A Rose of Blood and Binding

The Middlemist Trilogy #3

by Claire Legrand

New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn, Claire Legrand, delights in this thrilling conclusion to the steamy, lush, and epic Middlemist trilogy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

WAR IS RAGING IN EDYN.

The battered Middlemist can barely hold itself together. Olden monsters terrorize the land. The gods are awakening from their ancient slumber, but if the vengeful Kilraith destroys them, all will be lost. And it's up to the Ashbourne sisters—demigods, daughters of the goddess Kerezen—to stop him.

But the sisters are spread thin. Gemma and Talan travel the world in a desperate search for the gods. In the capital, Farrin and Ryder shelter countless refugees amid roiling unrest. And Mara Ashbourne, bound to the Middlemist and longing for a home she can never return to, is just trying to survive.

Every day is chaos as Mara battles invaders and fights to protect her fellow Roses. The presence of librarian Gareth Fontaine—assigned to aid the Roses' war efforts—doesn't help. Charming, brilliant, far too confident, and annoyingly reverent of the Roses—Mara most of all—he's a distraction Mara can't avoid or afford. Especially since she can see the shadows of Mhorghast brimming underneath his dazzling smile. Shadows of violence and shame that she knows all too well. Shadows that terrify her more than any monster.

As Mara and Gareth search the Old Country for Kilraith's final three curse-anchors, a slow-burning passion born of sorrow and solace sparks between them, one that could finally bring Mara to the very home she longs for…or drive her toward the dark fate she secretly craves, and bring both worlds crashing down alongside her.

Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Fiction, Adult

512 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 24, 2026

About the author

Claire Legrand is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fourteen novels, including the Empirium trilogy, the Middlemist trilogy, SAWKILL GIRLS, and SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS. She is one of the four authors behind THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, an anthology of dark middle grade fiction.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

behind every fearsome woman with a sword (who can turn into a bird) is a doomed bespectacled scholar who will do anything to save her

and the boromir, pippin, and merry reference? oh i’m sick (brainrot runs deep)

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.

Read my review

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.

Bookstagram | Blog

[Birdtrovert]

I CAN'T WAIT THIS LONG I NEED THIS BOOK AHHHHHHH

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Rose of Blood and Binding is the final book in Claire Legrand’s Middlemist trilogy and sadly turned out to be an utter disappointment.

I’m not writing this light-heartedly, because the Empirium trilogy is one of my all-time favourite trilogies, but this one was sadly just one big downward spiral.

I think I can speak for every reader when I say that it is never a good sign when you find yourself skipping pages after pages of a book, but this is sadly what happened to me with A Rose of Blood and Binding.

I was really looking forward to Mara’s POV and story since in the previous two books, she was always portraited as the strong and brave warrior sister. But what I got was a whiny and shapeless character, who permanently blamed herself for everything bad that happened to everyone and no one, and who was constantly horny whilst doing so. I am aware that this is a romantasy trilogy, but if almost every single dialogue or monologue revolves around sex, they simply become substance less and a disservice to the story. Additionally, all the conversations between Mara and Gareth were quite frankly just cringe and made me question whether I was really reading the ARC I requested or a badly written Wattpad fanfiction of it.

The only passages in this book that actually caught my interest were the fight scenes and when we spent time with the Warden and the other Roses, but that was sadly because most of the time they didn’t include the love interest or Mara’s sisters (more specifically Gemma, because when did she turn into an annoying sorority house college girl, who is only looking the next bottle of alcohol?). Speaking of the characters and their personalities, I was surprised and heartbroken to notice that with every book in this trilogy our main characters became more and more childlike and distanced themselves further from the politically and war involved adults in their mid-20s, who we are supposed to see them as.

But what gave me the final push to dnf this book was when, and this is a spoiler, the love interest was more or less resurrected from the dead and the first thing he (and Mara) thought about was to have a fuck. Oh, and did I mention that her parents and sisters were literally in the room next door?

I truly would have loved to know how this trilogy concluded since the worldbuilding and magic were amazing, but I simply didn’t want to further waste the small amount of time I have for reading each day, on a book that only bored and annoyed me.  

Thank you to Sourcebooks for this ARC and I am sorry that this review is the result of my months long begging for an ARC.

