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minamouse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, War, and Violence
Minor: Xenophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault
rizeaoana's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
leopardsummer8's review against another edition
4.0
I'm slowly learning that I don't like adult high fantasy as much as young adult (which probably says something about my questionable taste in literature, but whatever). The Unbroken is still a great story, it just felt a bit slow to me.
shaeanna's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mj_dor7's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
2.0
there was too much going on and lowkey confusing. Only reason I didn’t dnf is because I was too far
stillmonster's review against another edition
3.0
took a while but we made it !!! (probably what the qazāli said once luca left)
leave it to the sapphics to love each other to the point of ruining two whole countries just for a bit of revenge speckled with inevitable yearning lolll
leave it to the sapphics to love each other to the point of ruining two whole countries just for a bit of revenge speckled with inevitable yearning lolll
anna__b's review against another edition
2.5
I really, really wanted to love this one, but it was just so messy, both on a large and small scale. On a scene level, I found myself backtracking a lot in certain parts because it was just not very clear what was going on. Sometimes characters would just pop up in the middle of a conversation and I hadn't even known they were there; sometimes it was really hard to tell which character even said a certain piece of dialogue if it didn't have a tag attached; in one particularly egregious copyediting mistake, Touraine tells her commanding officer that she and her soldiers have been fighting for Qazal instead of Balladaire. The worldbuilding felt very shallow and the side characters one-dimensional. I didn't have a good sense of the setting, and felt a little unmoored and muddled the whole time. There were some plot threads that seemed important but ended up just getting dropped, like Luca wanting to go to the ancient city but giving up after one failed attempt and never speaking of it again. Basically, I could really feel that this was a debut novel that maybe needed a little more time to cook.
On a larger scale, I think this book didn't work for me because both of the main characters, and as a result their relationship, were unconvincing and not fleshed out enough. Touraine was probably the weakest for me of the two. I wanted to like her and I think she has potential, but it was never particularly clear to me what her motivations were at any point in time. She flip-flopped around so much and so quickly, and every time she had a choice to make it seemed like she just picked the worst possible option she could think of. I think her storyline of losing faith in the colonizers she'd been serving could have been super cool, but the actual process of her switching sides and joining up with the rebels felt so sudden and random and I didn't feel like I really got inside her thought processes at all. It also would've helped if her relationship with the other Sands was shown more than told, because it really seemed like she barely knew anyone's names besides the two that she hung out with at the beginning. I didn’t even really know how many there were supposed to be. Luca was slightly better written and at least did have clear motivations, although I would tend to agree with her uncle that she is Not fit to rule...like, at all. She is so bad at it. I did like the way the author used her to show that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that you can't philanthropize your way out of being a colonizer. But I really did not get why she was so fixated on Touraine. Their "romance" is barely a romance at all and what little there was always seemed extremely one-sided on Luca's part, yet the whole book emotionally centers around the idea that they're obsessed with each other. I was not convinced. I felt zero chemistry between the two women and really I have no idea why they would be into each other at all (besides Touraine apparently looking good in a uniform). I think this is ultimately the biggest issue with the book for me; if the relationship between them had been written better and given more depth, I could've gotten over a lot of the other flaws.
I'm gonna have to sit on it for a little but right now I'm thinking I probably won't continue on with the series. I do think it's one that has potential to get better as it goes along, but based off the way this one ended it seems like the "romance" between Luca and Touraine is going to be really centered in the next book and I don't know if I can deal with that. I'm honestly pretty bummed, this is the second series I've tried out of the "sapphic trifecta" so far and I was hoping to love it just as much as SWBTS, but getting through this story was honestly a struggle at times.
On a larger scale, I think this book didn't work for me because both of the main characters, and as a result their relationship, were unconvincing and not fleshed out enough. Touraine was probably the weakest for me of the two. I wanted to like her and I think she has potential, but it was never particularly clear to me what her motivations were at any point in time. She flip-flopped around so much and so quickly, and every time she had a choice to make it seemed like she just picked the worst possible option she could think of. I think her storyline of losing faith in the colonizers she'd been serving could have been super cool, but the actual process of her switching sides and joining up with the rebels felt so sudden and random and I didn't feel like I really got inside her thought processes at all. It also would've helped if her relationship with the other Sands was shown more than told, because it really seemed like she barely knew anyone's names besides the two that she hung out with at the beginning. I didn’t even really know how many there were supposed to be. Luca was slightly better written and at least did have clear motivations, although I would tend to agree with her uncle that she is Not fit to rule...like, at all. She is so bad at it. I did like the way the author used her to show that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that you can't philanthropize your way out of being a colonizer. But I really did not get why she was so fixated on Touraine. Their "romance" is barely a romance at all and what little there was always seemed extremely one-sided on Luca's part, yet the whole book emotionally centers around the idea that they're obsessed with each other. I was not convinced. I felt zero chemistry between the two women and really I have no idea why they would be into each other at all (besides Touraine apparently looking good in a uniform). I think this is ultimately the biggest issue with the book for me; if the relationship between them had been written better and given more depth, I could've gotten over a lot of the other flaws.
I'm gonna have to sit on it for a little but right now I'm thinking I probably won't continue on with the series. I do think it's one that has potential to get better as it goes along, but based off the way this one ended it seems like the "romance" between Luca and Touraine is going to be really centered in the next book and I don't know if I can deal with that. I'm honestly pretty bummed, this is the second series I've tried out of the "sapphic trifecta" so far and I was hoping to love it just as much as SWBTS, but getting through this story was honestly a struggle at times.
isadorawonder's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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
4.0