Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Unbroken

Finished with Book 2/3 of the sapphic trifecta (The Jasmine Throne, The Unbroken, and She Who Became the Sun)! So far, I think this one is my favorite. Despite having very little time to read it with work and vacation and stuff, I think this one pulled me in and had a slightly more interesting world than The Jasmine Throne. Right away, we were thrust into an incredibly well-developed world and the stakes that faced the main characters. There was an assassination attempt, a mention of lost parents, and Luca and Touraine’s relationship within the first 20 pages, and that is the type of stuff that really pulls you in.

From there, things just kept happening one after the other. Touraine had her trial and we got to see how much she looked up to Cantic and then Luca made her her assistant to stop her from being killed. After that… things escalated very quickly. Cheminade died, WHICH MADE ME UPSET, so Luca took over. I really admired how smart Luca was. She definitely could be queen, although she may need a bit more practice in making sacrifices and not letting the military tell her what to do. She and Bastien (what is it with me liking book dudes named Bastien?) make such a good alliance!

I’m going to be honest though, the rebels and their found family were the best part of the book. At first, I didn’t like them because they kept hurting Touraine and wrecking Luca’s plans, but once Touraine really got to know them and fully joined them, they were easily the best characters in the book. Jaghotai was SO interesting, and her relationship with Touraine as her mother but also as another one of the rebels looking out for HER found family was so dynamic, and the ending with them looking at the stones… CRYING. I wish Saïd and Malika got more time, but they may be more explored in book two. Djasha was by FAR my favorite, her and Aranen both. They were so CLEARLY in love, and that only made Djasha’s death THAT MUCH SADDER. AFTERWARD, WHEN ARANEN SAID SHE COULDN’T ANYMORE AND SHE WANTED TO BURN ALONGSIDE HER WIFE. PLEASE I’M STILL NOT OVER THEM. At least Aranen killed Cantic like Djasha couldn’t and avenged her wife in the end. That was so amazing. I love them so much.

Once the whole gun-trade thing happened and Touraine ratted Luca’s plan out to Cantic, I kind of started to not like Luca. That was obviously intentional to show that the rebels were right all along, but all it ended up doing was killing Tibeau and more of the Sands AND LITERALLY TOURAINE TOO and then the TEMPLE got burned down and the healers were captured ALL BECAUSE LUCA WANTED SHĀL’S MAGIC AND SHE CAN’T EVEN USE IT.

Seriously though, the worldbuilding and magic were so well done. There was so much HISTORY behind Balladaire and Qazāl and their language and culture and the dynamic of the two societies, and I can understand why Touraine was so torn between the Sands and the rebels and Luca. They’re all ingrained in her, so it was hard to choose. And Shāl’s magic was so unique. I mean, with the meat and the healing AND THEN DJASHA’S MAGIC AT THE END AND THE THING WITH ARANEN AND TOURAINE’S EYES AND THEM EXPLODING CANTIC AND ROGAN… THAT WAS SO COOL. I hope that’s explored more in book two, as well as the magic of the Many-Legged and Niwai. They were so interesting, I wish they had more time (also nonbinary rep!). AND THE SYMBOLISM WITH THE RAIN AT THE END… I LOVED THAT SO MUCH THAT WAS SUCH A NICE TOUCH.

The representation was also fantastic. Jaghotai was an amputee and now so is Guérin, Luca is not only a bisexual (I believe) but she’s also disabled, Djasha was chronically ill and sapphic and she was happily married to her loving wife Aranen, Touraine and Pruett and Aliez were sapphic, and Niwai is nonbinary! There wasn’t a lot of romance in this book like I was expecting, and it was very much one-sided since Luca pined over Touraine while Touraine was focused on the rebels and stuff. Maybe there will be developments? I hope so, especially after the kiss goodbye and the letters.

While I adore this book, after reading some alternate opinions, I can agree with some people when they say the main characters were kind of lacking. Luca and Touraine were both very interesting, but there were times when I wanted to know more about people like the rebels than I did them. The rebels were so amazing, so they kind of overshadowed Luca and Touraine in my opinion. Also, some parts of the book felt kind of slow. The middle was kind of repetitive with them just going back and forth with deals and stuff and I wasn’t really fully invested until around the end. Hopefully, there will be more development with the MCs and better pacing in the later books.

Overall, I LOVED this book. Once I got into it, I was INTO IT. I can’t wait to learn more about the magic and Luca’s claim to the throne and Touraine’s relationships with the rebels and some of the Sands in the later books. I REALLY WANT THEM TO GO TO THE CURSED CITY AND GO TO THAT LIBRARY TO GET THAT BOOK LUCA WANTED. Plus, as an added bonus, the representation was incredible and most of the characters were really lovable. RIP DJASHA I LOVE YOU.

“Be the rain.”

Content Warnings

inting3270's review against another edition

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4.0

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reeno's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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serena_hien's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

3.5

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theirgracegrace's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-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

4.75

The Unbroken asks the question: what about those parts of the fantasy world that are the "colonies"? Set in a queer-positive fictional setting that mirrors French-controlled Saharan Africa, Clark's characters live in the awkward space of either benefitting from or being the product of the colonial state. Clark cleverly deconstructs how the colonial state of Balladaire's oppression has separated the people of Qāzal from their culture and their heritage and made many into soldiers to further that oppression. A book that I cannot stop thinking about and eagerly awaiting the sequel of!

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strabckr's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I’m not really sure how to feel about this book. Technically, it was very high quality, i just didn’t enjoy it as much on a personal level.

The writing was descriptive & visually engaging, the world-building was clean, the characters were solid & grounded, the plot itself was not only entertaining but held a level of believability, objectively speaking, this was a very good book, I’m just not sure that I connected with it on an emotional level.

I, myself, am a high Fantasy junkie, so I thought this book would be perfect for me. I went into it slightly blind so I was really taken along for a ride, and yet, it didn’t grip me. I wasn’t emotionally invested, and even though I liked the cast of characters, I had no connection to them (even though they had a lot of relatability). I am also someone who favors fantasy because of its magical element, and since that wasn’t a prominent factor of the book (in terms of its “fantastical-ness? I don’t know) I guess that didn’t really excite me either. It was also kind of depressing but then again, is more of a personal preference than a criticism.

I think the bottom line here is that this story just wasn’t for me, and that’s okay! not every novel is going to be made for me because there are a bajillion people on the planet, and I’m still able to recognize this story’s objective merit while also validating my subjective thoughts & feelings.
with that being said, I’m probably still going to pick up the second book, as I’m still curious to see what the story will hold as the world itself is highly intriguing & the potential is there.

P.S if you’re going into this thinking it’s going to be a sapphic romance at its core, be warned! the romance is a sub-sub-sub plot, like seriously.

Content Warnings

daniellestarredpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Review to come

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owlphabetical's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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