[Amanda Seifert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Claire Legrand’s publishing team for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This is perhaps the longest review I’ve written because I have a lot of thoughts. Much of it hidden for potential spoilers, and because I believe everyone should read this to form their own opinion since that's exactly what I've written here: my own personal opinions about the story. So if you haven't read this book yet, A) support the author and read the book, and B) once you have, come back and read the Goodreads reviews and feel free to share your own thoughts.

To start off from the aforementioned personal opinion, I absolutely adore Claire Legrand's books. When I finally read the Empirium trilogy, I devoured all three books in a week, and upon its release I immediately fell in love with A Crown of Ivy and Glass. It still remains my favorite of the series, Gemma and Talan my favorite pair, so the immediate praise I had for this third installment was seeing all three sisters together again WITH their fellas. Claire Legrand is clearly a technically accomplished writer with an excellent team of editors supporting her. Her prose seemed diverse and varied, accessible, yet aesthetically beautiful. Nothing jumped out to me as repetitive, too purple, or awkward. I will always pick up a Claire Legrand book for her writing skills alone. Critically speaking, this is an excellent book, which is why I’ve given it 4 stars. However, the long review to follow goes into more detail on why I found it harder to bond with the characters in this book than in books one and two.

I greatly admire the way Legrand portrays mental and physical health issues with the Ashbourne sisters in all three Middlemist books, perhaps especially in A Rose of Blood and Binding. Mara’s trauma and struggles are immediately shown (not told) from page one, paired disconcertingly with the bond she seeks from the Warden and her troubled past being ripped from her home as a small child. The irony is Mara consistently pushes away all those who already love her - her sisters, her parents, her fellow Roses, Gareth - and clings desperately to the tiniest scrap of affection the Warden might offer her. This manipulative and abusive relationship is perhaps the main romance (?) of the whole book. That’s an actual thought I had about ⅔ of the way through reading, that this book isn’t about Mara and Gareth or even Mara and her sisters, it’s about Mara and the Warden. It starts and ends with them both. And obviously Mara looks for a mother in the Warden, but there was so much conflict between them that it read more like a grooming romance.

Yeah, the rest of this is probably chock full of spoilers.

Knowing Claire Legrand’s ability to sacrifice characters, I would have 100% accepted if Gareth had truly tragically perished during the battle at Big Deep, and actually would have appreciated Mara’s final internal struggle with suicide and external struggle with the Warden regardless of the outcome of either. But all of that felt sort of cheapened when, lo and behold, Gareth magically appears behind her at Rosewarren like minutes later? I know how Mara got there so fast, but how did he? How did everybody else? I immediately deflated when I read that. Don’t get me wrong, I love HEAs for everyone, but one of Mara’s main struggles was with grief and loss. It’s why she consistently pushed everyone away. I wonder why, then, she clung so fiercely to the idea of being loved and mothered by the Warden?

This is primarily why I feel…complicated about this book. Mara and the Warden. I think their relationship works as the true meat of the story, but it made the romantic arc with Gareth - which we all saw coming from books 1 and 2 - somewhat superfluous and not impactful. I felt the page time was too divided between Mara’s bond with the Warden and her bond with Gareth to truly delve into either. And on top of that, we’re working on Mara’s relationship with herself and her mental health. Of all the sisters, seeing Mara triumph alone over her own personal demons at the end of the book would have felt right, and earned. She’s portrayed as the strongest and toughest of the sisters, and even of the Roses. The caretaker - a bona fide warden - of those around her. I think Legrand still could have explored Mara’s softness and vulnerability in the way that she did while giving Mara a solo ending, or perhaps more ambiguously leaving off with Gareth. My own mental health struggles notwithstanding, as each person’s experience is nuanced and complex, I would have admired the story more as a story of personal resilience and survival had Mara found her own life worthy of living, and not simply lived because like twelve people behind her kept begging her to survive for their sake if not hers.

I think ultimately the ending felt hasty and rushed, and too stretched between the events at Big Deep and Rosewarren, representing, respectively, the battle with Kilraith and Ankharet (I need more of this story, and not in a gushy way but in a, like, dude-where-did-this-come-from kind of way) and the conflict with the Warden and the Roses. Mara literally had to run between the two places to wrap up each struggle. (See above: Gareth literally. Magically. Appearing. Behind her.)

