A review by heyleigh05
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

 The Unbroken by C.L. Clark is about Touraine, a soldier, who must decide where her allegiances lie and who she will fight for. Touraine is a soldier in the Balladairan army, a settler colonial state that seeks to colonize Quazal. Touraine is a part of a class of soldiers, derogatively called Sands, who were stolen from Quazal as children and forced to serve in the Balladairan army. When the princess and the Balladairan army return to Quazal to settle the territory and bring it to heel, Touraine has to evaluate what and who she stands for. The Unbroken is a story about colonialism, rebellion, spirituality, and autonomy.

This was an anticipated read for me. It took a while to get it from the library, and when I eventually got it I was excited. However, it took me forever to read this book, like three weeks. It just took me a long time to get into the book and then my desire to pick up the book was kind of low. When I was actively reading the book, I was engaged and the story was easy to follow. But when I closed the book and when I wasn’t reading it it was hard to muster the desire to open it. I just didn’t feel like reading it, but when I actually had the book open I wanted to know what would happen. Does that make sense? Does that happen to you all? The novel is well-written and has a solid premise, but I just wasn’t dying to spend my time reading it.

The Unbroken is told from two perspectives: Touraine and Luca, the heir to the Balladaire throne. Luca is sent to Quazal by her uncle, the crown regent until Luca is ready to take the throne. Luca must prove to her uncle that she’s fit to be queen by settling the Quazal colony and quelling the rebellion. I must say that reading a white colonizer’s perspective is not the most appealing. I’m not sure if I was supposed to empathize with her, but I wasn’t inclined to because she’s a colonizer. Luca is meant to be “one of the good ones''. She wants to be “fair” and sympathetic. She wants the Quazali to warm up to her and respect her. Although she had good intentions, good intentions don’t mean anything when you still represent a colonial state and it's even worse when you're the face of a monarchy. Luca’s chapters about wanting to be a good queen didn’t move me because it just meant she wanted an active role in the subjugation of indigeneous people.

Something I liked about this book was how it normalized the existence of queer and gender non-conforming people. This isn’t a queer book, but rather a story about rebellion that just so happens to have queer/trans characters, does that make sense? Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is similar in that regard. Queer and trans characters exist but its not necessarily them doing queer things, rather its people just doing things who just so happen to be queer. I hope I’m saying this right. There are lesbian and bi characters in the novel. I will warn you however, that if you’re expecting any smut of sexy scenes in the novel there aren’t any so don’t go into it expecting a sapphic romance subplot because you’re not really going to get that. The novel is very much focused on the political intrigue, mystery, and conflict.

With that said, I was not impressed by the colonizer/colonized relationship that the author tried to set up. For starters, this trope where the subjugated character is attracted to or falls in love with the subjugating character is just not it. It feels very trite and kind of silly in relation to the magnitude of problems that comes with colonialism. It’s like when people think that just because interracial relationships exist racism is over. It's not. Just because you’re in a relationship with an imperialist doesn’t mean you aren’t being subjugated. In the novel, Luca and Touraine have a sort of situationship. They don’t have sex and they don’t fall in love, but they develop some sort of emotional attachment to each other. Besides the point that the colonizer romance trope is inappropriate, I just wasn’t convinced of Luca and Touraine’s chemistry together. For me, I didn't get the fondness they had for each other because I didn’t really believe it. They did not have chemistry, but so many times throughout the novel they made decisions that were heavily influenced by their feelings for each other. Their lack of chemistry made it hard for me to believe in their decision-making.

Another thing I liked about the novel was the development of Touraine as a character. You see how Touraine reconciles her place in the imperial army and evaluates what it means to be a soldier participating in the suppression of her own people. Touraine also has to weigh her personal goals against the best interest of the people. Touraine has an organic awakening throughout the novel that was well-written. I found myself frustrated with her at times because I could see the flaws in her thinking and I just hoped she would realize it. Despite her organic character development, I do think that Touraine made some really dumb decisions that just really didn’t make sense. She would do these really silly things and her logic behind it just didn’t make sense and was very random. She reminds me of Rin from The Poppy War in that way. You know how Rin would make really dumb decisions and you’re just like why did she do that? That’s how I felt about Touraine.

Those are my overall thoughts about the novel. I come away from this book with some mixed feelings. It’s not a bad book at all, it's quite engaging at times and there are really compelling side characters that I would love to know more about. However, I do think that the plot progression was kind of predictable which made it a little boring. I think I’ll read the next book in the series but I won’t rush to read it. I wouldn’t discourage people from reading this book, but don’t feel rushed to read it either. If you’re really into political intrigue and strategy books then I think you’ll definitely enjoy this book!

Also, since this is a novel about revolution and rebellion, I think it's important that we apply the themes we read about to real life. Palestinians have been rebelling and demanding freedom for decades and that resistance continues. I’d like to encourage you to read about Palestine’s resistance to Israeli imperialism and to support Palestinian autonomy in any way you can. Social media has been instrumental in keeping people informed on what's happening in Palestine and sharing information. Sign petitions, contact your elected officials, and donate to Palestinians if you can. If you need a place to start try scrolling through the #FreePalestine tag to find information. I think that it's important as book readers that we not only engage with fictional tellings of social themes, but that we also get involved in our real lives.