Scan barcode
melliedm's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall a fantastic read, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. There were times that the pacing felt strange, and some of the action sequences were confusing to read. I am also not entirely sold on the romance subplot, but I’m open to seeing how it shapes up by the series’ end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Racism, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, and Gun violence
salemander's review
4.0
this was a very interesting and pretty poignant fantasy, but it felt lacking in some places. the characters motivations got kind of confusing at times, leaving you wondering how many fucking lessons they had to learn before the understanding their actions were harmful would actually sink in. and while i do appreciate how complex the main characters were it felt redundant at times and the romance between them was not very believable. i still think this book was a great read but i don’t think it lives up to its full potential. i would be very interested to see how these characters develop in the continuing books, but i am rooting for the downfall of their romance lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, War, Death, and Torture
angiepoggi's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn't hate or love this book. I liked the world building being an analogy to France colonizing North Africa. Thus, it touches on themes such as racism, xenophobia and religious prejudice, but in a fantasy world with magic and many queers.
However, I didn't like the pace. It was slow (which I don't have a problem with) but boring. It took a long time for things to happen and there's a lot of time spent just talking, for example, until halfway through the book, about 245 pages, we were still building the narrative. Not to mention that, when some type of action could've happen, being running around or the characters discovering a secret on their own, a character immediately tells them everything and resolves the possible conflict quickly. Also, after halfway through the book, the pacing becomes very inconsistent, with the ending, the very end, very rushed, but that part didn't bother me as much.
Now, I didn't like one of the main characters, Touraine. She makes some decisions that made me so ANGRY AAA and they didn't make any sense, I mean, in theory they could've made for her, but the author didn't build much of a foundation for it. For example, in relation to the development of this character, I know the points the author wanted to reach in Touraine's journey, but there were none to few scenes to justify the key changes in her head.
Even with all these reservations, I'm still curious to read the second one. I heard that it's a different vibe and that the pacing is better balanced.
Anyway, I recommend this book if you want to read a fantasy that talks about colonialism with a lot of queers. There are a lot of people who love it, including a friend who wanted me to read it, so I think it's worth giving it a chance.
However, I didn't like the pace. It was slow (which I don't have a problem with) but boring. It took a long time for things to happen and there's a lot of time spent just talking, for example, until halfway through the book, about 245 pages, we were still building the narrative. Not to mention that, when some type of action could've happen, being running around or the characters discovering a secret on their own, a character immediately tells them everything and resolves the possible conflict quickly. Also, after halfway through the book, the pacing becomes very inconsistent, with the ending, the very end, very rushed, but that part didn't bother me as much.
Now, I didn't like one of the main characters, Touraine. She makes some decisions that made me so ANGRY AAA and they didn't make any sense, I mean, in theory they could've made for her, but the author didn't build much of a foundation for it. For example, in relation to the development of this character, I know the points the author wanted to reach in Touraine's journey, but there were none to few scenes to justify the key changes in her head.
Even with all these reservations, I'm still curious to read the second one. I heard that it's a different vibe and that the pacing is better balanced.
Anyway, I recommend this book if you want to read a fantasy that talks about colonialism with a lot of queers. There are a lot of people who love it, including a friend who wanted me to read it, so I think it's worth giving it a chance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Hate crime, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Kidnapping, Gore, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Mental illness, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Grief
Minor: Animal death and Pregnancy
anazap's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really enjoyed the character growth and the complexity of the relationships. The commentary around colonization and racism was also really well done.
I found the first half at least to be pretty slow, though it did set things up well for the action later on. The last 1/3 or so was excellent, and I couldn’t put it down.
I found the first half at least to be pretty slow, though it did set things up well for the action later on. The last 1/3 or so was excellent, and I couldn’t put it down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexual assault
thoughtsontomes's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Racism
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Rape
persephonefoxx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
She was as free now as she ever would be. She could choose what she fought for. She could choose who she was willing to die for
This book has me conflicted - while it tells a story that is both confronting and important, there are elements that fell flat for me.
This does an amazing job depicting the horrors of war and revolution, and the desperation of people fighting for their lands, their right to be treated as people, their freedom. It is confronting. It is raw. It is very real in its depiction.
My struggle in this book stems more from the characters. I love a flawed character, it is what makes them real. However, the plot of this book ruminated on the constant backsliding and poor decisions made my Touraine and Luca. And while I believe Touraine completed a character arch, growing and changing (albeit it with constant side switching). Luca almost started and finished in the same place, just with a plethora of poor choices in the middle.
Lastly, there are intricacies when depicting a coloniser/colonised relationship that I do not believe were hit. I am interested to see how the relationship and romance is handled and develops over the rest of the series.
