Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Carve the Mark: Free Chapter First Look by Veronica Roth

16 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

ajboyd_'s review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

bookishblackgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

TL;DR: Boring plot, disconnect from the characters, and can't remember what's going on
I've never seen a plot that was so convoluted, but nonexistent at the same time. While reading, I found myself not remembering exactly what was going on, and the entire affair of finishing this book was extremely boring.

Ryzek being emphasized as the biggest villain of the novel and cause for everyone's suffering, his death would end everything. That was the only reason I kept reading, to finally see the end, but he was spared. All of this teasing for one of the most unsatisfying endings in a book I didn't even really like.

Almost DNF but finished after four months simply because my desire to be done with the whole thing outweighed mine to move on with another book. I rate 2.5 because there were some moments the bok managed to catch my interest, but they were few and far between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness and Death

Minor: Death of parent

megannoelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Chronic illness and Self harm

kazbrekkercore's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

 

2/5 

The current flows through everyone, and every living thing, bestowing each human with a unique gift. On one side of the planet, in Thuvhe, lives Akos not yet with a currentgift, fated child of one of the three oracles. On the other side, Shotet, lives Cyra, whos currentgift brings her only pain, fated sister of her country's brutal sovereign. They live separate lives until Akos is captured by the Shotet, and joins forces with Cyra. 

This book was really close to a DNF for me. The concept was intriguing, but this book had almost no action, and what little it did seemed to pass in slow motion because of the writing style. I’m also still not entirely sure what the details of Cyra’s currentgift were, it wasn’t explained very well. Finally, because I don't like leaving all negative reviews, I really liked Akos's character, he seemed pretty relatable. I would not read this book again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and War

pillowforte's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Self harm