***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.***

With unhinged gods, daring time skips, and the best loveable idiots you’ll ever read about, The Thousand Eyes is a brilliant end to this truly unforgettable series.

Csorwe, Shuthmili, and Tal work together in a struggling mercenary trio two years after leaving their old benefactor, the charismatic wizard Bethandros Sethennai. Of course, the trio can’t stay out of trouble for long as Shuthmili’s goddess whispers in her head, Sethannai goes missing, catastrophe strikes the city, and the God-Empress Irksavaal, killer of worlds, decides she wants to make a comeback.

This book was a blast; it has everything you could ever want. A sword-wielding orc sapphic, her devoted mage girlfriend with an evil god whispering in her head, a loveable disaster gay, weird gods, and a badass nonbinary teenager? Check. The characters in The Thousand Eyes are excellent; you can’t help but fall in love with them. Not to mention the fantastic worldbuilding that combines sci-fi and fantasy. Portals, gods, dead worlds, strange magic, ancient civilisations – A.K. Larkwood masterfully builds a unique world packed with exciting elements. Not to mention the ballsy narrative choices that are both shocking and exciting. No spoilers here, but A.K. Larkwood really did that?! Y’know those books that are difficult to review because you just want to scream and shove it into people’s hands? This is one of those. I need people to read this because I need to shout about it with someone who understands, so if you love top tier, weird fantasy here’s your sign to pick this up.

With The Unspoken Name having been a favourite of mine, I was naturally over the moon with excitement for A.K. Larkwood’s The Thousand Eyes. I’m pleased to report this book hit me like a freight train, and never in a million years would I have guessed the exact WAYS in which it hit me like a freight train, and as an old fantasy reader who can be hard to surprise, that was a true delight.

I’ve tried to cobble together a long-form review in paragraphs without spoilers but have failed, so instead, have the list of things I loved about The Thousand Eyes that I dropped in a book club server in the days after finishing:

-Beautifully distinct character voices
-Intense, fraught relationships between characters that test the bounds of loyalty
-Moral greyness for days
-Desperate bargains with devious deities
-Real Hot Cultist Vibes (TM)
-All the POV characters are queer...
-... and a new prominent secondary character is nonbinary!
-Edge of your seat pacing throughout
-One of the most seamless time skips I have ever read
-The centering of platonic love as just as important as other kinds of love

My only note would be to expect more focus on Tal this book; while Csorwe and Shuthmilli also return along with other new and old faces, Tal takes center stage.

The Thousand Eyes hit on so many elements I love in SFF and with such style and grace. This is definitely not only a favourite of 2022 for me but, along with The Unspoken Name, a new all time favourite series I will be recommending enthusiastically and at length.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I loved the first 1/3 of this book, was so happy to be back in this world with the same characters. My favorite is Tal in particular so very happy that we got more of him. It all got a bit confusing with the different gods and whos who. I felt like the tone of the whole novel was so light hearted because of the banter but the actual plot was not so, and this was where there was a disconnect for me. I didnt mind the time jump and felt it added a lot to moving the plot along.
Very enjoyable. Thanks to Netgalley and Tor books for an eArc of this book.

Ok so, like in the first book there was a hole bunch of time jumping going on. Felt like I was getting shiplash with how much it happened. Idk just not my favorite thing, but overall I enjoyed it. 4

The Unspoken Name was one of my first arcs and I've been (im)patiently waiting for the sequel ever since!

Set a few years after the events of The Unspoken Name, The Thousand Eyes finds Csorwe, Shuthmili, and Tal together in the aftermath of leaving councillor and powerful mage Belthandros Sethennai's employ. But, familiar evils rear their ugly heads and the crew is drawn back into a world of ancient gods, dangerous bargains, and personal stakes.

While I loved being back in this world with familiar characters and interpersonal relationships I can't get enough of, I did have some mixed feelings overall.

Like The Unspoken Name, The Thousand Eyes features some serious time jumps. You end up with a lot of different events that each feel like they could have been their own book if they were further fleshed. This isn't to say I'm opposed to the time jumps, I liked seeing the story progress through this massive amount of time, but there were threads that felt like they dragged on in comparison to the rest.

