Colonization, military service, loyalty, racial inequality, and a life torn between two conflicting cultures. Welcome to the potent, gripping debut novel by C.L. Clark, The Unbroken, which launches her Magic of the Lost saga. The lives of two strong-willed, fascinating women drive the plot about how a nation seeks to strengthen its control in the region/world. Clark’s story is quite brutal, very raw, and through her characters, a gripping narrative.
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.
Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.
Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale.
Clark draws reader’s attention to two primary characters – a Qazāli soldier named Touraine. Since she was kidnapped as a young child in the Balladaire empire and conscripted to the military, Touraine has no memory of her life before being in the military. She was just one of many children taken from their homes to serve.
The other focal / P.O.V. character is Princess Luca, a woman whose sole purpose is to ascend the throne and oust her uncle. When she crosses paths with Touraine Luca sees a woman she can use to help her solidify her reputation as a worthy ruler.
Although Clark splits the majority of the narrative between these two characters, Touraine gets the edge when comes to being the primary of the two. Clark surrounds the conscripted and conflicted soldier with allies and a clear antagonist who is always waiting to stick the proverbial needles into her. Being in Touraine’s headspace, we learn about her deepest connection, to her fellow conscripts the Sands. In this way, I found some resonance between that relationship and how the relationship between Maximus and his fellow fighters in the Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. In Captain Rogan, Clark has carved out an antagonist for Touraine that skirts the line between annoying and threatening quite well. About midway through the novel, Clark reveals some deeper connections for Touraine that have potent ramifications for the story.
When the story shifts to Luca, Clark manages to build up the same level of empathy for the young woman seeking to establish her stature as a ruler. She wants to essentially clean up the social mess that her people live in and give the Qazāli people as a whole more respect and stature, a better life overall. The Qazāli are viewed by her people as less than civilized. What Luca sees in Touraine is a person who can help Luca both establish her rule and ideally, bring more of a level-playing field to the people of her nations.
Touraine is very much a person of conflicting cultures. She’s drawn into the royalty as Luca’s “assistant,” she still has loyalty to her Sands, and she learns more about the nation of her birth. Much of the narrative tension is felt in how Touraine tries to navigate and bring balance to these multiple “worlds” in which she has some kind of stake. Touraine and Luca develop a rather interesting, bordering on intimate, relationship and their loyalty to each other is tested as the action climbs to a summit and as the novel concludes.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t remark on the world-building in the novel. Although Clark isn’t exactly flush with details about the world, it feels very unique, lived-in, and a world that has a great deal of history and backstory. Magic is treated like something truly…well, something magical. It is a mythic, often taboo thing in the world that isn’t exactly looked on positively by all.
One thing that has been said of this book is the range of characters and how the majority of them are women. Military Fantasy is typically a very male driven genre, both the writers and the characters. I was even hesitant to mention that the characters are primarily women because it really only clicked with me when I was more than halfway through the novel. I thought, “Hmm…there’s barely any men in this story.” I essentially acknowledged it with an “oh, cool,” and moved on because it is just one fascinating point about this enthralling novel.
The Unbroken is a remarkably impressive novel, especially for a debut. Clark has written and published short stories, but this novel is my first exposure to her writing. I suspect this novel will remain at/near the top of my favorite reads for the year and I would not be surprised to see The Unbroken land on multiple best of the year and award shortlists. It is that damned good, that damned impressive, and is only the first of a series. I know I’m hooked.
Highly Recommended
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
Orbit Books | March 2021
Trade Paperback | 544 pages
Excerpt: https://www.orbitbooks.net/orbit-excerpts/the-unbroken-by-c-l-clark/
Landing Page for the book: http://www.orbitbooks.net/the-unbroken
Author Web site: https://clarkwrites.wordpress.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
You’ve convinced me to give The Unbroken a read. I noticed it’s an Editor’s Pick on Amazon, which is quite impressive for an author’s first book. Normally, I stick with science fiction but this one warrants an exception to be made. I’ll be sure to follow C.L. Clark on Goodreads & Amazon for updates. Thanks for sharing!