Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

6 reviews

taratearex's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

 3.5 rounded up, this kind of fell apart for me in the last quarter, but I did really enjoy reading it I just kind of lost my ability to suspend my disbelief at the end as it went off the rails a bit.

This is a fantasy loosely based on French colonization of a North African country, I was on board from the start with that premise as I studied Arabic and lived in Egypt for a summer, so I really enjoyed seeing the fantasy elements that referenced this and I thought this worked really well and was really well done, the world felt real and the worldbuilding interesting and detailed. I enjoyed the absolutely messy characters in this, even if I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING a lot of the time, I think the messiness also did make sense when you think about Luca's desire for power fighting with her desire to be a good leader, this gets very white savior too so it's hard to sympathize with her character at all sometimes, but her as the opposing character to Touraine did make for interesting dynamics. And then Touraine, oof, her being deeply brainwashed by the military and then being thrown back into a world she should have known and dealing with a lot of trauma trying to free herself and find herself, she's a mess and it makes sense why- but the in world motivations for why characters sympathized with her did get a bit hard to believe. BUT everyone in this book is deeply flawed and so messy I went with it, and they are all handled with care, even side characters have stories to make them fuller people. Also the disability rep was great and I loved that it was a queer normative world.

Where I think it goes off the rail a bit is just that there are a lot of loose ends that get left dangling as you go through the book and so when I got to the last quarter I expected to see some of those tied up and instead it went kind of more off the rails. Motivations of characters became even more murky, the magic that gets introduced doesn't really get much explanation or time so I'm still not really sure what happened in a couple of the last scenes, and there's an alliance that seemed crucial sort of disappears?

Knowing that this is a trilogy it's always hard to know if some things are just being saved for the next book, so maybe some of these will be explained more in the next book, and I do think I will continue with the series as it was really engaging - it was very dense though so I totally see where some people lost interest in the complicated military and political dynamics, but I thought it was all very interesting, sometimes I'd look up and I'd just read for an hour without looking up, which is kind of rare for me. 

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plume_de_renarde's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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virgilsinferno's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-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

5.0


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cerilouisereads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0


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morevna's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

5.0


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deedireads's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Unbroken manages to flip tropes on their heads and make big statements while giving fantasy lovers all the things they love: an underdog, a mystery, magic, and a world worth fighting for.

For you if: You’re looking for sapphic, BIPOC epic fantasy.

FULL REVIEW:

Here are the things you need to know to get excited for The Unbroken: It’s a sapphic epic fantasy novel set in a place based on Northern Africa about the brutality of colonialism. With disability rep. You in yet??

There are two main characters: Touraine, who is a conscript (read: slave) in the empire’s army, and Luca, the empire’s princess whose throne is threatened by her uncle. Touraine’s company and the princess arrive in Qazāl, the empire’s colony where Touraine was born before she was taken by the empire, to try to settle the local rebellion. Soon, Touraine finds herself in Luca’s employ as a negotiator, caught between two worlds (one she doesn’t know, and one who will never accept her), trying to find a way to protect her friends who are sure to be caught in any crossfire.

Let me tell you, this plot is a roller coaster. Soooo much happens. I actually did think that the book felt a little too long, but at the same time, I’m not sure what I would have cut. It’s filled with big, full characters faced with no good choices doing the best they can to achieve their own goals. It was full of action and twists and shocking moments and had a big, exciting ending.

The depiction of colonialism here is one place where it really shines — because it shows clearly that ultimately, there are no winners, just bloodshed. No good choices, only bloody ones. The impossible dichotomy between greater good and personal safety; the prospect of dying for a cause versus preserving a life that will be, but never quite how you want.

I also always love the power of fantasy to create worlds in which society’s view of gender and sexuality need not be bound by the norms and biases we face in real life. And this book does it very, very well.

A winner, for sure. I can’t wait to read the next one.

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