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ellsky 's review for:
Carve the Mark
by Veronica Roth
Ok, so I slept on it, and in the morning, my thoughts are the same... Meh.
I didn't like it or hate it. I didn't feel better or worse after reading it. I don't think I'll pick up the second in the duology when it comes out. I was reading this for a book club that I'll be attending in a few days, and if not for that, I likely wouldn't have finished it.
The world that Roth created was very interesting, and I did really enjoy the glimpses we got of that. However, I never felt connected to the characters. I didn't really feel invested in what happened to them. Maybe there were too many characters, making it harder to give each of them strong personalities. Even Akos wasn't as fleshed-out as I'd hoped. However, Cyra definitely was. I did feel like we got to know a lot about her and what made her who she is. But since the book was written from both Cyra's AND Akos's perspectives, I feel that his character development was not quite as realized. For example,
I did enjoy the slow development of the relationship between Cyra and Akos. It felt natural for them to become friends as they each learned more about the others' motivations for their choices. And the sweet tentativeness that Roth used to show their growing romantic feelings for each other was a breath of fresh air over a lot of other books I've read.
Another thing that bothered me was right after Cyra and Akos were both in prison, and Cyra had been forced to use her powers on Akos. The next chapter was from Akos's perspective, and he was suddenly free from the prison and the torture. What? How? Huh??? I know it was explained a while later that the renegades rescued him at a later date, but because it wasn't for quite a while until it was explained, I kept expecting there to have been another as-yet-unseen character who had the power to make him see hallucinations so that he would think he was free and meeting up with his mother and his sister and Ori. I have seen that situation happen many times in books and movies, so I kept expecting it to pop up here. I must say, I was a little disappointed when that wasn't the case. Akos getting rescued was way too easy.
At the end of the book, it was "revealed" that Cyra was not really Ryzek's biological sister. I definitely saw that coming from a mile away. My thoughts are that the fates that were read out are going to show something like Cyra was really one of the Kereseths, and Akos was really one of the Noaveks. The fates stated that the Kereseth child would be in service to the Noaveks, which could easily be seen by Cyra's "service" to her brother and father. And also that the Noavek child would cross the Divide, which could easily be seen by Akos growing up with the Kereseths. Oh well, I'll probably never find out if I don't read the second book. Or look for spoilers when it comes out just to satisfy my curiosity on this point.
Overall, not a book I will be recommending to anyone. There are a lot of other books in this genre that I do love and would recommend instead.
Happy reading everyone!
I didn't like it or hate it. I didn't feel better or worse after reading it. I don't think I'll pick up the second in the duology when it comes out. I was reading this for a book club that I'll be attending in a few days, and if not for that, I likely wouldn't have finished it.
The world that Roth created was very interesting, and I did really enjoy the glimpses we got of that. However, I never felt connected to the characters. I didn't really feel invested in what happened to them. Maybe there were too many characters, making it harder to give each of them strong personalities. Even Akos wasn't as fleshed-out as I'd hoped. However, Cyra definitely was. I did feel like we got to know a lot about her and what made her who she is. But since the book was written from both Cyra's AND Akos's perspectives, I feel that his character development was not quite as realized. For example,
Spoiler
after Akos killen Suzao in the arena, he was clearly out of it and distraught. Couldn't even remember taking the shower after, etc. But then this isn't really explored as a deeper part of what makes Akos who he is. Even a few more paragraphs from his perspective stating how he felt would have made a huge difference.I did enjoy the slow development of the relationship between Cyra and Akos. It felt natural for them to become friends as they each learned more about the others' motivations for their choices. And the sweet tentativeness that Roth used to show their growing romantic feelings for each other was a breath of fresh air over a lot of other books I've read.
Another thing that bothered me was right after Cyra and Akos were both in prison, and Cyra had been forced to use her powers on Akos. The next chapter was from Akos's perspective, and he was suddenly free from the prison and the torture. What? How? Huh??? I know it was explained a while later that the renegades rescued him at a later date, but because it wasn't for quite a while until it was explained, I kept expecting there to have been another as-yet-unseen character who had the power to make him see hallucinations so that he would think he was free and meeting up with his mother and his sister and Ori. I have seen that situation happen many times in books and movies, so I kept expecting it to pop up here. I must say, I was a little disappointed when that wasn't the case. Akos getting rescued was way too easy.
At the end of the book, it was "revealed" that Cyra was not really Ryzek's biological sister. I definitely saw that coming from a mile away. My thoughts are that the fates that were read out are going to show something like Cyra was really one of the Kereseths, and Akos was really one of the Noaveks. The fates stated that the Kereseth child would be in service to the Noaveks, which could easily be seen by Cyra's "service" to her brother and father. And also that the Noavek child would cross the Divide, which could easily be seen by Akos growing up with the Kereseths. Oh well, I'll probably never find out if I don't read the second book. Or look for spoilers when it comes out just to satisfy my curiosity on this point.
Overall, not a book I will be recommending to anyone. There are a lot of other books in this genre that I do love and would recommend instead.
Happy reading everyone!