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A review by elturko64
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
3.0
This is a great debut book. The premise of this book is a queer assassin whose being raised/taught by a powerful wizard and it goes from there into many great ideas. The main theme is about fate vs personal decisions and I enjoyed that a lot. Plus there is some great LGBT material here that I really enjoyed.
However, as much as I enjoyed this book there were some things that really pulled me back from the book. The pacing started out strong until about 40% of the way into the book. The story would fly by and then it would come to a screeching halt and then start up again. It really bothered me. And the world-building was interesting with elements of science fiction and futuristic tech but it didn't fit well with the rest of the setting that had a more classical fantasy feel. In fact, the setting itself felt a bit clouded as if Larkwood wasn't sure if she wanted to make her story more classical fantasy or my science fiction.
Despite the complaints I had with this pacing and setting, I do still think that this is a good book. I enjoyed how Larkwood mixed various tropes you see in a regular fantasy book and created something different and unique. The Unspoken Name is a debut book that's worth checking out for fantasy fans.
However, as much as I enjoyed this book there were some things that really pulled me back from the book. The pacing started out strong until about 40% of the way into the book. The story would fly by and then it would come to a screeching halt and then start up again. It really bothered me. And the world-building was interesting with elements of science fiction and futuristic tech but it didn't fit well with the rest of the setting that had a more classical fantasy feel. In fact, the setting itself felt a bit clouded as if Larkwood wasn't sure if she wanted to make her story more classical fantasy or my science fiction.
Despite the complaints I had with this pacing and setting, I do still think that this is a good book. I enjoyed how Larkwood mixed various tropes you see in a regular fantasy book and created something different and unique. The Unspoken Name is a debut book that's worth checking out for fantasy fans.