I have to commend the planning and complexity of the story, especially since this book was a debut. I think it’s very ambitious, however I feel like the execution largely fails me. I also think the current climate affect my reading experience- staying at home means a slow day and I guess I was just wanting a quick/fast-paced read. I guess it’s a case of me instead of the book, but in the end this book just doesn’t work for me.

The Unspoken Name, the first book in The Serpent’s Gate series by A. K. Larkwood, follows Csorwe—an orc priestess destined to become a sacrifice to her god on her fourteenth birthday. On the day of her prophesied death, Belthandros Sethennai—a powerful wizard—offers her a new fate that compels her to escape death by leaving her home, destiny, god, and become Sethennai’s personal assassin instead. The main plot of The Unspoken Name centers around Csorwe as she’s tasked by Sethennai to retrieve the Reliquary of Pentravesse; anyone who claims the Reliquary will gain the legacy and knowledge of Pentravesse—someone who changed all worlds forever.

So much happens in this book, but at its core, this book is about choices and the importance of them. The story takes place over eight to nine years, though I think it could have gone for a little longer in 'time' to give the characters more space to evolve and grow. I didn't click with Corswe immediately, but her journey and character development gave great meaning to the themes of the book. The dynamic between the main five characters is great. Csorwe's relationship is gradual instead of insta-love and very endearing; the progression of it was organic and easy to hope for it to keep growing. The diversity of the characters was refreshing, especially for a fantasy novel! The time jumps were necessary for the author to tell the story she wanted to tell, but they were also rather jarring, especially with how Csorwe changed to drastically over the course of the story. The range of beliefs, traditions, history, social & political systems was wide but also well-written and believable. For the most part people from different cultures/beliefs/traditions were able to live in harmony. The attention to detail and the cities, realms and societies within each are extremely fascinating and carefully written.

Csorwe begins very much as an average (orc) person. She's balanced and therein lies her strength because it makes her relatable. She has fears, reams, hopes, and flaws. Also it's really nice to see a queer main character in a fantasy story whose only on-page queer 'experience' is casual/meaningless hookups with people she plans to never see again. Also her sexual orientation is never questioned; it's entirely normalized!

Something I found odd but rather refreshing was there's no main antagonist. She has enemies, but alliances change a lot based on whether Csorwe and her gang have similar goals as others & decide to work together. It allows the reader to see how the main cast interacts with different people in different situations.

The world-building across many words in-universe is well-done and easy to settle into. The story itself is very compelling and I highly recommend it!

This was fun! A very solid fantasy debut that feels like a blend of Gideon the Ninth, old school 90s fantasy, Doctor Who, and Firefly.

Some thoughts:

★ It reads quick and isn't as dense as high fantasy can be. I wouldn't call it a page-turner, but I always enjoyed reading through it.

★ It's really, really funny. It strikes just the right balance between serious and irreverent. The humor is so dark and dry. I think I laughed out loud a couple of times. I love it when fantasy is funny.

★ It's a weird mix of space opera and high fantasy, which I actually dislike. This is a hugely personal tick, though; it's done perfectly fine here, I just don't like it, mainly because I think of high fantasy and science fiction as opposite ends of the spectrum, so I find their merging to be very jarring.

★ Tal Charossa is a fantastic character. I would argue he's the book's breakout character. I just love reading about asshole characters, especially in fantasy, where so often protagonists are just boring and decent, but Tal is so vibrant and self-interested and crass.

★ I really enjoyed the dynamics between Sethennai and Csorwe. I could completely understand her loyalty and devotion to him, and her desire to be seen by him, given that he is such a charismatic figure and is also the person who saved her life and the closest thing to family she has. Her arc - coming to terms with who she is outside of him - was really nicely done.

★ I...felt very neutral about the romance between Shuthmili and Cswore. I mean, it was fine. There was nothing wrong with it. I just had no strong feelings about it. Shuthmili was an interesting character.

★ I enjoyed Oranna very much! Now there's a multifaceted villain.

★ Loved the creepy bits of cosmic horror involving dead gods. I wish the worldbuilding overall had been a little bit more sturdy - I'm still struggling to put things together within a larger context. I understood everything I needed to understand for the story, but I feel like there's a lot I still don't know.

Overall I don't think I enjoyed it enough to pick up the sequel, but it was a good time! And who knows, I enjoyed the humor so very much that I might be tempted.

The writing is gorgeous, but am finding the story to drag a bit for me. Not what I am looking for for my book box subscription, unfortunately.

Sometimes the hype can kill a book for me, and while this wasn't 100% the case here as I did avoid all reviews and pretty much closed my eyes whenever I saw the title pop up on Twitter, it was hard to avoid. The general consensus within my circles, was that this book brings something new, it is well written and the characters and story are fantastic.

I want to agree as I mostly enjoyed it while I was reading it; But I finished the book less than a month ago and I can't remember any of the characters names, or even the story. There was lots of betrayal and some fighting and they were hunting for a relic. There was a very sweet romance on the side and some Gods who you just know are going to cause carnage at some point.

The book was missing that special something that sucks me in. I was just never invested in the characters and that is something I need. I need to be cheering someone on. Also for such a big book, I feel like there wasn't a lot of depth.

I do think this will be a massive hit, it just wasn't for me.

4.5 stars

I was actually sold on this book just by that tagline alone: “Priestess. Assassin. Traitor.” Well, okay, it grabbed my interest enough for me to read the summary, and then I was truly sold on it.

This was a really cool and interesting fantasy read. I’m still processing it a bit, but I’m glad to have a finished copy on my shelf so I can read it again later. Because in some ways it was a little bit of a mind-blowing read. There are different portals and worlds/realms and really this book feels like it is a genre mash-up, skillfully combining fantasy and some science-fiction, which is a mash-up I greatly enjoy. Science fantasy is pretty darn entertaining to me.

Let’s also talk about the fact that Csorwe is of orcish blood, half-orc specifically if I remember correctly. Most of the time when reading a traditional fantasy novel, you get humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings/hobbits. This book definitely stands out to me because of it featuring a main character who is a half-orc.

I think Csorwe is a great character anyway, raised to be nothing more than a sacrifice and though she is scared of that destiny, she has accepted it…until that moment when she is to head up to the Shrine and be sacrificed and she is given another option. I love the meaning of this decision, Csorwe taking her life into her own hands, and it really does change everything, but it is such a journey to watch and follow. It is cool to watch her absorbing all the knowledge she can, from history and culture and languages, to sneaking and survival and weaponry. It makes her an all around badass.

There were some time jumps that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, because it glossed over so much of her learning and training, as if we needed to just know that she had training and move past it, so we could get on with the story and see her as a skilled warrior and scholar. I would have liked a bit more time watching her learn and train, but perhaps that is just me.

I definitely think I want to read this book again, because as I said at the beginning of this review, I do have a completed copy on my shelf. I bought it on release day because I already knew that I was hooked on the story and the world. Honestly I’m guessing a second read-through will make me appreciate it all even more, because I probably did miss things as I tried to wrap my head around the story while completely hooked on the narrative and trying to flip through pages as quickly as my eyes and hands would let me.

This book blew me away! It wasn't even on my radar until I saw it on Netgalley and read the synopsis. I'm SO GLAD I requested it and was approved, because this may just make it into my top 3 of 2020.

The world building was phenomenal! The fact that there are so many worlds and connected by The Maze made it so much fun to explore. Some world's no longer exist and have been forgotten but are still accessable through Maze Portals. I really enjoyed that the way of travel was so different and the landscapes were wonderfully written.

The characters had so much depth and I truly cared for them. That has been few and far between for me lately. It was so refreshing to actually care for the characters I was reading about. I loved how Csorwe was described in a way that I could actually picture her and not just me assuming she looked human or "fae" which always seems to be the car with most books.

The friendships between characters were well written and served their own purposes. Everyone that had the same goal tends to work together even if they may not normally get along. This worked seemlessly for the story line and brought so much to the adventure.

The romance was well written and refreshing and I was rooting for Csorwe the whole time. I'm so glad things worked out the way they did.

I had a feeling in the last half of the story that things may end the way they did for Belthandros, but I wasn't certain.

I'm so stoked that there will be more to this world because I feel like I could wonder The Maze forever and find out about all the different worlds and people. And I need to know what happens with Csorwe.

Phew. I feel so accomplished having completed this.
Csorwe is a teenage girl who has been raised to be the sacrificial wife of the Unspoken One, an ancient god living within the earth. Locked into a tomb on what is to be the day of her death, a mage appears and offers to rescue her and provide her with a new life. She decides to accept his offer and flees with him. Over time she lives with him and trains to be his assassin. She feels she owes him everything. She owes him her life and thus, is extremely loyal to him and his goals.
The mage, Belthandros Sethennai, is a very powerful man who is also on a mission. His aim is to regain control of the lands from which he was exiled. In order to do so, he wants Csorwe, along with another young person in his employ, Tal, to seek and return to him the Reliquary of Pentravasse. This Reliquary is said to hold immeasurable knowledge and the one able to capture that will increase their power to new heights...or something like that...
Okay, so, I will admit this was a little hard for me to grasp. I never felt like I truly understood the world. For example, Csorwe, is an Orc, which I never really knew until I read someone else's blurb about the book. I knew there was something going on with her, as she is described as having tusks, but I thought maybe she was some sort of elephant human hybrid or something.
But even knowing she was an Orc, didn't really piece the rest of it together for me. Were they all orcs? Were there humans? Were there all sorts of magical beings living together in harmony like in Middle Earth? I genuinely don't know.
I am also of the opinion that this was entirely too long. There were two distinct portions of the book, or quests if you will. There is a quest for an object. Once that point is resolved, you think, it could be over. This is it.
But no, it is not. Characters are separated, there's still a baddie out and about, it would have been a great place to leave off prior to a second book. Then there is a completely new quest to find a particular person.
Again, I feel like that could have made a great second book. If it had been broken up that way, I think the world could have been built out more and perhaps the author would have more time to really focus on that instead of trying to cram it all into one.
Overall, this was a mixed bag for me. I felt the pacing was off. There were moments when I was really into it and then a few pages later, I would be bored, and back and forth it went until the end. It did have moments of greatness and I don't want anyone to think my minor critiques make this a bad book. It's a good book, I just feel the story could have been better served if formatted differently.
It also isn't an easy read. I did end up mentally exhausted after reading it for a half hour or so. I could have made it through more quickly if it didn't take me 8.5-minutes to pronounce each name. My favorite part of this was the relationship between Csorwe, and a religious adept, Shuthmili. Their friendship-to-more was beautiful. I waited a long time to get to it, but it was worth it.
In short, although this wasn't perfect for me, it did have some strengths. If you can make it through the weaknesses, it is a pleasant, though entirely too long, read.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor and NetGalley, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinion.

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
The Serpent Gates, Book 1
Two Stars.
I was given a free ARC ebook by the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Csorwe is the Bride of the Unspoken. She was chosen as a baby and at the age of 14, she will travel to the Shrine of the Unspoken, and to her presumed death. But upon her arrival to the Shrine, she finds something other than death waiting for her, she finds Belthandros Sethennai, a wizard, who offers her a life. Together they set off for a new world and many adventures.
The worlds in this book blew me away. They are all connected by a maze full of portals, and each has its own cultures, gods and races that are unique. The worlds are traveled by floating ships, have floating cities and floating warships. In this book, we are introduced to 4 different divinities, all with different skills and very different followers. We see that worlds can grow and prosper or age and decay along with their people, leaving some interesting artifacts to be found. I would have loved to explore more worlds and experienced more of the journeys, those seemed to be glazed over pretty often.
The characters were different for me. I never really felt a connection to any of the main characters. I don't feel like we were really given an opportunity to see how they grew into who they are today. This book skips ahead 5 years between two parts, and I think I would have benefited from knowing more about that time. That was when one of the main relationships was built, between Csorwe and her companion Tal, during those five years, so I don't think I really got to understand their dynamic and mannerisms. I enjoyed that they had a tit-for-tat relationship, it was some of the best parts of this book, but I would have really liked to see how that grew into what it was. I didn't feel a connection with the main character, for me, she always felt distant, like even though we were in her psyche, I still didn't feel like I knew her. Csorwe was a constant source of me saying to myself "wait....why are we doing this again?". I didn't understand her actions or motive for most of the book.
The romance was off for me for everyone. I didn't see or feel any butterflies while reading the interactions between characters, so most of it felt dull and a little forced. I don't know if it was because I felt like a lot of the relationships were pretty toxic, and that can be a little bit of a trigger for me, so that might of had something to do with my attitude.
The plot had a lot of issues for me. If I were to describe all the plot points I would constantly be saying " and then". Like "First they work on something for Sethennai, and then they go to this other place and then the try to find this other thing and then they have to....". The whole story felt like a bunch of side quests that just lead to more side quests and soon you lose sight of what the main quest was. I felt like this one book could have been made into three different books, with more elaboration and less quick travel.
This is the first in a series, and I know I will read the next book eventually because I have this think about finishing series, but I assure you, it is nowhere near the top of my TBR list.

The Unspoken Name

Didn’t they teach you how to steal a ship at wizarding school?

A.K. Larkwood has created an ethereal vision of female badassery that I had completely laced up my feminist ass kicking boots by the end of chapter one. The formula that the author concocted in order to produce the masterpiece that my eyes and brain conversely lapped up was unique and special. She knew the compounds that go into writing a fantasy – they work, but the author decided to tear that rule book up and rewrite them completely! She drew me in with her hypnotic narrative and the familiar territory that I have become used to suddenly turned into a snake infested pit…but I was loving it!

The Unspoken Name was literally an experience. The author held me captive and threw me into the boot of her car and wouldn’t let go until the end. It was magnetism and I just couldn’t let go.

If you want a fresh take on fantasy, then The Unspoken Name should be right at the top of your TBR. Go in with no inhibitions, no preconceived ideas, forget genres, forget the rules. It will bend the confines of sub genres, it will blend societal themes and leave you feeling empowered and wrought with emotions. This book will blow your mind.

My immediate thought process after closing that last page was YES YES YES. It hit every button and I knew I would sell my soul to the devil himself to get book two. I need it right now, I NEED it. This is certainly a series that would translate well to a Netflix series and would rock my socks.

Page one set the tone imperceptibly. The protagonist, Csorwe, examines the predominate theme in the novel, that of choice. Life is one big choice, whether that is a deemed choice or a given one based upon expectations and a road that needs to be walked. When we meet her, she is very unremarkable, but she has a fate…she must die. A sacrifice to the gods. She must become a dead bride effectively. She has lived her entire life to get to this point. Her choices have been limited and not out with her remit of the cult she has been brought up in. what should happen if she was faced with a real choice? A choice that will change everything.

A.K Larkwood has evolved a narrative that takes the entire spectrum of colours and invents a universe that is a sparking ball of frenetic energy. It’s a close parallel to our own reality and it’s so vivid that it has taken on a life of its own.

If your only choice is death where do you go? When Csorwe is approached by the extremely charismatic wizard, Sethannai he bestows upon her a pretty obvious choice in my book, serve me and live or accept your fate and die. Well if I had been Csorwe I would have been crashing into him like the cool aid guy. I would have snapped his hand off. Sethannai has serious plans for Csorwe. He needs her in order to take back his kingdom of Tiaanthothe. The journey of her training and tribulations along the way made my giddy little heart happy. Watching her strength and confidence grow was everything I love in a protagonist. My brain felt numb from the onslaught of action and each chapter blended into the next. The words on each page felt like they became embedded in my brain, it became a part of me. I forgot I was reading, and this felt more like VR. It was a completely immersive experience.

The Unspoken Name is a beguiling and dark tale with mind blowing narrative that makes you forget your own name. it explores the darkest of emotions and translates into a magical joyride.

Arc received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly try to finish reading this book before its publishing date (11st February 2020), I swear. But something that rarely happens anymore hit me while reading this one - it took me over 3 months to finish it! And I am devastated that I can't give it more than 3 stars, but here, gentlefriends, is why:

Plot and pacing
The book started off with an incredible plot and pacing. It was intense, imaginative, there were secrets and mysteries and action and my beloved trope of the main character coming to a new town/world and having to accomodate. There was a quest, there was learning and training, there were other worlds and gods and magic... And I flew through the first 35% in two day's time! But then, oh theeen...
The plot got very anticlimactic. After a highly action-packed scene we have a time jump and a perspective jump to some new characters that didn't interest me in the slightest, as their introduction was quite boring. And this, sadly continues... We have moments where nothing happens at all, then intense action, running, fighting, then nothing at all... The pace was off for about 60% of the book at least and this made it incredibly hard for me to pick the book up again. I kept reading 3-5 pages and putting it down again. Even though I see how every scene did contribute to character development or the storyline overall, I wished that some scenes would have been cut off nevertheless or put together. The ending, once again, was very action packed, but then for some 15% more of the book nothing much really happened. Except for a big reveal that was supposed to blow out minds, but didn't really, because it was kind of presented in a quite boring way. I had the feeling that the author was jumping between character-driven and plot-driven story and this mix got it a bit confusing.

Characters
I loved the characters. All of them. They have their strengths and weaknesses and the writer doesn't tells, but shows them. You can see it in small gestures, in thought spirals, in automatic reactions to actions of others. I loved this way of getting to know the characters and learned a great lot on how to portray characters. Especially the way that you could understand the motivations of everyone somehow and this way there was never really a hero and a villain - very refreshing!

There were also great character arcs - independantly but also in terms of relationships building up in a natural way. There was a slow burn romance in this story which I didn't mind at all, as it wasn't too much in your face as it usually is.
Also, this world was fully accepting of LGBTQA+ characters, so there was no need to introduce them openly as gay or bi or however they identified, as it wasn't anything that distinguished them from others, which I loved!

That said, I had some problems picturing them in my mind. The description of Csorwe as an orc mainly consisted of reminding the reader that she had tusks, which was basically it. I would have wished for different species to have some more distinguishable characteristics than that.

Worldbuilding
The world is highly imaginative and magical. There are several worlds in existence which can be reached through gates. These worlds have their gods and people and mages who have their own ways of worshipping them. These worlds can die and their gods with them, which brings its own consequences. Still, I'm not sure if it's only me or the writing, but I didn't really quite understand how most of the things worked... I wished we could have had a bit more of this magic in the storyline, as mostly everything still felt very much like the typical fantasy setting. How was it able exactly that the magic worked? What are the limits, what is possible and what isn't? Why can a mage do X, but not do Y? In several dialogues the mages explaines to Csowe what they can do and what they cannot do, but... like... why though? I wouldn't know...

Writing
My favourite thing about this novel. I loved it. The prose was beautiful, the dialogues felt real and the sarcastic and humorous descriptions of the characters' thoughts made me mark each and every single passage that contained this hilarious humour, because I want to be always able to find them!
That said, I did find it hard to get through the scenes with lots of prose and little of dialogue at times, simply for it being too much and unnecessary, as those parts weren't really important for the plot at that moment and took me out of the tension/action/oh my god what's gonna happen next - feeling.

All in all I could say that some parts of the book were a five star with sparkles while others were less than 2 stars, so I have to settle with a three.
I am not sure yet if I will continue with a series, personally the open ending kind of feels like a great standalone ending as well.

