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A review by skylarkblue1
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/bM9pBrla/82-magic-of-the-lost-1-the-unbroken-by-cl-clark
If you're looking for fast-paced action, this isn't it. If you're looking for deep world building and complex characters, this is very much it. It's a lot more "political" than the regular political fantasy, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.
The plot is mainly just about the characters, and their places in the war. It's complex, messy and has so many small details throughout for both the overarching plot and the characters' own progressions and developments. I honestly absolutely loved the way character progression was done. At first, they're all pretty walled-up and seem flat, but the more the book progresses, the more they all start to open up as they start to find their places and find their motivations. The small changes to the characters, the way new info changes them, it's so great. I normally dislike really long books, but I feel like for the most part this did use the pages well as so many of the "smaller" parts still provide a lot for the characters as a whole.
I did find the POV switching to be a tad confusing at times. At first I thought it'd be every chapter swapped POVs, so like chapter 1 would be touraine, chapter 2 luca, chapter 3 touraine, etc but instead it just seems to kinda swap at random. It's jarring at first, but it does make sense the further in you get and you just kinda get used to it.
It's certainly a slow-burner. There's a lot of talking, a lot of politics, a lot of silent strategies rather than constant action to solve everything. It's a proper political fantasy that really dives deep into the contrasting politics between the colonisers and the indigenous. The difference in beliefs, tactics and more shine so brightly and are written so well.
The influence of the French colonisation of Northern African countries is quite obvious, but it still manages to create it's own world, lore and history around it and builds off fantasy roots from the history. I think that's a pretty hard thing to do, using actual history quite heavily while still allowing for a fantasy world to thrive, but I just love how it's been done here!
It's not a romance though. It has romantic elements, but I wouldn't call it a romance at all. They got a hell of a lot more important things to do than slink off to a dark corner to be romance-y lmao. There is a set up for a couple romances, there's ofc some good gay representations, but yeah nothing over the top. It's nice to have a fantasy that isn't fully/only around romance so that's a big positive for me, but understandable if that's something you want from your fantasies!
If you're looking for fast-paced action, this isn't it. If you're looking for deep world building and complex characters, this is very much it. It's a lot more "political" than the regular political fantasy, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing.
The plot is mainly just about the characters, and their places in the war. It's complex, messy and has so many small details throughout for both the overarching plot and the characters' own progressions and developments. I honestly absolutely loved the way character progression was done. At first, they're all pretty walled-up and seem flat, but the more the book progresses, the more they all start to open up as they start to find their places and find their motivations. The small changes to the characters, the way new info changes them, it's so great. I normally dislike really long books, but I feel like for the most part this did use the pages well as so many of the "smaller" parts still provide a lot for the characters as a whole.
I did find the POV switching to be a tad confusing at times. At first I thought it'd be every chapter swapped POVs, so like chapter 1 would be touraine, chapter 2 luca, chapter 3 touraine, etc but instead it just seems to kinda swap at random. It's jarring at first, but it does make sense the further in you get and you just kinda get used to it.
It's certainly a slow-burner. There's a lot of talking, a lot of politics, a lot of silent strategies rather than constant action to solve everything. It's a proper political fantasy that really dives deep into the contrasting politics between the colonisers and the indigenous. The difference in beliefs, tactics and more shine so brightly and are written so well.
The influence of the French colonisation of Northern African countries is quite obvious, but it still manages to create it's own world, lore and history around it and builds off fantasy roots from the history. I think that's a pretty hard thing to do, using actual history quite heavily while still allowing for a fantasy world to thrive, but I just love how it's been done here!
It's not a romance though. It has romantic elements, but I wouldn't call it a romance at all. They got a hell of a lot more important things to do than slink off to a dark corner to be romance-y lmao. There is a set up for a couple romances, there's ofc some good gay representations, but yeah nothing over the top. It's nice to have a fantasy that isn't fully/only around romance so that's a big positive for me, but understandable if that's something you want from your fantasies!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Torture, and Sexual assault
Minor: Rape