The Thousand Eyes by A. K. Larkwood: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Thousand Eyes by A. k. Larkwood

The latter book in The Serpent Gates duology, The Thousand Eyes, starts two years after the first ended with Csorwe, Shutmili and Tal parting ways with Sethennai. The three are working together as a security for academics who want to study the dead world of the serpent goddes, until they come across a surprise: a living member of the goddess’s honour guard. She leads them to a sacred shrine where things take a twist in the form of the goddess herself—with Csorwe and Shutmili in her very unique service.

Jumping fifteen years, the rule of the serpent goddess has spread over the worlds, and it’s widely feared. It’s up to Tal and the latest sacrifice to the Unspoken One to bring it to end, hopefully without getting Csorwe and Shutmili killed. But in the process, they bring Sethennai back to power. And he isn’t a benevolent ruler anymore. It takes the ingenuity of them all to bring things back to normal.

Second books are difficult and this wasn’t an exception. The first third progressed fast and smoothly, but after that, it seemed the author struggled to find a way out of the bind they’d pushed the characters into. Quite a lot happened, but everything seemed random and it didn’t quite pull me in. Part of it was because I didn’t feel Csorwe’s and Shutmili’s relationship, which was the driving force of most of the plot. Part was the lack of Csorwe’s point of view. Shutmili didn’t have the same pull.

The best thing in the book turned out to be Tal, who carried most of the latter part. He had quite a bit of growing to do, and he did it well. And he had maybe the greatest surprise coming to him. The ending was satisfying, but the story might have been more memorable if it hadn’t been quite so neat. Other kind of endings were possible too. Still, I liked the book well and wouldn’t mind reading more.

The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood

The Unspoken Name starts The Serpent Gates duology. It’s fantasy set in a completely unique universe of worlds that seem like fragments connected by magical gates, which allow people to travel between them. Between the worlds, there is a maze that eats the worlds that are dying. Why or how the universe is like this isn’t explained, nor is it clear how far apart they are; there’s only one reference to two moons on one world, so I don’t know if they share the same sky.

Each world has their own people, culture, gods, and magic. There is some resemblance to orcs, elves and maybe humans in the way they look, but everyone is treated the same and all the peoples have spread throughout the worlds. There is some technology shared by the worlds, like travel by airships, which are powered by some sort of magic as far as I understood. The rules of magic are the same as well: the source is the particular god of the practitioner and proximity to them is needed, and the practitioner’s body is slowly consumed by magic.

The main character is Csorwe of people with grey skin and tusks. She’s fourteen at the start of the book and about to be sacrificed to the Unspoken One, a goddess of death, which she has spent her life preparing for. At the last moment, Belthandros Sethennai, a wizard from a different world, gives her a choice to come with him, and she chooses life. Her goddess isn’t pleased, but as long as she can keep her distance from it, she’ll be fine.

Csorwe is taught languages, fighting and survival skills to make her the best possible tool to help Sethennai achieve his goals. She’s grateful to him and eager to serve, no matter what it takes. She spends years in his service as his assassin and problem solver. But little by little, Csorwe begins to question her devotion to Sethennai. When she meets Shutmili, a mage from a world which tethers their mages to a hivemind that will wipe away her personality, Csorwe finds her loyalties to shift until she has to make the final choice.

This was an excellent book with good voice and imaginative worlds. The plot was interesting and there were no easy solutions for Csorwe. Csorwe’s journey to independence was slow and the narrative didn’t allow deep insight into her, but she was a great character that was easy to root for. The reader never gets to know Sethennai well, but other characters are given their own point of view chapters. Oranna and Tal as Csorwe’s main adversaries were good, and while Shutmili was a bit bland and the reader is never given a proper insight into her, she grew to be exactly what Csorwe needs in her life.

The ending is good, and it doesn’t leave the reader hanging. But it is open enough that the second book is bound to be interesting.