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3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
Carrier of the Mark gave me a little bit of Twilight deja vu. Girl moves to new town living with her dad. She is drawn to the mysterious boy who is a loner along with the rest of his family. Once it got off that track though it found it's own plot. I really liked what the made the family so "strange". I've always felt that things incorporating nature seem a little more realistic to me. In a whole if magic was actually real sense. I enjoyed the writing and the character development. I was a little confused on some of the bloodlines. I felt like I needed a chart but I got the jist enough to understand what was going on. I liked the ending even though some things were tied up in a manner of speaking it still left some unanswered questions. Question that I want to know the answer to and will definitely be diving into the next book as soon as it comes out.
Honestly, the book failed to grab my attention at the beginning that's why it took me so long to finish it, but after nearly a 150 pages it got quiet interesting.
Good, I guess, some things were off though and they bothered me so much I could not concentrate enough in the book so that I could get into it... I liked it, but had some trouble with it, but I guess maybe it's more of a personal thing...
Originally posted at http://abooksofathomless.blogspot.com.au/
I’ll be the first to admit that the cover of this book was what originally drew me towards it, I mean can you honestly look at the cover and say that you don’t think it’s pretty in any way? It came as a surprise later on that the cover did actually have a bit of relevance to the book- okay, not so much the gorgeous dress but I appreciate the dramatics that comes along with that. Moving on...
I found most of the characters quite interesting- I didn’t have any real problems with the main character, Megan, though there were some decisions she made that made me want to bash her into a table or something- but in reality that made her much more like realistic teenager. I liked Adam, the love interest, as well. I admit that I was worried in the first few pages that he would turn out to be too much of a YA cliché but by the end of the novel, I didn’t hate him. I really liked Aine, Rian and Fionn- all for different reasons and at different moments.
Plot-wise, I was slightly worried that ‘Carrier of the Mark’ would turn out to be one of those typical YA books, and while admittedly it had its moments, there were aspects of it that were quite different. For one, the setting of Ireland was something completely new to me in the world of YA fiction, and I really liked reading about the things that this bought along. Sort of unrelated, but I also loved all the Irish names in the book though I probably pronounced them in my head incredibly badly! I also liked ‘powers’ of this book, again I was worried how this would go down but I found the history of said powers to be really interesting and not what I was expecting at all.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel when it comes out this July. I can’t wait to see where Leigh Fallon takes Megan, Adam and everyone else now!
I’ll be the first to admit that the cover of this book was what originally drew me towards it, I mean can you honestly look at the cover and say that you don’t think it’s pretty in any way? It came as a surprise later on that the cover did actually have a bit of relevance to the book- okay, not so much the gorgeous dress but I appreciate the dramatics that comes along with that. Moving on...
I found most of the characters quite interesting- I didn’t have any real problems with the main character, Megan, though there were some decisions she made that made me want to bash her into a table or something- but in reality that made her much more like realistic teenager. I liked Adam, the love interest, as well. I admit that I was worried in the first few pages that he would turn out to be too much of a YA cliché but by the end of the novel, I didn’t hate him. I really liked Aine, Rian and Fionn- all for different reasons and at different moments.
Plot-wise, I was slightly worried that ‘Carrier of the Mark’ would turn out to be one of those typical YA books, and while admittedly it had its moments, there were aspects of it that were quite different. For one, the setting of Ireland was something completely new to me in the world of YA fiction, and I really liked reading about the things that this bought along. Sort of unrelated, but I also loved all the Irish names in the book though I probably pronounced them in my head incredibly badly! I also liked ‘powers’ of this book, again I was worried how this would go down but I found the history of said powers to be really interesting and not what I was expecting at all.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel when it comes out this July. I can’t wait to see where Leigh Fallon takes Megan, Adam and everyone else now!
Okay so I liked this book, but really i don't think it was anything special. It's really your average paranormal romance book.
Possible Spoilers and ranting
Pros
-Megan was fun and i liked her as a main character.
-After i got over the instalove thing with Adam i started to really like him.
-The whole DeRis (and yes i am missing a little mark in that name) was fun and once you got to know them you started to love them. They were a tight family and they protected each other.
-I thought Megan's friends were cool and were very loyal to Megan.
Cons
-Okay so i didn't really see a main conflict, there were some small ones, but those didn't really come until towards the end of the book. I get that the Knox are an enemy, but seriously you can call them an enemy, but unless they take action more towards the beginning of the book the reader will just see them as an empty threat.
