I was lured in by a pretty cover and I stayed for the orc assassin. Usually, I have a good long paragraph at the beginning of my reviews explaining how and why I chose this particular book to review but it’s really that simple and I’m so glad I let my fickle mood reading self, pick this book because folks, it’s a doozy.



I haven’t read a lot of big or high fantasy in a good while, mainly because they tend to be chunky books and I’ve found it really hard to slog through larger books lately and when this turned up I panicked that I’d made a mistake. At over 450 pages it’s not huge but it was large enough to intimidate me a little. Within 100 pages I don’t know why I worried and by the end, I wanted to go back to the beginning and read the whole thing again or even better read the next book immediately (can I have the next one yet? Please. I’m desperate). The pacing was a little slow by the end of the first third but not terribly slow and by the time I was just over halfway through I was ravenously turning pages. I’m someone who procrastinates over the last 100 pages of a book but I’m honestly shocked I managed to accomplish anything else when I still had some of this book to read because it absolutely hooked me in and that last third is crazy. I kept turning to my husband to tell him “There aren’t enough pages left.”

One great thing about The Unspoken name is that although it really feels like high fantasy, to begin with, it has such a great mix of genres swirled in, we have some science fiction and space opera elements even. The world that Larkwood has created is rich, stunning and at breathtaking; the image of all these worlds connected to each other, some thriving and full of life, while others are dying and decaying, is just hauntingly beautiful. The way magic works too, as a warlock player in dungeons and dragons I felt was particularly interesting and alongside the world-building, all of the information is just introduced and explained in such a natural organic way throughout the story.

Pretty much all of the characters in this book are a hot mess, in the best way. There is no one main antagonist and almost every character is a beautiful shade of morally grey in some way or another and honestly, I am absolutely here for it. I love characters that aren’t black and white and don’t tend to fall fully towards particularly ‘good’ or ‘evil’ which I’ve seen a lot of in the high fantasy I’ve read previously which made this book even more of a breath of fresh air. I love the messed up relationship between Csowre and Tal (No hard feelings) and I really hope we get more of that in the next book.

This is one of the most original books I have ever read, at least in terms of world building. Sadly I had very high expectations and the book just didn't deliver. It is an okay book mind you, and I (sort of) liked it, in the end but--I still have very mixed feelings about it.


Things I liked:
-The world building!At first it felt confusing but one can't deny that it is also very original,.
- The writing style
- The overall story

Things I did not like:
- The pacing *add moan*
I had huuge problems with the pacing. The first half dragged a lot, the chapters didn't end where one would expect to and as a result reading this book was akin to walking through a swamp... A very slooow endeavor, indeed.
- Csowre. She is so bloody boring!.To me she lacked "flavor". She's loyal and has some postive traits but I found her very boring, especially at the beginning. Most of the time she just goes with the flow... occasionally she rises to the occasion.
- The secondary characters weren't particularly developed .Especially Sethannai. He's so underdeveloped that's hard to understand Csowre devotion for him.

All in all this is an average reading, neither too bad nor too good.

I adore fantasy and the world-building associated with it; new characters, new languages, unusual names and weird adventures - but I prefer for only one or two of those novel elements to be in a story, not all, and this book was a real struggle for me.
First, there was a whole glossary to go through of names, characters, worlds, and the pronunciation of words and names.
In the story itself, the characters' physical appearances are slowly revealed - tusks? - leaving one none the wiser for several chapters. I like to know what I'm dealing with. I like to visualise and get drawn in, take on the mantle of the character and experience everything, but this never happened.
The pace was up and down, deceptively making certain events take on more importance than they perhaps deserved; some areas were overly and unnecessarily descriptive, making you think something was important when it wasn't, and others were almost glossed over when they could have done with a little more padding.
Csorwe's age also moves at different paces, either crawling or leaping, but it isn't always obvious, so you end up having to flick back and reread. It felt like trudging through treacle.
I have a feeling The Unspoken Name is trying very hard to be another Lord of the Rings, but needs severe editing to bring it into line. There are some lovely phrases and ideas, but the clutter and pace drown them out.

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.

