Item Details
Sign up

The Unspoken Name

Book
1
Ratings1
Reviews0
Followers0
Q's
The Unspoken Name
The Unspoken Name
Highlights Images Videos
8.0
No Media

This item doesn’t have any media yet

Add New Image or Add New Video
The Unspoken Name

2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

Does she owe her life to those planning her death . . .

Csorwe was raised by a death cult steeped in old magic. And on her fourteenth birthday, she’ll be sacrificed to their god. But as she waits for the end, she’s offered a chance to escape her fate. A sorcerer wants her as his assistant, sword-hand and assassin. As this involves her not dying that day, she accepts.

Csorwe spends years living on a knife-edge, helping her master hunt an artefact which could change many worlds. Then comes the day she's been dreading. They encounter Csorwe’s old cult – seeking the same magical object – and Csorwe is forced to reckon with her past. She also meets Shuthmili, the war-mage who’ll change her future.

If she’s to survive, Csorwe must evade her enemies, claim the artefact and stop the death cult once and for all. As she plunges from one danger to the next, the hunt is on . . .

The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood is the incredible first book in The Unspoken Name duology.

Related Items:
No related items currently exists - add one now
A K Larkwood
Published by Tor

Main Image Courtesy: Amazon.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: Tor.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance with Fair Use.

Added By

Ross

Added this item on Dec 27, 2019

Changelog > Edited By
The Unspoken Name Reviews & Ratings (1)
9-10
0.0% (0)
7-8
100.0% (1)
5-6
0.0% (0)
3-4
0.0% (0)
1-2
0.0% (0)
Sorting

Post Type

Hidden Post

Archived Post

The Unspoken Name reviews from people you don't follow
40x40

Ross (3284 KP) rated

Mar 2, 2020  
The Unspoken Name
The Unspoken Name
A K Larkwood | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Interesting story in an unusual world
The Unspoken Name is a fantasy story in one of the most unusual settings I have come across. The world is divided into a number of different "worlds", each reached through portals. Travel between worlds requires some form of floating ship to travel through the Maze, a sort of empty dimension between worlds. And within those worlds, we have two main races (I think!), the more insular, religious sect of orcs (far more civilised than your standard orc) and the "more human" race (I picture them as human but there was something about their ears that kept being mentioned that I ended up picturing them like Thundercats!).
Csorwe, an "orc", was chosen at birth to be sacrificed to the Unspoken One on her 14th birthday, something she has come to terms with, and other than the occasional time when she is possessed by the God in order to give people visions of the future, this is her lot in life. Until that fateful day comes when she is persuaded to leave what was to become her tomb and instead to become an assistant to the powerful magician Sethannai. Meanwhile, Shuthmili is a young trainee magician looking for historical relics while waiting to be summoned to take her place in one of a number of "hive minds" and serve her country. The characters cross paths searching for the Reliquary of an infamous magician.


So much of this world was left to the reader to work out for themselves. While I am keen to visualise things for myself, here there was a little too much left to imagination. The world felt confusing at time, undefined at others, and it did impact my sense of immersion and enjoyment of the book.


The story starts strongly, with some excellent passages, followed by massive jumps in time on journeys and through the world. This was a relief for me, having been burned by a number of books that described every single step, meal and encounter ad nauseam. It really felt like the author had a desire to tell an epic story but without the need for detailed narrative, a welcome mindset.


However, this trailed off after the first third, and the pace grinded to a crawl, with every interaction taking long rambling chapters to happen.


The characters in the story are all well defined and the reader finds themselves liking/loathing them as required.


The story for me was a little all over the place. We had one overarching story but a number of mini stories in order to achieve that and I really did find myself struggling to remember who was where, doing what and why. While I did enjoy the read, the pacing issues and unclear missions hit me hard.
(2)