The Unspoken Name

The Serpent Gates, Book 1

By: A. K. Larkwood

Narrated by: Avita Jay

Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

"Narrator Avita Jay manages a large cast of characters in this fantasy.... Jay captures the growing affection and trust between Csorwe and those she enlists to help her. Most importantly, Jay's narration captures Csorwe's manner and personality as she transforms from a meek priestess to a formidable character." (AudioFile Magazine)

A. K. Larkwood's The Unspoken Name is a stunning debut fantasy about a young priestess sentenced to die, who at the last minute escapes her fate; only to become an assassin for the wizard who saved her. 

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 honored 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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

"In the vein of Le Guin's magnificent Tombs of Atuan - if Arha the Eaten One got to grow up to be a swordswoman mercenary in thrall to her dubious wizard mentor. I love this book so much." (Arkady Martine, author of A Memory Called Empire)

"Hooked me in from the first page and never let go. Fabulous, in every meaning of the word." (Jenn Lyons, author of Ruin of Kings)

©2020 A. K. Larkwood (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"An unexpected and new take on classic orcs 'n' swords fantasy. Stylish, classy, and timeless - but with racing stripes and an inbuilt camera. I cannot recommend it enough." (Tamsyn Muir, author of Gideon the Ninth)

“Action-packed and emotionally engaging ... Lushly detailed with incredible worldbuilding, Larkwood's debut is a singular take on orcish fantasy, filled with fierce fighting and magic.” (Library Journal, starred review)

Dry and Boring

DNF- (Might finish later)

Stopped at about 5 hrs into this 18 hrs audiobook. And it is so boring, unexciting that I had to stop. I don't care about the world, I don't care about the characters, and the magic system is no where to be seen. There is a point where the main character is being torture and I almost start to yawn. This is one of the worst epic fantasy that I've picked up. Dull and lazy writing with tons of dry exposition. I normally finish most books I pick up, but this one is making work for it. If I have nothing else to read I might slug though the rest, but at this point I'm burned out on this book.

Awesome fantasy feast! A.K. Larkwood nailed it!

I don’t think there was a book, that had a more memorable marketing and social media campaign last year, than The Unspoken Name. The buzz was more like an earthquake. In the months leading up to release date, The cover…yes, that cover, was popping up with no title, or author. Just a bad ass orc tooth, with gold bands, and some amazing quotes from some very well-known authors. It took til just now for me to “get it”, no title, no author, I guess it could be said it was “Unspoken.” Genious marketing.
The best part is that it was well deserved. The story was engaging, unexpected, dark, and an all-around fantasy treasure chest of reading. With well crafted, and touching characters, in a fantasy world built around portals that allow travellers to travel from world to world on a hypnotic and almost psychedelic “maze road.” Some worlds in major decay, some still thriving. We see an assortment of high functioning city/kingdoms, hub outposts for the airships in travel built on the side of a canyon, and a few small, out of the way villages, one serving as home for a God/Goddess.
Csorwe, the main character is young, smart, quiet, humble, and on a path to be willingly sacrificed to satisfy the Unnamed Goddess, the Shrine of the Unspoken Name, living in the mountain next to the village she grew up in. I absolutely loved her, and how she grows and gets on in the world, as the story takes place over a good half dozen or so years.
The main storyline follows Csorwe and Belthandros Sethennai – (yes, I agree, that is one doozy of a great name)on a mission to find an ancient artifact, one that will somehow help the wise, and fatherly Belthandros regain his place of power in the world. As likeable as he is at times, it’s hard to not feel like his motives for this magical relic are not as wholesome and straightforward as thought to be.
There follows exciting magical confrontations along the way, another character Csorwe loves to hate, and a deeper part of the story comes into play upon Csorwe’s meeting of Qanwa Shuthmili, referred to as just Shuthmili. Shuthmili has a lot of things in common with Csorwe, she is also living her life for a bigger purpose, and will give her life to help protect the city and people she was born unto. They are great together, and their interactions add a human layer to a very fantastical world, they are the all important cheese to a delicious seven layer dip..(ok, horrible metaphor. But you get it.)
There are twists, and things wrap up very well and in a way that satisfies, yet, it still makes book two a certainty, and something to really look forward to. It is such a masterful, and well thought out magical world, and it’s clear the A.K. Larkwood has poured out her incredible talents and imagination into these pages and I freakin’ loved it.
Also, I had the audiobook and was in love with narrator Avita Jay. Well done and fantastic work, which added to the story all the way.
4.75 out of 5 stars and Highly recommend.

