeing the Alix Harrow blurb, I had to download it! Edwardian gay magicians, pretty cover, what’s not to love? A Marvellous Light follows two men, Robin and Edwin,......more

Goodreads review by Joel

gays trying to solve a magical conspiracy? yes pls i really enjoyed this wild adventure and i'm so excited for the sequel! maybe I'll post a more extensive review but i am a typical bookworm so it could come in a few days, six months or never......more

A note before finishing, because this line caught me so strongly: "I'd like to introduce my fists to whoever taught you to stop talking about the things that interest you." - I have been loving this delicious book from the very first page onwards, but I think this particular line (thought - but not sp......more


Quotes

“That sublime prose! Her astonishing gift for imagery! And, of course, her bountiful and endless talent for writing some extremely sexy scenes. A Marvellous Light is all that and more. Perfect.”—Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings

Romantic in the best way, funny, sharp, sexy, fantastical. Prepare to fall in love with the gorgeous Edwardian setting, the sizzling character dynamics, and the murderous enchanted hedge maze.”—Emily Tesh, author of Silver in the Wood

"A charming, lovingly crafted adventure full of peril, romance and wit, illuminated by sparkling turns of phrase and a pervasive sense of humour."—A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name

"Marske's deft, witty, and frequently beautiful prose guides the reader through this very charming story. Equal parts fantasy, mystery and romance—with bonus murderous garden features—A Marvellous Light heralds a strong new voice in science fiction and fantasy."—Sam Hawke, author of City of Lies

"Freya's prose is so splendid that merely reading it makes me feel like I've been filled to the brim with champagne bubbles. A Marvellous Light has everything you could ever want from a book—beautiful descriptions, expertly woven worldbuilding, queer kissing, sexual tension in a library, quite a lot of William Morris wallpaper. . . . This book is brilliant on every level. It is wondrous. It is, if you will excuse a small joke, marvellous."—Alexandra Rowland, author of A Conspiracy of Truths

"A completely enchanting story that sweeps you into a world of art and romance. Marske is an extraordinary talent who writes compelling characters, entertainingly awful families, and love stories like nobody else."—Everina Maxwell, author of Winter's Orbit

“A magical world of exquisite refinement. . . . A dazzling debut.”—Shelley Parker-Chan, author of She Who Became the Sun


Awards

  • NPR Best Book of the Year
  • Hugo Award - Nominee