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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Pretty fine I guess? Actually, the prologue that was included in the end of book 1 for book 2 was quite intriguing. I could maybe come back to this series, but not in any urgent rush.
Roth draws readers in with the through world building that went into this novel. I found that in the beginning everything was so new that I had to keep reading to try and figure out how this new world I had been introduced to worked, what made it go round and what life was like for the characters that lived in it. I found that I really like getting to know the characters and I loved that the story was laced with rebel plots, family secrets and political conspiracies. I do feel that Roth needed to develop her characters a little more and open them up to the reader. But by the end of the novel I had finally started to really get to know the characters a little more and I am invested enough in them and the overall plot enough that I am excited to read the next book in the series.
I did not like this book. At all. This might be one of the only books on this planet that I didn't enjoy. Usually I devour every word, but this time I could barely bring myself to read. But I dutifully finished this book, and I'd like to share my honest and unfiltered opinion with you.
At first I'd like to address the racial issue in this book. I honestly didn't give the skin colour of the characters much thought when I was reading the book. This issue came to my attention when I read the reviews posted here, and I'm confused as to why Roth gave the villains in this book a dark skin colour. This is the 21st century, and I think Roth should've thought twice about her characters' physical appearance.
My dislike for this book isn't because of the issue mentioned above (although it does increase it) but because of the following 3 reasons:
1. The concept of the setting is interesting, and unlike anything I've read about before. I, however, could not picture how everything was supposed to look, which really bothered me. This was partially because of the vague description Roth gave, and partially because the setting was way too big. Roth tried to create a whole galaxy, with multiple planets and really big cities which all had various characteristic features, and it was just a bit too much.
2. I didn't like the plot of Carve the Mark. It started of as an interesting plot, but it kind of lost its glow after the first few chapters or so. It became kind of repetitive, and the 'exciting' things were somehow boring as well. It was just really, really hard to read the book. And I was disappointed because I expected this book to be an equal to the Divergent series and it just wasn't.
3. The characters seemed flat but weren't. The characters changed so gradually that it was hard to notice change at all. The character development that did happen was predictable.
There were some aspects of the book I liked but I wouldn't recommend it. I had more reasons for my dislike but I felt like these 3 were the most important. I hope this review was helpful!
At first I'd like to address the racial issue in this book. I honestly didn't give the skin colour of the characters much thought when I was reading the book. This issue came to my attention when I read the reviews posted here, and I'm confused as to why Roth gave the villains in this book a dark skin colour. This is the 21st century, and I think Roth should've thought twice about her characters' physical appearance.
My dislike for this book isn't because of the issue mentioned above (although it does increase it) but because of the following 3 reasons:
1. The concept of the setting is interesting, and unlike anything I've read about before. I, however, could not picture how everything was supposed to look, which really bothered me. This was partially because of the vague description Roth gave, and partially because the setting was way too big. Roth tried to create a whole galaxy, with multiple planets and really big cities which all had various characteristic features, and it was just a bit too much.
2. I didn't like the plot of Carve the Mark. It started of as an interesting plot, but it kind of lost its glow after the first few chapters or so. It became kind of repetitive, and the 'exciting' things were somehow boring as well. It was just really, really hard to read the book. And I was disappointed because I expected this book to be an equal to the Divergent series and it just wasn't.
3. The characters seemed flat but weren't. The characters changed so gradually that it was hard to notice change at all. The character development that did happen was predictable.
There were some aspects of the book I liked but I wouldn't recommend it. I had more reasons for my dislike but I felt like these 3 were the most important. I hope this review was helpful!
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is just the kind of book I wanted to read while sitting around the pool on vacation. I was never tempted to put it down and actually liked the two main characters a lot. The plot was somewhat predictable with no big twists or turns, but I've read enough dystopian juvenile fiction to start guessing early on. I wish the ending wrapped things up a bit more, but of course it just pushed me along to book 2.
This book has been shunned from the community for its poor portrayal of chronic pain and it's overtly racist aspects. However, when I picked this up I didn't expect the story to be so slow and poorly written.
The 'currentgift' aspect of the story was near on the only part I enjoyed as the world was underdeveloped, the characters were one-dimensional and the main relationship between Cyra and Akos felt overly forced.
After reading this I doubt I will pick up the sequel.
The 'currentgift' aspect of the story was near on the only part I enjoyed as the world was underdeveloped, the characters were one-dimensional and the main relationship between Cyra and Akos felt overly forced.
After reading this I doubt I will pick up the sequel.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Yup pretty sure I accidentally skipped the ending when I originally read this.