Celine Ong's Reviews > A Power Unbound

FREYA MARSKE YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD I’M SENDING YOU A GODDAMN FRUIT BASKET

“i would put your heart between my ribs and guard it like my own. is there any way i could make you believe it?”

lets go to the beginning of the end—

following the death of his sister, hawthorn is having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time. to uncover the final piece of the last contract and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, he’s reluctantly drawn back into the world of magic, living in and trying to solve a bizarre puzzle-box of a home. the key? alan ross—writer, thief, hater of hawthorn, and absolute short king.

series closers are an odd little thing. we yearn for it, mark its release date on our calendars, make a big event out of it, counting down the days and speculating over how the story ends. then the day arrives. the very last instalment in your hands. and suddenly a part of you doesn’t want to read it. you don’t want to say goodbye. because, well, then what?

it’s no secret that a power unbound is my most anticipated read of the year. it’s a finale, a grand hurrah. it closes off the story that began in one of my favorite books—a marvellous light. the hand kink book, if you will.

but within its pages is also a story of new beginnings. of learning to let go and stop running, to allow yourself to grieve and feel pain. to forgive yourself and make amends. to learn to move through the world again, allow yourself to feel, to let the blood rush back into numb flesh. to live again.

there's something about freya’s writing that makes me feel so insane. whimsical but not overly flowery. the way she strings the most innocuous words together in a way that makes me want to claw my eyes out. gnaw on my fists. tattoo them on the inside of my eyelids. eat her words whole.

and of course, hawthorn and ross. the feral wet cat and short king. filthy and delectable with so many levels in between. a consensual and fun play with power dynamics that doubles a vehicle for exploring class inequality. i’m fully obsessed with freya’s mind.

it’s always so interesting reading about historical queers. to see how they have to navigate their sexualities in that time period, how they keep themselves safe, how that love flickers like a bright light anyway, restless and powerful.

and now: the end. time to say see you later. but i'll always look at these books the same way robin looks at edwin: with a besotted gaze that says they could be doing anything and i would be just as content basking in their light.