Please note this review contains spoilers for the former books in this series, A Crown of Ivy and Glass & A Song of Ash and Moonlight, and contains references to some of the events in this sequel. Read with caution.
As the Middlemist weakens—the protective barrier between the new country and the old, so have olden creatures found their way into Edyn. The last line of defense is the Order of the Rose, a sect of female warriors tasked with protecting the Middlemist for generations. Mara Ashbourne has been bound to the Middlemist for twelve long years, ever separated from her family and built to be a weapon in the hands of its Warden—the famed leader of the Order who can call her Roses to battle through the bond they share, transforming them into a mix of warrior and beast. Though monsters run rampant through Edyn, it is the awakened gods who present a far greater threat. Hunted by a vindictive god named Kilraith intent on destroying them and harnessing a war on humanity, these awakened gods are the next stage of Kilraith’s assault. As demigod daughters to the goddess Kerezen, Mara and her sisters are the ones tasked with hunting them down before he can. When a sect of scholars arrive in Rosewarren to provide aid, Mara faces the rakish, fiercely intelligent Gareth Fontaine, librarian and close friend to her sister. Cloaked in a facade of confidence, Gareth’s experiences speak to a greater sorrow that mirrors her own, and he decides to help her in her task. Torn between protecting those she loves and her alliance to the Warden, while a deeper connection builds with Gareth, Mara toils to bridge two worlds before the Middlemist falls and with it herself, bound to its fate.
Regency style romance in a fantasy world with awakened gods, cursed artifacts, rival families, and a legendary group of female warriors tasked with protecting the barrier between realms are integral to Claire Legrand’s Middlemist Trilogy. A true romantic fantasy jewel, A Rose of Blood and Binding is this trilogy’s final battlecry as the middle Ashbourne sister Mara and the delightfully rakish librarian Gareth Fontaine get up to shenanigans while on the path to uncovering the cursed objects of a violent God. Legrand has an innate talent for the middling spaces—where romance meets fantasy, fantasy meets historical, and all three intertwine in a potent atmosphere in her Middlemist trilogy. The stakes are unquestionably elevated after the events concluding A Song of Ash and Moonlight, in which our crew destroyed the human embodiment of a god alongside Kilraith’s cursed object. But who better to pick up the unbearable weight of it all than a middle sister am I right? Bound to the Middlemist and taken far from home, Mara Ashbourne is our slightly broody, sometimes avian, and decidedly bisexual heroine tasked with saving the day and bringing this series to a close (no pressure though). As the Middlemist weakens and our characters stand united, Claire Legrand evinces that it is our bonds that far outweigh any evil, and in fact they may be the very thing that saves us end-all.
Something about the warrior scholar pairing is really working overtime this year and A Rose of Blood and Binding is no different in that regard. Maybe it’s the contrast between blood and violence of the warrior and the buttoned up bespectacled hero thrust into the action, doomed to come out the other side irrevocably changed. Either way I am into it. With crumbs for her future romance arcs scattered across the narratives of her past novels, imagine my surprise in the reveal that Mara Ashbourne would find romance with our resident librarian Gareth Fontaine. Up until this point, Mara was an enigma, a presence flitting in and out of the narrative, followed by an aura of immense sorrow. That and undeniable middle sister energy. I was elated for all things Mara in this finale and Legrand does not disappoint. A Rose of Blood and Binding sees the barriers of the Middlemist weaken and Mara in the center of it all, to confront the danger or succumb to the unbearable weight of her charge. Soldiering the burden meant for her younger sister twelve years past, Mara is for all the middle sisters out there, speaking to those who bear the weight so that others won’t have to do the same. Burdened by duty and unable to see a way out, this finale is as much about bringing an end to Kilraith’s assault as it is liberating Mara with a life of her own choosing.
Behind every fearsome woman with a sword (who can also turn into a bird) is a bespectacled scholar who will do anything to save her. But first, a reluctant alliance must emerge. To establish this dynamic between Gareth and Mara, Claire Legrand pulls a classic historical romance move: a ball where our two characters come face to face. The vibes are anything but light (I mean the Middlemist is breaking apart and everyone is stressed), the flirtatiousness is dialed up to the max, and Mara doesn’t really want anything to do with Gareth—who is nothing more than a prickling annoyance in her side. It was at this moment that I was entirely invested. Legrand has always been adept at her character dynamics, because beneath their facades there is always something more. Mara and Gareth seem to have absolutely nothing in common past a desire to solve their godly problem, but it soon becomes evident just how similar they really are. Beyond their fragile alliance to hunt down the cursed objects of Kilraith, Gareth and Mara are haunted by past traumas and lingering depression—Gareth after surviving the horrors of Mhorghast where his body was used against him, and Mara through her continued isolation and loss of autonomy at the hands of the Warden. Legrand juxtaposes this struggle with autonomy and the conflict of perseverance between Mara and Gareth both and it is as essential to their romance as it is to themselves.
Bewildering, stoic Mara faces down olden creatures, gods, and her corrupted mentor, finding solace with an opinionated scholar and notorious flirt while on the path to destroy an ancient god. In Claire Legrand’s, A Rose of Blood and Binding, her cast of characters confront an ever fracturing world as they attempt to bridge their places within society with their link to the gods—before Kilraith descends upon them and lays waste to all they hold dear. A Rose of Blood and Binding is certainly the darkest of the three novels, set in the time after freeing their companions from Mhorghast and destroying another of Kilraith’s anchors. Legrand contrasts these darker themes against a budding romance between Mara and Gareth, and continued moments of sisterhood from our core trio. But where this third novel particularly excels is in its representation of depression, centered around Mara and Gareth both. The struggle with mental health and depression is an irrefutable reality for both of these characters and is a large part of this final journey into the Middlemist where they must reach past their traumas to claim a life side by side. Mara and Gareth, while initially an unlikely pair, find comfort, commonality, and finally romance together. This green flag of a man who loves books and appreciates a good stew is perfectly paired against a brooding warrior used to soldiering everything alone. A romance filled with all the tension you’d expect from such a pair and the angst Legrand is known for. Dark, hopeful, and irrefutably romantic, A Rose of Blood and Binding is an unparalleled fantasy romance with a beating, yearning center. A true delight from start to finish, and a series to hold close for all time.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: discussions of self harm, suicidal ideation (both passive and active), depression, torture, blood, death, murder
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