On Csorwe’s fourteenth birthday, she is due to be sacrificed to her god – a destiny chosen for her at birth. But when Belthandros Sethennai shows up and offers her an alternative, she escapes death by running away and becoming his personal assassin. So begins an adventure in two parts: firstly infiltrating Belthandros’ home city and helping him to reclaim power, then going in search of the Reliquary of Pentravesse. Csorwe has to go through a lot to complete her mission, facing her past and making unexpected decisions about her future.

The plot of The Unspoken Name is quite ambitious, mixing high fantasy with a kind of science-fiction and a heck of a lot of action. There are gods, gore, magic and a decent amount of banter, but also some more meaningful elements regarding the choices we make and living with the consequences of our actions.

There was some excellent world-building, with the scene being set without too much time spent of descriptions, as well as some great character development. The story spans over 8-9 years, giving a lot of time for characters to grow and change in quite realistic ways. Csorwe was a good heroine, but I especially loved Oranna, Shuthmili and Tal when we got to know them better. Tal and Oranna in particular bought the majority of the humour to the book, and stopped what was quite a dark story from becoming unbearable.

One of the other great things about this book was the queer romance. Csorwe is 100% queer and faces absolutely no discrimination for this. The romance is relevant to the plot, but the fact that it’s a queer relationship isn’t mentioned or pointed out at all because, well, why should it be?

The Unspoken Name is a very exciting and well-written novel, remarkable for a debut. I would definitely recommend to fantasy fans.

Thank you for the chance to read The Unspoken Name NetGalley, but it just wasn’t me!
I have tried on multiple occasions to get through this book, but I just can’t.
I don’t really care about Csorwe and what happens to her.
The world building is confusing. I’ve lost track of the characters. I just couldn’t finish this book, which is probably the first time in a good few years for me!

DNF @ 16%

I really tried to get into this one but it was just so boring. The world building is really weak and we barely get any idea of what the world is; I don’t want to know the whole world at the start but you’ve got to give us some kind of insight into the world to understand what’s going on.

The characters were very flat; they have almost no personality and there’s no explanation as to why the characters are acting in the way they are. There was just no development.

I just couldn’t convince myself to carry on with it...

I wish my rating for The Unspoken Name could be higher. This one's definitely a case of "It's not you, it's me." I can see how good The Unspoken Name is, and I can see why a lot of readers are going to love it, but it just took me personally an incredibly long time to really connect to the characters. It wasn't until nearly three-quarters in that I really appreciated Csorwe.

As I said, The Unspoken Name is really good. Something I really loved was how original the whole premise is. I don't think I've ever read a story where an orc is the protagonist, the good guy or a girl. The opening is original and really cool, the sacrificial bride of a death god, Csorwe runs off on the eve of her ritual sacrifice.

Another thing I really loved, and was really surprised by, was Tal. He's mostly a side character, Csorwe's rival for their mentors attentions. I really loved the antagonistic relationship between Tal and Csorwe. I also loved how complicated Larkwood managed to make Tal. He doesn't get nearly as much page-time as Csorwe (understandably) but manages to be a messy, needy and complicated character. I loved his arc from meeting Csorwe right through to the end of the book.

The Unspoken Name is heavy on the world-building, which makes for a slower read (especially combined with the unusual names and places), which might have had something to do with my personal struggle with it. The world-building is complex and immersive, well-thought-out and compellingly written. It's a fantasy novel, but the level of world-building reminded me of a lot of science fiction books, which will probably give it a lot of crossover appeal, one to try if you want to dip into a new genre (in either direction).

The Unspoken Name is a unique, original and immersive fantasy in a vivid world, filled with interesting characters and interweaving motives. While I didn't fall in love with it, it caught my interest and I'd be interested to read the next book and see where The Serpent Gates series and Csorwe's path goes.

I was lucky enough to receive a proof copy of The Unspoken Name and decided to slowly read it over a few days. I first saw this book mentioned on twitter when someone described it as an orc fantasy. Whilst the main character Csorwe does share some physical similarities with orcs, the term is never used within the text. What we do have are wizards, ancient gods, and elf-like characters. Csorwe was an intriguing and engaging protagonist, and the reader roots for her throughout the book. I especially loved the slowly-developed w|w relationship with Shuthmili, a Church-trained practitioner of magic. However, it was the snarky Tal who ended up stealing every scene he was in. Reckless, stubborn and ridiculous, Tal never knows when to stop and has so much quotable dialogue.

