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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
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
You don’t find a life. You have to make one, with the people around you and the causes you put your strength into.
“We pray for rain.”
“No. Be the rain.” 🥺
Really good fantasy book about colonization and its effects on the colonized! Can’t wait to read the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Colonisation
Moderate: Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry
Minor: Rape, Vomit
It’s moving at a snails pace and there’s so much political dialogue with no action.
"The Unbroken" by C.L. Clark might very well be someone else's favourite book, but it's just not to my taste.
Too much political intrigue, too little character development, and the romance was more than a little icky.
Kudos to the author for tackling some very serious issues (colonization, internalised racism, ableism...), but the story never really managed to grip me.
I loved that in this particular fantasy universe the society is gender-equal and queer-normative, but that's about it. Nothing else in the book was particularly appealing.
Too much political intrigue, too little character development, and the romance was more than a little icky.
Kudos to the author for tackling some very serious issues (colonization, internalised racism, ableism...), but the story never really managed to grip me.
I loved that in this particular fantasy universe the society is gender-equal and queer-normative, but that's about it. Nothing else in the book was particularly appealing.
Fantasy about relationships in a rebellion
When I started reading this, my first thought was that I wasn’t going to like it. I was wrong! Political intrigue, rebellion, betrayals and all kinds of relationship issues. Well done. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
When I started reading this, my first thought was that I wasn’t going to like it. I was wrong! Political intrigue, rebellion, betrayals and all kinds of relationship issues. Well done. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love a book about politics, and this is one of the best depictions of empire I’ve read within the fantasy genre. The characters are incredibly complex and I both love and loath them for the decisions and choices each of them make. It’s frustrating to read but also so believably human. This book has so much depth yet is so easy to read, not sure how Clark achieved this but I applaud her for it. My only wish is for more Pruett.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Includes minor spoilers without details.
I really wanted to like this more than I did. In theory, it has a lot of things I like in books; Revolution, magic, minority representation (sapphic, poc, disability), morally grey characters, but somehow I just didn't click with it the way I'd hoped.
Both Luca and Touraine (Touraine, mostly) make decisions that constantly have me scratching my head wondering how in the hell they got to that conclusion. So many things were hinted at, and then never mentioned again or ever fully explained at all. Supposedly Touraine and Luca are really attached to one another, but I can't quite figure out why, aside from a case of Stockholm syndrome in Touraine and an interest in Touraine's physique from Luca. (If I read between the lines, it's there, probably, but I would have liked to have seen it more fleshed out. One dance, a few drinks, and a game of fantasy chess does not a love story make.)
Really it's just moving from bad decision, to a temporary relief, to a worse decision, to a temporary relief that's worse than the previous one, ad infinitum.
It reads as if the author has a fully fleshed out world and magic system (maybe?), thought processes and character development in their head, and a lot of it just never made it to the pages, leaving the reader to interpret the unsaid or even just floundering completely. The prose wasn't my favorite either, but eh.
All in all, I will be reading The Faithless as well. The Unbroken has its flaws, but there's a lot of promise there, so I'm hoping it's growing pains from a debut.
Also, justice for Pruett.
I really wanted to like this more than I did. In theory, it has a lot of things I like in books; Revolution, magic, minority representation (sapphic, poc, disability), morally grey characters, but somehow I just didn't click with it the way I'd hoped.
Both Luca and Touraine (Touraine, mostly) make decisions that constantly have me scratching my head wondering how in the hell they got to that conclusion. So many things were hinted at, and then never mentioned again or ever fully explained at all. Supposedly Touraine and Luca are really attached to one another, but I can't quite figure out why, aside from a case of Stockholm syndrome in Touraine and an interest in Touraine's physique from Luca. (If I read between the lines, it's there, probably, but I would have liked to have seen it more fleshed out. One dance, a few drinks, and a game of fantasy chess does not a love story make.)
Really it's just moving from bad decision, to a temporary relief, to a worse decision, to a temporary relief that's worse than the previous one, ad infinitum.
It reads as if the author has a fully fleshed out world and magic system (maybe?), thought processes and character development in their head, and a lot of it just never made it to the pages, leaving the reader to interpret the unsaid or even just floundering completely. The prose wasn't my favorite either, but eh.
All in all, I will be reading The Faithless as well. The Unbroken has its flaws, but there's a lot of promise there, so I'm hoping it's growing pains from a debut.
Also, justice for Pruett.
slow-paced