Why do I struggle reading books about Orcs? I've officially given up on finding an answer but I found The Unspoken name to be slightly disappointing for me.

I’m not going to sugarcoat my words here, throughout the book I was infuriated, yet I found it hard to stop reading. At one point, I actually thought “there’s no way this book is receiving more than 3 stars rating from me, just no way.” Why? Simple: being inside Csorwe's head was often maddening because she made tons of stupid decisions and illogical actions, which went on for a long time. For a character-driven book, I need to be able to root for the main character, which was extremely hard to do during most of my time of reading this book.

However, the last 50 pages almost completely changed my opinions about those negative aspects. Every decision, finally made sense whether you agree with her or not. It’s obvious that throughout the narrative, Csorwe is hiding something from the reader, she’s keeping this “tough outlook, soft-hearted” mask; it’s not until the last 50 pages—where the story goes full throttle and becomes addictive—that the reader finally understands all the reasons behind it.

I must say that, by the end, I was impressed by what A.K. Larkwood accomplished. It’s not easy to make a character-driven story with this kind of main character. I can already imagine how many people will go “Why are you so stupid???” “Why did you do that!?” but trust me, as annoying as the main character can be, there’s a reason for it. This also means that the last two books have plenty of room for major improvements for the character development and if A.K managed to pull it off, this will be a fantastic character-driven trilogy.

Not only was the pacing of the book fantastic, the world-building was equally great, with plenty of histories and a vivid environment. A.K. introduced these aspects gradually.

Despite my pessimism about the book, by the end, I found that I enjoyed it as a whole much more than I disliked certain parts. You have to be patient reading this book, but believe me, it’s worth it in the end. If you’re a fan character-driven stories featuring a complex female heroine, this is something you should definitely try. There is much room for development in the series that's for sure.

Unfortunately I was barely able to reach the 40% mark on this one a while back, maybe I'm the minority here.

** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this Arc in exchange for an honest review **

The Unspoken Name is the debut novel by A.K. Larkwood that blends high fantasy and science fiction in a world jumping epic tale.

Csorwe, princess of her people, has a per-determined destiny: she is to be sacrificed on her 14th birthday to honor the god of her people. However, when the day arrives a powerful wizard offers her a choice; stay and die, or enter into his service and live. Csorwe leaves her home, her people, and her destiny to become an assassin and spy. In the following years Csorwe grows from a girl to a woman, becoming more confident in herself. Eventually she is sent to retrieve The Reliquary of Pentravesse and faces many trials on the path to her goal.

A couple of notes about this book:

The pacing isn't great. The beginning of the book moves very quickly, but the the middle is very slow. Toward the end it speeds up again. Since the story takes place over nearly a decade, we see several gaps in Csorwe's life - she studies with mercenaries, but the reader doesn't see any of that time. It is somewhat frustrating to hear about those missing times but not know what happened.

I found it somewhat difficult to imagine what the characters look like. The descriptions were fine, but Csorwe is described as having features we would associate with Orcs, however she behaves like a human. I would expect that different species of humanoid would have differing behaviors and we don't see that here.

Due to the world-jumping the story can be a bit hard to follow.

Overall the story was fun to read. Since it is the first book in a series, I expect more world building in book 1 (which we got) and more action in book 2, but that remains to be seen. Until then, I would recommend this book to friends and look forward to more from A. K. Larkwood.

The premise of this book is interesting, but a few things didn't work for me:

1. Csorwe's narrative voice feels distant. As some reviewers have pointed out, she seems to lack emotions or at least emotional resonance. The result: I couldn't connect at all with Csorwe.

2. Csorwe, as far as I read, faces obstacles that she overcomes, but she doesn't encounter complications (encounters that cause her her to struggle internally with her beliefs and/or identity). For example, she decides to abandon her role as sacrifice, but it seemed an obvious answer to her dilemma. Once she's out, she doesn't question whether it was the right decision or not.

3. There doesn't seem to be any special reason for Csorwe to be an orc. In fact, unless her tusks are mentioned, I forgot that she's an orc. As far as I could tell, orcs are a people group with a distinct culture who happen to have tusks.

4. Part I (Chapters 1-7, first 28% of the book) felt like an origin story separate from the rest of the book. It wasn't made clear, at least to me, why we needed Part I to understand Part II. I DNFed the book at 40%, so I'm open to corrections on this points.

Absolute delight of a book. Really enjoyed the world building, the plot was interesting throughout the whole book. I really liked the characters, and how morally grey everyone was.

*Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan- Tor/forge for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. *

Representation: Lesbian warrior orc, one Badass sapphic mage, Gay MC( he’s an asshole but you gotta love him), queer side characters, slow burn f/f romance, OV sapphic rep.

I went into the unspoken name expecting to find a new favourite and while I didn’t- I did enjoy the slow burn, f/f centred romance, and the antagonistic/almost friendship between two of our main characters. There’s also multiple side queer characters and the world building was truly phenomenal, especially for a debut.

Let’s start this review on a positive note and talk about what I enjoyed. If you were to ask me my favourite part? It would be every interaction between Csorwe and Shuthmili- even the angry ones- they HANDS DOWN saved the whole book for me.

“Not that—” said Csorwe. Shuthmili smelled like people usually do, sweat and worn clothes and a trace of soap, but also somehow right and good and perfect. “Just you.”

A warrior Orc who falls for the prickly mage she DEFINITELY should not have falling for?? It was as epic and as wonderful as you’d expect.

Tal and Csorwe.

To say these two get off on the wrong foot would be a tad bit of an understatement. However, I ship this PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP SO BAD! While I adored their bickering and antagonistic partnership, I need them to become friends. Honestly, after everything- THEY NEED EACHOTHER and they’re actually very efficient when working together.

“You’re a joke,” said Tal, for form’s sake. “More and more every day. Want to do something stupid?” she said. Realising she could rely on him for this was like falling out of a window and landing on something soft: you felt more ridiculous than ever but god, it was a relief.”

In addition to some characters I also loved the world building. I never expected high fantasy and sci-fi to work so well but the author has such a talent for blending them.

Unfortunately, I had some issues.

The plot annoyed the HELL out of me. I can’t even tell you why. It just bugged me. Maybe it’s because I’m not a big reader of high fantasy so I don’t actually know how most plots go but this didn’t feel like it followed any direction. Every part( there were four parts in the book), felt like a different plot featuring the same characters- though I will say, part four was good and I think that was mainly due to the romance! This may be completely enjoyable for others, but alas it wasn’t for me.

I really wanted a badass villain and I don’t think we got that. Don’t get me wrong I loved (spoiler) but the whole background story fell flat.

That wizard!!!- he knows who he is- I goddamn hated him.

Overall, The Unspoken Name was a whirlwind to read and while I didn’t love it, I am looking forward to seeing more of Tal, Csorwe and Shuthmili in the sequel to come. I think if you’re a big high fantasy fan( which I’m coming to realise I’m not), you’ll probably enjoy this way more than me. Plus it is also hella queer and that is forever and always a bonus.

So many times a new series' first book must sacrifice pacing vs building background that will make the rest of the book better. This is not the case here. AK Larkwood builds the story around a fantastical background with richly developed characters and shoots their stories into your conscience in one or two chapters, setting an impossible pace that will keep you focused on the next page, the next chapter....until the last page and you have to go to work in 3 hours. Yes, I did. A great read that sets us up for more to come.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gorgeous Cover!!! The story itself had a very slow pacing, which seemed to work with the content. The names were super hard to pronounce, but with the E Copy, you will get a pronunciation guide. I did feel like some of the stuff that happened could have been split up into multiple books. It was just too much for once story.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Unable to read as the "Send to Kindle" feature malfunctioned.

Interested enough that I plan to buy the book