Perhaps this could have been helped by more background incorporated into the storytelling that harkened back to the first two books. For readers of the series up until now, this hasn’t been a binge-watch situation. We don’t get to move seamlessly from book to book and retain all that knowledge easily for book three, and asking readers to recall or reread two very meaty books in anticipation of the final installment is a tall order. For many big worldbuilding fantasy series, you get the requisite callbacks to important plot points, worldbuilding, character backgrounds, etc. in the early chapters, or maybe reintroducing different elements as they return in the story. I was missing a lot of this background reintroduction in Blood and Binding, so there were things that fell flat that I knew should have been significant as a result. Kilraith, for example, for all the times his name is mentioned, he’s less of a character and more of a force of nature (which is totally fine, I think that’s a great way to write a villain in some stories) up until the last 50 pages when suddenly he’s a character with a background story again (which is why the force-of-nature vibe doesn’t really work for me here). The true villain of the story is, as was apparent from page one, the Warden.So getting the conflict between Kilraith and Ankaret at the end there felt kind of like it was just thrown in haphazardly. It opened a door instead of closed one. Maybe that was Legrand’s intention, I don’t know if there’s a future for the Middlemist series still to unfold. But if this is the end of the journey, there were a lot of questions that didn’t feel…completely answered.

Also, the ease with which the research team found the goblet? And then how easy it was for the sisters to dismantle all the anchors? (Literally their words, not mine.) Then the disquiet they felt about the whole anchor-dismantling process amounting to basically nothing? Honestly, Mara had a lot of these weird gut feelings but not all of them were later pointed to like “ah, see? It WAS an omen.” Sometimes it felt like the unease evaporated into this cloud of ambiguity that blurred into whatever mission or conflict was happening on-page. Does this feel like an authentic experience for the characters? Absolutely. Is it a useful writing tool for a storyteller like Legrand? Not really. Things like that signal to a reader, hey, pay attention to this foreshadowing, but when there’s no apparent Chekov’s gun going off a few pages or chapters later, you feel like you missed something or a loose end was left untied. And maybe a gun does go off but enough time has passed, enough things have happened, you’re no longer certain it’s the same gun as before.

In sum, I feel like I was missing pieces of the greater story underscoring the entire Middlemist trilogy. It seemed like Legrand wanted to really focus on Mara’s relationship with the Warden and the Roses, but we still had a whole other story to tell with the Ashbourne sisters, Gareth and the ytheliad anchors, Kilraith the missing gods. In some ways it works: Mara’s divided narrative is authentic to her experience of her being divided between these two parts of her life. But overall I wanted more of each story and of all the characters in an already meaty book. Honestly, and RARELY do I hear anyone say this about fantasy series these days…I feel like we could have used a book 4 to truly wrap things up. Maybe split between all three sisters’ POVs. One can dream…

LOL you guys remember when it was marketed as ACOTAR meets Bridgerton? Definitely a good hook for the first book, but certainly not the conceit we follow in books two and three…

Still, the Middlemist Trilogy as a whole? 10/10 would recommend and read again.

[spectacles_and_books · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This was not the look of a man beholding a monster. Or maybe I was just the right kind of monster for him."

The conclusion to The Middlemist Trilogy was everything I could have hoped for. Claire Legrand continues to build such a beautifully written, atmospheric and expansive world. But at the heart of each of these stories are sensitively written portrayals of mental health. Mara, for all her physical strength, has battled depression and childhood trauma and although the story is set in a Fantasy world, her struggles felt so raw and real. Gareth is also everything she needs and endlessly patient and devoted. Everyone deserves a Gareth Fontaine.

This is certainly a series that will stay with me. I adored every minute of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC of this title

[Smriti Sudarshan]

the cover is so pretty im so excited!

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Rose of Blood and Binding closes out Claire Legrand's fantastic and underrated romantic fantasy trilogy. It's the darkest installment yet and I think it might be my favorite?

This book is simultaneously a high stakes dark fantasy quest but also a deeply introspective internal character journey for Mara Ashbourne who is struggling with depression and PTSD over the course of the novel. Like the previous two books in this trilogy, Claire Legrand expertly weaves the external plot elements and the internal character struggles together into one compelling story. As the final book in a trilogy, it's impressive how well this book concludes the overarching plot and gives satisfying endings to the various character dynamics explored in this story (Mara and her sisters, Mara and Gareth, Mara and the Warden, Mara and the other Roses, and Kilraith and Ankaret).

Of this trilogy's three excellent main romances, the one explored in this novel between Mara and Gareth is probably my favorite. While both have been significant characters in the trilogy since the first book, I did not expect them to be paired together until halfway through Book 2 and even then I was not prepared for just how perfect they were for each other. Their banter is impeccable, the warrior x scholar pairing is always a winner (see also: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow), and watching them discover how similar they actually are and how protective they were over each other was lovely. You know a romance is a winner for me if I'm listening to Taylor Swift songs and thinking of them (Gold Rush, Evermore, The Great War, The Albatross in particular but also special shout out to Hayley Williams for Hard and Whim which are two of the most Mara Ashbourne songs to ever exist).

It's bittersweet saying goodbye to the Middlemist trilogy and the Ashbourne sisters as I love them with my whole heart. If there's any series where I would wish for a cozy low stakes/non-essential spinoff novella, it would be this one. If Claire Legrand ever wants to revisit this world and these characters, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I received an eARC of this book for review from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca. All opinions are my own.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Legrand is the Queen of uncomfortable character growth that not only is realistic but represents the aspects of ourselves we frequently hide from the world. This book was the perfect ending to the Trilogy that weaves the complexities of the bonds of sisterhood with an entrancing world of magic, politics and power. A Rose of Blood and Binding is much more violent than the previous two books, setting the tone for a darker, more physically capable heroine whose growth is far more internal.

Mara is perhaps my favorite Legrand character yet, and she holds a up a mirror for those of us who excelled early in life but who were never quite sure we'd live up to the expectations placed on us by our families and by our society. Although she's been portrayed in the earlier two books from her sisters' perspectives as highly capable, getting to see the damage of Mara's negative self talk and learning how Mara feels compelled to follow a trajectory without much real choice is sadly incredibly relatable.

As one might expect, Legrand handles the PTSD and mental health aspects found within this book beautifully. Reading this book can be at times uncomfortable, but ultimately incredibly cathartic. There's no artificial tension or unrealistic changes; we can see Mara struggling to take her own advice or to give herself the grace she affords others, just as we see the very real impact of abuse, both physical and mental upon the main characters. There are absolutely points where this book will find you shedding tears, but you wouldn't have it any other way.

This book isn't all dark undertones and representation for mental health- there are some incredible battle scenes, increased use of magic, and some top-notch banter. The bond of sisterhood, even estranged sisters, shines bright and is woven throughout the story. Moreover, there's a very cute scene where Mara does yoga to tease Gareth.

As ever, the trilogy ends with a surprising but well-thought-out plot twist, highlighting Legrand's mastery of the genre. The overall message is equally as powerful- that life is worth living and on the days that feel especially heavy, we can rely on others to help us make it through- and perhaps be more equipped to fight the next day.

[Amanda Broyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for a review copy of this book!

I've been waiting for the conclusion to this series, so I was excited when the ARC showed up on my doorstep. Mara is the sister I've been most intrigued by, and her story did not disappoint. As per usual for Legrand's books, the trauma and internal struggles are hard to read at times because the portrayal is so well written. Mara is going through it. I'd gotten a bad feeling from the Warden in previous books, and she lived up to my horrible suspicions.

Gareth is precious, and I've been dying for him to have a romance. He and Mara are incredibly sweet together, but I do wish they had been given a little more time to marinate. (Personal preference really; I do love a good slow burn.)

The conclusion did feel a bit rushed just because there was so much to do (gods and keys to find!), but the final battle was pretty epic all the same.

Just like in the previous two books, the characters are layered and interesting, the worldbuilding is excellent, and the story is fun. This is a solid 4.5 stars for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and look forward to more of Legrand's work.

[Deedi Brown (DeediReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a big fan of Claire Legrand’s since her Furyborn trilogy (which I am SO excited she will soon be revising for adults!!), so when I heard she was writing a new romantasy series where each book focuses on a different sister and was inspired by a classic ballet, I was so in. This is the third book in that trilogy and I was lucky to have access to an early copy via Netgalley. I took advantage of it on a whim one evening while I was travelling for work because I needed the equivalent of a bubble bath for my brain — and it delivered!

It was a joy to be back in a familiar world with familiar characters, with an exciting plot and great romance to carry me through. She nailed the ending, in my opinion, managing to give Mara’s story the space it deserved while also bringing the trilogy’s overarching conflict to a satisfying conlcusion (with a great twist!). Be aware this one deals heavily with suicidal ideation and attempts, but if that’s okay for you, I definitely recommend.

