I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Faithless is a stunning and compelling sequel that transcends the whole "Second books are hard to write and often little disappointing in comparison to the first book of a series" mentality. I'd say that The Faithless is The Unbroken on steroids aka take the awesomeness of The Unbroken and multiply it by a 100.

What I loved the most is the emotional complexity of Touraine and Luca's ability to surprise the heck out of me. Since the first book, we got to see the enormous hurricane of feelings that Touraine is going through: torn between countries, duty, expectations, and Luca. In the Faithless, we get to add even more uncertainty and a fragility that comes from living through the consequences of her actions and how people react to that. She's a hero who played a significant role in Qazal's liberation and yet, she's still seen as 'other'. But that uncertainty and that fragility also make her stronger and a force to be reckoned with. Even though Touraine would like to stay just a soldier, she's more than that, and by the end of the book, I think she realizes that under a positive light and embraces and acknowledges her desires not as selfishness but as desires that everyone has the right to have. We go from "I don't know what I want and who I am" through "I shouldn't want what I want and be who I am" to "I am who I am." and it was such a compelling journey.

As for Luca, I can't say that she was my favorite in the Unbroken, but I really need to give it to her in The Faithless. There was not a decision she made that didn't surprise me and quite positively, too. I mean, she's been the face of the colonials' royal family for so long (not much to like there) but she became human in the Faithless, an ambitious human who has the best intentions at heart, a human who does her best given her circumstances. I really liked this Luca.

Pruett, my dear, I'd go anywhere for you. Your no nonsense attitude and your straightforward personality stood out like a flame in the dark.

Aranen, I want to hug you. You're going through so much, and yet, you do your best for your faith, your country, and those close to you.

This beautiful book comes with a tight plot and multiple POVs (Touraine, Luca, Pruett). Also, if you enjoy a series but need every book to have a clear resolution at the end, this is the series for you. It's a trilogy but each book has a clear storyline: beginning and end, with no suspenseful cliffhanger. We're only left with anticipation of "more".

This series continues to be beautifully and brutally raw. Military fantasy that tackles colonialism, 'othering', and the feeling of being torn between all sides of yourself. Beautifully and expertly written. I'll read anything that C. L. Clark writes. The queerer and more sapphic, the better. hehe 😈

*tw: child abuse, child death (only mentioned, not seen in a scene)*

I cannot emphasise how much I enjoyed The Unbroken, or how much I screamed when I saw that I'd managed to get access to an ARC of The Faithless. I couldn't get around to reading it fast enough, couldn't wait to dive back in to Touraine and Luca and their beautiful mess. So imagine my disappointment when I ended up giving this a four-star rating.

Don't get me wrong, four-stars isn't a bad rating - it's pretty good, actually. But The Unbroken was a pure five-star read for me, from start to finish, whereas The Faithless was a three-star read up until 70% of the way through (and it only got bumped up a star because a certain thing happened that had been teased throughout the entire book).

Magic of the Lost is a political series - how can it not be, when at the heart of it is a raw discussion on colonialism? In the first book, it's one of the elements I liked best. But in The Faithless...it really dragged. There were definitely some highlights, but for me a lot of the book was: We need allies! Lets get allies! Oh no, we cannot get allies! Lets try a different ally! And rinse and repeat. That is not what drew me to this series; what drew me to this series and kept me invested was the characters, and although there was still a host of amazing characters (I need more of Sabine asap), character development was much less of a focus, and I think that's where it fell down.

Sequels are always hard, especially when the first instalment is such a hit, so I don't want to be too harsh. I still did really enjoy this book - and the ending? It was KILLER, ramping up the stakes and delivering a twist I didn't see coming. If you are a fantasy fiend with a love for queer pairings and political intrigue, this is definitely a series for you.

5/5 stars! I loved the first entry in this series and the second one did now disappoint. I'm only sad that I have to wait for the sequel. Tactics, warfare, and epic fantasy await the reader.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I really enjoyed The Faithless.

If I'm right in my metal maths (and really that's highly unlikely), it takes place about a year after The Unbroken and it's a much stronger book than its predecessor. Which is saying something because The Unbroken had good foundations.

The only way to go was up. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THE AUTHOR IS EVIL.

She knows what she did.

Much of this book takes place in Balladaire and I feel like we got to see Luca shine. For all the talk of her being smart, and regal, and having the ability to make hard decisions. Here, you could feel it. There was more weight.

And truly this is a book about weight. The heaviness of choice, the boulder sized burden of being from a nation recently freed and able to call itself such. Of being a colonised people. It's about the weight of the expectations we have for ourselves, the perceived expectations of others, and the feeling of failing both.

In the Faithless, it was nice to see Tourraine grow out of what she'd been moulded to be. It was nice, actually, to see what happens when you look at the judgment in the eyes of others and you say, fuck this.

But of course, there are consequences to all choices and consequences so often come soaked in blood.

C. L. Clark spilt a lot of blood in this book and some of it I really enjoyed.

Colonising assholes deserve to get cut.

I'm so ridiculously excited for the next book because that means more gods, more magic, more sapphic excellence. More in the story lines I didn't expect to develop and the twists I should've seen coming, but didn't.

They were fab. Big. Fan.