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The Unbroken

Magic of the Lost, Book 1

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About this listen

Nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award and a Nebula Award

Every empire demands a revolution.

Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.

Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet's edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.

Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren't for sale.

In a political fantasy unlike any other, debut author C. L. Clark spins an epic tale of rebellion, espionage and military might on the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire.

2022, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Winner

©2021 C. L. Clark (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Military

Critic reviews

Clark gives us an unflinching story of colonialism and revolution and the people caught between. The Unbroken grabs you by the collar, breaks your heart over its knee, and mends it. An astonishing debut (Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter)
It doesn't take long to realize The Unbroken is something special. I'm going to need book two ASAP (David Dalglish)
Grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. A perfect military fantasy: brutal, complex, human and impossible to put down (Tasha Suri)
Get ready to fall in love with Touraine and Luca in one of the best fantasy debuts I have ever read! (Matt Wallace, Hugo Award winner and author of the Savage Rebellion series)
Rife with political, familial, and romantic tension, The Unbroken is a riveting epic fantasy about a city on the knife's edge of rebellion, a tangle of alliances, and a desperate search for magic and hope (K.A. Doore, author of The Perfect Assassin)
All stars
Most relevant
Could not recommend this book more. I could not stop listening. The characters were so real and the story was riveting.

Outstanding

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The story drags. The set-up was interesting but the main character keeps on trying to do things that are doomed to fail. Next to nothing she undertakes succeeds in achieving it's goal right up untill the end. You're supposed to root for her, but she's making it really difficult.

There's a lot of jumping to conclusions on romance as well, which unbalances the story. Sometimes it's dragged into completely unrelated conversations too, driving home a point that didn't need to be made. Show don't tell. I felt very little tension between the princess and the lieutenant, but hey here's literally every other character ensuring me that it's there?

Despite all that I did finish it. I did get invested and that does count for something.

I think a little bit of the drag can also be explained by the narration that made every other sentence a question. The accent is great but there were a lot of weird cuts and misplaced questionmarks.

Can't recommend this one :(

One failure after another

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This beautiful, well crafted book has left me reeling, thinking over each decision the characters made and thirsty for more.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!
Loved the narration too.

Looking forward to the next in the series!!!!

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Reasonably interesting story but overacted which was distracting. Good characters. Okay writting. Works as a self contained story.

Overacted

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I loved everything about this book and audio. From the story, the characters, the world building, to the delivery, wording and development. I would 100% recommend any to any fan of Fantasy. I cannot wait to read the next 2 instalments in the trilogy.

An undying tale of rebellion, magic and belonging

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