DNF

Couldn't finish, boring. I went back to it several times but it was going no where fast.

Adventurous and Evocative!

Though what some say about mild plot-wandering is true, the memorable characters and lovely prose entertain in every chapter! Larkwood gives evocative metaphors as often as Tal swears which, as you may discover, is quite frequently. I often cringe at romance sub-plots, but the patient way the main relationship unfolded made the story all-the-richer, and my facial muscles never once contracted as a result! The narration was lovely and–despite some minor audio-editing hiccups–enriched the story with great attention to each character's emotion. This book, suffice it to say, is unspeakably enjoyable, and I'm glad I listened to it!

Inventive, refreshing, and quite damn good

I loved this book. The character writing is wonderful, and I'm so glad to have such good representative fiction.

Terrible

Honestly lost interest early on because the names are so long and hard to understand that following characters is more trouble than it is worth.

Meh

At time of writing, I was unable to finish this book.
I listened to roughly 2hrs of it and I really had to struggle to get that far. This is a book that really would benefit from a full cast (at least one female and male member min) cause I hate when they have a person try to do a voice of the opposite sex; worse when the only voices that person can do are Cockney British accents. The Author made the main character very sheltered and ignorant of the world as a way to excuse constant Exposition. the main character is a young "Ork" girl, who was meant to be sacrificed to a God. She ofcourse has doubts (who wouldn't? ), and conveniently a dashing wizard happens to be there and convinces her to leave with him and become his personal assassin, spy, etc.

This should have an age-restricted warning label

Let's just start off with a plain truth-this is NOT a YA novel. It features a copious quantity of foul language and homosexual themes which some might find offensive.

Summary:
Child bride protagonist reaches age where she is expected to sacrifice herself to her cult god and wisely decides not to. That she is an orc is a trope which plays little into the story and is probably allegorical for the author. This decision touches off a growth montage in which she becomes a warrior bodyguard. She is sent on her first mission to smuggle the king into the city but is captured and tortured. Her anti-thesis is unspeakably foul and so crops up to block her endevours throughout the rest of the story. Fast forward 4-8 years. She bumps into her love interest on a retrieval quest mission where a former member of her cult is after the same object. They escape on flying ships to return to admit their failure to the king who is, of course, totally 'disappointed' and so relieves them of duty. This touches off a rebelous reacquisition campaign, capture, escape, chase, evade, and of course recapture with a lot of blah blah in between. In the end, it's poorly resolved and you are left thanking the gods that the torture is over.

Analysis:
The world building had potential but is unrealised. The language of the book is simplistic with obvious heavy, but poor, editing so there are noticable omissions. Complicated names are used to mask this fact. It is difficult to empathize with the protagonist. The story feels like a college or secondary school production OR a sort of DnD quest spawned storytelling. The narrator does her best with what she has to work with but if the narrator cannot get into the story then it's going to naturally come across. I wouldn't recommend the novel to anyone.

Interesting and well constructed world.

Interesting world with many details unexplained but consistent. Good narration. Only mild complaint is it seems a little YA more my tastes

Fantastic Adventure

I was pleased immediately when I realized there was some inspiration from The Tombs of Atuan. I was even more pleased when I found it was just inspiration. I loved the characters, the plot, the writing, the growth. Just great.