Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2599)

Content

Ross (3284 KP) rated The Unspoken Name in Books

Mar 2, 2020

The Unspoken Name

A K Larkwood | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

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.

Kudos

FlashAcademy - Language Learning

Education

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App Watch

Think language learning is boring? Think again. FlashAcademy is changing the way we learn...

education

CIBC Mobile Banking

Finance

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

Our sharp new design looks great on the larger display of the iPhone 6 and above. Sign on with Touch...

Lindsay (1779 KP) rated Bloodrealms (Bloodmark Saga, #2) in Books

Feb 15, 2018 (Updated Apr 9, 2019)

Ashing Boru is told to leave both Barun and Gray. Though they really want to bring them. Ashing need to travel with her family for a wedding between Gwen and her brother Quinn. She and her pack leave for Castle Regan.

Things starts to happen during their visit at Castle Regan. Someone attacks Ashing in her sleep. This goes a bit awry during that time. Lord Baychen invites the Killan to the wedding. What is Grey doing during their time part?

There are adventures on every page. Why are all evils trying to stop Grey and Ashling? Once they get stuck inside the Bloodrealms. Will they get out or will they end up dying there? Ashling and Grey seem to get separated. Who will win Ashling’s hand in marriage. What about her pack. Will they all want her to find the love to reunite the packs?

Ashing is to deal with her Aunt Vidagis and the Dagmar’s? She also finds some allies in the Bloodreams when she is trying to escape. We find out Vidagis and Verci daughter and how she related to the Boru or at least to Ashling Boru. We really do find out the worst horrors that can be found in the bloodrealms.

Aurora Whittet has really outdone herself again in this second book. We find out what Bloodrealms is all about and all it horrors. Can Ashling and Grey and her pack survive the attacks. There even a revel about Emmons Dagmar and what he is will to do.