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aelinwildfire 's review for:

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
4.75
adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

What a wonderful new start to a new series by Veronica Roth.! I LOVED this book.
First off let me say that it took a little getting use to the names and planets, etc. They are quite different then just normal names.

You have Cyra from the Shotet which is not recognized as a people. They are brutal and fierce.

Then there is Akos from Thuvhe. A people who have three oracles. One rising, one sitting, and one falling. He is son to an oracle sitting, his mother Sifa.
His brother is Eijeh, whose currentgift is to be the next oracle.

Currentgift is a gift from the current that runs around space and gives 'life' to the things in the galaxy.
Akos currentgift is interference with the current so he can stop other peoples gifts.
Cyra's currentgift is pain. She holds pain in the inky blackness that flows through her skin and she can project it into other people.

Akos, 14, and Eijeh, 16, get taken from their home by Shotet soldiers and taken across the Divide to the Noavek manor which is where Cyras family lives.
Cyras father dies so her brother, Ryzek, steps in as ruler. And he is just as much a dictator as their father. Ryzeks gift is to trade peoples memories with one of his own.
Ryzek tells Cyra later that Akos can take away her pain from her gift by using his own so when he touches her the inky blackness goes away and so does her pain.
Akos then tells Cyra if whe teaches him to fight he will teach her how to make a pain reliever potion with the flower of Thuvhe.

They end up getting closer and Cyra slowly learns that she may not be everything she was raised to be.
Akos ends up learning to be stronger and how to survive.

The two lead characters in this novel are really empowering and have so much spirit in them. And the ways they change throughout the book are also such a beautiful force.
The background of the Shotet people is very interesting. The reader is lead to believe that they are a savage people but during Akos' time with Cyra I feel like the reader gets a different view. They a wanderers. They are scavengers. They collect pieces of other planets and cultures from around their galaxy when they go on their sovereign. I love it and I think it shows a different more collective side to the Shotet peoples.

The setting in this book is so beautiful and well set up. Thuvhe is an ice planet while Pitha is a water planet. And the list goes on. And the map.! The map is so different and ancient looking.

This book is full of twists and turns and it is absolutely gorgeous in story and depth. <3
If you are thinking about reading this book, do not think, just read it.!