The Faithless by C. L. Clark is such a hot mess – and I mean that in the absolute best way possible. Luca and Touraine are a deadly combination of highly competent and barely holding it together. Their messy romance is every bit as delightful as in The Unbroken. Arguably more, since a lot of the “we’ll worry about later if we manage to live through this” tension in the first book comes crashing down in The Faithless.
The rebels have won and the Balladairan empire is withdrawing from Qazal. Luca must take her rightful place as the Balladairan queen and oust her uncle, while Touraine must find a way to force Luca to keep her promises to Qazal. I’m sure nothing could go wrong with that setup. Right? RIGHT??
Clark skillfully shows multiple sides of the colonizer/colonized conflict. Even when individuals want to work against imperialism, the societal and economic mechanisms in place have so much inertia that it’s hard to make any progress. The Faithless: Putting the systemic back in systemic oppression!
We also finally get to see more magic, which is largely hinted at in The Unbroken. And instead of going for a classic sense of wonder or number-crunchy rules, the magic is every bit as messy as the relationships and large scale conflicts. That said, the theme of “magic’s price may be too awful to justify the benefits” was undercut by how we actually see the magic play out.
This is not an easy book to read. Sure, it’s easy to lose hours wrapped up in the compelling story, but it takes an emotional toll. The mess, the tension, the gray morality… It’s superbly written and appropriate for the story, but unquestionably exhausting. It was also a bit difficult to jump back in without having recently read the first book. Lots of small details and minor characters left me wondering if I should’ve taken the time to find a detailed recap somewhere first.
I loved this book. I also loved to hate certain characters in this book. Some of them are highly relatable and demand your empathy, then turn around and do something truly despicable. Some may even be actively working to make their world a better place but still be pieces of shit with shit ideas on how to do that. It’s the kind of story that makes me appreciate the moral complexities of what grimdark could be, if so much of it didn’t devolve into misery porn.
Again, this book is not a light read. It’s excellent – but it takes a toll to read. Don’t expect any of the loose threads from The Unbroken to be wrapped up neatly in this one. It is messy as hell, and all the better for it.
I received a review copy of The Faithless by C. L. Clark in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Check out our podcast interview with author C. L. Clark discussing The Unbroken, the first book in their Magic of the Lost military fantasy series published by Orbit.
