Book: The Unnamed by M. S. Masood
Reviewed by Books and Bad Ideas (Jamie)
Rating: 5/5
"๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด, ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ป๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ?"
๐ ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
Trusting ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
"๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ," ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ข๐ป๐ฆ, "๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ."
The Unnamed by M.S. Masood is a unique entry into the world of dark romantasy. It brings with it all the beauty and intrigue of a story that we all know well (Rumpelstiltskin), but adds to it with the hushed dark and intense emotions of a Middle Eastern twist. The Unnamed creates a tension between the enemies to lovers in the book in a refreshing kind of way: Reim has everything, but doesn't want the kingdom that she is on the cusp of inheriting; the Healer has lost everything, over and over again, and wants everything... but might want Reim more.
I think the most beautiful thing about the relationship in The Unnamed is the level of respect that is forged between the characters. From the Healer not pushing the wedding night tradition onto Reim, much to her relief, to Reim learning how much the Healer means to the Unnamed in Vuor, a mutual respect and, eventually, desire grows between these two people who have been created to hate one another. This is what, in my opinion, makes the end of the book so tragic. You think finally they're going to be able to understand that they strengthen one another... only for the plot to have other ideas. Can't say more without spoiling it, but M. S. Masood... you almost broke my heart. I'm not kidding.
Between the lyrical beauty of the descriptions of even the darkest places in the city, to the heart-warming found family dynamics that teach Reim just how wrong her father was in teaching her to despise the Unnamed of Vuor, this book pushes not only the characters but the reader to consider old biases, the pain and suffering that comes with conquering and colonialism, and the way that history can be manipulated by the powerful to serve an end. If you like books that make you feel, make you think, and make you want to see if a happy ending is possible in a world that is on the brink of a civil war, The Unnamed will leave you breathlessly waiting for the conclusion of the duology. I loved this book so much I finished it in one night. That should say a lot to the way that the book sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the final punctuation mark.