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A review by talonsontypewriters
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I had to start this over from the beginning about halfway in because I realized I hadn't understood anything that had happened in the previous 5 chapters, but even paying closer attention, this is a difficult novel to follow. Despite how much is happening, it also turned out to be quite underwhelming -- even boring -- for me.
The prose itself is fine, doesn't stand out as uniquely good or bad. There's a little too much telling over showing, though, particularly when it comes to characters' feelings and opinions -- and yet too little information when it comes to general exposition. This world has a lot of cool, complex elements to it -- seemingly traditional Tolkien/D&D-inspired cultures, some sci-fi elements, various systems of magic and religion -- but little work is put into earnestly fleshing them out or truly explaining them. I think some writers hear people complain about exposition dumps and just assume all consolidated blocks of exposition are unwanted, so never actually bother to list out how their world works, which I assume to be happening here.
The magic/religious aspects are probably the only things described in detail, and even then I don't think I understand the basics of the magic. Incorporating traveling between worlds could also be interesting, but the mechanics and terminology are vague; I was never able to figure out how the gates/Maze work, or even whether the "worlds" are meant to be on different planets in some solar system/universe, or even in different parallel timelines, or just locations within the same planet you can... warp to, or something to that effect? Weirdly, the one thing that this world does have in common with ours are other animals, which I feel like is another area of missed potential, though I might just be too into fantasy biology/ecology.
The different groups (unclear, again, whether they should be treated as nationalities, ethnicities, or entire species) are probably meant to be classic fantasy species -- I say "probably" because the most done to establish this is mentioning characteristics like tusks and ear types. Only a handful of descriptions even hint at values, traditions, cuisine, and so on that exist within these cultures, let alone differ between them. I assume from character names that the Qarsazhi use the name order of last followed by first and the Oshaaru don't use surnames, but this seems to not ever be directly stated at all, so it ends up just feeling like random flavor. Having some worldbuilding elements be there just to be there/"for fun" would be fine... if there were enough other well-developed descriptions to back them up. It feels almost as if Larkwood wanted to subvert overdone sword and sorcery tropes (villainous orcs vs heroic humans and elves, for instance), but then also figured the standard reader would fill in the blanks.
I picked "a mix" for whether this is plot-/character-driven, but somehow it doesn't actually feel like it's either? There's kind of a central plot, but it's pursued in a series of weirdly paced (alternately meandering and breakneck, neither with much real sense of urgency or risk) mini-quests. Most characters don't have much agency or personality of their own, carried along by the needs of either the current or overarching plot or other, equally flat characters. A lot of important development, like Csorwe's training and changing relationships with Sethennai and Tal, happens almost completely off-page.
The character voices are not very distinct either, which especially stands out in this setting, with everyone coming from completely different social classes, locations, languages, general upbringings and worldviews, etc -- surely there could have been at least a little more variation with regards to, say, senses of humor and sentence structure. Instead, multiple times, a POV would switch and I would have lost track of who was narrating within four paragraphs.
I did think the themes of personal and systematic exploitation and manipulation were interesting, and if the characters had been stronger, Csorwe's sort of "cycle" where she does for someone else what Sethennai did for her would have been super satisfying. The main romance, as well as some other dynamics, also could have been compelling, but its development is a bit too fast and, again, the individual characters felt shallowly written.
Had so much potential, but unfortunately my expectations were far from met.
The prose itself is fine, doesn't stand out as uniquely good or bad. There's a little too much telling over showing, though, particularly when it comes to characters' feelings and opinions -- and yet too little information when it comes to general exposition. This world has a lot of cool, complex elements to it -- seemingly traditional Tolkien/D&D-inspired cultures, some sci-fi elements, various systems of magic and religion -- but little work is put into earnestly fleshing them out or truly explaining them. I think some writers hear people complain about exposition dumps and just assume all consolidated blocks of exposition are unwanted, so never actually bother to list out how their world works, which I assume to be happening here.
The magic/religious aspects are probably the only things described in detail, and even then I don't think I understand the basics of the magic. Incorporating traveling between worlds could also be interesting, but the mechanics and terminology are vague; I was never able to figure out how the gates/Maze work, or even whether the "worlds" are meant to be on different planets in some solar system/universe, or even in different parallel timelines, or just locations within the same planet you can... warp to, or something to that effect? Weirdly, the one thing that this world does have in common with ours are other animals, which I feel like is another area of missed potential, though I might just be too into fantasy biology/ecology.
The different groups (unclear, again, whether they should be treated as nationalities, ethnicities, or entire species) are probably meant to be classic fantasy species -- I say "probably" because the most done to establish this is mentioning characteristics like tusks and ear types. Only a handful of descriptions even hint at values, traditions, cuisine, and so on that exist within these cultures, let alone differ between them. I assume from character names that the Qarsazhi use the name order of last followed by first and the Oshaaru don't use surnames, but this seems to not ever be directly stated at all, so it ends up just feeling like random flavor. Having some worldbuilding elements be there just to be there/"for fun" would be fine... if there were enough other well-developed descriptions to back them up. It feels almost as if Larkwood wanted to subvert overdone sword and sorcery tropes (villainous orcs vs heroic humans and elves, for instance), but then also figured the standard reader would fill in the blanks.
I picked "a mix" for whether this is plot-/character-driven, but somehow it doesn't actually feel like it's either? There's kind of a central plot, but it's pursued in a series of weirdly paced (alternately meandering and breakneck, neither with much real sense of urgency or risk) mini-quests. Most characters don't have much agency or personality of their own, carried along by the needs of either the current or overarching plot or other, equally flat characters. A lot of important development, like Csorwe's training and changing relationships with Sethennai and Tal, happens almost completely off-page.
The character voices are not very distinct either, which especially stands out in this setting, with everyone coming from completely different social classes, locations, languages, general upbringings and worldviews, etc -- surely there could have been at least a little more variation with regards to, say, senses of humor and sentence structure. Instead, multiple times, a POV would switch and I would have lost track of who was narrating within four paragraphs.
I did think the themes of personal and systematic exploitation and manipulation were interesting, and if the characters had been stronger, Csorwe's sort of "cycle" where she does for someone else what Sethennai did for her would have been super satisfying. The main romance, as well as some other dynamics, also could have been compelling, but its development is a bit too fast and, again, the individual characters felt shallowly written.
Had so much potential, but unfortunately my expectations were far from met.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol