The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Unspoken Name is a hesitant 4 stars for me.

The story of Csorwe, the bride of the Unspoken god and sentenced to die is a fantastic journey. I found it refreshing to hear the story of a character with tusks. I know this seems like a small detail, but the smallest diversity struck me as important. I enjoyed the journey from priestess to sacrifice to warrior, assassin, spy and so much more. There was real character growth through the course of the book.

I could have stopped at a couple of points in the story. It felt like there might have been more than one “book” in here… or maybe it could have been broken out into novellas or serialized somehow. It was a minor distraction, but it was there.

I was put off by the list of names up front, but I am always put off by those so this was not unique to this book. I made up my own names for characters as the fantasy names just didn’t hang together for me. Csorwe became Crow – visually close and an easy to keep the flow of the story – is just one example. Some people will struggle with that, some won’t – but I think the ability to actually say the name of the main characters matters.

I enjoyed the world building. Having various worlds connected by the maze was an interesting concept. There wasn’t a ton of detail about the ships, the gates or how the various parts worked but it was enough to spark the imagination and make the story / journey flow.

It was a good story and worth picking up.



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