Preview
  • A Restless Truth

  • The Last Binding, Book 2
  • By: Freya Marske
  • Narrated by: Aysha Kala
  • Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (185 ratings)

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A Restless Truth

By: Freya Marske
Narrated by: Aysha Kala
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Publisher's summary

2022 BookPage Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
Hugo Award - Nominee, Short-listed

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

"Narrator Aysha Kala delivers action and romance in this sequel to A MARVELLOUS LIGHT."- AudioFile Magazine

“Sublime prose, top-notch world-building, delightfully queer.”—TJ Klune, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, on A Marvellous Light

Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance!

Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago.

What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can’t help but desire: a magician, an actress, and a magnet for scandal.

Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of suspects, Maud and Violet must first drop the masks that they’ve both learned to wear before they can unmask a murderer and somehow get their hands on a magical object worth killing for—without ending up dead in the water themselves.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

©2022 Freya Marske (P)2022 Macmillan Audio
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Critic reviews

A Most Anticipated in 2022 Book for BookPage | Autostraddle | Book Riot

"Combining the greatest elements of mystery, fantasy, and romance, this book is a true soul-fluttering delight."—Buzzfeed

"From the staggeringly excellent world-building to the fleshed-out and lovable characters, A Restless Truth is a delectable sapphic fantasy-adventure on the high seas. Maud and Violet stole my heart from page one. Never has the term \"to ship\" been more appropriate."—Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

What listeners say about A Restless Truth

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Can we talk about that cover???

Wow 3rd historical for the year, and I'm officially experiencing Edwardian burnout. I LOVED IT! But I've hit my limit of potentially ruined women for now, and I'm glad that the third book in the series isn't set to release until November. Because while I am VERY interested in how that pairing with work out, and I have a ton of theories about some of the mystery....I am glad for the break.

Maud and Violet were nearly a perfect mix for me. Maud is the naive young woman, just learning about what she wants and how to get it. Violet is the experienced seductress who is absolutely dying to be the next big scandal. Violet is the perfect person to teach Maud all about her various appetites. And holy wow the lessons are HOT.

That cover! *swoon* I mean. The symbolism of the hourglass for a F/F romance?! It's stunning!!!

The action and unravelling the mystery is so well done. I am shocked that this book supposedly only spanned 6 days....so much happened!!! I'm still reeling over the timeline, and the ridiculousness of some of the dealings. There's a stampede for crying out loud! LOL

I must say, I did take off some points because guide lights weren't a large part of this story, and they're clearly the best part of this magic system. :)

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic Adventure

I loved everything about this story: the mystery, the romance, the writing and narration. Can’t wait for the final book!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great second installment!

I really loved the first book and the vocal performance of the first book and was almost sad the same actor wasn’t doing this book. I’m so glad they did! The actress was wonderful and really helped get me into the story. Love the LGBTQ representation and cannot wait for the third book!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Magical and wonderful

Wonderful performance; there are so many nuances to the different accents and voices and the narrator does excellent work.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Delightful

For reasons completely lost to me - I really didn't want to read this. I even tried skipping straight to the 3rd book but quickly realized that this story has one major continuous arch and needs to be read complete, and in order. Anyway I was wrong and dumb because this story was a delight. Adventure, romance, seduction, mystery, magic , murder and humor. This has it all.

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A perfect follow up to A Marvelous Light!

Perfect! Marske's narrative voice has gotten even stronger and her gift for creating beautiful imagery shines especially bright. Aysha Kala gave the exact right voice to each character, especially Violet.

I can't wait for the next one!

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Amazing

This series has been amazing! I really enjoyed it through audio and physical copy. Can’t wait for the next one!!!

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Snooze fest

There's soooo much potential wasted. This book does not hold up on it's own, especially after an amazing first book.

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What the hell happened in post production?

If I ever hear the word "chemise" again, it will be too soon. If an actor is pronouncing a word wrong and that word is spoken REPEATEDLY in a period piece, re-record more than just the corrected word.

This book was edited to high heaven and the worst I've heard allowed on audible. After how great the first book sounded, I'm shocked something of this quality was approved to leave the studio. I would get a refund if I could.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing, Boring, Trite Characters

Book 1 was incredible. Unfortunately the sequel’s setting on a non magical ocean liner and main character in Maude Blythe made this difficult to get through. I mean really, truth candles? A young clueless girl determined to contribute? Snooze.

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