I found the first 25% a little off with its pacing due to the number of years crammed into a few pages. It began flowing much better though once the story had room to breathe and I found myself reluctant to stop reading. The layered world building and fascinating magic system create an accessible fantasy that would suit readers new to the genre whilst also satisfying long-time fans. The shadowy machinations and hidden motives of many of the characters combine into a plot that questions the loyalty we owe to ourselves and others. The idea of destiny and choosing your own path is frequently explored through the character of Csorwe, and to a lesser extent Shuthmili and Tal.

I love stories featuring ancient beings and the presence of ancient gods in this book forms the backbone of the plot. As the reader learns more about them, we inevitably end up with further questions; the world the author has created feels like one that could be explored and explored without ever discovering all its secrets. The ending functions as a standalone so I’m not sure whether the next book in the series will feature Csorwe as the main character or someone else we’ve already met. No matter who, I’ll definitely be preordering what I’m sure will be another witty, intricate, and gripping fantasy.

OK so, I had to wait for my ohysical copy to arrive in order to finish this book as my copy fro here had formatting issues which made it very hard for me to read.

I did however love this book! The world building is amazing and the story is very engaging. I did however struggle to connect to Csorwe which I think is due to the time jumps where you don't see the character development (this is just something I do not like).

But I definitely enjoyed this and can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

So in the interests of being honest, I didn’t get round to reading The Unspoken Name for far too long and it has been a HUGE regret of mine.

The opening of this novel is built with such intrigue around a cult who willingly sacrifice 16-year-old girls to their god. This opening then spirals into an action-packed adventure which spans across rich and well thought out worlds, all connected together by a fascinating maze of gateways! By part two, I was struggling to put this novel down - each chapter felt like I was watching a final showdown in a fantasy movie or series.

One of Larkwood’s talents in this novel is being able to tell entire plot lines, which could easily be worthy of their own book, in short time spans (or parts). While that might seem alarming, you reach a quarter of the way into the book feeling like so much has happened already and yet
it doesn’t feel rushed - quite the opposite. I have to applaud the writing for managing to maintain this throughout, especially as I never felt lost with understanding different races, titles or languages.

I love that this novel beautifully weaves in many tropes from different fantasy genres, whilst maintaining it’s originality with wonderfully constructed worlds, creatures, and main characters. The switching between point of views throughout the book is seamless, and you get a real sense of each character’s flaws and motivations (particularly Csorwe and Talasseres) Furthermore, I love that LGBTQ+ characters are woven throughout the novel, without any attention being drawn to this, but rather, it exists as something that just ‘is’ instead of having to be explained.

With such a rich story, it’s hard to believe that there would be anything left to tell, but it certainly seems that there is more on the way. The only thing I can possibly be upset about is the wait I have to endure to see what Larkwood wows us with next!

The more I read this book the more I liked it, The Unspoken Name was a slow starter for me but I stuck with it and it really paid off.

Csorwe is an admirable character and was the main reason I continued to read the book when I found it tough. The story picked up a great deal and became very engaging and the world-building is so incredibly in-depth! Looking forward to the next installment.

In short: this book is amazing and you should all read it.

To go into details: this is a story set in a fantasy world so developed you can't help but imagine yourself in it (with many worlds and religions as different as they can be, some even dying), about a girl who was supposed to die as a sacrifice but escaped and now served a strange wizard as his sword-woman, his assassin, his sharpest edge. There is action, fights, sarcastic remarks, a petty rivalry, magic, ancient gods, and also some dead people.

“The secret of greatness is to know when you should risk the wrath of god.”

This book is divided into multiple parts and at the end of part one I was “wait it was only ONE part??” because so many things happened and I was so into the story and it just seemed incredible. The next parts were as epic as the first so you got a full fantastic story, a 100% in the scale of Help-I-Can't-Put-It-Down.

Csorwe (thank gods for the pronunciation guide at the beginning because I swear otherwise I would have been lost), our main character, went from a quiet girl destined to die at fourteen to a strong young adult capable of many things and wanting to live her life. A theme of The Unspoken Name is personal growth and you can't help but be proud of her and how far she's come, and feel the exact same for many other characters of this story.

Csorwe had spent a lifetime readying herself to die, not to talk to strangers.

She escaped her death with the help of Belthandros Sethennai, a wizard, who then trained her many years so he could retake his city, and most importantly, find the Reliquary of Pentravesse. Sethennai is as mysterious as you can get and people don't seem to want to disappoint him, especially Csorwe and Tal.