Can’t wait to see what Legrand writes next!

[Katie Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been obsessed with this series since I picked up book one and this final installment was a perfect ending that wrecked me in all the best ways and then put my heart back together with one of those satisfying endings full of hope and possibilities.
I have found parts of myself in each of the Ashbourne sisters and their stories towards healing are so beautiful. I cannot put into words how much they mean to my little heart. I didn’t grow up trying to defeat a magical god trying to destroy the world but there were so many moments when it felt like me, my brothers and sister against the world. So seeing similar bonds in literature always warms my inner child heart.
And on top of these beautiful relationships and stories you get this massive, intricate world ending plot that had so many twists and turns through out all three books that really just kept you hooked until the end.
I will be telling everyone I know to read these books. 10/10 no notes.
Where do I find myself a snarky little librarian tho?

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

And just like that The Middlemist Trilogy is over. Ending with Mara’s story was a stroke of genius as her connection to the middlemist can truly only be understood and appreciated when the reader understands the world. Legrand builds upon all the groundwork she laid in A Crown of Ash and Ivy and A Song of Ash and Moonlight to create an action-packed showdown between gods, magic, and lovers new and old.

This entire series was an ode to women who are fragile and yet so resilient with their quiet strength. The way Legrand portrayed the mental health struggles of each of the sisters and their partners was brilliantly and carefully done. I feel so protective of these characters and am so happy with how their stories concluded.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Hazel F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this series for a while so I was really excited to get the last book in the series. Gareth and Mara have intrigued me since the first book so I was excited to have them finally have their moment in this book.

One of the things I liked about this series is the world building seemed to get better with every book.

I really appreciated the character building for Mara. In the first couple of books she comes across as the fearless warrior but in this book we got to see what her life a a “Rose” was really like.

I felt like this was a solid conclusion to this series. In fact I now want to go back and read the series again from the beginning.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book

[Ali Blackmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This series is such an underrated one. I started with her other series which started with Furyborn and Bookish Box did the first book in this series in one of their monthly boxes so I thought I would give it a shot even though it wasn't 100% a type of book I would read. It's a regency era romance in a fantasy world and it did not disappoint. This is the final book in the series and does it justice without feeling rushed or that something is missing. In a world where fantasy books are starting to feel trope-y, this was a breath of fresh air with awakened gods, rival families, and cursed artifacts.

I can't wait to read what else this author writes!

[Amy Verkruissen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this book by far was my favorite of the trilogy. Mara was such a fantastic character in this series. Her character development was phenomenal and I really got emotionally attached to the events she was dealing with in this story. There was laughter and tears in this one. I was an emotional wreck by the end lol.
The world building was of course amazing and let me tell you. I was not ready for this book to end.
A truly magnificent end to the trilogy. I can only hope that some day Claire Legrand takes us back to the world of Middlemist.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first half of this book and I was so excited to be back in this world with these characters. But, something about the second half just wasn't it for me. I didn't like the way somethings went and I didn't like the conclusion for some of the characters. There were scenes that felt out of character for some characters, and it just pulled me out of the story. I still love this trilogy, but this is my least favorite book in it.

[Emily Nugent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t express how much I love this series but this book had me in a chokehold even more than the first two which is saying something. Every turn there was catastrophic events, forced will power, and internal conflicts that had me wanting to go through the pages. The personal journey of the fmc was to real and raw and her uneasiness to jump head first into love…girl yes!

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I love reading Claire Legrand books. It's like my heart gets ripped out with how much pure love and understanding is put inside them, and this one is no different. I completely adore Mara, and the gentleness and care she is shown made me want to cry.

[Claire Legrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so excited for all of you to read A ROSE OF BLOOD AND BINDING! Thank you so much for reading and supporting this series. I think you'll love how everything concludes for the Ashbournes. (And I know you'll love Gareth.)

[The Page Ladies Book Club · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Rose of Blood and Binding hit me with full-on epic fantasy chaos, gods waking up, war everywhere, and a slow-burn romance layered with grief, devotion, and barely contained darkness. Mara and Gareth had me clutching my Kindle like, please don’t break my heart again.

[Mikhaila Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

a thrilling conclusion that kept me hooked and wanting more!