Title: Carve the Mark
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Carve the Mark #1
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 468
Published: 2017, HarperCollins
My Grade: 3 out of 5 flowers

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift.

Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power — something 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.

Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, 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.
The Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

MY REVIEW

I just recently heard about this book and imediatly felt that I had to read it and decided to take this one on before continuing on my priority-to-read list. I have to say that I kind of regret that decision. It feels wrong to compare this new book by Roth with Divergent, but since it was on the cover it was inevitable. Divergent was one of the best series I have read, this one was just: meh. The introduction was interesting and captivating but the story lost its charm after a while. It was a young adult book written in an unneccesarily complicated  and also confusing way. I had a hard time understanding time and how much of it passed during this story.

I really liked the characters though and the story in itself was very good. Both Cyra and Akos felt real and it was a good mix of them both.

There is no real point in putting a genre label on it, but I really couldn’t tell if it would be classified as more of a sci-fi or fantasy book which was great. I love both genres so it was good that this book held the standard of both.

Even if the story felt original, the characters real, I still don’t feel that this book deserves more than a 3. Mostly because the way it was written. But also because the environment felt a little bit flat. Everything in this world was made up by Roth and probably because she didn’t want to use to many things which might confuse the reader even more, there were not many things in the world so it got a little boring when reading about the same type of plants or animals. Or maybe the ice planet doesn’t have that much life?

To sum up, I didn’t feel this book while reading it and it doesn’t feel fair to give it a 3, but I do. Perhaps the 2nd and final book will be better.