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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Carve the Mark tells the story of a people who have become tyrants in the eyes of the rest of the world. They are seen as overly vicious and a war bringing people. This story specifically follows the life of two important characters on the opposite sides of a deep rooted war. Cyra Noavek is the second child of the ruling family and is ruled by her deliberating pain of her gift and her brother. Akos is the third child of an oracle who has seen the breakdown and rebellion that arises out of Akos and Cyra’s actions.
I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant to buy and read this novel after the “controversy” about Carve the Mark was released and discussed. There were a lot of people upset with how the author set up some of the main characters and felt like there was a clear trend of racism present within this novel. There have been videos and reviews and articles written about Carve the Mark and whether or not racism and other sensitive topics.
Controversies:
Racism
The first controversy that erupted was about racism. I read through the novel and to be honest didn’t look for any specific instances of racism that might have been present in the novel. And after finishing the novel I have to say that I didn’t see anything that striked me as racist. The characters are briefly described in small snippets and to be honest, I don’t usually pay too much attention to character descriptions anyways. But no where in the novel did I see an instance where there were a group of similar looking people being characterized a certain way that was different from everyone else.
Instead I don’t think the author differentiated people from each other, every society was described as a range of different colors and descriptions. No characters were set apart because of how they looked and I think several of the families that were actually described with any particular detail has siblings that had different types of hair and skin tones.
Conclusion: At least to my understanding of Carve the Mark, there isn’t any racism present in this novel and to say that there were, would be a huge stretch and generalization of characters. You would have to really assume a lot of things that aren’t depicted in this novel to make it about racism and that’s just not how it is read.
Chronic Pain
One of the other controversies mentioned in this novel was how Veronica Roth depicted chronic pain in Carve the Mark.
I personally don’t have experience with chronic pain but when I read the novel I didn’t see the pain Cyra was in as a representation of this thing that affects a lot of people. Instead I took it at it’s value within the novel, which was part of Cyra’s currentgift. While it could definitely be related and start a great healthy conversation on the importance of realizing and understanding chronic pain, I didn’t see it as the author trying to represent people who do deal with this disease in a negative way.
Conclusion: From how I read Carve the Mark, there can definitely be a link to how Cyra’s currentgift affects her with those who deal with chronic pain. The parallels aren’t so direct that I could say that this was the author’s intention and people deal with pain in completely unique ways. To say how pain was represented in the novel was wrong would be misleading because I felt like Cyra became stronger throughout the novel through the pain she was in which is a common theme in young adult fantasy.
Self-Harm
The final controversy that came with the publication of Carve the Mark was the topic of self-harm. Cyra’s society has this tradition of marking oneself for every kill or loss that they experience. Once again I think this aspect has to be taken with the concept of the novel in mind. This is not some ostracized practice that leads to suicide or is used in an unhealthy way to deal with pain. Instead this is a custom that society follows and therefore has to be examined within that context. There are many societies who do similar things within our own world so to say that this novel is a pathway to saying it is okay to self harm, or misrepresents cutting is just very outside the scope of the novel.
Conclusion: This novel does not endorse self-harm but instead could open an avenue for a healthy discussion about self-harm as well as traditions of other societies. Keeping the scope of these issues to that of the novel becomes important because of how the action is described as a tradition of one’s society instead of an unhealthy way to relieve pain.
In Other Words
I know most of this review revolved around the controversies of Carve the Mark, but I felt like it was important because these things made me hesitant to start a great novel by an even better author. I loved these characters and their story and I know Roth will create a follow up book that will change everything in this series and knock me for a loop as she has done in all of her other series. Don’t miss out on a great read because of what other people found. Take opinions with a grain of salt and find your own truth because this novel is worth it.
I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant to buy and read this novel after the “controversy” about Carve the Mark was released and discussed. There were a lot of people upset with how the author set up some of the main characters and felt like there was a clear trend of racism present within this novel. There have been videos and reviews and articles written about Carve the Mark and whether or not racism and other sensitive topics.
Controversies:
Racism
The first controversy that erupted was about racism. I read through the novel and to be honest didn’t look for any specific instances of racism that might have been present in the novel. And after finishing the novel I have to say that I didn’t see anything that striked me as racist. The characters are briefly described in small snippets and to be honest, I don’t usually pay too much attention to character descriptions anyways. But no where in the novel did I see an instance where there were a group of similar looking people being characterized a certain way that was different from everyone else.
Instead I don’t think the author differentiated people from each other, every society was described as a range of different colors and descriptions. No characters were set apart because of how they looked and I think several of the families that were actually described with any particular detail has siblings that had different types of hair and skin tones.
Conclusion: At least to my understanding of Carve the Mark, there isn’t any racism present in this novel and to say that there were, would be a huge stretch and generalization of characters. You would have to really assume a lot of things that aren’t depicted in this novel to make it about racism and that’s just not how it is read.
Chronic Pain
One of the other controversies mentioned in this novel was how Veronica Roth depicted chronic pain in Carve the Mark.
I personally don’t have experience with chronic pain but when I read the novel I didn’t see the pain Cyra was in as a representation of this thing that affects a lot of people. Instead I took it at it’s value within the novel, which was part of Cyra’s currentgift. While it could definitely be related and start a great healthy conversation on the importance of realizing and understanding chronic pain, I didn’t see it as the author trying to represent people who do deal with this disease in a negative way.
Conclusion: From how I read Carve the Mark, there can definitely be a link to how Cyra’s currentgift affects her with those who deal with chronic pain. The parallels aren’t so direct that I could say that this was the author’s intention and people deal with pain in completely unique ways. To say how pain was represented in the novel was wrong would be misleading because I felt like Cyra became stronger throughout the novel through the pain she was in which is a common theme in young adult fantasy.
Self-Harm
The final controversy that came with the publication of Carve the Mark was the topic of self-harm. Cyra’s society has this tradition of marking oneself for every kill or loss that they experience. Once again I think this aspect has to be taken with the concept of the novel in mind. This is not some ostracized practice that leads to suicide or is used in an unhealthy way to deal with pain. Instead this is a custom that society follows and therefore has to be examined within that context. There are many societies who do similar things within our own world so to say that this novel is a pathway to saying it is okay to self harm, or misrepresents cutting is just very outside the scope of the novel.
Conclusion: This novel does not endorse self-harm but instead could open an avenue for a healthy discussion about self-harm as well as traditions of other societies. Keeping the scope of these issues to that of the novel becomes important because of how the action is described as a tradition of one’s society instead of an unhealthy way to relieve pain.
In Other Words
I know most of this review revolved around the controversies of Carve the Mark, but I felt like it was important because these things made me hesitant to start a great novel by an even better author. I loved these characters and their story and I know Roth will create a follow up book that will change everything in this series and knock me for a loop as she has done in all of her other series. Don’t miss out on a great read because of what other people found. Take opinions with a grain of salt and find your own truth because this novel is worth it.
Meh
This book was pretty dull and uninteresting my original thoughts on the author were right she writes the most boring books ever. In this book characters die and do not so good things and I felt nothing for any of them they were all so forgettable so I have nothing to say about them. The plot was like a train wreck and I could not look away also could not wait for it to end. I was confused for several big chunks of the story since it just throws you in these situations and expects you to understand everything. So a horrible group is terrible to another people are tortured for no real reason other things happen and I just don't care. I will not be reading anymore of this series it is not worth my time.
This book was pretty dull and uninteresting my original thoughts on the author were right she writes the most boring books ever. In this book characters die and do not so good things and I felt nothing for any of them they were all so forgettable so I have nothing to say about them. The plot was like a train wreck and I could not look away also could not wait for it to end. I was confused for several big chunks of the story since it just throws you in these situations and expects you to understand everything. So a horrible group is terrible to another people are tortured for no real reason other things happen and I just don't care. I will not be reading anymore of this series it is not worth my time.
This book really confuses me, I don't really know if I like it or not. The writing style was good but I had difficulties with how slow it was at sometimes. It took 257 pages for something really to happen and after that not much spectaculair happened. It got tense in the end but not THAT tense so that it caused me to fall out of my chair. Something that was said at the end makes me curious about the second book but I don't think I'm gonna buy it unless it's really mind blown and tense. I'll just have to wait for the reviews. I'm just gonna stay a bit confused for as of right now.
Too bad it wasn't as good as Divergent because that is REALLY good and one of my favourite series ever.
So, I actually read this book for a project on using literary criticism and I wanted to analyze this book to figure out whether or not it is truly racist as some people are claiming. I have only finished my first reading of the book and haven't started my analysis of it yet but I will say this, the project is going to be a little more complicated than I thought. I think there are a lot of blurred lines and some that shouldn't have been crossed but it is going to be very interesting to critique.
This book relies heavily on established tropes, but doesn't bring anything new to them. Which typically would have made me give it three stars, I may have even bumped it to four just because I was happy to see YA in a not n context. But there are some serious problems with this book.
1) If you're going to use the alien races and the tension between them as a metaphor for our own, you can't make them look like the races here on earth and with the stereotypes associated with them. It's not only lazy writing, it's harmful because it reinforces these stereotypes.
2) I've seen some reviews here where people with chronic pain are pissed that Cyra's pain is her "currentgift" they're upset that the word gift is used. That doesn't bother me. Gifts aren't always good, ask the Trojans. But what is really upsetting is Spoilerit appears Cyra is able to get over her her pain by wanting to enough. That once she no longer thinks she deserves it, she is able to control it. Roth has stated that she used her friends with chronic pain for inspiration. And with the revelation that if Cyra wants it enough she can be "cured" makes me wonder what she truly thinks of the struggles of her friends.
1) If you're going to use the alien races and the tension between them as a metaphor for our own, you can't make them look like the races here on earth and with the stereotypes associated with them. It's not only lazy writing, it's harmful because it reinforces these stereotypes.
2) I've seen some reviews here where people with chronic pain are pissed that Cyra's pain is her "currentgift" they're upset that the word gift is used. That doesn't bother me. Gifts aren't always good, ask the Trojans. But what is really upsetting is Spoilerit appears Cyra is able to get over her her pain by wanting to enough. That once she no longer thinks she deserves it, she is able to control it. Roth has stated that she used her friends with chronic pain for inspiration. And with the revelation that if Cyra wants it enough she can be "cured" makes me wonder what she truly thinks of the struggles of her friends.
En helt okej bok som mot slutet ändå fick mig intresserad. För djupare tankar se min recension/diskussion på bloggen
I was completely enthralled with everything about this one. Must read the next book!
Mixed feelings on this one. It was interesting for sure and a cool premise, but it also took me about half the book to become really involved. I think the build up was a little too slow; however, part of the story was the character relationships and I understand not wanting to rush that. Still it dragged too much. I also didn’t like that her story was first person and his was third. It made it really hard to tell a voice difference or when perspectives were shifting because he was always “he” and “Akos” so it took a second to realize it was no longer Cyra’s perspective. If you’re going to go back and forth between character perspectives it needs to be clear. The first person, third person choice is a fun idea to do that, but I think in practice it didn’t succeed. I liked the main characters overall and when I understood where the story was headed, I stayed invested and interested. It just took some time.