Scan barcode
A review by chaoticbookgremlin_
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I feel this was a pretty solid 4 stars for me. I went into this with hopes that it would be a 5 star, but it took me a while to get into, and even then I found myself getting distracted from the story fairly easily. Altogether, there were aspects I loved, and things I didn't like quite so much.
I think my favourite thing was the characterization - I absolutely loved how morally grey our two main characters are, and how a lot of their actions were motivated by primarily self interest - even Touraine's actions, though she justifies some of them as "for the Sands," I came from a desire to not be alone. It was so interesting in seeing the colonizer brainwashing from two different angles - on one side, Touraine was taken from her people as a child and had the ideals of the empire (literally) beaten into her. On the other side, Luca grew up around people who repeatedly told her that the Qazali are worth less than the Balladarians, and, though Luca strives to be better than her predecessors, such a mindset is very difficult to shake.
I absolutely love it when books delve into the psychological effects behind shitty situations. Such instances can be very difficult to pull off, and I believe that Clark did it fairly effectively - Luca's primary motivation is to get her throne from her conniving uncle, whereas Touraine's is to build a better life for her people - ultimately, both situations require making a bunch of sacrifices, both moral and physical, but of course everything is complicated further when the pair develop feelings for one another, which sucks because they suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a rebellion. I adored how we get to see the impossible choices the characters had to make multiple times.
Which, of course, means that C. L. Clark does one of my favourite things in books, and does not pull her punches. We get to see every bloody, shitty, heart-wrenching aspect that comes with a revolution, complete with the effects rebellion has one both sides, as well as the civilians stuck in between. It makes it feel so raw and real, and I just love it.
The big thing that didn't work for me was parts of the writing style, and aspects of the plot. A lot of things seemed to just come out of nowhere, and I found myself having to hunt back through the books to see if I could find if things were brought up before and I just completely missed it (most of the time, I did not). A lot of aspects were brought up for the first time at very convenient moments, without any mention beforehand, which just makes me think of how this is very obviously a debut novel. Unfortunately, a lot of this sucked out a lot of the emotional punches for me, and I felt very disconnected from the characters because of it.
If you're looking for a brutal, action-packed, deeply political fantasy read with a small sapphic romance (subplot), I highly recommend The Unbroken! I am very interested in where this story is going, and will hopefully get to the sequel shortly.
I think my favourite thing was the characterization - I absolutely loved how morally grey our two main characters are, and how a lot of their actions were motivated by primarily self interest - even Touraine's actions, though she justifies some of them as "for the Sands," I came from a desire to not be alone. It was so interesting in seeing the colonizer brainwashing from two different angles - on one side, Touraine was taken from her people as a child and had the ideals of the empire (literally) beaten into her. On the other side, Luca grew up around people who repeatedly told her that the Qazali are worth less than the Balladarians, and, though Luca strives to be better than her predecessors, such a mindset is very difficult to shake.
I absolutely love it when books delve into the psychological effects behind shitty situations. Such instances can be very difficult to pull off, and I believe that Clark did it fairly effectively - Luca's primary motivation is to get her throne from her conniving uncle, whereas Touraine's is to build a better life for her people - ultimately, both situations require making a bunch of sacrifices, both moral and physical, but of course everything is complicated further when the pair develop feelings for one another, which sucks because they suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a rebellion. I adored how we get to see the impossible choices the characters had to make multiple times.
Which, of course, means that C. L. Clark does one of my favourite things in books, and does not pull her punches. We get to see every bloody, shitty, heart-wrenching aspect that comes with a revolution, complete with the effects rebellion has one both sides, as well as the civilians stuck in between. It makes it feel so raw and real, and I just love it.
The big thing that didn't work for me was parts of the writing style, and aspects of the plot. A lot of things seemed to just come out of nowhere, and I found myself having to hunt back through the books to see if I could find if things were brought up before and I just completely missed it (most of the time, I did not). A lot of aspects were brought up for the first time at very convenient moments, without any mention beforehand, which just makes me think of how this is very obviously a debut novel. Unfortunately, a lot of this sucked out a lot of the emotional punches for me, and I felt very disconnected from the characters because of it.
If you're looking for a brutal, action-packed, deeply political fantasy read with a small sapphic romance (subplot), I highly recommend The Unbroken! I am very interested in where this story is going, and will hopefully get to the sequel shortly.