Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit books.

There is a lot going on here.

The worldbuilding is crazily intricate. The book focuses on racism, rebellion and oppression. Touraine and her people, the Qazal, are victims of apartheid. Their land is being cruelly held by the minority white Balladairans. Touraine is more than a one note character. Her thoughts and motivations evolve and her character arc is brutal. She and her fellow "Sands" are despised on all sides. She is part of the Balladairan military and treated by the rest of the army as subhuman "dogs". The locals also spit on them , calling them traitors. She maintains her dignity through this and she tries to be the change for good.

The other viewpoint is Luca, a crippled but brilliant princess. She works to wrest power from her uncle, the regent. He has held their world in a firm grip of colonialism. She is idealistic and wants to enact change but cannot see past her white privilege to make lasting good decisions.

This book does not travel down well tread fantasy paths. Unexpected things happen. I would put this book on par with NK Jemisin. The storyline and worldbuilding are five star. One star deducted for occasional excessive wordiness.

I am totally in for the sequels, bring them on! My thanks CL Clark for a great read.

I can't stop thinking about this book! It has been my favorite read of the year.

The world and atmosphere of the book is so immersive and slowly drawn around you through the beautiful writing. The world is explained through conversation and situations, which are so smartly written. Rather than just plain, long descriptions, the world is revealed in bits and pieces that slowly come together. And every piece is so well thought out. The world was completely immersive and developed, with the smallest details fully realized. It felt like slowly being reeled in as the tension and world engulfed me. Oh! I loved it! Such a wonderful slow burn that had me savouring every page while also yearning to know what happens next.

The characters and their arcs were just fantastic. Everyone was so well developed and vivid on the page. I definitely was brought to tears a few times and was so invested in each character. On top of that, this book was such a sharp and real look at colonialism and racism. I didn't expect such beautiful writing, emotional weight, or thought provoking portrals. It is such a wonderful book. I cannot wait for the next in this series.

The Unbroken follows Touraine, a soldier for the Balladairan Empire who has to return to the city of Qazal, where she was given up by her mother at a young age, for a mission. Touraine, raised to be a soldier by the Sands family has hardened up and made her way up in the military ranks and is going to execute this mission like any other, ignoring the fact that she was basically abandoned in this very city.

Luca, another protagonist is the rightful heir to Balladairan’s throne but is held back by her family because they think that she is unworthy of the power she has. A fateful accident that has left her paralyzed, supports the idea that she cannot become a queen. Spending much of her time reading to gain insight on leadership, she is on the threshold to grasp what she desires, that is if she can assert herself from those holding her back.

“You don’t find a life. You have to make one, with the people around you and the causes you put your strength into.”

Both Luca and Touraine, along with all the other side characters were well developed and had distinct voices. It was an equally delightful and gritting experience due to the morally-grey nature. Thought I would have to say that Luca’s POV was the best to read because of her interesting thought process.

When the Touraine and Luca meet, it is under very unexpected circumstances— one that leaves Luca to lead and Touraine to follow. Their dynamic is filled with tension as both of them have to step out of their comfort zone and learn to work together, but they eventually form a tentative and unsuspecting alliance

When the author said that this book was “gay, really gay” they weren’t lying. Even though I didn’t care much about the whole romance plot point going on in the book, I really did appreciate the f/f relationship!

“Who needs a god of oceans when I could drown inside your eyes?”


The world-building was also very well done. As the book was based off events that took place during The French Colonialism of North Africa, I had a lot of fun digging deeper into the history.

The way colonialism impacts a country’s culture and language was portrayed wonderfully because I can certainly see my own country India slowly losing its beautiful culture. Another aspect I enjoyed was the politics, something I am a huge sucker for, especially in fantasies.

The system of Shalan magic which is used for healing was also very intriguing learn about, considering there were many side characters who possessed the ability to use it which later turned out to be crucial for our main characters.

The only thing that fell short for me was the plot pacing. It was way too slow for my liking but I understand that it was needed for the world-building that was coming, The Unbroken being an adult fantasy after all.

Overall, The Unbroken was a gripping page-turner, a complex novel that punches you in the gut with brilliance and makes you want to come back for more.

Representation: LGBT protagonists of color, f/f MCs, m/m side characters, nonbinary side character.

Trigger Warnings: Depictions of colonial violence (physical and emotional) and destruction, gore, attempts and threats of rape, threats of torture.

In my eyes, fantasy is a perfect genre.

What’s not to love? Through fantasy, traveler, I can flee to far-flung, exciting realms unlike any land I have ever touched; gain the power to cut dragons from paper, chase monsters from a metropolis, or jump-start my car without much strife; and I can explore all the deadly complexities of life and living, framed with a subtle hint of magic.

Fantasy can be a receptacle for both discovery and education through its worldbuilding, characters, and commentary. (And it always makes me cry. 😃 Laugh the pain away!)

The Unbroken is an absolutely prime work of fantasy. I’m obsessed.

Let’s discuss it! (This review will be spoiler-free!)

A SHATTERED, SILVER UNIVERSE

“El-Wast. City of marble and sandstone, of olives and clay.”

I appreciate books with settings that breathe! The Unbroken’s city of El-Wast, Qazāl, was as vivid and real as a human body: its crevices and alleyways, in which characters whisper for nefarious and righteous purposes alike, were veins — its citizens were the teeming blood cells set on fulfilling their chosen functions, struggling against the grain.

Sunlight mixed with stone. Sandstorms contrasted the relief of rain. The Unbroken’s world was incredibly layered, and it kept me curious and intrigued throughout the novel.

Qazāl is a colony of “Balladaire, land of honey and whips.” Readers never get to visit this grand nation — but Balladaire, being the oppressive body, echoes throughout every corner of El-Wast. When a sovereign nation is subjugated and colonized, it loses some of its identity. Forced to assimilate (or face the fatal consequences of dissent), colonized people must adopt the language and order of tyrants. The Unbroken examines this.

Speaking of language: I adored the way that language was integrated into The Unbroken. (Languages fascinate me, and I deeply appreciate anything related to linguistics!) Characters shift between the colonizer’s language, Balladairan, and Shālan, “the language of the broken southern empire.”

The timbre of Shālan is described in such a beautiful way. As I read about it, it was like I could hear the clicking of the speakers’ tongues and the sharp articulations of their words.

One of the novel’s protagonists, Touraine, struggles with her relationship with language. She was born in Qazāl, and Shālan was a language she knew better than her own thoughts. But after she was taken to be a soldier under the Balladairan military, her familiarity of the Shālan language became vestigial — which I, a child of immigrants in the United States, related with. I do not remember when my thoughts began to hum and murmur in English; Touraine’s contemplation became Balladairan, and she doesn’t remember how they shifted.

And speaking! Of Touraine!

A flat lay of The Unbroken by C. L. Clark atop violin sheet music and a white woven blanket. To the left of the book is a quill pen, and to the right is a box displaying a map of the world.

TO KNOW YOU LIKE I KNOW A KNIFE

Oh, my God. I love Touraine so much — she might be one of my new favorite characters in all literature.

Her experience as a colonized person living amongst colonizers will resonate with a lot of diaspora kids and individuals like me — and perhaps like you, too, traveler.

Touraine was starting to think it was impossible to come from one land and to live in another and feel whole. That you would always stand on shaky, hole-ridden ground, half of your identity dug out of you and tossed away.

And traveler — we can’t discuss Touraine without mentioning Luca, the analytical, cutthroat, disabled princess of Balladaire (and my heart) vying for the throne.

These two women toe the line between betrayal and trust — they are the gorgeous dissonance of a tritone seeking resolution. Touraine and Luca impressed on each other like ink spilled on a page. I felt conflicted over their bond, given their colonized-colonizer pairing — though The Unbroken does a good job at delving into the friction and contention that such a connection may cause.

(That being said: let’s go, lesbians. Let’s go. 😌)

“[Touraine] could see the shape of empire in Luca’s words.”

HOW THE RAIN FALLS

Yo. Just — this book was my jam.

A BUNCH OF STUFF THAT I LOVED

- It was definitely a slow-burn in its first half: I’m a sucker for slow burns.
- The novel took into account many political considerations: food prices, public approval, the relentless press — consequences for a government officials’ decisions in El-Wast were as real and tangible as packed soil in the ground.
- In the story’s eleventh hour, everything gets crazy. I was shaking.
- War encroached the characters throughout the book — and war kills all closeness.
- Twists, twists, twists. 🗣
- The book has chapter titles! All the best books have chapter titles! 😋

And most of all, The Unbroken explores anger — the beauty of anger: jealous anger, righteous anger, frustrated anger, restrained anger, painful anger, incredulous anger. Rage simmers in The Unbroken with such intricacy and care. The characters are allowed to be furious with their fates, and this fury develops into intention and determination, which guides them.

I appreciated that.

