The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jun 30, 2020 Philip rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-woman, 2020-releases, fantasy, high-fantasy

3.75ish stars.

It doesn't revolutionize the genre, but I must say that I like reading traditional fantasy epics written by women when the genre has historically been saturated by male authors (whose works are often indistinguishable). And Larkwood infuses enough urban sensibilities and sci-fi elements to keep it from being too traditional.

As far as being epic, the book tries very hard to assure us of the gigantic scope, more to its detriment than anything. A lot of world-building elements were i ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Lindsay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, lgbtqia

What an unexpectedly wonderful book.

This is a multiverse-based fantasy book with multiple cross-universe sentient species, magic, technology, gods and monsters. Csorwe is a young female Oshaaru, grey-skinned with gold eyes and tusks, and is a Chosen Bride of the Unspoken, which leaves her revered and with the gift of prophecy, but doomed to be sacrificed to her god at fourteen. Sethennai, a mage from a different world and a different species intervenes in her sacrifice, giving her a different pa What an unexpectedly wonderful book.

This is a multiverse-based fantasy book with multiple cross-universe sentient species, magic, technology, gods and monsters. Csorwe is a young female Oshaaru, grey-skinned with gold eyes and tusks, and is a Chosen Bride of the Unspoken, which leaves her revered and with the gift of prophecy, but doomed to be sacrificed to her god at fourteen. Sethennai, a mage from a different world and a different species intervenes in her sacrifice, giving her a different path in his service. As she grows she receives education and training as a powerful and clever operative for Sethennai in an effort to take back the mage's lost position as Chancellor in his home plane and to acquire a powerful magic item. But her loyalty to her master is tested with her rivalry with another of Sethennai's henchmen and a strong attraction to Shuthmilli, a mage of the Qarsazh who has a horrible fate in store for her.

The setting is enormous: a multiverse with divinities, populous planes and dying ones and strange magics and power everywhere, but the story is actually a very tightly focused drama around its main players. Sethennai's quest for power is a long and patient one, and a key question that the book is concerned with is what that power is for and how it can be used. But the central story is about Csorwe and her fellow henchman Talasseres Charossa and their jockeying for attention from their master Sethennai. This is illuminated by Sethennai's relationship with fellow mage Oranna who he considers something of an equal, and his total indifference to Shuthmilli.

Shuthmilli also shines a spotlight on Csorwe's childhood. Csorwe was brought up to be a willing sacrifice, and Shuthmilli's adulthood is no different albeit with an arguably even more horrible outcome. The relationship between them is even sweeter because of this parallel.

I'm very much looking forward to more in this series.

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Reread in February 2022 prior to reading The Thousand Eyes. I think this holds up well and I enjoyed it just as much the second time through. ...more

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Jul 08, 2020 Lata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, auth-f, x2020-read

This book was fantastic! Multiple planes of existence, numerous gods and religions, people vying for power in brutal ways, horrible rituals, warriors, magic, ability to travel between the universes/planes, and fabulous characters who face tough and terrible choices, and a wonderfuly handled evolution of main character Csorwe. What more could I want?
Csorwe is a young (orc-like) woman who has spent all her life knowing she is meant to be sacrificed to her god. She accepts this, and even gets herse This book was fantastic! Multiple planes of existence, numerous gods and religions, people vying for power in brutal ways, horrible rituals, warriors, magic, ability to travel between the universes/planes, and fabulous characters who face tough and terrible choices, and a wonderfuly handled evolution of main character Csorwe. What more could I want?
Csorwe is a young (orc-like) woman who has spent all her life knowing she is meant to be sacrificed to her god. She accepts this, and even gets herself ready to die, until she meets and is rescued by Sethennai, a deposed wizardry-type (minus pointy hat and pipe, and really scary), who is seeking a way back to power, and sees Csorwe as a means to this end.
She gains martial and other training, and works for Sethennai, seeking objects and other items for him.
While on one of her assignments, she’s horribly injured and Sethennai acquires a new servant, Tal Charossa. Tal and Csorwe engage in a constant fight to remain topmost in Sethennai’s regard, and are sent on numerous assignments together, much to their disgust.
On their latest engagement, they encounter Shuthmilli, a young woman groomed for a fate similar to the one Csorwe narrowly escaped. And Csorwe decides to help Shuthmilli, setting off a long chain of terrible consequences.

This book straddles an interesting line between science fiction and fantasy. There are the fantasy elements: many gods, and the children raised to be their sacrifices, enormous epic, magical stakes, an orc-like main character, legends about immortal beings. Then, there’s inter-plane travel, which feels like science fiction.
I love the parallels between the young women Csorwe and Shuthmilli, and it is this parallel that helps the two understand one another, even while they debate their circumstances.
There are terrible things that happen over the course of this book, but Csorwe’s evolution and her developing relationship with Shuthmilli are the high points. Mind you, all the world building and the humour and the horrors are great, too.
Basically, I loved this book, and look forward to rejoining Csorwe and Shuthmilli, and even Tal, in book 2. ...more

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