Talasseres Charossa is another mercenary of Sethennai and him and Csorwe have a relationship I would die for. They have to work together but they have a rivalry and both want to be the one to bring the Reliquary to Sethennai and they have this I-Hate-You-I'm-Insulting-You-Please-Die except when from time to time they find the other kind of okay (emphasis on the kind of) and they just maybe dislike the other. They can go to putting obstacles in each other's way to reluctantly helping the other. Having them both on the scene can be either hilarious or murderous and we really need more of this kind of relationships in fiction.

“But my life is mine. Mine to spend, mine to burn, mine to wast. Mine to give away.”

Let's not forget about Shuthmili, who is a mage and can wield extreme power within herself, who could be extremely dangerous, but is at the same time the sweetest person ever who wants to discover the world and she, too, has so much personal growth I'm so proud of her there you go love!! And the sweet pining between her and Csorwe? At some point it was too much for my poor little heart but it kept asking for more can you believe it? Anyways I would die for them and I absolutely can't wait for the next book.

A great debut and a story I inhaled reading as fast as I could.
The author is talented storyteller and the story flow without any moment of bore. The characters and the world building are amazing.
I look forward to reading other stories by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This book is hard to describe, and even harder to review.

There are some truly epic world building at its core, world building which makes me want to explore and immerse myself. I want to know more – I want to adventure in this world Larkwood has built out of nothing – with worlds that lie side by side, dying worlds and living worlds, connected by ‘The Maze’ and travelled through Gates which made my sci-fi heart explode (I was a Star Gate lover okay.)

And then there is Csorwe, who is everything I want in a female fighter/assassin – I don’t particularly love her but I understand her. Her emotional connection to the world around her and her difficulty resigning herself to her past is incredibly intriguing, and in a lot of ways she is ordinary (as ordinary as a Ogre like being with Tusks **so cool** can be.)

ALSO I WILL GO DOWN WITH THE FRIEND/ENEMY SHIP THAT IS HER AND TALS RELATIONSHIP. Honestly Tal’s is such a weird and yet beautiful character and I want to read the rest of the series for nothing else but their stupid banter and odd almost sibling-like rivalry.

However, and now we get to why this wasnt a 5 star read for me, the pacing is odd. And there is something missing in this beautiful rich fantasy and I cannot quite put my finger on it.

For most parts I think it is the pacing. Some events are drawn out, and yet others (if not more impactful moments) are glossed over. Years disappear in a sentence, which makes sense for the fact that Larkwood wants us to follow Csorwe from childhood to womanhood – but it is just done in such a fashion that it almost jars you out of the story.

All in all I am very excited to continue reading in this world and see what else this debut author have to offer.

(also ten out of ten for representation of lgbtq and not just ‘human’ characters in a fantasy world. I wanna be an Oshaaru and have broad shoulders and swing a sword around.)

I received this ARC for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, A.K. Larkwood and Pan Macmillan & Tor for accepting my request to review.

Trigger Warnings: Torture, violence, swearing, graphic scenes, self harm (one character smashes her finger off)
I tried putting in all of the trigger warnings I could but please keep in mind that this book does deal with some potentially triggering themes!

Before we get stuck in, I just want to say that I thought it was really thoughtful of the author to put the list of names and places and how to pronounce them at the start of the book. I love when books to do this, I just think it is a really nice touch! I knew right at the start that I was in for an exciting and interesting story!

In The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood our protagonist is Csorwe, a fourteen year old girl who is due to be sacrificed by her death cult to their god - The Unspoken One. Until a wizard who goes by the name Belthandros Sethennai offers her a tempting last minute choice. Go through with the sacrifice or run away and work for him. Now both Csorwe and her old cult are hunting down a mysterious, powerful and incredibly sought after artefact - The Reliquary of Pentravesse, rumoured to have the vast knowledge and legacy of the greatest genius who ever lived. Who will reach it first and what will they unleash?

I love Csorwe's character. She is quiet but terrifically sarcastic. Underneath everything she wants to prove herself and show Belthandros that she was worth saving. She is a really unique character and I love the addition of her having tusks. It is so different to what I have read before and I found it so refreshing to have such original characters.
Where she is quite naive about the world, as she was basically just being reared to die, we're learning everything about this world alongside her which is a cool element of this book. As a reader we get to watch Csorwe grow up and experience everything that she has been through that turned her into the adult she has become.