If you want both scathing deconstruction of colonialism in a fantasy setting and extremely good sexual (and political/social) tension between a soldier and her princess, you are going to love this book so much. It's a story brimming with good intentions and terrible decisions, and I can't get enough of it.

I’ve been so excited to read this book since the first time I saw the stunning cover and realized it was sapphic fantasy. And I truly never expected Orbit to approve my request for the advance copy, so I’m definitely thankful to them for being able to read this wonderful book sooner.

The writing in this book is stunning... that’s it. I don’t even wanna extrapolate more about it because the author’s words speak for themselves. The vivid descriptions of the desert city make you feel the heat and dust, the characters’ inner monologues makes you feel so connected to them, and the unfairness of the world makes you feel despair. The pacing is also perfect (though not everyone might agree with me) - it starts off slow and takes time to get interesting, but the buildup the author creates makes for excellent payoff towards the end where everything happens at breakneck speed and we are left catching our breath. But the book is also pretty grim throughout with hardly any levity nor much hope, which can make for a depressing reading experience but the excellent writing, exciting plot and complicated characters more than make up for the bleakness.

Truly, this is an excellent debut and I’m glad that I got to experience another new author this year. If you want rebellion and intrigue and magic interspersed with complicated characters you don’t know what to feel about, then this is perfect for you. If you can wait out the slightly slow buildup and don’t mind your fantasy worlds bleak, then you’ll be blown away by the time you reach the end. I definitely was and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next

A novel of colonizers and the oppressed, conscripted soldiers, ancient cities, and an empress-to-be trying to keep everything together and slowly learning what her birthright *really* means.

Trigger/Content Warnings: Murder | Rape | Torture | Ableism | Racism

It's hard to talk about the experience of reading this book. It is brutal, it is infuriating, it is honest in the best of ways. Touraine is an amazing character and though I have conflicting feelings about Luca, I am very curious about how C.L. Clark will continue her story.

A fantasy novel in which children are taken from their families and educated, trained and groomed to become soldiers for a culture that is not their own - fantasy or shades of real life? The protagonist, Tourraine, finds herself torn between the duty, honor and loyalty to the culture she was raised in when she returns to her childhood city. As a leader of a group of soldiers who were assimilated as children just like herself, her goal is to keep them safe and help them toward a better life.

She soon realizes that despite her willingness to fight and die for her adopted culture, she is nothing more than a pawn to be used to help them dominate her own people. And that she and her team of fellow soldiers will never be more than cannon fodder for a society that considers them dirt on the bottom of their shoes.

Tourraine puts herself at risk, time and time again as she becomes a ambassador to the people she left behind as a child and she soon comes to realize that these people are worth fighting for even though they are hesitant to trust her.
This is a raw, fast paced, sapphic fantasy set in North Africa full of political intrigue. While I found it hard to get into at the beginning, after the first few chapters I was hooked.

C.L Clark’s The Unbroken is a jaw-dropping, unique addition to the fantasy-action genre. There is so much to love within this story and it pains me that this book just released because that means I have to wait too long until I get to meet Touraine and Luca again. Those two frustrated me in the best way and I completely fell in love with both of their characters.

To start the women in this novel are phenomenal. Seeing women in power and knowing that they would be able to whoop some a** if they needed to just makes my heart sing. Touraine’s aspiration to be promoted to Captain and seeing her drive towards her goal at the beginning of the novel was refreshing to see. I have not read many military-esque novels where women were featured at the center of the story and this just made me love Touraine even more. She wanted to be the best soldier and leader that she could be and it is rare that we see this from a female’s perspective. Her critical thinking skills in relation to her military background were really well written as well. Another thing to note is that Touraine wasn’t written from the template of the generic soldier who is tired of their circumstances, she was written as herself, a woman pursuing her dreams of furthering her career as it slowly morphs into something else. Her change of life goals was very organic and really worked well for her character, however, you’ll have to read to find out what her new motives are!

Character development as a whole was done fantastically well. We see Touraine and Luca grow into the people they are meant to be and the story would simply not be the same without this. And while Luca and Touraine both make some heartbreaking decisions in this story, we come to understand why they did what they did, even if we don’t agree with them.

Sapphic relationships in books also get me really giddy because they are just so beautiful. If you’re looking for sapphic rep, you need look no further. Touraine and Luca’s situationship made my cheeks burn and my heart race and I found myself trying to read faster to get more of the tension that forms between them every time they’re in the same room as one another.

The story itself was also so well throughout and carefully planned. Information about the world and its history is slowly fed to us through strategic moments in the novel. This ensured I was constantly invested in the story and that the character’s individual struggles meant something to me because I fully understood what they were going through. I always think I have read it all when it comes to books with their stories and tropes, but The Unbroken truly surprised me.

Overall, this book has entered my list of all-time favorites alongside The Rage of Dragons. It’s just that good. The action, the story, the romance... just *chef's kiss*.

A North African-inspired fantasy story about a country divided and the fates of two women—one, a soldier; the other, a princess—who become hopelessly intertwined.

The country of Qazāl is being taken over by the expanding empire of Balladaire. As a child, Touraine was kidnapped from Qazāl and trained as a frontline soldier for Balladaire. Luca is the young monarch of Balladaire who is sent to Qazāl to quell the rebellion and prove her ability to rule the throne. In The Unbroken, the two women struggle to navigate their allegiances to both country and kin as their complex feelings for one another muddy every water imaginable.

At the core, this book is about colonialism. I'm no historian, but I believe that Clark was inspired by the French colonization of North Africa in the latter parts of the 19th century. There are many conversations to be had about generational trauma, internalized racism, greed, and unbalanced power dynamics. And while the text doesn't necessarily get preachy, these themes are laden throughout the entirety of the book. If you want a lighthearted fantasy romp, this is not your book. Here, you will be forced to think and even ask questions of yourself and your own privilege and power. And that's not a bad thing.

I'm not a very patient reader. I like action, and a lot of it. I like fast moving plot, and a lot of it. I like character development, and a lot of it. I like creative worlds and magic systems, and a lot of it! The Unbroken had some of these things, but none were done perfectly. Both action and plot are primarily reserved for the second half of the book. The pacing upfront is terribly slow and caused me to book down the book on multiple occasions. I did, however, continue to pick up the book because I was interested in the world that Clark was creating. Unfortunately, by the book's end, the primary worldbuilding innovations seemed to rely solely on gender equality and queer normalcy. The rest felt kind of bland. Now, that would be fine if the characters were rich and interesting. While many readers found many connect points with both the main and side characters, I didn't <i>feel</i> for any of them. Luca disgusted me and Touraine was just a constant barrage of bad decisions.

The politics were simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming. The main "romance" in this book was twisted and uncomfortable and I think it was written to feel that way so I get it, but I don't like it. The magic system seemed interesting but unrefined. Hopefully Clark will delve more deeply into the magic as the series progresses.

C. L. Clark is a great writer. They handles their prose well and has garnered a lot of fans with this debut work. While I probably won't be going further in the Magic of the Lost series, I trust that Clark has a promising future with Touraine and any of their future creative machinations.

Provided by the publisher, Orbit, in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I closed the book I thought, "Wait, I think I actually enjoyed that."

I chatted with friends when I was midway through, and vented some of my frustrations. Basically, I was pulled into much of the politics, the conflict, the magic, and the character study.

But I was being constantly infuriated by *every* decision the main characters made. They weren't particularly likeable, and they were such hot messes that I had a hard time rooting for (or sometimes understanding) their respective goals.

Also I'm not here for the ship, at all.

But the writing was truly wonderful! Such vivid descriptions, and I wanted to learn everything about the cultures. Also, there are many side characters who are soooo compelling!

Now that I've finished, I do feel that there was sufficient self-reflection by Tourraine that made me consider her story arc to be very flawed, but ultimately human and believable. Though still aggravating.

So even though there were moments where I sighed and thought, "Oh lawd, how are they going to f*ck this up now?" By the end, I was like yup, I need to see how this plays out.

Looking forward to being even more frustrated in book 2!

I loved this book, and preordered it when I finished it! I didn’t know how it could be anti colonial, but also hot with gay yearning? And yeah, there’s both. Still drooling over Touraine’s arms. Its great writing, and it makes you really think about assimilation and imperialism and what to do as a person living in between the grey lines of those intersections. Lots of complex, interesting female characters. I really really want the next book to come out, and I want there to be banging in it.

I really loved this book!! Like way more than I expected to!

My favorite part of this book was the <i>tension</i>. The political tension, the romantic tension, the family tension, just ALL THE TENSION.

An aspect I didn't expect to love was the mother-daughter relationship! I loved how well developed it was!!

Also THE FOUND FAMILY. They don't always get along, but that's family. I loved how close Touraine was with her squad and how that effected her motives throughout the book.

Speaking of Touraine. She was an incredible protagonist. She was so multidimensional and I loved that about her. She wasn't always perfect and she didn't always make the right decisions, but that's human. I really liked her development and her journey to figuring herself out. She was finding herself throughout the book and I'm interested to see where she goes!

The reason why is isn't a five star read was because around the 50% to 80% mark was a real slug to get through. I think this book was longer than it needed to be.

Nonetheless, I NEED book two because I need more Touraine and Luca--

This is the best fantasy I've read this year. It is epic in scope; the world building is excellent; the characters are three dimensional. It's not an easy read. There is a lot of violence, and the two main characters, Luca and Touraine, make decisions and choices in good faith that nevertheless backfire and perpetuate the violence. The relationship between the two women is intriguing.
This is Book 1 of Magic of the Lost, Hopefully, in the second book, Luca and Touraine's relationship will be resolved.
I highly recommend this book.

Ugh, this book broke my heart over and over. I wish I’d had this book to treasure when I was younger but I’m so glad it’s here now. The Unbroken is smart as hell, scathing when appropriate, but utterly human through and through. Tourraine makes mistakes over and over and over so get ready to feel secondhand embarrassment on her behalf that only deepens your love for the character and her journey. Colonialism is as messy in The Unbroken as it is in real life. As a mixed race person I often feel caught between two words and watching Tourraine navigate the empire she know and the home she is returning only to enforce the empire’s will. I already bought two paper copies and copies for three friends. I can’t wait for the the full trilogy and whatever Clark decides to do next.

I'm finding that I'm having to push myself to go back to this book each time I put it down. Just not for me.

Months later, still recovering. But things we have going in this book:

Characters that’ll make their way through that broken heart of yours and slowly try to heal it (even though they are the ones that broke it in the first place). A plot that’ll drive you through the night, muttering, “one more chapter...one more chapter...” until there’s nothing left but your aching soul. If that’s not the best kind of magic when you pick up a new book, I don’t know what is. A series that you should be putting on that long list of yours (we all know you have one!) but make sure it’s at the top.

I will highly recommend this book to anyone, and basically - I want them suffer along with me as we wait for book 2.

From the first page, I am immediately transported to the the clay and marble of El Wast. I can practically smell the rich food, feel my skin seared by sandstorms and heat, and hear the distinct bazaar chatter of Shalan and Balladairan.The worldbuilding is so rich with detail–both tangible and intangible–which can only come from extensive and empathetic research which prioritizes living with and listening to people’s stories and not just secondhand information from dry scholarly texts in the library.
Much of the setting and culture is based on the French conquest of Northern Africa, and Clark is not afraid to show how colonization affects every aspect of people’s lives. Urban planning, for instance: characters navigate a city whose people, the Qazali, live on the outskirts and unmaintained parts of the Old Medina, while the Balladairans fill the Quartier and the New Medina with their shops and cafes. Religion is deemed as barbaric and uncivilized. Economic activity is tied to Balladairan quarries, and many Qazali are forced to endure violent and inhumane disciplinary tactics in order to keep their families safe.
The most hard-hitting aspect for me would be the education one since I was a former teacher. Education here is used as a tool for keeping a colony under control, and whenever these colonizers treat both Droitist and Tailleurist theories as an ego contest, I go into a RAGE. I was especially seething when high-ranking Balladairans debated the pros and cons of these theories and put more weight on the voices of their proponents rather than the real stakeholders in this conversation: the students. No one asked the young kids stolen from home what it means to have their names changed, their languages stripped away from them, their bodies punished for not being Balladairan enough, and their homes transformed into monstrous and alien places with select textbooks.
Many of these aspects are eerily similar to the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonization of the Philippines, and to some extent, my experiences while growing up in Bahrain and Qatar–both of which are former British protectorates. I had to pause countless times to stare at the ceiling, because it’s my first time to see all these issues laid bare in a book. And oh my God, it was heartbreaking. I also appreciate that the violence and gore is not meant to be gratuitous; rather, it serves as a brutal reminder that this is how a world that glorifies imperialism works. Like Touraine, Luca, and the whole host of characters, we are challenged to answer tough questions: How do we live with this truth? What do we do now?
It is precisely because of the worldbuilding that the characters feel more real to us. Instead of entering the story fully formed like Dungeons and Dragons party members who just meet at a foreign tavern they have no attachment to, the cast here are all born out of the system that they live in. We can see how much of their motivations and actions is largely molded by their upbringing, power status, and expectations. They are deeply flawed, and no one in this book can be held up as exemplary, noble and noble.
Touraine, our protagonist, was stolen from her homeland, reeducated as a conscripted soldier, and made to police her own people–all of the emotional baggage that comes with that premise is always present in her worldview. Though many half some of Touraine’s decisions lack foresight, it’s easy to trace what fueled her good intentions in the first place. If we were raised in the same setting, could we have done otherwise? I am not so sure.
Our other protagonist Luca, on the other hand, is raised away from the blood and whips of the empire she is supposed to rule, and so finds it hard to see beyond her books and listen to people whom she has been conditioned to treat as less intelligent, less human. She means well, but at her core, she is what I consider to be a Very Nice White Lady. To Luca, the empire is a personal family matter, and recognizing the blood on her hands shed by the institution she represents is a long journey to hell–one paved with good intentions.
The other characters are also fully fleshed out, and I love how they each fight dearly for their place in society: Tibeau for the Sands’ freedom, rebel head Jackal for the Qazali stolen and brutalized by colonizers, the Apostate for her faith and magic, Captain Gillett for the memory of his king, General Cantic for her empire, and so many more. All of them have a stake in the rising tension of the story, and everyone has something to lose. Some more than others. *sobs*
My only criticism with this book is Touraine and Luca’s relationship. I am well aware that the sapphic romance is one of the key selling points of this book, but honestly, I don’t know if it is really a romance plot. I am quite hesitant to cheer for their relationship because of its power imbalance: there are far more factors involved than just the usual princess/bodyguard dynamic, and they shouldn’t be overlooked just for the sake of pursuing a happily ever after. Even the rare sweet moments that we do get in the book are marred by Luca’s constant machinations and Touraine’s hard-wired instinct to please the Balladairan masters and make herself worthy and useful to them. However, their connection does make for a compelling story, and it drives the plot in ways that I do not expect.
Great worldbuilding and solid characters make it possible to set this character-driven story into motion. No one feels like a plot device that is thrown away when they are no longer convenient. Everyone, whether in top billing or simply unnamed, has an impact on the progression of events. It feels like I’m a bystander in El Wast watching the whole story as it unfolds. No deus ex machina. No random plot twists that were not foreshadowed in earlier conversations. Since the characters are as flawed and real as they can be, I have no idea what they will choose next. And when these choices are compounded by choices of other players in the story, they all explode into a messy conflict with no clear winners in sight.
In addition, I appreciate that there are no long lore dumps that are simply there for the sake of lazily explaining away the inner workings of this universe. Instead of the normal practice of assigning all the exposition to one or two mentors, everyone here has limited access to information. Every bit of history or strategy or insight has to be earned. Characters have to ask for what they need from people who might not be amenable to what they say. Sometimes I feel like screaming “that was really important, but you learned that at what cost???” at Luca, Touraine, or the other significant members of the cast. Through these interactions, the readers can navigate the intricate nuances of power dynamics in each relationship such as Touraine’s hero worship of Cantic or Luca’s negotiations with Beau-Sang. The book shines in its many faces of diplomacy, and it deftly depicts how dinner conversations can be every bit a battleground as an all-out charge on an open field.
I think that a mark of masterful writing is to leave your Author/God hands invisible to the readers and Clark is successful in that. The craft it took to make this world and its characters come alive and move on their own is insane. I am left in awe.
I can’t wait to see how the characters will clash again and shape the story according to their whims. I am beyond excited for the rest of the series.

Wow. Yep, that's the beginning of my review. Nothing to see here except me gushing about how much I enjoyed this amazing first-in-a-series fantasy novel. Clark's worldbuilding is wonderful as it pulls beautiful elements from our own world, specifically Northern Africa which gives this story a great sense of place. You can feel the city as the characters move through it. I would've liked a bit more depth to the magic system if I'm honest. It was a bit too mystical for my taste but there's more to the series so I suspect more details will come out later since in this plot the misery of magic served a purpose.

The characters were really enjoyable. The handsome, headstrong soldier Touraine and the cool, scholarly princess Luca are the two main POVs of the book and we get different takes on the same situations from them. They both make terrible decisions with substantial costs which helped give weight to the plot. There is a romance element but it's backstory when compared to the political intrigue which is where this novel rests mostly. I liked that intrigue though, it gave is a thriller-ish vibe at times, but the best scenes to me were the very human ones, the ones where they mess up and try to fix things. It's a classic case of wanting to do the best for your people but sometimes the cost is wrong/too high.

I think this series has a lot of potential based on this first novel so I'm looking forward to more from the author. I hope we get more from both Touraine and Luca too!


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.