Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Carve the Mark: Free Chapter First Look

I picked this up as a title from the author of Divergent, which I enjoyed, and Arch-Conspirator that I had my reservations about. This story didn't quite grab me as much as I wanted it to.

People are spread throughout the galaxy and there is a shining glowy plasma trail thing in space that changes colour and is somehow linked to some augmentative gifts that the people acquire as they come of age. These gifts seem to be a honing of internal predispositions and are adaptive to each person, often in response to a meaningful event in their lives. In traumatic situations sometimes these gifts awaken early to protect those who are in trouble. The two main characters have strange gifts, one who feels chronic pain and inflicts it on others by touch, and one who stops the flow of the Current that bestows the gifts, stopping a persons powers while he is in contact with them.

The world building in this is pretty cool but I think the story telling falls a little flat. I am a proponent of good prophesy stories (I've said this often) and this story is pinned on certain players who are "Fated" to do certain things. The prophets have an ability to see into the multiplicity of futures, and those Fated are the ones who seem to turn out always at the same point, no matter what path is taken. It does baffle me however that the main antagonist wants to fly in the face of his fate, demonstrating a willingness to believe that such fates can be averted, and yet, he basically sets up his sister to have plenty of opportunity to lean into hers, despite it not being in his best interest.. why would you write a story like that? If you are worried about your sister Defecting, why would you buddy her up with a refugee-slave from the other side? This characters is supposed to be wily and not shortsighted.

Blah fights.. my other Thing is not liking fights, and there are too many. Too much bodily defacement, and even in the horrific violence, not enough realism for me to even engage with it. It's a bit sad.
CW: there is a lot of stimulant use, poisoning, and things so if that's not your bag, then read something else.

I like some of the twisty plots, oppression and resistance, but some of the race memory of language, secret genealogy, blood lines, just feels a bit too magicky.. this semi-magical semi-scifi .. it doesn't really cohere for me. When I think about it that's a little weird because I liked the bloodlines and inheritance stuff in Legendborn, but this left me cold.

Lots of focus on killing, grief, and cutting tattoos into flesh to remember loss.. just feels a bit.. emo.

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cadybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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twilightfanboy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I found the book only really got intresting/better towards the end so I hope the 2nd book will be a bit better i did first notice the 2nd book at the library then realised its a duology so i of course then read this one first. The 2nd book just seemed a bit more interesting so im hoping it'll be better. The writing in the beginning also just seemed a bit off?
Overall i wouldn't say it's a bad book just got a bit boring at times and felt a bit slow.
Also possible spoiler but not really <in the description of the book they say that they are enemies and somewhere in the book say akos and cyra hate each other but there were never any signs of that and I never felt like they were enemies or hate each other which didnt bother i just found it weird that they said they were enemies and wrote they hate each other when they very much did not?>

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michellestoll's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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esterslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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marareading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reading this again was as good as the first time. I love this book. The building of the worlds, wars, and characters. The gifts, dueling families and faith. the characters have so much depth. the world has so much depth and scenery built in. I love the development and twists.

Akos and Cyra are my ultimate enemies to lovers. Having fates given from birth that cannot be changed, and families at odds from across the divide they are told they cannot change. Definitely worth the read, and re-read.

The two sides of this war are so divided by pride and and blinded by what they think they know of the other. One thinking the other is brutal and intense. One thinking the other is weak. While that not being the case. Assuming the other side is a monolith... Having a power to every person and a date that can't be changed on top of that. It is a great read when I put in into perspective of culture, assumptions of humans, and how much we trust in politics & traditions.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed the Divergent series from Veronica Roth and I liked her writing style. This book was challenging with all the new world building and characters. But unlike The Chosen One and Divergent – this storyline was slow-paced and took me a while to get into.

In this world everyone has a gift which they call a currentgift. This book is set from two character’s point of view. The first character is Cyra. She is the sister of the brutal tyrant named Ryzek who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power — a gift in which she hates and is in total agony but her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows. She is determined free herself from her brother’s control. The second character’s point of view is Akos and his currentgift is unusual. He is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the planet of Thuvhe. Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get this brother out alive — no matter what the cost. Akos and Cyra are stuck together in a world they want to get out of and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

The one thing I liked about this book is the multiple POVs, enemies to lovers and the found family tropes. I liked the characters that came from both world who wanted to work together and fix the issues on each planet. Cyra also grew on me during the novel and I liked her character development. I liked Akos from the first chapters because of his actions and his loyalty from the beginning. I just struggled with this book. It was very slow-paced compared to Roth’s other series. I struggled with the world building and the new terminology that I didn’t really understand the first quarter of the novel. Once I got into it, I was just waiting for the big action or the big reveal that didn’t really happen.

I was very disappointed because Roth’s other books are quite strong and this one just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if it was the space aspect of it or the slowness of the novel, I just really struggled to get through this book.

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