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A review by storyorc
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
C.L. Clark takes great care in their exploration of the mindset of a child stolen from her country by its colonisers, trained, and then brought back as a soldier to subdue it decades later. Tourraine's loyalties to both worlds stretch her to pieces on every page of her narration and her muddied actions reflect that. Even as you wince at her choices, you hope for her success.
If that makes up about half the focus, the rest is split between a rich North Africa-inspired fantasy setting, complete with a cast of homey rebels, and a simmering romance between Tourraine and the princess of the nation oppressing her. The power imbalance is not lost on either of them, and causes a believable level of conflict where many other books would sweep it under the rug. The princess, Luca, is neither cackling evil, nor some paragon of good rulership. Most of her cabinet of adversaries and advisors are similarly layered individuals, though a couple do get stuck with the short end of the characterisation stick as unredeemable assholes.
More interesting still, is that the rebels echo this complexity. They are presented as the good guys, not the perfect guys. Thankfully, they also don't fall into the (cough MCU cough) trope of having one person 'go too far' so that we can feel better about liking the sympathetic oppressor characters either. When the rebels use violence, they treat is seriously but there is no hand-wringing or fears of becoming 'as bad as them'. Their righteousness is for Tourraine and the reader to judge. 'The Jackal' is especially interesting, as their most violent member who is at the same time inspiring and clever, and has very mixed feelings about trusting the stolen children.
My only complaint is an occasional indistinctness in the narration. A few events were difficult to parse out exactly what happened and some things happened off-page that felt like they really should have played out in front of us. I also failed to follow all the political machinations, though you could cry skill issue there. Finally, Tourraine's ruminations circled so tightly around the conflict between her homeland and Luca that I often lost sight of her loyalty to her soldiers. Clark goes to great pains to characterise them whenever they do show up (though I didn't see much to like in Pruett if I'm honest) and I expect they're meant to be Tourraine's touchstone the whole way through. However, it seemed like Tourraine's actions put them in danger as much as spared them from it. Perhaps that is just what happens when a conflicted person is faced with only bad options.
Good representation for sapphic romance (queernorm setting!), women in general (most of the people of authority are), and disability (Luca has chronic pain due to a severely damaged leg).
Readers of The Masquerade (Baru Comorant) series may especially enjoy this look into an equivalent tale told from the perspective of an ordinary foot soldier instead of a political genius.
If that makes up about half the focus, the rest is split between a rich North Africa-inspired fantasy setting, complete with a cast of homey rebels, and a simmering romance between Tourraine and the princess of the nation oppressing her. The power imbalance is not lost on either of them, and causes a believable level of conflict where many other books would sweep it under the rug. The princess, Luca, is neither cackling evil, nor some paragon of good rulership. Most of her cabinet of adversaries and advisors are similarly layered individuals, though a couple do get stuck with the short end of the characterisation stick as unredeemable assholes.
More interesting still, is that the rebels echo this complexity. They are presented as the good guys, not the perfect guys. Thankfully, they also don't fall into the (cough MCU cough) trope of having one person 'go too far' so that we can feel better about liking the sympathetic oppressor characters either. When the rebels use violence, they treat is seriously but there is no hand-wringing or fears of becoming 'as bad as them'. Their righteousness is for Tourraine and the reader to judge. 'The Jackal' is especially interesting, as their most violent member who is at the same time inspiring and clever, and has very mixed feelings about trusting the stolen children.
My only complaint is an occasional indistinctness in the narration. A few events were difficult to parse out exactly what happened and some things happened off-page that felt like they really should have played out in front of us. I also failed to follow all the political machinations, though you could cry skill issue there. Finally, Tourraine's ruminations circled so tightly around the conflict between her homeland and Luca that I often lost sight of her loyalty to her soldiers. Clark goes to great pains to characterise them whenever they do show up (though I didn't see much to like in Pruett if I'm honest) and I expect they're meant to be Tourraine's touchstone the whole way through. However, it seemed like Tourraine's actions put them in danger as much as spared them from it. Perhaps that is just what happens when a conflicted person is faced with only bad options.
Good representation for sapphic romance (queernorm setting!), women in general (most of the people of authority are), and disability (Luca has chronic pain due to a severely damaged leg).
Readers of The Masquerade (Baru Comorant) series may especially enjoy this look into an equivalent tale told from the perspective of an ordinary foot soldier instead of a political genius.