One of the great military fantasy debut in years!!! The pace is great and the characters are so intriguing. Love that this book is set in a Northern Africa inspired world instead of the typical Euro centric world of past fantasy works. Great to have the two female main characters. The queer rep in this book is well written. Will be looking forward to more from the author

I received this from NetGalley for review

I really enjoyed this book. It is a really interesting, politically heavy, fantasy world, light on the magic and fantasy though.

While I loved the two main characters, there were a few times I questioned their actions. Once in a while, I would ask myself, WHY. With both Luca and Touraine, I would think they went against character in some instances.

While I enjoyed the romance element, it still seemed a little underdeveloped to me and I would have liked a little more development there.

The politics and the rebellion though, this part was FANTASTIC. I loved the Rebels and seeing the inner workings of the politics of this empire!

The ending seemed a little rushed in parts but I am very excited to read book 2 whenever that comes out.

“They have no right to determine how the rest of us live.”

Now this was probably one of the most unique reading experiences ive had. The Unbroken is a story about colonialism and freedom. I’ll start off by saying the story itself is written in the perspective of a colonizer princess and a lieutenant from the colonized land who as a child was taken and brainwashed by the colonizers.


“How long do they have to be patient on their own soil?”

To be completely honest, i was so drained, in the first 60% of the book, and not in a good way. I kept face palming and wanting to claw my eyes out after reading every line, because the perspective was completely from that of the colonizers and i kept screaming, Touraine (the mc) “OPEN YOUR EYES, DONT BE SO DUMB.” “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU”. And the princess Luca? Yeah i hated that bitch with every ounce of my being. And thats when i realized I’m meant to hate these perspectives. This is exactly what the author had intended to do.

Touraine, was a victim. She was brainwashed and trained and BEATEN DOWN into thinking the people of Qazãl, her original birthplace, were uncivilized, that they were wrong and the Balladairans (the colonizers) were right. And yes she has her own thoughts, yes she sees that this may not be right, but i forgot that Touraine was doing nothing but surviving. A single misstep, a single wavering of loyalties and she’d lose her life and this paired up with the brainwashing, can i really blame her?.

Then there is Luca. I hated her pov, her thought process. Because that is EXACTLY how colonizers think. That is exactly how they talk and treat the rest of us. They bring up reasons, they call it logic and yeah no, none of it justifies your fucking actions? You have a fucking choice and you continue to choose that way. That is on you. And from the way its written i think that was the exact reason this perspective was included. To show how disgusting and self centered actual colonizer mindsets are, that there is no reasoning with them unless it benefits them and the author showcases this brilliantly. I still hate Luca’s character and at the same time appreciate what the author wanted to accomplish because it was done spectacularly.

“We pray for rain.”

In terms of character growth, the character arc of Touraine was done so so well, i have nothing but praise for the author. The book does such a good job breaking down the psychology of such a character and telling a story in such a realistic way, aaah just amazing. And this arc felt even more impactful because the necessary dislike and hate from me as a reader was built in the first half of the characters arc, so when growth happened, it shone dazzlingly. I’ll note that despite the work on the mcs, side characters could have been developed more!

Now the world building and magic. People need to understand world building does not translate to countries. Because we spend the entirety of the book in the same country and yet the history, different parts of that country, the culture, health conditions, all of this builds amazing world building. The magic system too, was explained really well AND NOT in an info dumpy way either, it was sprinkled throughout the book!

The plot, battle sequences, AND THE PLOT TWISTS AAAAAH. Chef’s kiss!

Now with things I didn’t particularly enjoy (even at the end). The romance. Its a colonizer x colonized romance so it in itself was uncomfortable to read about. I’m still collecting my thoughts on it, but what i can say is that it was not handled entirely badly, yet it wasn’t handled the best way either, it also why i’ve not given this book 5 stars. Within this romance by the end, the colonizer was not glorified. It wasn’t anything like ahh my love my colonizer my savior. No nothing like that, we can see that the author had truly tried to separate the romance from this perspective even at the end and for the most part, succeeded. I just think that this could’ve been emphasized better or id prefer to not have this romance at all. With the side “villain” it wasn’t a notable villain, so thats a bit ehh. And i do wish there had been more political aspects, and luca’s character arc to have been moved to some other direction.

“This must be what it’s like to stand at the edge of a cliff and decide to jump.”

All in all, this was an impactful and important book. The author is brave for tackling this issue in this particular way and honestly there were so so good moments (tears around the 82% mark) and just AAAh, it definitely deserves more recognition. Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with an eARC in exchange of an honest review.

I received an early copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley.

Touraine is a soldier who was taken from her home to serve an empire. She returns to Qazali on a mission, bringing her home to her birth place. Soon she is embroiled in local politics, torn between the overbearing General Cantic and Luca, the beautiful local governor in their struggle for power.

For me The Unbroken was slow burn for the first 70 percent. While I enjoyed reading, much of the focus was on world building and character development. It was difficult at times to tell where the story was going. A few unexpected twists make it even harder to predict. Thankfully, everything comes together in the end for an epic finale.

I have similar experiences reading the wonderful novels by N K Jemisin, so Clark is in good company. Like Jemisin, once things tie together everything clicks into place. This is the story of a subjugated people and a rebellion. Yet it is also a story of the hard choices everyone in power has to make along the way. They each have to grapple with the question of whether their sacrifices were worth it. Some of them learn that winning isn't everything. It's how you win that matters most.