-I didn't like the whole instalove thing going on with Adam and Megan, like at all. All they do is stare at each other for almost the whole beginning and then suddenly they are proclaiming their love for each other. I mean you have got to be kidding, at least make it realistic, but no they have no really conversation until they go all i love you and i have always since i first saw you. -_- I literally had to put the book down and count to ten to calm down, I seriously almost threw this book at that part (but you know the whole it being a library book kinda stopped me...)
-Also I swear to God this was almost exactly like Twilight. New girl moves to small town, mc has a basically non-existent parent, meets best friend who is also a complete gossip, sees love interest, love interest and mc stare at each other, love interest saves mc from drunk guys, they suddenly love each other, mc meets love interests family, mc learns their secret, love interests sister becomes mc's best friend while she drops all her other friends...I think you get the point, it was a lot like Twilight except for I think Megan was a better mc than Bella.
-I also hated that Megan was willing to give up everything for Adam even though they had only been dating for like 2 weeks (only really had known each other for 2 weeks). She wanted a different alternative to their problem, but instead of helping Adam (who was already looking for one) she criticized him, because he was not spending as much time with him. I mean jeez how selfish can you get?
-Megan basically relies on Adam, it's okay to want to be near him, but she's obsessed with him, she gets all sad when he's not around and she relies on him to keep her away from danger (and even though she complains about him trying to keep her safe, she really never does anything) instead of going to train and become able to protect herself. That was just annoying.
Overall that's all i really have to say about this book. I'd give it 2.5 stars. I might pick up the second book sometime in the future, but i'm not really dying to have the second book. Although i do hope the second book is better book than this.
Possible Spoilers and ranting
Pros
-Megan was fun and i liked her as a main character.
-After i got over the instalove thing with Adam i started to really like him.
-The whole DeRis (and yes i am missing a little mark in that name) was fun and once you got to know them you started to love them. They were a tight family and they protected each other.
-I thought Megan's friends were cool and were very loyal to Megan.
Cons
-Okay so i didn't really see a main conflict, there were some small ones, but those didn't really come until towards the end of the book. I get that the Knox are an enemy, but seriously you can call them an enemy, but unless they take action more towards the beginning of the book the reader will just see them as an empty threat.
-I didn't like the whole instalove thing going on with Adam and Megan, like at all. All they do is stare at each other for almost the whole beginning and then suddenly they are proclaiming their love for each other. I mean you have got to be kidding, at least make it realistic, but no they have no really conversation until they go all i love you and i have always since i first saw you. -_- I literally had to put the book down and count to ten to calm down, I seriously almost threw this book at that part (but you know the whole it being a library book kinda stopped me...)
-Also I swear to God this was almost exactly like Twilight. New girl moves to small town, mc has a basically non-existent parent, meets best friend who is also a complete gossip, sees love interest, love interest and mc stare at each other, love interest saves mc from drunk guys, they suddenly love each other, mc meets love interests family, mc learns their secret, love interests sister becomes mc's best friend while she drops all her other friends...I think you get the point, it was a lot like Twilight except for I think Megan was a better mc than Bella.
-I also hated that Megan was willing to give up everything for Adam even though they had only been dating for like 2 weeks (only really had known each other for 2 weeks). She wanted a different alternative to their problem, but instead of helping Adam (who was already looking for one) she criticized him, because he was not spending as much time with him. I mean jeez how selfish can you get?
-Megan basically relies on Adam, it's okay to want to be near him, but she's obsessed with him, she gets all sad when he's not around and she relies on him to keep her away from danger (and even though she complains about him trying to keep her safe, she really never does anything) instead of going to train and become able to protect herself. That was just annoying.
Overall that's all i really have to say about this book. I'd give it 2.5 stars. I might pick up the second book sometime in the future, but i'm not really dying to have the second book. Although i do hope the second book is better book than this.
The cover and idea behind the book seemed like an interesting one. A young lady, recently moved to Ireland, discovers that she is a carrier of the mark. There are 4 elements (earth, air, fire, water) and one order has been trying to balance these and one order wants the power. The issue I had with it, is that it felt like the love story in Twilight but even more gagging. There was no relationship development and all of the sudden they will die for each other. Adam has a weird family (like the Cullens). Adam is told to stay away from her. You get the picture. It ends with room for another book. I could see middle schoolers liking it if they have a soft spot for mushy romances.
You know, I heard so many things before reading this book. Read so many reviews about this was basically a Twilight rip-off. Taking that in, I still wanted to read this book. And of course, the reviewers were right. This literally was a Twilight rip-off. That was basically the reason I quit a quarter way through. Also, reading the protagonist's name that much got very annoying, very fast. I should have listened to the reviewers.
** Possibility of EXTREMELY VAGUE spoilers ahead!
I almost didn't get through the first twenty pages, because it was so painfully cliche. Girl moves to new place, starts school, sees boy from across room, doesn't speak to him but is instantly intrigued by him. By the second day she's "obsessed" and the first weekend (days three and four in her new home), she's desperate for the weekend to end so she can see this mysterious, handsome loner boy again. Her friends warn her against him and she tries to stay away because she's just not that kind of girl, but he's so breathtaking and hey, his sister is nice to her! Fate takes hold...
UGH!
Those are pretty much the first eight pages or so, so I'm not really giving anything away. If you're like me and you're thinking about quitting, it does end up getting a bit better from there. Certainly the mythology element is fairly unique and I ended up really liking Fionn and Rian (along with their backstories). Megan, Adam and even Aine to a degree, barely make it out of their stereotypes, but hopefully the next book expands them more.
It took me quite a while to get through the first hundred pages because I kept stopping in annoyance, but once the actual plot got going I read it fairly quickly. I'd say the middle is the best, because in the last part of the book the representative from the overall shadowy villain group ended up being pretty pathetic. If the author is going to make her characters so powerful, she needs to come up with better ways around that for the villains or do *something* to make them less laughable.
If I read the next book, I hope the author does a better job explaining all of the rules, mythology and genetics of the Marks than the jumbled monologues we got here. Having the characters repeat "This is a lot of guesswork, of course" doesn't really negate the author herself seemingly doing a bad job keeping it all straight. Also, her explanations leave some really gaping plot holes that either I'm missing something for or she didn't notice. The biggest is the ancestral land the DeRis family lives on now... if it's protected from the baddies, then why did you bother leaving it? No parent's dying, no almost getting killed, safe space for (Rian especially) to practice their elements... Unless I missed something, it was a huge hole in their backstory.
With the strength of the idea, I kind of wished this one spent a little more time on the editor's desk! It turned out strong enough that I'll probably read the next in the series, but certainly not right away or because I'm desperate for more.
I almost didn't get through the first twenty pages, because it was so painfully cliche. Girl moves to new place, starts school, sees boy from across room, doesn't speak to him but is instantly intrigued by him. By the second day she's "obsessed" and the first weekend (days three and four in her new home), she's desperate for the weekend to end so she can see this mysterious, handsome loner boy again. Her friends warn her against him and she tries to stay away because she's just not that kind of girl, but he's so breathtaking and hey, his sister is nice to her! Fate takes hold...
UGH!
Those are pretty much the first eight pages or so, so I'm not really giving anything away. If you're like me and you're thinking about quitting, it does end up getting a bit better from there. Certainly the mythology element is fairly unique and I ended up really liking Fionn and Rian (along with their backstories). Megan, Adam and even Aine to a degree, barely make it out of their stereotypes, but hopefully the next book expands them more.
It took me quite a while to get through the first hundred pages because I kept stopping in annoyance, but once the actual plot got going I read it fairly quickly. I'd say the middle is the best, because in the last part of the book the representative from the overall shadowy villain group ended up being pretty pathetic. If the author is going to make her characters so powerful, she needs to come up with better ways around that for the villains or do *something* to make them less laughable.
If I read the next book, I hope the author does a better job explaining all of the rules, mythology and genetics of the Marks than the jumbled monologues we got here. Having the characters repeat "This is a lot of guesswork, of course" doesn't really negate the author herself seemingly doing a bad job keeping it all straight. Also, her explanations leave some really gaping plot holes that either I'm missing something for or she didn't notice. The biggest is the ancestral land the DeRis family lives on now... if it's protected from the baddies, then why did you bother leaving it? No parent's dying, no almost getting killed, safe space for (Rian especially) to practice their elements... Unless I missed something, it was a huge hole in their backstory.
With the strength of the idea, I kind of wished this one spent a little more time on the editor's desk! It turned out strong enough that I'll probably read the next in the series, but certainly not right away or because I'm desperate for more.