Review of The Faithless by C.L. Clark

The renaissance of fantasy continues in The Faithless, the second book of C.L. Clark’s explosive Magic of the Lost series. When I read The Unbroken last year, I was stunned. Finally, I was sinking my teeth into some proper postcolonial secondary world fantasy. The Faithless continues this trend. If anything, Clark seems even more at home in this story—no second-book syndrome here—pushing plots and characters forward while never failing to leave our protagonists (and thus us readers) off balance in the best way.

Spoilers for the first book in the series but not this one.

Princess Luca has returned to Balladaire, metaphorical tail not quite tucked between her legs, having essentially “lost” the empire’s colony of Qazāl by granting it independence. This has (understandably) upset her uncle, the Duke Regent. Similarly, it hasn’t won Luca any friends among the nobility, who will need to support her if she has any hope of wresting the crown from her uncle upon her upcoming eighteenth birthday. Meanwhile, Luca’s onetime lover, the Qazāli-born, Balladairan-raised soldier Touraine, finds herself on a fractured ruling council, sparring politically with her own long-lost mother. When the council nominates Touraine as their ambassador to Balladaire, she and Luca are reunited—but neither is happy, and neither can rest. It’s politics all the way down, messy, bloody politics, and I love it.

I recently finished a rewatch of Farscape, one of the best science-fiction TV series of all time. One of its strengths lies in how the show is never afraid to make its protagonists’ situation worse. Most TV shows feature protagonists who encounter conflict and setbacks during an episode, yet the episode always ends with them either status quo or, if they are lucky, slightly better off. Not so with Farscape, where every mad scientist in the Uncharted Territories who could possibly help you is definitely going to frell you over instead!

The Faithless is similar in this regard: Clark is not afraid to propel Luca and Touraine deeper and deeper into danger. They are both, in their own way, terrible at politics! Like, it would be cringe if it weren’t so entertaining how bad each of them is at being sneaky. Pretty much every plot they come up with, separately or together, implodes spectacularly—yet each fails in a different way, so it’s never a dull moment in Balladaire. And as I was reading, just as when I am watching Farscape, it sucks because you want these people you’re cheering for to win, and they keep on losing—and that is how you know you’ve been suckered in by an author.

Meanwhile, the will-they-won’t-they-must-they romance of Touraine and Luca continues to burn brightly and just as disastrously. But there is another! Yes, The Faithless suggests mad sapphic throuple (or at least polyamorous) energy with the introduction of Sabine, and weirdly I am here for it? As y’all know, romance is usually not my thing, so any time I encounter a romantic arc that works for me I must remark on it. The tension between Touraine and Luca’s mutual attraction on the one hand and their oft-incompatible political goals on the other is so good, especially in how Clark crystallizes it in moments of crisis.

There’s also a little more emphasis (at least as far as I can remember) in this novel on Luca’s disability. I don’t feel qualified to critique disability rep per se, but I really liked the portrayal overall!

The climax and resolution are a little obvious yet no less satisfying for it. Pruett’s storyline is weirdly paced, basically dropped for the final act up until the very end, but I understand why it’s there. I love how the story ends up sets up the next book. In particular, the slow-burn search for Balladairan magic continues to be exquisite in its pacing.

The Faithless is an example of everything the second book in a modern epic fantasy series can be. It’s exciting, dramatic, romantic, mysterious, and ultimately, extremely entertaining. I cannot recommend this series enough.