[Gifted] Book Review – The Unspoken Name

From Goodreads:

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 honoured 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.

This was such an interesting read. It was so interesting to read a book from a non-human perspective. It made it so interesting to dive into the world (these worlds) and the religions knowing that none of them are human in origin.

The worldbuilding in this is immense and detailed. I really wanted to explore a lot more than we got to do but I do think book two may let us do just that. I will say I did have a little trouble picturing it and the transport system between the different areas/worlds. I am still unsure how this is laid out. It seems they could sail through gates via a great maze to the different lands but it wasn’t water based sailing they were air ships ( I think). I am still rather unsure but all I know is I found it utterly fascinating. I really would love to dive into the history and lore of this world. It felt like we only just the surface but you could tell there was a huge wealth of detail and I really hope we get to explore more. I want to know more about the various magic systems associated with the various deities. I want to know more about the Maze and all the worlds within it. There really does seem like there is so many places to explore. Which is exciting.

The plot is split into four sections that could easily stand alone as there own stories that all lead on from each other but work as fantastic mini adventures in there own right. each has distinct beginning middles and ends but also make you want to learn more about Csorwe and her life. Later in the book we started to scratch the surface of some other characters and I would have loved to know more about them too. I really loved how much we got to see the building of relationships, from slow burn romance, the mentor mentee or even rival to begrudging friendship there are some really lovely story arcs to follow.

Book two is scheduled to be out in June and I am now very much looking forward to picking it up.