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A review by hobbleit
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
2.0
I actually hate reviewing books that I find boring because there is rarely that much to say about them. The Unspoken Name bored me so much that I cannot remember the much of the plot which is a shame because it the premise made it sound so promising: a young girl destined to be sacrificed to a god is instead taken and trained as an assassin. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Don’t let the blurb fool you because it really isn’t.
I read some of the reviews and they talked about religions and worldbuilding and, for the life of me, I cannot remember any of that. They talk of multiverses and it must have all passed me by because I have no memory of that. I was reading this alongside Moby Dick because I assumed that reading a modern fantasy at the same time as a classic would make the classic easier to read and I found Moby Dick to be a far more compelling read, cetology tangents and all.
There are only three things about the main character, Csorwe: her name rhymes with doorway, she’s an orc and she’s queer and since none of those things are actual personality traits, she makes a very bland protagonist. At one point another character is thinking that she has no personality but an author acknowledging that they haven’t bothered to write an engaging and interesting character is no substitute for actually doing it. The rest of the characters don’t fare any better, Tal being the only one I could stand to read for more than a few minutes. Yes, he’s annoying and cowardly but he also happens to be the only character with anything going for him. If only he’d been the protagonist.
I’ll give The Unspoken Name one thing, it is beautifully written but that only really serves to paper over the boring cracks. The plot is forgettable and the characters are bland. This is not a book that is going to stay with me once I’ve finished this review and I really do not have any interest in continuing on with the series. Life is far too short for boring.
I read some of the reviews and they talked about religions and worldbuilding and, for the life of me, I cannot remember any of that. They talk of multiverses and it must have all passed me by because I have no memory of that. I was reading this alongside Moby Dick because I assumed that reading a modern fantasy at the same time as a classic would make the classic easier to read and I found Moby Dick to be a far more compelling read, cetology tangents and all.
There are only three things about the main character, Csorwe: her name rhymes with doorway, she’s an orc and she’s queer and since none of those things are actual personality traits, she makes a very bland protagonist. At one point another character is thinking that she has no personality but an author acknowledging that they haven’t bothered to write an engaging and interesting character is no substitute for actually doing it. The rest of the characters don’t fare any better, Tal being the only one I could stand to read for more than a few minutes. Yes, he’s annoying and cowardly but he also happens to be the only character with anything going for him. If only he’d been the protagonist.
I’ll give The Unspoken Name one thing, it is beautifully written but that only really serves to paper over the boring cracks. The plot is forgettable and the characters are bland. This is not a book that is going to stay with me once I’ve finished this review and I really do not have any interest in continuing on with the series. Life is far too short for boring.