TL:DR - What this book has to say is very important. And Clark doesn’t sugar coat the horrors of colonisation and war. However, some marks outside of action and conflicts were missed. I am tentatively going to pick up the next book, and am curious to see if these marks are hit in the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, War, Death, Gore, and Confinement
Moderate: Torture, Classism, Sexual harassment, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Rape and Gun violence
sophiesmallhands's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Blood, Slavery, Gore, Religious bigotry, Racism, Violence, Death, War, Chronic illness, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Hate crime, Classism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cursing
mar's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
this was so mediocre why did u guys lie to me :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Racism
Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Torture
Minor: Vomit and Animal death
sofipitch's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The characters are interesting, the themes are good. Occasionally explainy or clunky but overall good. Tourraine's struggle to find her place after being displaced from her homeland, the way she is not fully a part of either, and how she keeps fucking up trying to work with either were well done and really hit. Also just fun fucked up romance subplot. Good mommy issues subplot. A lot of the character arcs and work blended really well with the overall plot. How Luca wanted to be "a good ruler" but for so long couldn't see how that conflicted with being a colonialist ruler. The big flaw of this is the default no gender or sexuality power dynamics, because it smooths out the race and colonialism ones, making things less complicated. But regardless still well done especially compared to other stuff I read *cough * Baru Cormorant *cough *What more can I say other than sign me up for the sequel, although I think this would work fine as a stand alone
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Racism, Ableism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cultural appropriation and Chronic illness
skylarkblue1's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/bM9pBrla/82-magic-of-the-lost-1-the-unbroken-by-cl-clark
If you're looking for fast-paced action, this isn't it. If you're looking for deep world building and complex characters, this is very much it. It's a lot more "political" than the regular political fantasy, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.
The plot is mainly just about the characters, and their places in the war. It's complex, messy and has so many small details throughout for both the overarching plot and the characters' own progressions and developments. I honestly absolutely loved the way character progression was done. At first, they're all pretty walled-up and seem flat, but the more the book progresses, the more they all start to open up as they start to find their places and find their motivations. The small changes to the characters, the way new info changes them, it's so great. I normally dislike really long books, but I feel like for the most part this did use the pages well as so many of the "smaller" parts still provide a lot for the characters as a whole.
I did find the POV switching to be a tad confusing at times. At first I thought it'd be every chapter swapped POVs, so like chapter 1 would be touraine, chapter 2 luca, chapter 3 touraine, etc but instead it just seems to kinda swap at random. It's jarring at first, but it does make sense the further in you get and you just kinda get used to it.
It's certainly a slow-burner. There's a lot of talking, a lot of politics, a lot of silent strategies rather than constant action to solve everything. It's a proper political fantasy that really dives deep into the contrasting politics between the colonisers and the indigenous. The difference in beliefs, tactics and more shine so brightly and are written so well.
The influence of the French colonisation of Northern African countries is quite obvious, but it still manages to create it's own world, lore and history around it and builds off fantasy roots from the history. I think that's a pretty hard thing to do, using actual history quite heavily while still allowing for a fantasy world to thrive, but I just love how it's been done here!
It's not a romance though. It has romantic elements, but I wouldn't call it a romance at all. They got a hell of a lot more important things to do than slink off to a dark corner to be romance-y lmao. There is a set up for a couple romances, there's ofc some good gay representations, but yeah nothing over the top. It's nice to have a fantasy that isn't fully/only around romance so that's a big positive for me, but understandable if that's something you want from your fantasies!
If you're looking for fast-paced action, this isn't it. If you're looking for deep world building and complex characters, this is very much it. It's a lot more "political" than the regular political fantasy, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.
The plot is mainly just about the characters, and their places in the war. It's complex, messy and has so many small details throughout for both the overarching plot and the characters' own progressions and developments. I honestly absolutely loved the way character progression was done. At first, they're all pretty walled-up and seem flat, but the more the book progresses, the more they all start to open up as they start to find their places and find their motivations. The small changes to the characters, the way new info changes them, it's so great. I normally dislike really long books, but I feel like for the most part this did use the pages well as so many of the "smaller" parts still provide a lot for the characters as a whole.
I did find the POV switching to be a tad confusing at times. At first I thought it'd be every chapter swapped POVs, so like chapter 1 would be touraine, chapter 2 luca, chapter 3 touraine, etc but instead it just seems to kinda swap at random. It's jarring at first, but it does make sense the further in you get and you just kinda get used to it.
It's certainly a slow-burner. There's a lot of talking, a lot of politics, a lot of silent strategies rather than constant action to solve everything. It's a proper political fantasy that really dives deep into the contrasting politics between the colonisers and the indigenous. The difference in beliefs, tactics and more shine so brightly and are written so well.
The influence of the French colonisation of Northern African countries is quite obvious, but it still manages to create it's own world, lore and history around it and builds off fantasy roots from the history. I think that's a pretty hard thing to do, using actual history quite heavily while still allowing for a fantasy world to thrive, but I just love how it's been done here!
It's not a romance though. It has romantic elements, but I wouldn't call it a romance at all. They got a hell of a lot more important things to do than slink off to a dark corner to be romance-y lmao. There is a set up for a couple romances, there's ofc some good gay representations, but yeah nothing over the top. It's nice to have a fantasy that isn't fully/only around romance so that's a big positive for me, but understandable if that's something you want from your fantasies!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Torture, and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape