Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Unspoken Name

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

19 reviews

bluejayreads's review against another edition

4.75

There seems to be a theme lately of me picking up long books with low expectations and actually enjoying them a lot. I was intrigued by the protagonist raised to be a human sacrifice and then deciding not to die, but that back cover didn't seem like it would be worth a whole 18 hours of audiobook.

In a way, I was right. The entire plot on the back cover is done 65 minutes into the book - I actually looked at the timestamp because I couldn't believe it was so fast. The beginning skims though Csorwe's time at the temple of the Unspoken one, blazes though her choice, and covers two years in a matter of minutes (literally 2% of the book, I checked the timestamp). It was moving too fast for me to really care about much that was going on, interesting ideas be damned, and the only reason I didn't stop there was because I didn't want to get in trouble if I got caught having my phone out long enough to queue up another book.

But by the time I went on break and could have dropped this book and started a new one, I didn't want to. Nearly an hour and a half in, the meat of the story finally started.

This is the book I switched out with The Body Keeps the Score (since I could only read that one two hours at a time and I needed something to fill the other six hours of a workday), and alternating the two makes for a heck of a reading experience. It's never explicitly mentioned and I don't even know if the author intended it, but Csorwe displays so many characteristics of an abused child. And none of the abuse is physical. Growing up as a destined sacrifice, it was lack of caring and connection and being told since she was old enough to understand that it was her duty to die and that's what all the adults in her life wanted for her. After her escape, it was psychological and emotional (unless you count putting her in dangerous situations as physical abuse) from Belthandros Sethennai, the wizard who rescued her and who hits 8 of the 9 diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And she genuinely loves him because she believes him convincing her not to become a human sacrifice means she owes him her life.

For something that seems like it should be a rollicking fantasy adventure and has so many wizard duels, creepy cultists, and fantasy settings, it is surprisingly character-driven. In fact, it is almost entirely character-driven. The only thing that could really be called a plot is that Belthandros wants a phylactery and uses Csorwe as one of his tools to get it. That doesn't really sound like enough to fill 18 hours, but it's also full of dead worlds, ancient crypts, snake goddesses, prison fortresses, reluctant allies, and a very sweet romance between Csorwe and an adorable research nerd in a similar situation to Csorwe before she met Belthandros. It was quite enough to keep me interested and engaged.

I have a ton of things I want to say, but considering that the entire back cover plot wraps up 5% of the way through the book, saying much more is probably a spoiler. The beginning was very rough, but after that I enjoyed it thoroughly. I didn't know there was a sequel going in, and I don't even know what it's going to be about, but I love Csorwe, I enjoy her love interest, I thoroughly enjoy exploring all the weird and wonderful and eerie places that exist in this world, and I bet I will enjoy book two.

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kylieqrada's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the perfect book to finish my 2021 reading challenge on. I absolutely loved this!!! It will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, but my god, it was mine! All the cups!!! Dark, eerie, queerie (hehehe), and character-driven with the most epic world-building. Csorwe and Shuthmilie are everything and Tal??? He adds that levity that balances it all out. It sort of gave me Senera/Relos Var from the A Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons vibes, which is HIGH PRAISE. I cannot wait for The Thousand Eyes.

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the_wendybirb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this book! It was a fun fantasy, coming of age story about a girl who was raised in a death cult, trained as a mercenary (read: grew up doing what others told her to do.), and then had to figure out her own was in the world. The multiple worlds, travel system, gods and magic systems were all fun to read about, and offered glimpses into a bigger picture.

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candidceillie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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fictionalportal's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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laurajones's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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invaderday's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

it took me a while to get into this book. it can be a bit dense in places, but eventually i did really get into it and i ended up having a lot of fun, especially with the second half of the book!

i LOVE the gay/lesbian hostility of csorwe and tal. they have such a unique relationship that i really really enjoyed seeing. i love lesbian novels but so many of them tend to ignore or underplay the existence of men (which can be fine! i understand not always wanting to have men in ur escapism) but it was refreshing to see not just a lesbian main character and love interest but a gay man supporting character, and several other gay and bisexual characters of varying importance. it made it a lot more fun for me- some of it was pretty standard fantasy stakes, but the fact that almost every single relevant character was gay just added that extra flavor that i really needed so thank u ak larkwood!!

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chessakat's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tooyu's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

A little more high fantasy than I usually read, but I really enjoyed this cast of characters! It dragged a little for me until the final third, and I’m excited to see where the next book takes off.

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