I also had a hard time reconciling the time jumps with characters who still felt young - with Shuthmili, in particular, feeling lacking. This is one of the few books where I'm not going to complain about the ages of the characters 😂 While the main cast is around 25 for at least part of the book, I like the way they are characterized at this stage of their lives. They are still trying to sort out their lives and their places in the world, especially after having worked for a narcissist for years, and they have their areas of expertise without being /experts/.

I felt like Shuthmili's character could have been further developed, particularly because she plays such an integral part in the book. But, Tal had a really interesting character arc, especially when it came to his sense of self worth and his relationship with Sethennai.

Overall, I definitely recommend The Thousand Eyes. It has great emotional beats and great moments of comedy in what turns out to be a darker storyline than first expected.

The Thousand Eyes Wraps Up a Queer Epic Duology With God Killing and Monster Fucking

It’s a bold move to take the 20-something protagonists of your first epic fantasy novel and, after the first act in your second book, thrust them twenty years into the future. But A. K. Larkwood is nothing if not bold, and The Thousand Eyes, the second and final installment of The Serpent Gates duology, swings for the fences and ends up somewhere in another dimension, surrounded by giant snakes, with three gods cannibalizing each other. It’s bonkers. And if you loved Csorwe, Shuthmilli, and Talasseres before (and I did, very much so), you will only love them more when they are nearer middle-aged, jaded, and refusing to get over their first loves with such a burning passion that spite is what single-handedly motivates them for nearly thirty years.

I ate that shit up. With a spoon.

[SPOILERS BELOW]

The Thousand Eyes is a masterful conclusion to a tight, action-packed series that crosses science-fantasy boundaries and attacks genre definitions with violence. The first book, The Unspoken Name, focuses on the lesbian-himbo-assassin Csorwe as she navigates power, absolute truth, loyalty, and love, and while the sequel also centers on those themes, this time it’s Tal’s turn for growth.

And like any gay elf disaster, he goes through it resentfully, with a lot of generalized annoyance and self-deprecating sarcasm. I didn’t think I could fall in love with Tal after spending so long with my beloved butch orc, but here we are. If there’s one thing I respond to, it’s ornery sons of bitches with shit attitudes.

So how does this all happen? In the first third of The Thousand Eyes, Csorwe accidentally becomes the living embodiment of the God-Empress, Iriskavaal. Shuthmilli, a mage, swears her life in service to Iriskavaal in order to stay closer to her girlfriend (a peak U-Haul lesbian move). Tal, meanwhile, becomes an outlaw, running from the Thousand Eyes, an ancient race of snake-warriors trapped in human bodies, who enforce the Iriskavaal’s edicts. Belthandros Setthenai, known as Pentravesse, an immortal god-mage, and Tal’s dipshit ex, dies during Csorwe’s ascension to God-Empress. Sort of.

Hang in there. It’s an epic fantasy after all.

We then skip forward a few years and Oranna, one of the group’s nemeses from the first book, has given birth to Tsereg. She dies delivering him to the Silent Hills, the temple of the Unspoken Name, the Osharuu god of death and eternity.

In a lesser series, this would have been the end of the second book. In a trilogy, which, I will state for the record, is completely unnecessary for this story, we might have had Shuthmili as the main character of the second book, getting over her trauma through romance and which would have documented her slow descent into madness. This hypothetical book would have been the middle installment of a series that might have ultimately been deemed ‘skimmable’. Lucky for us, Larkwood knows better. There is no part of The Thousand Eyes that can—or should—be missed.

The novel then skips ahead again, this time moving the narrative twenty years forward. The remainder of the book deals with the fallout of these two events, primarily from the point of view of Talasseres Charossa, who at 40 is a notorious folk-hero/outlaw and family disgrace. At this point Iriskavaal is firmly the God-Empress of Tlanlothe, Shuthmilli is her right-hand mage, and the remnants of the Thousand Eyes are basically waiting for her to commit genocide in order to restore their home planet. I think that covers it.

Tal, who by all accounts (including his own), is an idiot, accidentally adopts Tsereg as they flee a member of the Thousand Eyes. The two of them go on a jaunt to kill Iriskavaal/Csorwe, teaming up with Shuthmilli and forging a tentative alliance with a handful of dissatisfied snake-soldiers. Oh, and his horrible, no-good, very bad ex boyfriend, Belthandros Setthenai? He’s back too. That fucker.

The Thousand Eyes has a lot of epic magic bullshit happening, primarily from the four characters who, (at some point or another) become incarnations of gods. Gods in this world are masters of the physical and are not omniscient. They are capable of immense, incredible, reality-warping power, but they can still be fooled, tricked, misled, and lied to. It’s a delicate balance that Larkwood strikes to make these incarnations approachable and human(ish) as well as operating beyond comprehension. These are the kinds of gods who appear in a firey whirlwind and know exactly why you’re scared shitless and are thrilled about it. They are motivationally comprehensible because they exist inside of humans and have human needs and human feelings.

While patron deities are not a new concept, the idea of a god possessing and then subsuming the characters themselves is a slightly more body-horror take on the trope. The way that magic is handled when it’s literally three gods fighting for supremacy in a tea garden is wonderfully evocative, and Larkwood brilliantly handles the issues of writing about gods by focusing on Tal, the only one of the main cast who stays disastrously human the entire time.

While I loved just about everything about this book, the way that Larkwood handled Tal’s story was exceptionally entertaining. It would have been easy to have a non-magic, middle-aged, accidental parent fade into the background in between mages, gods, and conquering armies, but Tal takes center stage and never leaves. He continually makes increasingly bad decisions in order to both fuck and fuck over his ex and if that’s not a gay mood I don’t know what is. The moments at the end where Csorwe (herself, not the God-Empress) and Tal are colluding to murder their father-figure/god employer are peak wlw/mlm solidary and it’s beautiful, it’s so satisfying. There’s so much about The Thousand Eyes that just makes sense, even as Larkwood sends us hurtling through different planes, and pantheons.

In between political intrigue and epic magicians doing extremely magic bullshit, The Thousand Eyes is a sweeping fantasy that focuses on character-driven emotional conflict and hangups. Beyond that, the book drives home the point that even amidst all this disastrously large magic, human connections are what make surviving worth it. Csorwe takes monster fucking to new heights as she falls back in love with her chitinous girlfriend. Tal, a man so desperate for love that he fucks his ex for personal gain twice, eventually becomes a loving, caring father to a dirtbag teen/god. The plot may revolve around the political machinations of deities but there’s something deeply enjoyable about watching characters grow into themselves, reading about their worst moments, and knowing that at the end of the book they got exactly what they deserved: each other.

The latter book in The Serpent Gates duology, The Thousand Eyes, starts two years after the first ended with Csorwe, Shutmili and Tal parting ways with Sethennai. The three are working together as a security for academics who want to study the dead world of the serpent goddes, until they come across a surprise: a living member of the goddess’s honour guard. She leads them to a sacred shrine where things take a twist in the form of the goddess herself—with Csorwe and Shutmili in her very unique service.

Jumping fifteen years, the rule of the serpent goddess has spread over the worlds, and it’s widely feared. It’s up to Tal and the latest sacrifice to the Unspoken One to bring it to end, hopefully without getting Csorwe and Shutmili killed. But in the process, they bring Sethennai back to power. And he isn’t a benevolent ruler anymore. It takes the ingenuity of them all to bring things back to normal.

Second books are difficult and this wasn’t an exception. The first third progressed fast and smoothly, but after that, it seemed the author struggled to find a way out of the bind they’d pushed the characters into. Quite a lot happened, but everything seemed random and it didn’t quite pull me in. Part of it was because I didn’t feel Csorwe’s and Shutmili’s relationship, which was the driving force of most of the plot. Part was the lack of Csorwe’s point of view. Shutmili didn’t have the same pull.

The best thing in the book turned out to be Tal, who carried most of the latter part. He had quite a bit of growing to do, and he did it well. And he had maybe the greatest surprise coming to him. The ending was satisfying, but the story might have been more memorable if it hadn’t been quite so neat. Other kind of endings were possible too. Still, I liked the book well and wouldn’t mind reading more.

I didn't find this one quite as captivating as the first installment but I may give it another try down the road. I could not get into despite several attempts. The characters fell flat for me and there wasn't anything gripping enough to make me want to come back.

It takes a LOT of creativity and skill to craft a compelling sequel when the first book doesn’t stop on a cliffhanger. Larkwood concluded The Unspoken Name by tying up most of the loose ends, and that book could have been a standalone. It was a gorgeous debut with a definitive (yet open) ending.

Its follow-up, one of my most anticipated reads of the year, is just as stunning and lives up to my expectations.
I wanted to read The Thousand Eyes not because I wanted answers that were left out of the first book, but because I needed more of Larkwood’s characters, plotlines, and worlds.

That’s the beauty of this book: it doesn’t rely on continuing the same story. It brings back many of the same characters, but they deal with entirely different obstacles this time around. They’ve grown and matured but they are still the same characters I fell in love with during The Unspoken Name. The theme of love as sacrifice bleeds into this novel as well. It tore me apart. If I had been reading a physical copy, I would have stained the pages with my tears, but alas, my tears slid down my phone screen and into the charging port. It’s a miracle this device still works.

I loved the representation and the effortless incorporation of a nonbinary character. I thought “The Unspoken Name” was rife with political intrigue, but its sequel takes things up a notch. Larkwood’s writing is beautiful, detailed and decadent as always.
Her descriptions of the settings are so vivid and add so much to the novel. I adored the plot (which I won’t talk about because I don’t want to spoil) and the dialogue. I got completely lost in it.

This would be a 5 star read for me if it weren’t for two things: Firstly, something unfortunate happened to a character I LOVE. The event hindered character development and growth, but I understand it was crucial to the plot.
Second, the pacing in the first book was perfect but I found that time moved a bit strangely in “The Thousand Eyes”. Sometimes things happened too fast, sometimes too slow. The pacing worked well here too, but it took me a long time to read.

Oh my gods that was So. Good. I will now read absolutely everything A.K. Larwood writes forever. I loved the Unspoken Name when I read it two years ago but I’d forgotten just how *fun* these books are. Gorgeous descriptions, adventure, proper creepy utterances from the gods, relatable characters, wry humor, and a lot of cursing (mostly Tal).

I loved catching up with Csorwe and Tal and Shuthmili and the gang. And I loved the adventure and was just cruising along until-- boom! plot twist! 15 years have passed. And then I got to meet Tsereg and let me tell you, they are an absolute delight. And seeing cranky know-it-all teenager Tal suddenly de facto parenting cranky teenager know-it-all Tsereg was just amazing. Really everyone should read these books if only for the Tal and Tsereg dynamic.

A.K. Larkwood does SUCH a good job capturing character voices. They are so relatable and the wry humor is just my style. It was such an interesting experience, seeing the world through Csorwe and Tal and Shuthmlli's eyes. They all have very different internal voices and perspectives and they all ring very true. The gods are much more prominent in this book than the previous one, and they also have very distinctive voices.

I was absolutely enthralled, I flew through it in two days, I never wanted it to end, and I definitely shed a tear or two at the end. But also the end felt very right and I am satisfied with it. I would definitely not say no to more books in this series -- I would give a lot for them, actually -- but if this world ends here then I am okay with that.

Also! Csorwe and Shuthmili are lesbians and have a wonderful relationship, Tal is gay and tends toward dysfunctional relationships, and Tsereg is nonbinary. Also Tsereg is a treasure. I really can't emphasize that enough. And Tal, Csorwe, and Shuthmili are SO relatable and just feel real, that's how well-developed they are.

*Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan-Tor/Forge for providing an e-arc for review.

The Thousand Eyes is about power that thrills and corrupts. It illustrates that the past is never truly gone even when the dust has settled. That old flames will come back to flicker and decisions will ricochet to far reaches. Larkwood creates a balance between character and action in scenes with banter that had me cackling. The character dynamics here, the sarcasm, the comments only friends can say to each other? Perfection. We love snarky adventures with friends who can barely stand each other, but who we'd tear the universe apart to protect.

Don't even get me started on how much I loved Csorwe and Shuthmili. Not only in epic declarations, but the tender moments are where these two shine. I was mainly reading to see how their relationship would develop, but then I ended up falling in love with Tal as well and his own story line. Talk about a book that kept me coming back with fabulous characters. And the scope of The Thousand Eyes is truly epic. I can't discuss it because spoilers, but wow. The Thousand Eyes is a sequel about sacrifice and responsibility. About bargains and plans set in motion decades earlier.

The Unspoken Name was a delightfully mesmerising 2020 debut that combined epic fantasy and space opera to offer an outstanding and original tale focused on an Orc priestess-turned-mercenary who is taken under the wing of a powerful sorcerer. It’s a densely packed tome of action-adventure, complex mythology and murky politics with ever-shifting dynamics as characters alternately ally with and betray one another. You won’t be able to pick up The Thousand Eyes without having read the first book!

While you might benefit from a re-read before delving into the sequel, I didn’t find it a hindrance to jump in unprepared—these beloved characters basically walk off the page with the familiarity of old friends and you’ll find yourself effortlessly sinking back into the lives of Csorwe, Shuthmili and Tal like the last two years passed in a mere instant. It really is an absolute joy to start the story off with the trio living together in peace and harmony—well, Csorwe and Shuthmili are sappily blissful together, but Csorwe and Tal get on best when they’re bickering and getting on each other’s nerves, which provides no end of entertainment. Of course this can’t last forever and after we’re caught up with the status quo, it’s not long before they’re getting into trouble and way in over their heads once more.

In the first book, the author chose to introduce time jumps which some readers found jarring and intrusive; in The Thousand Eyes, brace yourself once more for a shocking time jump that completely shreds the status quo beyond recognition and turns the story in a new and wholly unanticipated direction. You will not be prepared for this mind-blowing change of course—for fans of the trio, it’s a brutal sledgehammer to the heart, but kudos to the author for being willing to explore a darker plotline where there is no easy solution and no victory comes without significant sacrifice.

While Csorwe was the main protagonist of The Unspoken Name, in book two, it’s Shuthmili and Tal that take precedence and between the two, Tal undoubtedly steals the spotlight. His character arc is sheer perfection in how lovingly it highlights his flaws while making us sympathise with and root for him—Tal’s immaturity is softened by his hilarious banter with other characters, his self-absorption is born from pragmatism rather than malice or ego, and when push comes to shove, he overcomes his cowardice if it’s in aid of people he begrudgingly cares about. Tal would be the last person to call himself a hero (he’d double over laughing at the notion), but he follows a very unconventional and entertaining hero’s arc nonetheless and it’s enormously satisfying to witness his growth throughout this book.

Shuthmili’s journey is more tragic as we watch the dark path she chooses in her desperate desire to save Csorwe. You may find yourself screaming at her not to be such a fool, but Shuthmili’s coldly calculated actions arising from such overwhelming, irrational sentiment make her chapters all the more thrilling and emotionally wrenching. How far would you go for love? Certainly not to the extremes that Shuthmili does, all the while knowing that by her actions, she’s forsaking a future with Csorwe in the unlikely event that her plan succeeds.

The undisputed highlight of The Thousand Eyes is reuniting with our old friends, but that isn’t to say that endearing new characters aren’t introduced! Tsereg is the latest Chosen Bride of the Unspoken and this non-binary character plays a very important role in Tal’s arc; you could almost see it in a similar light as Sethennai with Csorwe when they first met, except that Tsereg is a lot more powerful and self-sufficient, and Tal is hopelessly out of his depth when it comes to making plans or trying to keep them safe. There is also Cherenthisse, an Echentyri soldier in service to the GodEmpress Iriskivaal, who provides a unique perspective into the serpent culture that continues to worship Iriskivaal despite her destroying their civilisation. And Zinandour, Dragon of Qarsazh, the flame who devours, an absolute riot of a character that steals every scene she’s in. Zinandour may be reduced to a voice whispering in the back of Shuthmili’s head trying to corrupt her whenever Shuthmili draws on her power, but she provides frequent bloodthirsty commentary, occasional pearls of wisdom and unexpected support when things are dire. Exploring Shuthmili’s relationship with her patron goddess is an inspired narrative choice that does wonders for her character, providing greater depth and nuance that invigorates Shuthmili in an arc that could have otherwise diminished her voice.

It’s bittersweet that The Thousand Eyes brings this brilliant duology to a close, but much better to be left wanting more than for the series to overstay its welcome. There’s always the hope that we may be treated to a short story that fills in the gaps between the two books, but if this is truly the end, then it’s a satisfying conclusion that does justice to all the main players and wraps up the major plot threads while leaving the future open for us to imagine how their stories may continue. A spectacular finale to a wildly imaginative and heartwarmingly diverse duology in which the world-shattering high stakes are matched by the most endearing, hilarious and enthralling characters.

The Thousand Eyes is an extremely strong and compelling sequel. In some ways, I actually preferred it over The Unspoken Name. The Serpent’s Gate duology deals with a complex, at times convoluted, cast of characters and world-building rules. With all of this established in The Unspoken Name, The Thousand Eyes felt free to soar.

A.K. Larkwood’s writing style is very witty, crafting lightning-quick remarks and jokes that you’ll miss if you blink. The characters remain lovable as ever, with Tal fighting his demons and Cswore and Shuthmili fighting for their love. Along with these familiar characters, Tsreg is a fantastic new addition to the quest to save the world. I loved the queer found family!!

One of my favorite things about this duology is the intricately crafted mythology. However, the gods are fickle and they can never be trusted. From Iriskavaal to The Unspoken One, there is a wide range of rich storytelling to discover. Tal and Shuthmili were two of my favorite characters. However, A.K. Larkwood’s writing is such that even when you loathe the characters and their choices, there is something fascinating about them.

The Serpent’s Gate duology is filled with morally gray characters, queer found family, and rich high fantasy world-building. I would recommend this duology for fans of Tamysn Muir and Jenn Lyons. Since The Thousand Eyes concludes The Serpent’s Gate duology for now, I can’t wait to see what A.K. Larkwood writes next! The Thousand Eyes is available on February 15, 2022. Thank you so much to A.K. Larkwood, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

You'd think that after ten years of writing and podcasting about genre fiction, I'd learn to temper my expectations for second novels, whether they be true second novels or just the second book in a series. But it's irrepressible. For me, there's nothing like discovering new authors and to see where their imaginations might take them. I'm always looking for that sense of promise, of infinite mystery and possibility, to stumble across something new, something that I didn't know I wanted, or knew I wanted but didn't think anyone could ever do it well. To find that and then to share that discovery with others is my probably my longest standing in passion in life.

Unfortunately, like other things in life, sometimes you're always going to be chasing that first high. Or so I am told at the meetings I go to.

So if you're like me and you've been refreshing the Internet for the last two years eagerly checking and rechecking the publication date of The Thousand Eyes, I'd recommend tamping down your enthusiasm a little bit. The Unspoken Name was my last favorite fantasy novel, so to get this as a follow-up was a slow-burning experience in disappointment.

The good news is that Larkwood doesn't break anything. There's still places for the series to go, there's just nothing interesting here right now. The characters from the first book return and remain basically immortal and all-powerful no matter what anyone does to them. The antagonists are more annoying than threatening and succeed only until anyone bothers to drop by and stop them. The characterization of the civilization of giant snakes (!!!) hinted at in the first book is a huge letdown, and the anachronistic chatter gives the narrative a sloppy fan fiction feel rather than adding any charm.

For a book this long and with so much going on, it feels very slight. The action isn't visceral, events lacks consequence, and the locations are all incomprehensibly large, amorphous, and undefined. It sounds harsh, but "sloppy" really is the word that I kept coming back to while I was reading it. And I have this suspicion that if I wasn't so numb from the disappointment, my actual opinion of The Thousand Eyes might be even worse. It would just make me too sad to feel it.

To say I was over excited at getting this EARC through is an understatement. After The Unspoken Name being an immediate 5 stars I had no idea what to do with myself until the next book released. Now Unfortunately I find myself in the same position. These books just leave you wanting more and more and more.

The direction this book took was so unexpected, there were innumerable times when I had to just stare at my kindle in disbelief. This book looks at typical sci-fi and fantasy story tropes and then just flies off in the other direction cackling. Like you know when you are reading and you see a character make a bad decision and you are mentally screaming at them to not do that, yeah well apparently we also make bad decisions, because I did not see any of it coming - The plot twists blindside you and the romance is so so so freaking heart breaking.

I wished we got to see more of the worlds in this book, that was one thing I really adored in the first book and felt was a bit missing in this one. The maze especially is such an epic concept.

I really enjoyed that we saw more of Tal this book, the sass was as always on point and the character arc was just perfect. If anything I just wish it was all longer, some parts felt slightly rushed and I wished there could have been some scenes just with the characters being themselves or exploring the world. But again, I am completely obsessed with this series so I’d read the Tlaanthothe phone book happily.

Old gods, new gods, magic, necromancy, sass, Sapphic romance and cranky morally grey characters with a purpose. I mean what more could you want ?

Huge thanks to A. K. Larkwood and the people at Tor books for the opportunity to read this amazing book !

Unfortunately, the pacing of this book really threw me off. Every time I started to get invested in the story and characters, there was a significant time jump and I had to adjust to a new status quo. I think the author could have cut about half of both the books in this series and combined them into a standalone. There was just way too much filler in both of them, and I’m used to dense fantasy novels.

How did this duology, which started as me going "Oh, I have to read this big fantasy book for the Hugos where I can't pronounce any of the names?" become two of my favorite reads of the past few months? You name it: imagination, humor, shocking moments, complex characters, so much amazing world-building...These books were immensely satisfying and I'll be recommending them to basically everyone.

I received an ARC of this book from Tor in exchange for an honest review.

The Unspoken Name, the first book in this series, was saddled with comparisons to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan, and instead told a story that was drastically different in tone. Free of such comparisons, The Thousand Eyes takes those characters much further and, with liberal use of time-skips, allows them to grow into their own. Having left Belthandros Sethennai enthroned, Csorwe and Shuthmilli have become itinerant adventurers, a lifestyle that leaves plenty of opportunity for banter and encounters with the grumpy but ultimately supportive Tal. The first third of the book unfolds much like the second half of The Unspoken Name, as our protagonists search out powerful relics while trying to stay one step ahead of the mysterious forces behind the search. Already, having less need to establish characters allows these experiences to feel more realistic and vivid, without the need to acquaint the reader with each person's key traits. However, Larkwood produces a truly shocking twist midway through that dramatically changes the tenor of the book and elevates it far beyond the previous entry in the series. To say any more would be a tremendous spoiler, so I'll save more detailed discussion for the corresponding section of the review. As if that weren't enough, there is a second change of pace to come that again pushes the story in a new direction, essentially giving us three books for the price of one. While the significant gaps in time may be disorienting at first, they serve as a great example of ending scenes as soon as their relevance to plot and character has been achieved, rather than dwelling in a particular moment or setting for continuity purposes alone. I found the choice to skip ahead original and captivating, contributing to the lived-in feel of the book that made it much more gripping than its predecessor. As with The Unspoken Name, the conclusion to The Thousand Eyes leaves room for Larkwood to continue exploring the setting, albeit with major changes to its characters. However, it still has the same satisfying stand-alone qualities of the first book and wraps up the character arcs it introduced. Not doing so, and simply setting the stage for another installment, has become a pet peeve, and I am glad to see that recent trend broken here.

Four and a half out of five stars. Larkwood really finds a stronger authorial voice and improves significantly on the already-good The Unspoken Name.

Some spoilers follow! This also includes spoilers for The Lion King (yes, really) and discussion of Seth Dickinson's Baru Cormorant books (perennial favorites of mine). Read no further unless you are prepared.

I once read that, despite the obvious similarities in plot, The Lion King is not Hamlet, because the key moments in Hamlet all take place during the growing-up montage when Simba is singing with Timon and Pumba. The interesting part of Hamlet is not who lives and who dies, but how the death of Hamlet's father shapes him as a person. After the time-skip revealed Shuthmilli's rise to Hand of the Empress, I had a similar feeling about The Thousand Eyes and the Baru Cormorant books. The latter take place entirely within the fourteen-year time-skip that is the most striking choice in The Thousand Eyes, detailing with excruciating intensity the kind of sacrifices that must be made to attain exaltation within an empire you hate. But while there are strong parallels between the situations (like Baru, Shuthmilli is a savant in ways of power, trained from a young age to master arcane skills, who makes a tremendous sacrifice to preserve the memory and possibly the life of her beloved, taken in untimely fashion by the inexorable engine of empire), The Thousand Eyes is concerned with what happens after, rather than with the process. This is not to say that the quality of the book suffers; to the contrary, the story of Shuthmilli's corruption is not the story Larkwood wants to tell, and implying it is in this case a more powerful tool than revealing it. It just seemed a perfectly apt description that highlights how many stories can be told around the same basic plot.

Four and a half
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book so was desperate to read this but as a huge fan of Csorwe I quickly felt disappointed that the pragmatic and downright funny heroine who I loved was hmm perhaps sidelined is the best description. This meant the author allowed Shuthmili to step up although she's in a constant inner battle with Zinnandour the Goddess who wants to use Shuthmili as a Vessel or should I say meat suit in the mortal world ! Yes you begin to see that the God known as the Unspoken One whom Csorwe served, Zinnandour, Goddess of things hidden and decaying and of course Iriskivaal the snake queen who in many ways is responsible for the suffering that's occurred are without a doubt anything but nurturing . This actually begins with Cherenthisse,a snake warrior awakening and her insight into the culture surrounding Iriskvaal was both enlightened and equally horrifying.
So what inspires the devotion that has set this journey in motion ? Csorwe had her world turned upside down by Belthandros Sethennai who carries a fragment of Iriskivaal giving him power and immortality but is he one you can trust although admittedly he's a smooth son of a yes you get the idea. Shuthmili just wants to love and protect Csorwe but to do so strikes a bargain that most would run screaming from. Then to this glorious mixture we add Tal, swordsman extraordinaire and somewhat spurned lover of Belthandros who unwittingly takes under his wing Tsereg, the latest mouthpiece for the Unspoken One. I do feel that Iriskvaal needs a special mention because she's truly vile and so very uncaring of those who idolize and follow her. Yes I think I've made it clear that those who are supposedly Gods are anything but benign .
What kept me reading ? Ok yes I didn't want Csorwe not playing a leading role obviously but Tal, yes Tal stole the show ! He stepped up and grew as a character from selfish and juvenile to heroic and dare I say caring ? With the priestess Oranna, (another previously unlikable character in my opinion) also making huge waves as this story progressed so yes I was totally engrossed. This became an enthralling story with characters that were diverse, self sacrificing and ultimately brave. So yes definitely an ensemble piece with so many playing a part in the downfall of Iriskvaal and also Belthandros . Annoyingly the author kept changing his name either writing Belthandros or sometimes Sethannai which irritated me no end as I kept getting his christian name mixed up with Shuthmili . Yet I heartily recommend this book because it takes all the ideas from the first book, embracing and emboldened them and then just turning everything around to give readers a unforgettable and joyful escape from reality.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair