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bookishbutch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
You know that one Lady Gaga GIF where it's her going "amazing incredible never the same etc."? That's me at this book. Man oh man was this a brilliant debut that literally left me breathless. I'm not even sure how to describe this book besides absolutely stunning. If you love political fantasies that tackle colonialism, imperialism, racisms, found family, a unique magic system, lovable, complex characters and a very messy wlw relationship then I highly, highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Rape
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
The Unbroken is a fantasy novel with a setting inspired by French colonial occupation in Northern Africa with two POV characters: Touraine, who was stolen as a child and taken to Balladaire where she is raised to fight for the colonial power occupying her homeland, and Luca, a princess of Balladaire given power in occupied Qazāl and desperate to prove her competence so she can take the Balladairan throne. The plot follows both characters' (and other characters') political maneuvering and shifting loyalties in the context of a rapidly growing rebellion. Overall, I really liked this novel + will definitely read the next book in the series. I thought many of the characters were very well developed + particularly appreciated Touraine's perspective; I hope that some of the more peripheral characters get more focus in the sequel. I also thought that the book was well written - the action scenes especially - and that the political intrigue was compelling. I appreciated that sexual diversity is the norm in the world of this book -- many characters are lgbtq+ but this itself is not a plot point -- and that women being in positions of power is also the norm here. I will note that while both Touraine and Luca (and a number of other characters) are queer and a number of reviews describe the book as sapphic, it ought not be construed a romance; there is an extreme power difference here (Luca has the power to deem Touraine's life forfeit given that Touraine is her empire's property) which negates consent. While the characters are both individually complex and well-developed, their relationship did not feel that way to me; I could not wrap my head around how both their decision-making processes were so deeply impacted by their personal relationship, which consisted of some moments of tension and of Luca sexualizing Touraine, and ultimately wish that the suggestion of chemistry between them had just been left out entirely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Torture, and Gore
Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Torture
morevna's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Rape
callmekt's review against another edition
adventurous
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
It isn't supposed to happen like this. This is the common thread throughout The Unbroken, book 1 in Magic of the Lost by C.L. Clark. It feels like I've read this story before, a story riddled with good intentions and bad outcomes and miscommunications. Politics and war and the struggle of leadership. But I haven't read the story like this, a story that centers two women with similar hopes but different motivations. A story about a soldier educated with propaganda who unlearns her upbringing when confronted with the plight of people who look like her. A story about a royal who wanted to set things right but was too wrapped up with scholarly theories to fully understand the breadth of her decisions. Plans go awry. Hearts are broken. Relationships are strained. And through it all, questions of magic and gods and what it means to believe in a being more powerful than you can understand. Keep your eyes on The Unbroken. Pray for rain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
One of the main characters was taken as a child and educated in the "civilized" manner of her captors. She, and the rest of her brethren, are slaves. The sexual assault is an attempt and referenced multiple times, mostly in the first half of the book.bananly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? It's complicated
5.0
Do not come into this book expecting everything general media has given you- brushed off military shenanigans, a desire to tell a story but weak convictions to go through with hard choices the characters make. There is very little cushion for any of these characters to fall onto when they stumble in this book and it sometimes makes it hard to watch. Sometimes I had to put it down for a bit. Sometimes I was going "would I even be able to make it through all this." But war stories shouldn't always be fun and romantic power fantasies. We need a lot less of those in this world. What we do need is books like these, which make us confront the reason most people agreed to stop having wars- it's messy on all sides. Something American's have forgotten due to desensitization. As the smallest end note I want to mention there's no homophobia in this book- everyone is cool with the characters who use they pronouns, who kiss the same gender, all of it. Which is good because I don't think a homophobia thread could fit into the story if it tried.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Gore
Minor: Rape and Torture
fruitea's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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
5.0
i don't really know how to describe this book. it was so different to the other kinds of books i read (in a good way!!) and really made me reflect on a lot of things. particularly touraine - she's such a complex character and you really get to see her inner conflict with herself. to be honest, i feel like i'd spoil it too much if i explained further. this book will make you think a lot about things society has kind of swept under the rug.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Blood, and Cursing
Moderate: Rape, Excrement, and Confinement
harrownova's review against another edition
dark
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
5.0
I rly enjoyed this book. But also very painful. But also very good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Police brutality, Murder, Genocide, and Confinement
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
achingallover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
adancewithbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Orbit and Little Brown Book Group UK for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Normally I am not at all drawn to military fantasy. However when you see a cover with that amount of fierceness in a character, it certainly wants to make you give a book a chance. And I'm glad I did.
The Unbroken is about colonization, identity and what that all entails. Stolen children, brainwashing, rebellions, treason, trying to find one's footing in a world that has cut away all the land for you to stand on. And I think that is what makes this miltary fantasy stand out from others I've read in the past. It is completely character driven with two characters being the spill of it all.
Touraine is a soldier who was stolen as a child from her homelands and raised in the empire. Now she has to fight against her own. But she doesn't feel like they are her own. She is loyal to the empire as she has been taught to believe. Yet she never quite fits in there either. Always just some dirt under someone's sole. Never a ful person. And when everything is swept from under her feet, she only has her own to look at.
Luca on the other hand is the crown princess to the empre that wants to claim her throne. And she wants to do that by breaking the rebellion and bringing peace to the colonies. But what about an actual conscience and seeing what the actions of you and yours have caused?
There are so many bits and pieces weaved throughout the story that it becomes so much more than a military fantasy. It is an exploration of colonization and who you are in the world. What it is you really stand for. And along the way I fell in love with so many of the side characters. Gil who stands by Luca always, Touraine's mom, the rebel leaders. They all have so much that shaped them who they are.
Having said that, it is a beast of almost 500 pages and I would have liked just a smidge more of action in the middle to really be invested. Now I lost investment here and there. I did get it back, but I needed a little more to make this a 5 star read which it could have been for sure!
Normally I am not at all drawn to military fantasy. However when you see a cover with that amount of fierceness in a character, it certainly wants to make you give a book a chance. And I'm glad I did.
The Unbroken is about colonization, identity and what that all entails. Stolen children, brainwashing, rebellions, treason, trying to find one's footing in a world that has cut away all the land for you to stand on. And I think that is what makes this miltary fantasy stand out from others I've read in the past. It is completely character driven with two characters being the spill of it all.
Touraine is a soldier who was stolen as a child from her homelands and raised in the empire. Now she has to fight against her own. But she doesn't feel like they are her own. She is loyal to the empire as she has been taught to believe. Yet she never quite fits in there either. Always just some dirt under someone's sole. Never a ful person. And when everything is swept from under her feet, she only has her own to look at.
Luca on the other hand is the crown princess to the empre that wants to claim her throne. And she wants to do that by breaking the rebellion and bringing peace to the colonies. But what about an actual conscience and seeing what the actions of you and yours have caused?
There are so many bits and pieces weaved throughout the story that it becomes so much more than a military fantasy. It is an exploration of colonization and who you are in the world. What it is you really stand for. And along the way I fell in love with so many of the side characters. Gil who stands by Luca always, Touraine's mom, the rebel leaders. They all have so much that shaped them who they are.
Having said that, it is a beast of almost 500 pages and I would have liked just a smidge more of action in the middle to really be invested. Now I lost investment here and there. I did get it back, but I needed a little more to make this a 5 star read which it could have been for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Murder
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Rape