![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Unspoken Name
Someone in one of my writing communities recommended The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood, and I'm glad they did because it's an excellent example of rich fantasy worldbuilding and layered characters with complex inner and outer lives.
Csorwe (rhymes with 'doorway' - the pronunciation guide at the front of the book was really helpful, though working out how to say all the place and character names in my head each time did get a bit wearing) is destined to be sacrificed to her god at the age of fourteen, but is offered a different type of service by the enigmatic Sethennai. So, off she goes, out into the wider world (which is traveled by what are essentially Stargates, and a life of violence and crime.
The first part is perhaps a bit slow (lots of traveling and training) but it really gets going in Part 2, with an infusion of new characters, a quest for a macguffin, so excellent same-sex romance and a lot of intrigue, angst and excitement.
Csorwe (rhymes with 'doorway' - the pronunciation guide at the front of the book was really helpful, though working out how to say all the place and character names in my head each time did get a bit wearing) is destined to be sacrificed to her god at the age of fourteen, but is offered a different type of service by the enigmatic Sethennai. So, off she goes, out into the wider world (which is traveled by what are essentially Stargates, and a life of violence and crime.
The first part is perhaps a bit slow (lots of traveling and training) but it really gets going in Part 2, with an infusion of new characters, a quest for a macguffin, so excellent same-sex romance and a lot of intrigue, angst and excitement.