You might expect a story about imperialism to be grim and violent. The Unbroken avoids gratuitous violence, focusing instead on the relationships between the factions. Many of the older rebels carry with them decades of trauma that we glimpse briefly through their guarded façade.

While there were a few minor issues that bugged me, I was overall satisfied and impressed. I didn't fully understand the motivations of the rebels for most of the book. I'm still not sure if I understand completely. The book also feels a bit limited in scope. Most of it takes place in the same town and a few surrounding outposts. This is likely to be a positive for those who are tired of learning the names of multiple cities and continents in other sprawling fantasy epics. I get the impression that book 2 will open up the world and explore additional areas.

The Unbroken rewards those who stick with it to the end. I look forward to the continuation in book 2. If you enjoy mature gritty fantasy, do not miss The Unbroken. You will not be disappointed.

If I'd known ahead of time that this was military fantasy I probably wouldn't have requested it, as that's not generally my thing. I did try to like it, but it was not to be.

The worldbuilding was... sparse. No, pretty much nonexistent actually. The character relationships are likewise not shown but sort of told about and then characters die and you're like, why should I care? I can't keep the side characters straight anyway?

The only characters with real personalities were Touraine, who can be summed up as internalized racism and a wish to keep her head down and hope to keep existing, and Luca, who is willing to sacrifice just about anything to gain her throne from her uncle. That's it.

I kept reading and reading without feeling any interest because there was the tiniest spark there - mostly just a good writing style - that kept me going, but alas I have to stop. From other reviews, I gather that none of my issues with the story really get resolved, so why keep putting myself through a book I'm not even enjoying?

*Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit books for providing an e-arc for review.

Instagram Review:

Thank you @orbitbooks_us and @netgalley for the opportunity to read an e-arc of The Unbroken by C. L. Clark ahead of its release on March 23rd!

While it is slow to start, once the action starts, it really doesn't stop.

This ended up being a sort of middling book for me, while I enjoyed some elements and the story overall, there were a lot of things I didn't enjoy, and I won't be able to explain them all well within the confines of a caption (check out my blog for a full length review). The world was interesting, if feeling flat at times, and there is a cool magic system that I would have liked to know more about.

My key problems with the book mainly involved the romantic elements and Luca as a character.

While Touraine and Luca had moments of sexual tension, I couldn't really see where Touraine's eventual soft spot for Luca came from. Touraine comes into Luca's service as a slave. While Touraine can physically overpower Luca, it doesn't bridge the gap. Luca does free Touraine, but Touraine still exists in a system and a world where she will never be equal and wherein the dominant colonial culture will never accept her as free. Not to mention that Luca still relies on slavery outside of Touraine.

Touraine understands and acknowledges the power imbalance and also admits her attraction to Luca is based on the power she wields and the opportunities it provides for Touraine. She can never truly consent because of this. When Touraine eventually has fond thoughts about Luca I was honestly confused as to where they had come from because her attraction to Luca seemed sexual at most and Luca continuously makes decisions that are often specifically designed to hurt Touraine.

And Luca. She self victimizes and is consistently hypocritical and racist. Her characterization makes sense within the colonial context of the book, but I understand how colonizers and racists justify their actions and I know there are people who will sympathize with her character and I hate that. I hate racist/colonial POV characters because they never learn, they never change, they perpetuate the ideals that the story is trying to combat.

______

Blog/Goodreads review:

3.5 bumped to 4.

The Unbroken by C. L. Clarke is the debut novel in a new fantasy series. It follows Touraine, a slave, a soldier. She was stolen from her homeland and trained within the colonial culture to be a soldier. To be disposable. She wants to be accepted the colonial culture, to receive the respect and power that acceptance holds. But, she and the rest of the colonial brigade are sent back to her homeland, to the rebelling colony, and all of her plans and ideals are stolen away.

The other POV character is Luca, the princess who should be queen. She's been sent to manage the colony, to bring it back under order, as proof of her ability to lead. Meanwhile, her uncle holds the throne.

Thank you Orbit and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an e-arc of The Unbroken ahead of its release on March 23rd!

The story is slow to start. We spend a lot of time getting into the heads of the characters and understanding their roles and positions within their society before the main story begins. But, once the action starts, it doesn't stop.

This was a middling book for me. While I enjoyed some elements and the story overall, there were a lot of things I didn't enjoy.

The world is interesting and has a detailed setting. However, the setting did feel flat at times. More like a backdrop than a real, living world. It is a city past it's prime as colonizers and colonized clash. While the empire extends far past the reaches of the city, we don't get to see or hear much of the world past the city gate. This is, of course, only book one of the series, so we may see more later.
There are also interesting magic systems. Magic systems that Luca wants access to, but cannot. We get to see and understand some of the magic systems at a surface level, but I think we will get deeper into them in the following books. This is a little disappointing, as I would have liked a bit more detail in this book.

Overall, the worldbuilding is what I would expect from the debut book of a series where a lot of the ideas introduced will be expanded on later in the series.

My key problems with the book mainly involved the romantic elements and Luca as a character.
While Touraine and Luca had moments of sexual tension, I can't really see where Touraine's eventual soft spot for Luca comes from. There is a huge power imbalance between the characters, and while I can overcome some power imbalances in fiction, we are talking about the future queen of an entire empire and a slave.

The slave owner/slave romance is a literary device that, in other books, is often used to make slave owners and colonizers overall look like better people based on one "kind" person, and to invalidate discussions of inequality. This isn't necessarily the case with The Unbroken, but I have already seen a number of people romanticizing Touraine and Luca's relationship.

Luca does eventually free Touraine. But, Touraine still exists in a system and a world wherein the dominant colonial culture will never accept her as free. And Luca freeing one slave, doesn't mitigate the fact that she still relies on slavery outside of Touraine. Her empire is built on slavery and colonization. She even says that the empire would fall apart if they started actually treating their colonial subjects as people.

Touraine understands and acknowledges the power imbalance. She admits her attraction to Luca is based on the power she wields and the opportunities it provides. Touraine knows she can never truly consent because of this. But Luca doesn't recognize the power that she holds. Luca constantly makes herself into a victim, often for reasons I can't go into without revealing the plot.

When Touraine has fond thoughts about Luca toward the end of the book I was honestly confused as to where they had come from. Her attraction to Luca seemed sexual at most. Not to mention that as the story goes on, Luca continuously makes decisions that hurt Touraine, hurt the people that Touraine cares about, and eventually are specifically designed to hurt Touraine.

And Luca. Oh Luca. I don't know if there is a POV character in a book who I have disliked as intensely as her. Part of it is because I know people IRL who are exactly like her. She always plays herself as the victim. She is consistently hypocritical and racist. Her characterizations makes perfect sense within the colonial context of the story.

But, I already understand how colonizers and racists justify their actions. How they take one step forward and two steps back. My main problem with her as a POV character is that I know there are already people who sympathize with her character. Who buy into the idea that she is trying her best. And I hate that. I hate that people can look at a colonial ruler, overlook all of the harm that they cause (whether fictional or not), and like them. Luca doesn't learn, doesn't change, and perpetuates the beliefs of her empire. In fact, Luca gets worse as the book goes on. she makes more detrimental choices.

I understood Luca's attraction and feelings toward Touraine better than the opposite. Touraine has opened up a different point of view. Touraine has introduced a spark of something new and different into Luca's world. But, Touraine is still more of a tool than a person for her. Luca's actions throughout the story focus on Touraine. Her side of the relationship is clear, but I just didn't see the same from Touraine.

And, like, I think I would have had less problems with Luca if there hadn't been the romantic undercurrent. Because Touraine's feelings about Luca inform the reader's opinions of Luca. Despite everything, despite the lack of real romantic connection, Touraine still harbours positive feelings toward Luca. And I just can't handle it.

Of course, this is realistic. Our relationships with people aren't black and white. Our relationships with the sociopolitical sphere and the dominant culture we exist within aren't simple. For me, the romantic spark between the characters isn't there, but the story relies on that connection in order for Touraine's feelings to be understandable.

Anyway. Despite what I have written, I think this is still a book that a lot of people will enjoy. It triggers a lot of issues for me, but that isn't going to be the case for everyone. But, I just want to encourage you to read critically. Not just with this book, but in general. Because when you read critically you start to see how certain narratives appear frequently. How certain ideas can be perpetuated by a work that is trying to combat them. How the narratives we read can become present in our own work. We all write in a space that exists within the dominant culture.

Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.

I kept on thinking "why this story?"

Throughout the book I kept on having deja-vu thinking that I had already read this book. It's an ARC, so there's no way that I could have, so I kept on thinking about stories with similar elements. The setting seems reminiscent of P Djeli Clark's Fatma el-Sha'arawi series, without the spark. The plot line reminded me of Kristen Ciccarelli's The Caged Queen, without the clear-cut motivation. The magic system reminded me of Tamora Pierce's Alanna series, even though that was written 30 years ago by a white author writing about standard fantasy cultures.

I've made a goal to start with the positive: The writing was enjoyable to read. The side characters had just a little spark of life to keep them alive. I thought we were going somewhere for the first third of the book. The actual governing decisions were quite interesting. The entire book really picked up at the last 10%. Now, we're on with the rest.

The Unbroken takes place in North Africa in a country that was colonized by France (guesses seem to be Morocco or Algeria). However, those are the only details about the country that I can really tell you, despite having spent almost 500 pages there. There are some details about the neighbouring countries (mostly regarding their religious practices), but there's nothing spectacular about this country. There's no world building depth and intricacy which I love to see in a well-developed fantasy world. There's not a realness that I love to see from books based on real places. The Unbroken takes place in a pseudo fantasy placeholder world which I've read a million times before, which was quite disappointing.

All of the character relationships were underdeveloped, which is a huge problem for me. I love the intricacies of well developed and complicated relationships and The Unbroken had all of the potential. Unfortunately, we got off to a wrong start with Touraine's relationship with her fellow Sands (conscripts taken from the colony to be trained soldiers by the colonizers). Touraine has spent the last 20 (?) years with them and undergone a number of awful campaigns. However, I, as the reader, was not there for those 20 years or those campaigns. Clark presents the Sands as having good relationships, but as a reader I never get to learn to love any of them. When characters die, I just thought, "oh, that must suck". I never formed an empathetic bond with Touraine over anyone in her life.

A lot of Touraine's choice in the later part of the book are based on her relationship with Luca. I'm not really sure when that relationship developed, they go to meeting, to thinking each other attractive, to doing absolutely stupid things "for" each other without ever having a relationship? The entire trust part of their relationship seems to be based on sexual attraction, which doesn't work for me. I never got a point in the book where they validated each other's position in the relationship, so I was continuously confused as each girl threw out common sense "for" the other girl. Where were the tender moments, the I'm going to wake up tomorrow and regret this desires, the vulnerability which are part of a relationship? Since I could not buy the relationship, I ended up not being able to buy a large portion of the plot.

I also could not sympathize with Luca. She was willing to perform a genocide so she could use an entire country as a chess piece to get her throne in another country back. I could not sympathize with Luca's plight to destroy an entire people for a chair in another country. It made me want to throw up every time Luca thought that her butt in a chair was more important than an entire people.

The Unbroken was one of my anticipated releases of the year, and it's sad to see that the concept wasn't as developed as it could have been. I won't be reading the sequel, I can't take and more Touraine and Luca pining.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars.

I've seen this book compared a lot to The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and I think it's very apt. Both tackle imperialism in a much more nuanced way than just stating that Imperialism Is Bad, and are told through main characters who were raised by and inducted into empire. This creates a fundamental moral conflict that is hard to pull off, but this book does it and does it well.

Touraine, a soldier of the Balladairan empire, is sent back to her homeland of Qāzal in order to quell a rebel uprising. Her foremost loyalty, however, is to her fellow conscripts--the Sands. Touraine believes that if she just behaves and follows orders, she can rise up through the ranks of the military and secure a better life for the Sands. Luca, on the other hand, is the heir to the Balladairan crown, which is currently in the hands of her regent uncle. She hopes that dealing with the rebels in Qāzal will her prove her competence to rule. She also seeks the source of healing magic, with the end goal of curing Balladaire of a plague and legitimizing her reign. After saving Touraine from being wrongfully sentenced to death, Luca offers her a deal: her life, in exchange for acting as an emissary to the rebels.

Clark draws out deft connections between colonizer and colonized, and the ways in which the oppressor uses social and economic means to subjugate. In Qāzal, religion is outlawed and seen as uncivilized in an almost a one-to-one analogy to the French occupation of Algeria. The Balladairans induct Qāzali children into schools, presenting their education as inherently superior as a way to undermine Qāzali culture and exert their power--see how easily we can turn your own children against you? These children are given new names and forbidden to speak their language, and gradually, through years of colonial conditioning, become perfect, smugly infallible tools of empire.

When Touraine arrives back in her homeland, she is one such tool, and feels wholly unable to reconcile with her old culture, to the derision of her fellow conscripts. She feels the contempt of the Qāzali, who see her as a bootlicking traitor; she feels the disdain of the Balladairans, who see her as no better than a trained dog. Even so, Touraine earnestly believes that what the Balladairans are doing is a net positive, and that sacrifices have to be made for the sake of peace. In her mind, it's better to work within the system to better her conditions rather than trying to dismantle the system altogether. This fallacy is compellingly explored not only through Touraine, but also other characters' reactions to Touraine's decisions, presenting weighty and complicated implications for this kind of complicit thinking.

The other perspective is from Luca, who was raised and groomed by empire, not to serve but to rule. The narrative draws a parallel between her and Touraine early on, and illustrates their shared goal of enacting peace between the Qāzali and Balladairans. Their paths eventually diverge, and the book raises the notion that the reason Luca can afford to operate within the confines of her empire is because of her inherent privilege. She is in a position of power that has and continues to benefit from the exploitation of the colony. Even if she, on the surface, has good intentions when she attempts to better the conditions of the Qāzali, she still continues to perpetuate insidious colonial violence; there is no "correct" or "kind" way to rule a colony. Luca's worldview is one that is very neoliberal, if put through a modern lens, and I appreciated that the book is willing to confront not only the reality of this worldview, but also raise questions about the rooted power structures that make it so easy to justify.

The plot moves at a trotting clip, with the slower, more methodical sections offset by bouts of fast-paced action. It strikes a fair balance, and I was always intrigued enough to keep reading. There's a decently-sized cast of side characters, some more memorable than others, but each serves a distinct enough purpose that they don't feel one-note. The first of my two main issues comes in the form of the magic. Overall, I found the story well-served by its worldbuilding, but the magic acts as more of a plot device than anything else. It shows up when it's convenient for the plot, and its mechanics are never explored much beyond that. The book does well in integrating its worldbuilding without info-dumping, but the history of the magic is explained in a lengthy bout of exposition that feels rather ill-placed. Several plot threads, such as the First Library, are also brought up and then dropped, and I would have liked to see them more fully realized.

My other main problem is the romance, which ultimately fell kind of flat for me. I was intrigued by the dynamic between Touraine and Luca, and there are scenes that are incredibly compelling, but the tension fizzles out as soon as it appears instead of being drawn throughout the relationship. I think the author was going for an enemies-to-lovers-ish dynamic, and while they succeed in raising Touraine and Luca as ideological rivals, I never felt that conflict on a pure character level--the personal stakes simply aren't there. I never got the sense that the characters truly hate each other, and their motivations and emotions oscillate back and forth depending on what the plot requires. There's not really a sense of conviction in the romance; while reading, I couldn't quite parse out why Touraine and Luca have feelings for each other aside from the fact that the book requires them to.

The Unbroken is tense and bloody while slowly unraveling taut political threads, and unafraid to bring dimension to complicated warring perspectives. I wanted more out of the romance and worldbuilding, but it's clear that Clark is an incredibly competent writer who's able to convey their themes in an engaging and accessible way. This is a fantastic debut, would highly recommend for fans of political and military fantasy.

The Unbroken has to be one of my favorite reads of 2021 so far. Within a few pages I had decided that I needed to slow down and take my time reading this book because it was that amazing.

The story is told from two perspectives. Touraine, is a soldier in Balladaire’s army. When she was a child, she was stolen from her birthplace, Qazal, and trained to serve. Now older, Touraine has returned to Qazal and isn’t quite sure how to feel about it. The other perspective is Luca, the heir to the Balladairan Empire. These characters tell two very different perspectives of an Empire in political conflict. There’s a underlying tension in both character’s perspectives that had me stressed for most of the book. The world is well developed and vast, the politics and the people being a central focal point. The characters are complex and flawed in a realistic way that I appreciated. The pacing is well done, and I am both excited and anxious to get my hands on the next book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.

Clark doesn't pull a single punch, and neither do her characters.

The Unbroken is a series of knife twists, each deeper and more painful than the last, but with a sweetness to it that kept me begging for more. Honey and whips are the motifs of the book, and they are ever so appropriate for this breakneck journey through diplomacy, war, trust, and betrayal. Touraine is a Sand, a conscripted soldier taken from her homeland of Qazāl, and while she has reached a sort of stable acceptance of this at the beginning of the book, it only gets worse for her from there. Luca, on the other hand, has everything going for her--she is a princess who dreams of peace and prosperity for all of her people. It also gets worse for her from there.

I don't typically read military fantasy, but I was drawn in by the cover (let's be honest, we all were) and the promise of a butch lesbian main character. I was excited by the princess/soldier trope and wanted to see how it played out. What I got was so much more than that--a masterfully crafted exploration of colonialism, education, punishment, language, and what it means to go home.

Others have described the relationships in Clark's book as raw and messy, which I think is apt. Their struggles and motivations always feel real, even when they make the wrong choices, especially in situations when there might not be any right choices. I came for romance and left with a whole world. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I received an advance e-copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

TL;DR

The Unbroken kept me glued to the page long past my bedtime. If you’re an epic fantasy fan, this is a can’t miss start to a new series. Highly recommended.

Review: The Unbroken by C. L. Clark

As much as I try to research and stay current within the SFF genre, there will always be a book or two that I miss. Some I miss the opportunity to request a review copy. Some I miss seeing altogether. Somehow, I missed The Unbroken on NetGalley when it first was posted there. But for once, I sent my request in time and was lucky enough to get a copy of this highly praised book. After I got my eARC, I avoided looking at any discussion of it. I wanted to approach The Unbroken fresh without any external biasing. When I began to read, I found out why there is such hype surrounding this book. C. L. Clark has written an impressive, smart, sophisticated first entry in an epic fantasy series. Smarter people than I will be using it in essays about colonialism, and I plan to read all of them. I loved this book. The Unbroken blends world building, politics, character, and plot in a promising opening to a new epic fantasy series.

The Unbroken tells the story of rebellion of the Qazāli people through two characters who begin the novel on the same side. Touraine is a colonial conscript in the Balladairan military, stolen from Qazāl as a child. But more than that, she’s the model conscript. The Balladairans have trained her to be Balladairan despite the fact that they’ll never consider her an equal. She’ll always be a Sand, which is a slur that the Qazāli conscripts have made their own. Touraine rose through the ranks to become a lieutenant with her eyes on being a captain. Luca, the heir to Balladaire’s throne, comes to Qazāl seeking, publicly, to prove herself worthy of throne and, privately, to find the rumored magic of the Qazāli people. Her uncle, the regent who rules Balladaire until he relinquishes the government, keeps putting off Luca’s coronation, and she believes that if she can squelch the rebellion in Qazāl, she can ensure a peaceful transition to her own rule. Luca chooses the unexpected route of seeking peace as a means to end the rebellion. But upon her arrival in the city, the rebels attempt to assassinate her. Touraine spots the attempt, saving the princess’s life. Thus Touraine twines her and Luca’s lives together in a battle over the future of a people and an empire.

Quickly, Touraine’s position is undermined by Balladaire’s racism, and Luca saves her. BUT…but Luca saves Touraine because she can be useful to the princess. Touraine, a native Qazāli, can be a courier/diplomat between Luca and the rebels. Luca, breaking with traditional Balladairan views of Qazāl, really does want peace. But her peace is that of the conqueror, not of the equal. Touraine quickly learns that she’s returned to the city of her birth, and that she has a mother out in the city. The people of Qazāl look upon her as a traitor. How will Touraine broker a peace between a civilization that considers her less than human and a civilization that considers her a traitor?

Simply put, I loved The Unbroken. I never knew where the story was going, and this kept me reading long past when I should have been sleeping. The characters are fantastic, and I wanted them both to succeed even when their goals were in direct competition. The world building is pristine, and I look forward to future books that expand upon it. The magic system was a bit unclear to me while still being cool. All in all, this is the start to a wonderful epic fantasy series.

Touraine

Touraine, poor Touraine. She starts the novel unwanted by her native people and unwanted by the people who stole her. She wants nothing more than to be seen as equal in Balladaire’s estimation despite all evidence to the contrary. Even when she does the right thing by saving the princess’s life during an assassination attempt, she earns a reward as being a decoration at a dinner party. Throughout the novel, she gives us the perspective of a colonized people. At the beginning, she wants more than anything to be Balladairan. She wants their approval and firmly believes that through merit she can rise to a position to improve things for her and the Sands. As a child, Balladaire stole her from her family, her people. They indoctrinated her with Balladaire’s morals and traditions. In addition, Balladaire taught her to look down upon her own culture’s ‘uncivilized’ morals and traditions. Balladaire is an atheist society that considers theists as backwards barbarians. Touraine grew up with these views ingrained in her. Throughout the novel, she confronts the damage that Balladaire inflicted upon her as she tries to reconnect with her culture.

I loved Touraine. She represents the struggles of a colonized people so well. From a young age, she was taught that she and her culture were lesser, and throughout her life, these lessons were reinforced. But Balladaire recognized her efforts to be ‘civilized’ and rewarded her through promotions and responsibilities. They controlled her with the promise of being able to change her circumstances, and her hope made her believe. But Balladairans structured their society such that only Balladairans matter. It’s easy to recognize American society in Touraine’s struggles. How often are African-Americans given the promise of improving their circumstances while presented with the reality of a society structured against them?

Touraine’s decision making revolves around protecting her family, which are the other colonial conscripts. She’s fiercely loyal but in a difficult position where neither society treats her well. Balladaire doesn’t consider her fully human, and Qazāl considers her a traitor despite the fact that she was taken as a child and only lived the life as a soldier pressed into the military. All she has is her fellow troops, and C. L. Clark even takes those away from her. Poor Touraine struggles to do the right thing, and that may mean returning to her roots.

Luca

As I said earlier, I loved the character of Luca. Even though I’m not a princess, I found her and her struggles relatable and understandable. I also recognized the privilege I share with her as a character. By right of birth, she is a Balladairan; thus in the empire, she is ‘civilized’ and a citizen. She doesn’t have to justify her existence, and the barrier to her goals are much different than Touraine’s. She can exist in spaces without anyone questioning why she’s there. Her spot at dinner parties is as guest not decoration. Yet, she recognizes some of the unfairness in her society while remaining blind to how she uses people.

Luca is attracted to Touraine, but I never was clear if it was because of Touraine’s exotic appearance or Touraine’s personality. But there’s a large power imbalance between the two, and Touraine understands this while Luca doesn’t.

As much as I loved Luca, I do recognize that she’s the type of liberal that disappointed Martin Luther King Jr. She “is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…” Luca wants change; she wants the lives of the everyday Qazāli to improve. But she wants it done through order of Balladairan society. She wants to impose improvements upon them instead of letting them choose how to improve their own lives. Small improvements in the lives of the oppressed doesn’t change the oppression. It simply decorates the cage. The Qazāli in the stone quarry may now be receiving a living wage, but their culture is still viewed as ‘uncivilized.’ Their religion is still considered barbaric. Her peace deals are geared more towards the absence of tension than recognizing the shared humanity of Qazāl.

The Cursed City

In the book, the characters talk about a cursed city with a library that potentially contains magic books. Unfortunately, we never get to see the city or the fabled tomes. I hope in future volumes we get to visit the city and learn if magic is there or not. One of my personal favorite tropes is that of the lost library; add in a cursed city and you’ve got my money. C.L. Clark, please, take us to the Cursed City.

The Writing

One of the joys of reading is to try to guess where the author is taking you. A good book for me is one where I get about half of my guesses right because I understand what’s going on but I haven’t figured out the plot. If I can’t guess anything, I usually don’t like the book because I missed something or didn’t understand what I read. (To be clear, the fault generally lies with me, not the author.) In The Unbroken, I had only one guess correct, and C.L. Clark made me doubt that guess enough to change it. I loved that I didn’t know at all where the book was going. Clark wrote well enough that I understood what was going on, and I don’t think I missed anything. Instead, the plot turned right when I was expecting it to turn left. BUT the left turn made just as much sense as my guess. The writing had enough sign posts and details that when the left turn happened it felt natural to the story.

This tension kept me turning the page because the characters dealing with the left turn was as fascinating as if they’d turned right. I enjoyed not knowing where it was going because Clark laid down a foundation early on that the writing controlled the story, not the other way around.

Politics

Yes, surprising, I know, that a book about colonialism contains politics. Okay, sarcasm aside, the political writing is wonderful. Luca’s position is fragile, and yet she tries to change the colonial occupation to be better while missing the whole ‘occupation’ point. The Unbroken contains both nuanced and blunt political actions. Luca, not only has to worry about the rebellion and the throne at home, she has to win over the local Balladairans, who do not especially like her declaration of worker’s rights. Touraine notices right away that the rebel council has factions, and that peace depends on keeping the war hawks at bay.

Clark added public broadsides criticizing Luca, and I don’t remember seeing this in other fantasy that I’ve read. This little detail of a subversive media worked so well as a thorn in the ruler’s side. Books and libraries are important in this world. Qazāli poetry is given to Touraine. So it makes sense that subversive texts exist in the fraught atmosphere of an occupied nation. I like the idea of some hipster Qazāli standing on a corner passing out anti-imperial newsletters and others walking by, trying to avoid taking one.

Conclusion

C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken is a wonderful start to an intriguing new epic fantasy series. The characters, the world, the story, all clicked to provide an entertaining, engaging read. I loved Luca and Touraine, and I can’t wait to see their future adventures. This is a promising start to a new epic fantasy series. The Unbroken lives up to and exceeds all the hype surrounding it.

8 out of 10!

The Unbroken is an ambitious adult fantasy that strives to broach important themes of colonization, racism, and privilege with an overarching story involving political intrigue, personal growth, and violent rebellion.

I definitely enjoyed this novel, and based on my rating system it’s 4 stars, but it did suffer from some middle-story lag, a romantic subplot that felt half-baked, and some of the minor characters needed a bit more time on the page.

But it's still an enjoyable, exciting, and poignant story of rebellion.

The novel revels in its queerness, with more characters than not who are part of the LGBTQAI+ community, including the two main characters. The novel also feels like the inverse of lots of fantasy novels, where you have mainly men with a few women, as the cast is predominantly female with some male side-characters. Gender parity is improving quite a lot today in adult fantasy, but traditionally it was very male-centric.

There are two main characters, as I stated before: Touraine, a loyal soldier, and Luca, heir to the throne of Balladaire. Luca is set to Qazal as a test by her uncle, who is holding the throne until Luca is “ready” to rule. Luca was interesting in that she is a royal who has to balance what she knows is morally right with her own ambitions - she tries to walk an impossible line; she knows what she should do but also tries desperately to satisfy her own plans. As such, Luca’s motivations are understandable, and despite being the head of a brutal empire, I found her a likeable character. She also has a physical disability, which is an important part of her character but doesn’t define her; this aspect was very well done.

Touraine’s story arc is a little bland in comparison, as nothing she did really surprised me, but she’s a complete badass, so I liked her. She’s one of those people who can take a beating and suffer through it with impressive stoicism.

As such, both women have different strengths and weaknesses that playoff and complement one another. It’s unfortunate the romance angle was not as developed, as they could have been a power couple.

I enjoyed the fight scenes - they were gritty, at times brutal, and well-described. There were other moments of tension that kept me enthralled. The political intrigue was somewhat lacking - Luca really only had to deal with a general and an ill-intentioned lord - others of the ruling class existed only on the periphery. It’s def not a court battle novel. As such, the middle of the novel suffers slightly for pacing - I wasn’t sure how much time had passed and at that point, I wasn’t sure where the story was going. But the last quarter of the novel is fantastic, with some great fights and interesting turns. There’s a magical element that wasn’t Deus Ex Machina, and the comments the novel makes throughout about racism and colonialism are poignant but not didactic. The novel takes a stance on this issue, as there is no indication that the rebels were in any way in the wrong for their actions, which I thought was very well done given one of the main characters is part of the colonizing force.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this novel and recommend it to readers who enjoy adult fantasy.

Oh my gosh! This book is incredible on so many levels and I cannot wait for the continuation of Touraine’s story.

Unbroken is a story of colonization, rebellion, found family, and the consequences of choices and actions. The way Clark layers good intentions with harmful results and shows how colonizers think of themselves as a salvation to the colonized is both deft and subtle, leaves me in awe. This is not an easy book to read, but it’s absolutely worthwhile and I adore the characters wholeheartedly. I especially loved Touraine’s growth and her perspective shifts as her situation changes.

I loved all the ways Unbroken made me think and look at the colonial ideas and how inundated people become to them. There is so much to be said for how upbringing shapes beliefs and ideals, and how having what you’ve always been taught as absolute truth being challenged can either result in change and growth, or stagnation and a refusal to listen or learn. Seeing Tour’s growth as a child stolen from her home while young enough to be completely shaped into ideal of Balladairan military, to her being brought back to the home she was stolen from to uphold the colonist rule and being confronted with how much harm has been done to her is such a powerful journey.

I’m just, this book is absolutely incredible and so worth the time and energy to read it! I know this is a book that will stay on my mind for a while and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for Tour and Luca.

A wonderful story of rebellion, hope, and even family. I loved how casually queer and sapphic this book was, with a major side character having a wife, a smaller side character acknowledging feelings for another girl, and the main characters themselves.
The beginning was a little confusing and jumbled, but thankfully that didn’t last too long, and while it took nearly half the book to set everything up, I felt drawn to the characters, their problems and their ties. I also loved how one of the main characters, the princess is disabled, and it’s never really seen as this horrible thing, even though it makes life much harder.
I’m super excited for the next book, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for these characters!

Rating:3.7⭐
Pages: 544

The Unbroken by C. L. Clark is a gripping, fast-paced story. Filled with action, political intrigue, and mystery. The main topic this book discusses is colonialism and its effects on both the Indigenous people being colonized and the people in power benefiting from the colonists. Having read many fantasy books over the years I find this theme to be new and captivating.

We follow two characters point of view, Lieutenant Touraine and Princess Luca. Tour was taken at a young age from her home and raised by the Shālan Empire's army to be a conscript. She barely remembers her home so the Empire is all she knows. She has formed a family with her fellow conscripts in the Gold Squad and does all she can to protect them. Princess Luca feels she is ready to take on the role of Queen but her Uncle currently sits the Throne as regent. Luca must prove she's capable of leading to her Uncle so he has no reason to reject her legitimacy.

The beginning of the book starts with both characters arriving to El-Wast, a desert city where Tour and other conscripts were born. In the city some of the Qazāli people have been rebelling and Luca plans to put a stop to it in a diplomatic way. When both Tour and Luca enter the city there is an assassination attempt on Luca. "She(Tour) followed his gaze. Nothing there but the press of the crowd, her own soldiers either watching the princess or drowsily taking in their new surroundings in the early-morning light. Then she saw it: a young Qazāli woman weaving through the crowd, gaze fixed on one blond point."(Luca). From this point on the story unfold and keeps you turning the page.

Though this book grabbed me and kept me going I did feel it's was a little jumbled at times. Some action scenes could've benefitted from slowing down and explaining them more thoroughly. I felt that during those scenes things were skipped over and you were left trying to figure out what happened in between. I also feel like the author told you things rather than showed you through actual events a little too much. But neither of those criticisms kept me from enjoying the overall story, although they would pull me out of the world for the time being.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for letting be read an early copy of this wonderful book! Thank you C. L. Clark for creating this story, I look forward to the sequel!

This proved another book that didn't live up to the hype for me completely. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did really. Some parts were rather well written and had some interesting ideas. Other parts just seemed a little confused and not quite there. The magic system was a little confusing but when magic systems are based on faith and gods that is to be almost expected. This needs to be explored a little more and with a little more detail provided I think. I hate say it but there were a few chapters that I skimmed as they didn't really interest me. There were times I read page after read and found it hard to stop turning as well. The characters are sort of interesting as they are just as flawed as most people which will appeal to some readers. The whole romance part of the story was not something I was that interested in either really and I wanted more action and magic. I know there are those who will love this though. Overall I wanted more but was happy enough reading this book. At one point I didn't think I would want to read what happens next but then with the way this ended I am curios to what else will happen to these people and the world they live in.

Probably more of a 4.5 though.

CW: mentions of past rape(or attempted), violence and gore, torture

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.

I mentioned in another review of mine recently that I seem to gravitating a lot towards fantasies these days which explore the themes of colonialism and prejudice and racism, and this was no different. The author shows through her world how centuries of colonization entrenches prejudices, which become so ingrained that people don’t wanna look past them even for the sake of their own prosperity. It just becomes easy to oppress and punish and subjugate the colonial subjects, rather than treat them like an equal part of the empire; even if it foments rebellion leading to destruction for both sides.

The author’s exploration of identity, through the eyes of the soldiers who were long taken away from their homes and trained to fight for the empire, now being turned on their own birthplace, was pretty emotional. It was heartbreaking to see these soldiers unable to forget their years of training and hope for some equality and respect, while also being conflicted about oppressing the people who are their own. Not feeling like they belonged anywhere was quite distressing and the author perfectly captured this anguish.

The cast of characters are splendid. Touraine, the conscripted soldier and Luca, the rightful queen make for an excellent source for conflict and yearning and the author does it to perfection. They are also immensely flawed, making many decisions without thinking through the consequences, leading to most of the unexpected twists and turns throughout the book. This makes them not likable at all times - there were moments I hated them and then wanted to hug them right after - but they both are immensely sympathetic characters and you hope that things go in their favor. My only gripe is that the amount of yearning and the number of loving interactions they had with each other didn’t feel proportional, and I wish their relationship was developed more.

The side characters were also equally well written and memorable, I kept wanting to know more about them. Particularly Aranen, Djasha, Bastien, Gil - I wanted to know more of their backstories coz they were so interesting. There were also quite a few who I truly despised but they were not the kind of mindless villains we sometimes encounter, so I enjoyed their portrayals too.

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.

This is the story of the land of Qazāl, and the Balladairan Empire which has colonized it. Touraine is a soldier, born in Qazāl, taken by the Balldairan Empire as a child, and taught to fight for them. Now she’s come back to a place that she doesn’t consider home, to help protect Luca, the princess and future queen of the empire. Meanwhile, Luca is trying to avoid a full scale rebellion by the Qazāli, while also trying to make sure that her uncle doesn’t usurp her throne while she’s gone. And many shenanigans are had along the way!

This was a really great read. The world it depicted was one that I found easy to imagine. I mean, there are definitely parallels between France’s colonization of North Africa in our world and the one described here. But even aside from the parallels, it was just easy for me to picture Qazāl’s hot, desert landscape and the city within and its townhouses mixed with riad-style houses and old temples. The city took the form of Marrakech in my head, or, at least… what I imagine Marrakech is like.

I liked Touraine, even when she makes bad choices. She was an easy character to cheer for, and I just found myself wanting her to succeed in her endeavors. I liked Luca a little less, but I still enjoyed reading the bits that were from her point of view. There were side characters that I really enjoyed, like Bastien and Djasha. There were also characters that I rather enjoyed hating, like Beau-Sang, General Cantic, and Captain Rogan. There were a few times where I felt like the decisions characters made were beyond bad decisions and into ‘But why tho?’ territory, but I have to say this wasn’t often enough that it soured the experience. Sometimes people just make decisions on an emotional whim. It served to make the characters more real, to me.

One of my favorite things about this world was that even despite all other things going on, there appeared to be very little to no stigma regarding sexuality. Touraine and Luca have a relationship (of sorts – I won’t spoil the deets) with each other, and the fact that they are both women isn’t an issue that anyone seems to have with it. Luca is offered a marriage contract with one of the children of another character, who has a daughter and a son, and whether it is the daughter or the son that is chosen as the consort seems to be of no consequence to the offer at all. I found this detail to be rather refreshing. I was expecting the relationship between Luca and Touraine to have a ‘forbidden love’ spin, and it did somewhat, but it wasn’t because they are women. I also love-love-love that women in this book held positions of power without that being the exception to the rule. The general, most of the rebel leadership, and the governor of the colony are all women. Both colony and empire have women in places of power and it was just how things were. Since this world has so many parallels with our own, details like these stood out, and I appreciated them a lot.

All told, I really enjoyed my time with The Unbroken, and I eagerly await the opportunity to read further into the story. If you enjoy political fantasy, you are quite likely to enjoy this book as well! I can’t wait for more!

Recommend to fans of military fantasy. Set in a sprawling desert world. However this contains themes of slavery that can be triggering . This is a queer fantasy that can excite fans that like a bit of romance too.