If I had to identify three themes I currently really enjoy in fiction they would be:
- 1. Angry women getting sh*t done*
- 2. Queer relationships
- 3. Empires are terrible and should be abolished
So naturally, I really enjoyed reading The Unbroken by C.L. Clark.
The Plot
The Unbroken follows two women as they arrive in Qazāl, a territory of the Empire of Balladaire. Lieutenant Touraine is returning to her birth country for the first time after being removed as a child, conscripted into the army. Princess Luca, heir to the Balladaire throne, has arrived to stop a rebellion and prove she’s ready to claim her birthright. Touraine and Luca are thrown together when Touraine stops an attempt on Luca’s life.
Soon, Luca and Touraine both see the possibilities the other offers. Luca is looking for someone who can serve as her go-between with the rebels. Touraine is looking to prove that the “Sands”, as she and her fellow desert-born conscripts are called, are capable of greatness and worthy of rising in the ranks.
Things kind of spiral out from there, as Luca and Touraine both come to terms in their own ways with the realities of colonization, the limits of their relationship to each other, and the lengths both the rebels and the empire will go to in order to get what they want.
The Characters
Touraine and Luca both serve as POV characters. They are both complex women who know what they want and generally have some idea of how to get it (although sometimes that idea is very wrong). They have to navigate a complicated maze of their desires, the obstacles in their way, conflicting loyalties, and more.
Oh, and they’re both queer. More on that later!
I really appreciated that Touraine and Luca were both complicated and flawed. They each make some terribly bad decisions over the course of the story.
Touraine starts out ambitious, before becoming more cynical as the events of the book thwart her plans. She’s fiercely loyal to her fellow conscripts, especially her lover Pruett and her best friend Tibeau. She was taken from Qazāl when she was too young to remember her home or her family, and while some conscripts arrive in Qazāl hoping to reconnect to their roots, Touraine is focused only on the future and her military career.
Luca is driven. Despite being almost 30, she has not yet been able to take the throne that she believes is rightfully hers; her uncle keeps saying she is not ready. She mourns her parents and respects the opinion of her father’s former guard and lover, who guards her now. She is also disabled, having suffered a terrible fall from horseback in her youth which left her with a very damaged leg which causes chronic pain and the need for a cane. She has decided that the way to win her throne is to not only quell the nascent rebellion, but also to learn the secrets of Qazāli healing magic, which she believes will protect her country from the withering sickness that killed her parents.
The Genre
One quick note before I get into what I specifically liked about this book. I hesitated at first to read it because some marketing refers to The Unbroken as “military fantasy.” Military SF/F isn’t always my favorite genre so I dip into it sparingly. However, while Touraine starts the story as a soldier, she quickly becomes an assistant to Luca. The book is much more focused on politics and intrigue than on campaigns and strategy.
Some marketing also refers to it as an epic fantasy and I’m not sure if it felt quite epic in scope. I have a post percolating in my head about what makes a fantasy feel “epic” to me and this one just didn’t tick the right boxes.
I don’t know what sub-genre I’d put this into, but it’s definitely fantasy.
Why It Worked For Me
The Unbroken drew me in with its complex queer female characters and kept me reading because I never knew what was going to happen next. Even up to the last few pages I had no idea how it would end.
One thing I enjoyed was that this is a fantasy world where queerness appears to be normalized and accepted. Touraine’s fellow soldiers appear to have no issue with her having a girlfriend. Someone trying to court a stronger alliance with Luca suggests that she could marry either of his children — a son and a daughter. Two of the leaders in the rebels are a pair of wives. There’s at least one non-binary named character who the narrator immediately and matter-of-factly refers to with they/them pronouns.
It appears to be common in anti-imperialist books to have queerness be previously accepted in subject nations and quashed by their oppressors. That’s certainly reflective of real life. But it’s nice sometimes to read a book where everyone, no matter their moral standing, just accepts that same-sex relationships and non-binary identities are valid.
Along those lines, there’s a lot of moral greyness. There are relatively decent people on the imperial side, and people among the rebels willing to make horrible choices to get freedom. In many books, Luca might have been a starry-eyed dreamer dedicated to Qazāli freedom; instead, she tries to just be a less harsh colonizer, believing it’s enough to improve workers’ rights and such. This made her less sympathetic in my eyes, but also more believable, and it created more conflict.
Conclusion
The Unbroken is the first book in a series; a lot is left unresolved at the end and I want to know how everything turns out. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for moral complexity, normalized queerness, disabled representation, and literally strong female characters with amazing biceps.
*It’s probably time to accept that I’m going to curse on this blog.
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