I just finished listening to "Markless" by C.G. Malburi, narrated by the talented Sophie Amoss. This YA fantasy audiobook offered me a thought-provoking experience as it whisked me away into a world where the gaping divide between the Marked and the Markless resonated with themes of discrimination and societal injustice.

The exploration of social and political dynamics within the narrative struck a chord with me. The heartbreaking portrayal of the Markless, abandoned at birth and left to fend for themselves in the unforgiving slums, laid bare the systemic oppression and societal neglect that plagued this world. In the neighboring kingdom, the Markless faced even harsher realities, sold as slaves or forced to live in the shadows of an underground community.

As I journeyed through the intricacies of this divided society, I couldn't help but question the lack of progress in bridging the gap between these segregated factions. The proposed "solution" of relocating Markless children to a different kingdom only skimmed the surface of addressing the deep-rooted inequalities and injustices endured by the marginalized.

The audiobook skillfully unraveled a tapestry of power struggles and personal conflicts, although the romance between Ruti and the heir left me yearning for more depth and emotional connection. The story's resolution, muddled by our unreliable narrator's revelations, left me pondering the true motivations that drove the characters' actions.

A highlight for me was delving into the intricate magic system woven throughout the narrative. However, the lack of a comprehensive explanation surrounding the roles of spirits, witches, and the significance of Marks left me with unanswered questions. I craved a deeper exploration of these fantastical elements to fully immerse myself in the magical realm crafted by the author.

"Markless" ultimately captivated me with its exploration of discrimination and identity within a vividly imagined fantasy realm. While Sophie Amoss's narration enhanced the audiobook experience, unresolved plot points, underdeveloped relationships, and ambiguous world-building elements left me wanting more from this intriguing tale. It gets a 3.5 rating form me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

2.75/5 ⭐️

I received an ARC by NetGalley from the audio book in exchange for an honest review.

What intrigued me was definitely the cover because it’s absolutely stunning and the description of the book sounds very interesting as well. Based on the description, I expected a fight against oppression and ultimately a society where the Markless and the Marked are worth the same, and the people realize that the Markless aren’t worth any less. But sadly, that was not the case.
Ruti, our Markless protagonist, doesn’t stand up for herself or for her people and just accepts how society and the heir treat her and the other Markless. I got the feeling she thought she was better than “real” Markless, because she could sing to the spirits and do song magic, instead of being unable to do any magic at all.
The Markless in the kingdom are being abandoned at birth and thrown into the slums with no food or safety. There are orphanages, but there aren’t any adults in them to take care of the children or to give them food so I don’t really know why they’re even there and it is said that many children don’t even live in these orphanages and just live on the street and die really really young.
In the neighboring kingdom, the Markless are being sold as slaves, and those who aren’t sold as slaves formed an underground society where they can live in “peace”. Instead of trying to reunite these separate societies, everybody just accepts that there are two societies within the kingdom, and in our main kingdom, the slums just keep existing.
The “great solution” at the end is to send the Markless children from the slums into the neighboring kingdom to live in their society instead of accepting them into society.
The oppression is seen as cultural, instead of systemically, and we are just to believe that the princess, then queen, couldn’t make laws in order to prevent parents to get rid of their children at birth or laws to make the Markless treat the Markless as equals.
Nobody ever apologized for treating Ruti and the Markless like dirt or show any remorse or take any responsibility for their actions. In the end, Ruti is allowed to live amongst them, but the rest of the Markless are still seen as worthless.

The “love story” between Ruti and the heir was underwhelming at worst and laughable at best. I didn’t feel any chemistry between these characters. I believe that they were attracted to each other, but they were definitely not in love and the heir says all the time that she can’t fall in love or won’t fall in love and just uses Ruti to let off some steam.

The plot twist at the end was not very convincing, because the narrator is the first person protagonist lying to us in her thoughts, which doesn’t work.

The magic system was not well explained (who are the spirits? What exactly are witches? The difference between the Marks?) and there wasn’t strong world building.

At the end, there is no real character growth, and we are to accept that the main characters are good people, even though they do objectively bad things and never take any responsibility. They don’t want to change the system that benefits them, even though it keeps lots of people oppressed, but don’t recognize that themselves and just say it is what it is.

The premise for Markless is quite interesting and it was the reason why I wanted to read the book. I thought the execution was well done. Even though the pacing was fine and the character exploration was satisfactory, I wish I had more time with Dekala to learn more about her outside of her need to rule. I like the glimpses of warmth from Dekala as well as her relationship with Rutie. The author captured a great atmosphere!

It took me a good portion of the book to get into the book. However, by the end, I was invested! I would’ve liked to have seen more world building and more explanation of the magic system. I really enjoyed Ruti and Dekala’s relationship and how it developed over the course of the story.

Overall it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t unique enough for me.
I liked the world-building, but it could’ve added something about the marks or so to make it more interesting. The pacing was decent. But it still struggled to hold my interest.

I really liked the characters and romance. They were also pretty stereotypical, like the overall book was. But that can also be quite nice if you’re looking for something that’s just an easy fantasy book.

My last point is in quite a lot of fantasy books so its not just here, but i don’t like it when there is sexism added to a fantasy world just to make it seem more powerful when a woman achieves something, but in the worldbuilding it just doesn’t make sense for there to even be discrimination. Like i understand if you want to bring awareness to an important real life topic, but please make it logical in the fictional world as well.