Also I love her relationships with the other characters. Especially as this book contains the sweetest F/F romance! I ship Csorwe and Shuthmili so much, they are literally giving me all of the feels! The LGBTQ+ representation is so well done throughout the book!

Of course, I also have to talk about the rivalry between Csorwe and Tal because you all know how much I love banter! I think this book has given me a new favourite trope because they are definitely enemies to reluctant friends! They definitely have that vibe where they hate each other but would secretly do anything to protect one another!

Although it took me a while to warm up to Tal, I now absolutely love this character! He's funny and a bit of an asshole but deep down he is just searching for love/a deep connection. Plus he is responsible for one of my favourite lines in this book! "At 23, he was absolutely too old for this shit." That is an entire mood! Also another thing that I really appreciated was the fact that the main group of characters (Csorwe, Shuthmili, Tal) were all in their early 20s. Especially now that I'm 22, I can't really relate to the 16/17 year old protagonists like I used to - although that still doesn't stop me from reading them!

I have to mention the world building in this book because it is fantastic! There are so many different worlds that are explored, from gorgeous lively cities to the haunting dead worlds. I like how the many different gods are a running theme throughout these worlds. The patrons and belief systems are so detailed and different for every world, it is honestly amazing! I grew up obsessed with Percy Jackson and wanting to know everything about the Greek and Roman gods so this book was perfect for me. They really intrigued me in this book and I would love to explore them even more.

With magic, necromancy, religion, angst and a heist or two there really is something for everyone! The Unspoken Name is an incredible adventure of a book with amazing writing and I can't wait for more!

The Unspoken Name is a cleverly crafted, sprawling high fantasy. Following Csorwe, a young girl originally destined to be a sacrifice to a God, the story covers several years of magic, adventure and mayhem.

The author manages to avoid the info dumping that often heralds the beginning of an epic fantasy; instead the world building is more subtle, and very well done.

The characters are beautifully constructed, and although many of them aren't particularly likeable, they are real enough to be sympathetic and relatable.

Unspoken Name is a masterpiece of quick humour and dramatic adventure. If it has one flaw, I'd say its a little overlong, but that's just personal taste.

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be posted to Amazon and Waterstones after its release.

This book was described as a queer The Tombs of Atuan which honestly is a mixed bag of a statement for me. Make a fantasy book queer and it’s likely I’ll snatch it right out of your hands, bookmark and all, but I really wasn’t a fan of Le Guin’s Earthsea books. But marketing comparisons are almost always a little loose, so I went in with a fairly decent mindset - or as decent it can be knowing two of your bookish friends had a rough time getting through this book. 

But I think that knowledge was my saving grace. Knowing that this was a bit of a slog to get through, I consciously didn’t get bogged down in this story. Didn’t quite understand a section? - Move right along it’ll make sense later. It’s not the best way to read a book by any means, and I’m not suggesting we all start skim reading our TBRs, but I do think it’s a good way to work out what parts of a story you care about, and to keep your interest in a book that perhaps contains some storylines about which you do not care. 

I’m not saying I thought Tal’s storyline was boring - but I didn’t care for it. 

So take all of this review with the knowledge of the frame of mind I was in while reading this. 

Hey, it worked - I enjoyed this book. 

I think Csorwe is an interesting character. What’s always the most ‘fun’ about characters who are ‘rescued’ in fantasy books, particularly big, sweeping fantasy books, is that you get to see them grow and confront the things they used to believe as the book goes on. While I thought that the earliest time jump in the book perhaps happened too soon - I felt her training could have had a little more of a focus - nonetheless, you do see Csorwe’s character grow and change throughout the story. I rarely read books where the characters aren’t basically human so I enjoyed reading this be-tusked hero. I’ve already mentioned that I wasn’t very interested in Tal, but there are a host of side characters, love interests, villains and more that make up for a very wide cast of individuals. I thought that Larkwood managed to really tackle the idea of moral ambiguity, someone can be incredibly evil in one context and later you’re working alongside them because either there’s a shared goal or a shared enemy. It’s complex storytelling and it doesn’t always work - sometimes you just want a villain to be a villain, but in this instance, I thought it was pretty well balanced. 

I wanted a little bit more of a hard magic system, it wasn’t totally clear how the magic worked and when some plot elements hinged around that fact it made me a little confused. That being said, there are some really interesting worldbuilding and cultural elements tied up in this book (which I mention here because so often magic is cultural) which I’d find interesting to see developed in a later book. 

I don’t know that this book does anything spectacularly new in comparison to similar books, it’s a fun read but it isn’t going to revolutionise the life of a regular fantasy reader. Do I think it’s worth reading? If you’re the kind of person who can handle a bit of a dense read and you’re interested in the concept I’d say go for it! 

My rating: 4 / 5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. 

The Unspoken Name is out now!

The Unspoken Name is a rich and compelling fantasy debut by a new name in the literary game and is the opening instalment in a proposed duology (some places say trilogy) entitled The Serpent Gates series. It's an epic coming-of-age fantasy with a modern sensibility, featuring ruthless mages, hungry gods, ancient tombs, and rival sorcerers. What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does―she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honoured title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin―the wizard's loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn―gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

This is an exquisite, unique and unmissable contemporary fantasy that I will remember for a long time to come. It feels refreshingly original and is a new take on the genre. It is packed with a fascinating cast of strange characters such as weird gods, giant snakes, assassins, death cults, wizards and an orc priestess. The characters leap off the pages and come alive due to their vivid and vibrant descriptions. I was so engrossed that I stayed up reading well into the night; this is a special book with lots of black humour, an intricate and spectacular world and characters who intrigue from the very beginning. There is so much action and compulsive plotting that you barely have a moment to breathe. This sweeping adventure had me turning the pages feverishly like there was no tomorrow.

The Unspoken Name was an unexpectedly delightful fantasy and a mesmerising and top quality piece of fantasy fiction from a new literary voice who, on the basis of this exquisite debut, will not be ignored. This is one of the best fantasy novels of the past decade in my opinion. Fantasy at its finest. Incredible and simply unforgettable. It quite frankly beggars belief that it is her first published book. Unreservedly recommended. Many thanks to Tor for an ARC.

What a fantastic debut novel!

The Unspoken Name is intricate and enthralling - I found myself intrigued from the very first page and I didn't want to put the book down. The novel is full of action and energy but it also has quieter moments which bring your attention back to the characters and their motivations.

Csorwe is a very striking character from the beginning. She's a young girl who is due to be sacrificed to a god at the age of fourteen, never able to imagine a life outside of the small cult she grew up in, but she is thrust into an adventure with a man she barely knows. She takes her life into her own hands and becomes a skilled young woman in charge of her own fate. Csorwe may be the main character of The Unspoken Name but none of the supporting characters are one-dimensional lifeless entities. I thought that the rest of the characters, especially Sethennai, Tal, and Shuthmili, were wonderfully written. I also loved the relationships that are developed in the book. There's a lovely, authentic sapphic relationship (!!!) which I loved but, honestly, one of the best relationships cultivated within the novel is a frenemy bond which is full of friendly tension and animosity. All of the relationships in this novel felt genuine.

Larkwood's writing is beautifully vivid and she draws upon all of the senses to give a well-rounded description of the characters and settings. In particular, I loved the way Larkwood sketches out the landscape as she includes tiny details that make the settings realistic and alive. I loved the attention to detail in other aspects of the novel too, especially the different religions of the land. I adore books that weave the worldbuilding into the storyline and I really enjoyed learning about the world as Csorwe did.

I think my only issue was the pacing of the novel. There are some odd time jumps, which were probably necessary for the story to work, and the novel spans about nine years which made sense since it's an exploration of Csorwe's journey into adulthood but the pacing of the second chapter didn't work for me. It depicts an entire year and, while I understand that time is meant to be confusing due to the landscape that Csorwe and Sethennai are travelling through, I thought that this could have been explained a little better because I was lost. In a film, this chapter would be a wonderful montage showing Csorwe's travelling and growth but, unfortunately, it just didn't work for me in the book.

One final little thing to mention: I was so thankful for the pronunciation guide! It was a nice little extra to include and, while I didn't refer to it often, I'm glad it was included because I knew how to pronounce the main character's name from the very beginning.

The Unspoken Name is one of the most intriguing and exciting books I've read in a long time. I'd definitely recommend it and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!