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paigemandia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Idk this one just didn’t really do it for me. I loved most of the characters, except the protagonist touraine just annoyed the hell out of me. None of her decisions were thought out and she just made mistake after mistake. We love a flawed character but she was just not doing it for me. I did love how this novel approached colonialism and institutionalism—that was definitely the strong point of this novel. A lot of it just felt rushed and the characters weren’t built up enough for a lot of the deaths to effect me. It was entertaining enough and the magic system is interesting, so I am looking forward to seeing if the next books in the trilogy are better. But happy to have read 1/3 of the sapphic golden trio. gotta get the jasmine throne next 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Death, Colonisation, Blood, Animal death, and Alcohol
herfleurs's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"Every empire demands revolution."
Luca é uma das personagens mais nojentas que já li. Eu nunca vou entender porque a autora achou que seria interessante criar um romance entre essas duas, juro. Era muito improvável que eu fosse aceitar qualquer arco de redenção que fosse dado pra ela mas o melhor é que não existe nenhum!
Ela é uma princesa colonizadora, ladrona do começo ao fim. Ela tem umas falas e pensamentos nas narrações que são imundos.
É tão problemático essa relação das duas. E Luca é tão manipuladora, a cena da página 351 me deu tanta raiva. Me dá agonia. Touraine nos primeiros 50% é essa personagem completamente assimilada, ela busca tanta aprovação dessas mulheres brancas que são a representação do império que da vontade de gritar. A autora coloca Luca dando a liberdade dela gente, literalmente tornando ela cidadã e pensando "talvez" eu faça isso com alguns outros, sabe. Isso porque ela pediu porque duvido que em nenhum momento Luca ia pensar nisso.
Odiei como praticamente tudo foi tratado aqui. Eu deveria ter conhecido mais do batalhão da Touraine, ter entendido muito mais da cultura dessa cidade. Ter visto muito mais da rebelião, muito mais da magia. Mas tudo foi raso. É bem escrito mas não é suficiente.
E o final? Péssimo. Horrível.
Luca é uma das personagens mais nojentas que já li. Eu nunca vou entender porque a autora achou que seria interessante criar um romance entre essas duas, juro. Era muito improvável que eu fosse aceitar qualquer arco de redenção que fosse dado pra ela mas o melhor é que não existe nenhum!
Ela é uma princesa colonizadora, ladrona do começo ao fim. Ela tem umas falas e pensamentos nas narrações que são imundos.
É tão problemático essa relação das duas. E Luca é tão manipuladora, a cena da página 351 me deu tanta raiva. Me dá agonia. Touraine nos primeiros 50% é essa personagem completamente assimilada, ela busca tanta aprovação dessas mulheres brancas que são a representação do império que da vontade de gritar. A autora coloca Luca dando a liberdade dela gente, literalmente tornando ela cidadã e pensando "talvez" eu faça isso com alguns outros, sabe. Isso porque ela pediu porque duvido que em nenhum momento Luca ia pensar nisso.
Odiei como praticamente tudo foi tratado aqui. Eu deveria ter conhecido mais do batalhão da Touraine, ter entendido muito mais da cultura dessa cidade. Ter visto muito mais da rebelião, muito mais da magia. Mas tudo foi raso. É bem escrito mas não é suficiente.
E o final? Péssimo. Horrível.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Death, and Blood
Minor: Rape, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death
n_asyikin_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
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
5.0
A gripping story that will have you at the edge of your seat. It was bold in its exploration of the effects & consequences of colonization. I thought the contrasting depictions of pro- & anti-colonial view were done brilliantly; the actions of the characters evocative, allowing the reader to explore the complexity of humanity. You will find yourself frustrated, especially when the characters were blatantly pro-colonial; but it was inspiring to see the decolonization of the mind Touraine went through albeit only at the latter stages of the story.
I thought The Unbroken was thrilling & emotionally evocative. It was joyfully infuriating by being action-packed driven by compelling characters. What a great start to a series!
I thought The Unbroken was thrilling & emotionally evocative. It was joyfully infuriating by being action-packed driven by compelling characters. What a great start to a series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, and Racism
Minor: Rape
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
THE UNBROKEN is a tale of colonialization, uprising, and a stolen child returning to her homeland as a conscripted soldier ordered to bring it to heel. Touraine is one of the Sands, the term for Qazāli people stolen as children and raised to be soldiers by the Balladaire. This puts her in the position of being used to enforce restrictions on the people she came from. Events early in the book remove her from the Sands, the people she's lived with, fought alongside, and bled with all her life to instead be in service to princess Luca. The rest of the book explores Touraine's confused attempts to figure out what she wants and what she's willing to die for, as well as Luca's desperate attempts to hold on to power through the slim thread of her uncle's distant regard and her subordinates' loyalty. One of the strengths of THE UNBROKEN is it highlights the way that someone who is marginalized in their own group but has power and privilege over another group often uses that relative power to gain a sense of control by oppressing someone else. Luca's physical disability and precarious political position lead her to make harsher choices in order to not appear weak, something that would probably be less on her mind if she weren't constantly worried about people mistaking her physical impairment for lack of will.
The tension between Luca and Touraine is very well handled, as throughout the story their dynamic as a pair constantly shifts, but they're never quite on the same page about the nature of their relationship. It showed over and over how no matter how attracted they might be to each other, the gulf of power between Luca's position and Touraine's means that it's impossible to trust any "Yes" from Touraine when Luca can have her tortured or killed for a "No". This affects everything from their mutual attraction to the treatment of the Sands to the handling of the rebels.
I love the portrayal of the Qazāli rebels, I can't discuss much there without spoilers but they were dynamic as a group and as individuals, each with their own reactions to Touraine and Luca's various intrusions on their lives, as well as the reality of life under Balladaire's oppressive colonial rule.
I'm looking forward to the sequel, I'm a little worried that it'll only get worse for the characters from here but I want to know what happens next.
The tension between Luca and Touraine is very well handled, as throughout the story their dynamic as a pair constantly shifts, but they're never quite on the same page about the nature of their relationship. It showed over and over how no matter how attracted they might be to each other, the gulf of power between Luca's position and Touraine's means that it's impossible to trust any "Yes" from Touraine when Luca can have her tortured or killed for a "No". This affects everything from their mutual attraction to the treatment of the Sands to the handling of the rebels.
I love the portrayal of the Qazāli rebels, I can't discuss much there without spoilers but they were dynamic as a group and as individuals, each with their own reactions to Touraine and Luca's various intrusions on their lives, as well as the reality of life under Balladaire's oppressive colonial rule.
I'm looking forward to the sequel, I'm a little worried that it'll only get worse for the characters from here but I want to know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Terminal illness
Minor: Child death, Rape, and Suicide
CW for major character death (graphic).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
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
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
azrah786's review against another edition
3.5
[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I was gifted a copy by Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**
CW: depictions of colonial violence, gore, past attempted rape, threats of rape, threats of torture, blood, death
The Unbroken is a North African inspired political and military fantasy following a conscripted soldier of a colonist empire returning to her homeland in order to aid in quelling a rebellion, and an imperial princess determined to establish peace in said region in order to reclaim her throne. It's a story about power and about freedom that unapologetically addresses the brutal effects of war and colonialism to people, place and culture.
**I was gifted a copy by Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**
CW: depictions of colonial violence, gore, past attempted rape, threats of rape, threats of torture, blood, death
The Unbroken is a North African inspired political and military fantasy following a conscripted soldier of a colonist empire returning to her homeland in order to aid in quelling a rebellion, and an imperial princess determined to establish peace in said region in order to reclaim her throne. It's a story about power and about freedom that unapologetically addresses the brutal effects of war and colonialism to people, place and culture.
“It’s in our nature to doubt. The key to faith is standing by someone anyway.”
Some of the initial concepts of the story gave me vibes of The Ember Quartet which had me invested immediately, though it is a unique story from the get go.
The story unfolds with the Balladairan Colonial Brigade arriving on the docks of the capital of Qazal and we instantly get a sense for the animosity and prejudices between the communities present; the conflicting feelings and loyalties of the ‘Sands’ – those soldiers who were stolen as children and indoctrinated to support the empire– and the discrimination these soldiers face from all sides.
“Touraine was starting to think it was impossible to come from one land and learn to live in another and feel whole. That you would always stand on shaky, hole-ridden ground, half of your identity dug out of you and tossed away.”
The world-building and setting take parallels from real world history but have an added whisper of magic, and the immersive storytelling allows us to discover this elaborate fantasy world hand in hand with the characters.
Pacing-wise, this book was definitely slower than I initially expected – more politically focused than action heavy. Though Clark’s writing has a beautiful and at times poetic quality to it without being overly flowery, which I really loved. There were so many spectacular quotes in this book!
The primary characters themselves are wonderfully complex and nuanced. I particularly loved following Touraine's story arc and her coming to terms with her identity and where her loyalties lie - with those in the only life she has known or with those from the home she has forgotten. You know the character is well written when your heart hurts for them and gets frustrated by them and their actions in equal measures.
“The thought still made her shudder with – what? Revulsion wasn’t right, and neither was fear. It was the sense that she had been walking a broad path along a cliff only to find it was a bayonet’s edge. She was just waiting to be pushed.”
What I was left uncertain about though was the relationship between the two protagonists. There was definitely an interesting connection between them but I wasn’t convinced it worked well enough to be a romantic one.
For starters there was an unbalance of power between the two of them that didn’t sit well with me and then there were also a few time skips in the narrative when their relationship was developing which made it seem as though the hints of a romance ensuing were coming about too fast. Also I feel like the more familial relationships in the book were a lot stronger and more fleshed out particularly Touraine’s relationship with the other ‘Sands’ and Luca’s with Gillet. I feel like even the relationship between Touraine and The Jackal had more going for it!
The key fantasy elements are also not explored as much in this first book as I had hoped, particularly since a scene towards the beginning had me super eager to know more about the magic. This wasn’t really a major flaw since the political intrigue throughout was compelling in itself, but definitely something I am highly anticipating to discover more about it in the sequel.
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Rape
mandkips's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking