Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost Book 1)

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From Canada

Ashani

Sapphic goodness

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 24, 2022

Thank you so much to @orbitbooks_us & @hachetteus for the gifted copy !

We follow Tourraine, who is a conscript snatched from her native land and fully raised up to defend the empire that has conquered her home. This is her first time back since she was stolen as a child and is caught in the midst of a brewing rebellion.

What I loved : the world building is amazing. The north African inspired setting was so beautifully done and was really a character in and of itself that kept you so anxious, wondering around which corner the rebels were hiding. I thought the way CL clark explore colonization and all the souls caught in between was really well done. We know an unjust system continues to be perpetuated when you get the opressed peoples to buy into and defend their own oppression. That was explored so beautifully in this book. I also loved the rebels and their magic and the commentary on faith, religion and indigenous practices being lost. Cl clark had me at the healing magic tbh.

What I didnt love : I wish we spent more time with the rebels. The first half of the book is a bit slower as Tourraine is recruited by a struggling queen regent Luca who needs someone to infiltrate the rebels. In true colonizer fashion we see her view Tourraine as a tool that can get her what she wants and "peace" in the conquered city. That involved a lot of time with her and I wish that much time was spent with the rebels

You will love this if you love : sapphic goodness. Lesbian characters on the page not in the periphery. If you love military fantasy and a character driven story.

Follow Ash&herbooks on insta for more reviews :)

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From other countries

Amazon Customer

Not that much actually going on

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 6, 2022

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This is a strange one - well enough written ...a good enough story in there but.... Well the start of the book has some fairly consistent reverse racism going on and the heir to an empire arriving with just three folk with her. Doesn't move into a palace with lots of staff or anything - very low key. Apparantly there is a big rebellion going on that she has to quell but there doesn't seem to be much actual rebellion going on bar a few cartoon posters. And the empire brings local troops in to the equation - well no empire EVER risks this. The main character is tasked with finding the rebels and she finds one straight away and hey presto he takes her to met the other leaders ...emmmm .... wasn't that difficult it seems. There is word of magic a some forbidden/abandoned local city but that seems to be forgotten about pretty quickly with little foray into it. The interaction between the princess and the main character is pretty low key and stunted ... (pretty much describes all the 'action' too) and then when things blow up we have actually very little fighting or action etc described ... just told that its happened. Overall pretty disappointing with much missed opportunity to really get into some action.. some story ... some character development. Oh, and as with real life, I'd prefer a bit of mixed sexual orientation.

2 people found this helpful

Jean Rosales

Decepcionante

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on April 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

Lo leí porque es un nominado al Nebula 2021, y aunque la historia tiene una premisa interesante (una soldado raptada por un imperio cuando era niña, que vuelve a su lugar natal como teniente de ese imperio, y se involucra en una rebelión), la ejecución no es buena. Los 2 personajes principales, la soldado y la princesa, constantemente toman malas decisiones que nunca tienen el resultado esperado (para ellas, para el lector es obvio que algo malo va a pasar) y sin embargo no aprenden la lección, y siguen tomando decisiones absurdas. La autora describe las motivaciones e intereses de las protagonistas, aunque muchas cosas simplemente ocurren así nada más, sobre todo en cuando la incapacidad de las protagonistas de concebir las consecuencias de sus acciones. Espero que no gane el Nebula, las otras novelas nominadas son más interesantes y están mejor escritas.

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Mary Soon Lee

Powerfully and grimly evokes colonialism in a fantasy world.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

"The Unbroken" is one of this year's Nebula nominees, a fantasy novel set in a secondary world that evokes European colonialism. The title page tags this as "Magic of the Lost: Book One," so it's clear that this is only the start of a larger story. The setting draws powerfully on the French exploitation of North Africa, remaking it with magic that comes from the gods. Colonialism is shown in its brutal injustice and there are many disturbing scenes.

The book alternates between the viewpoints of two women: Luca, heir to the imperial throne, and Touraine, abducted from her family at age five and raised to be a soldier. Touraine has forgotten her birth language and strives to be a model member of the empire, but is repeatedly treated as lesser because of her "uncivilized" race. I didn't fall into the story, but that may have been because I was distracted by events external to the book. As it was, I was interested throughout, but not immersed. I wanted to love the two protagonists, but didn't quite manage that either. Again, this may be due to reading this at the wrong time.

A rather tentative 3.5 out of 5 rebellious stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

2 people found this helpful

DWF

Decent read, where all wrong decisions make a right... implausible

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

The Unbroken is not bad. It is a decent read. I hesitated to give it three stars. However, the author did put in a decent effort. The world is constructed nicely. Societal issues and details are fleshed out enough for the reader to grasp. The character backstories are interesting andare developed, somewhat.

Now, authors today seemingly rely upon a gimmick that all wrong decisions made by a protagonist make a right. That the situation is resolved in the end by a literary "deus ex machina" that is quite implausible. That is what happened with this book. There were key moments which were highly implausible, all but destroying literary immersion.

There is nothing greater than betrayal yet the book treats such as all but instantly forgivable. Maxing out betrayal only to minimize such a few pages or paragraphs later. Makes it seem as if multiple characters are emotionally compromised so much as to be bipolar. The ending itself was quite lackluster. A literary "deus ex machina" was weakly employed to turn total defeat into total and complete victory. The use of such a literary device is not uncommon; such works well when properly executed in any media. It just does not work here as written.

As far as time passing between happenings in the book? The prose to convey to the reader the passage of time, was also lacking. Like Luke on Dagobah left movie goers saying, "huh? A week of training with Yoda makes for a master Jedi?" As a reader, I felt rushed. What happened in the book as unfolding over a month or months felt like days or a week.

The character motivations, backstories, society, are understood. The actions of the characters - emotionally min-maxed to extremes - renders the believability of the characters and character actions, beyond reasonable disbelief. Suspension of disbelief was destroyed at key moments. I caught myself checking the time excessively at these points.

Still, a good effort. I might pick up the sequel. I am just not sure.

7 people found this helpful

Deborah Ruiz Silva

It started very well, but...

Reviewed in Brazil 🇧🇷 on July 29, 2022

Verified Purchase

At first i enjoyed it a lot, but halfway through things got a bit rushed. I feel like Touraine's decisions for some of her actions weren't consistent, as in I wasn't convinced her actions were in character. Still, i finished the book, and it was ok. Could have been better though

Kindle Customer

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

What I thought was going to be a start of a great series was sadly disappointing. The concept of this story I really enjoyed,between the different countries and the way of life to the hints of old gods. All good, right? Then came the characters, the ones that stood out I couldn't stand. There's to much flip flopping in a persons character for my taste. If these were teenagers I could see the reality of it,but grown ups, just got frustrating.

One person found this helpful

Rickey

Solid Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2022

Verified Purchase

Really enjoyed the character dynamics, especially the conflict of Touraine with Luca, her soldiers, and the rebels. Lots of twists and changes in dynamics but a solid story throughout. Favorite part was the laughing pox end result. Very creative.

LyndonBeth

Spoilers below

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

Pretty good debut effort although there was one point in the middle where i got really frustrated with the main character and put the book down and seriously considered giving up.

There were parts in the plot that felt a bit too convenient as well. For example, an important character dies mysteriously, but this doesn't get investigated because everyone is too busy until it's conveniently pointed out that it was probably the bad guy who did it.

One person found this helpful

Sympa sans plus

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on May 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

Personnages principaux pas vraiment attachants. Des passages intéressants et la construction de la magie également même si pas tellement révolutionnaire.

One person found this helpful

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The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost Book 1)

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