Fans of Star Wars and Divergent will revel in internationally bestselling author Veronica Roth’s stunning new science-fiction fantasy series.
On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them … gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world?
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 from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.
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I really enjoyed Cyra. She’s a strong character that must learn to live with her current gift. Akos is the perfect balance to Cyra and their journey throughout the story is a fun read. I can’t wait to read book two in the series.
So I was torn on this book. I picked it up on the strength of Divergent and I liked it enough to recommend it however I do agree with some of the other reviews I read that it moved very slow. The plot was very drawn out but it definitely set it up nicely for book 2 The Fates Divide which I also just finished which was way better, richer, we get to see more of the galaxy that Cyra and Akos live in and right I’m getting ahead of myself lol so in Carve the Mark we meet Akos Kereseth and Cyra Novek both living on the planet of Thuve though on Cyra belongs to the nation people of Shotet who are in a “civil dispute” with the Thuvesites over their right to basically exist on the planet. The Shotet are a warrior race of people who were originally space wanderers taking their giant sojourn ship each season through the galaxy following the current stream where it leads them to a planet that they scavenge taking the garbage of one people and making it into something new. Like I said Carve the Mark really sets up the events for the Fates Divide and introduces us to the main characters and the world they live in.
Honestly, this is my favorite book by Veronica Roth! There’s so much detail, and nothing like I’ve ever read before!
Veronica’s new book – Carve the Mark, takes place in another world, in another galaxy and I personally would like to be there. The book is told from the perspective of Sierra and Akos, two boys from enemy nations that exist on the same planet.
Unlike her former best seller books, here in this one, the beginning was a little slow and incomprehensible, I felt I wasn’t connecting, but I kept on reading, and lucky for me to do so. After this introduction came a fantastic book.
The characters are lovely, and the places are amazing, Veronica’s imagination, once again, does wonder!
I know that I make arguments about how excellent the book is, but remember that some things weren’t so. For example, the brother of Akos, Elijah, is described at first as a durable man who is hard to change his indifferent expression, but later on, he is described as a weeping man, These things cannot coexist. Throughout the book there are a few other small mistakes that I assume will be corrected in the next edition, but they don’t detract from the pleasure of this book.
The idea was beautiful and original, and I certainly want to read the next one.
I loved Roth’s Divergent trilogy, and was excited to see this new series out. While I thought her take on the characters was really interesting–it’s almost a role reversal in some ways with the girl being a bit more “tough” than the “hero”–though both main characters fit the hero mold. I would have liked a bit more world building. A few places were a little hard to understand the concepts of the different worlds and some of the motivations of the characters/people groups were a little muddied. Overall, a good read. I’d recommend it!
If you are a person like me who love books that have their own little galaxy and rulers and war. This is for you. Its a journey between Akos and Cyra, Cyra learns courage and more bravery. Akos learns many life lessons and they secretly love each other cant wait to read the 2 book!!!
Veronica Roth Strikes once more! This book is wonderful, has great characters, but, as with lots of reads, is quite sad. It offers happiness with tears, and words with feelings, creating something compelling and soothing, yet unpredictable. Recommended for all fans of the wonderful Veronica Roth.
I absolutely loved this series!!! It starts off slow but really gets interesting if you keep reading!! If you want a romantic/ sci fi fantasy story this is the book for you!!!
I liked the story, it was definitely up my alley. However, it just didn’t capture me in the way some other novels have.
I had reviews about this book and there were a few nay-sayers about it, but it was a good read and I kept finding myself finding time in my schedule for it. I thought her world building and characters were really good. Some people had said it was light-skinned against the dark-skinned and talking about the symbolism. I say phooey! I’m a writer and sometimes a story is just story telling with no symbolism. It’s a lot different than Divergent, but it should be, because creative authors should write different types of stories. Great job, Veronica Roth.
By the end I really enjoyed this book, but it took awhile to get into as there isn’t a lot of explanation of the world and its history until well into the book. It has enough potential, though, that I stuck with it and will look forward to reading the next in the series.
Veronica Roth strikes gold again with “Carve the Mark.” From an amazing storyteller comes another great tale. Super original setting and characters. “Carve the Mark” is first of a two-book series that commands your attention with intriguing dialogue and up and down twists. I highly recommend this book/series.
It seems like it took me ages to finish the story. I understand what everyone talked about in the review, the story is slow, but I didn’t see it as a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! 🙂
The story is set in a galaxy, where current flows through everything, planets and people alike. It powers everything, some observe it, some worship it. It gives people special gifts as they grow up, like superpowers, that are very unique to the individual and their life.
On the planet Thuvhe, Akos is a son of a farmer and an oracle. He has a sister and a brother. Oracles are very important, they see futures and fates. When a child is born with fate, every future with lead to the same outcome.
They are not the only ones living on the planet, Shotet used to be a nomadic nation, scavenging for discarded treasured, but now stationed on the same planet, the two nations are anything but friendly. I love the relationship between the two, how it was portraited, especially when we see the history retold from a different perspective.
One day Shotet comes for the oracle, but their mother is nowhere to be found, so they take Akos and his brother, who is fated to be the next Oracle. While his brother is kept close, Akos is sent away to train and when he returns, he is assigned to Cyra, the sister of the ruler of Shotet. Akos is determined to escape and to save his brother, but with a horrible ruler taking his memories, there might not be much to save after.
My favorite storyline was Cyra’s. The way she dealt with her gift and how she was being used for so long, it made me feel for her and root for her from the start. I love her personality, she is a straightforward, no-nonsense kind of girl. 🙂
I love the writing and the storyline and can’t wait to read more. 🙂
Carve the Mark is a unique read that left me wanting more, but not in a good way. I stuck with this one hoping it would suck me in and I’d find myself on an epic adventure through space, but I didn’t feel any excitement in this one. I often found my mind wandering away from the story and wouldn’t want to pick up my Kindle to read in the afternoons. After loving the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, I had high expectations for Carve the Mark, which it unfortunately didn’t meet.
This was a 5 star page turner, and a 4 star creepy good.
I always read reviews on books before getting it myself. I was on the fence with this one because of the seriously harsh reviews on Goodreads. I finally caved after a few months because I love Roth’s other books. I do not know how the people on GR came up with the conclusions they came up with. This is a scifi fiction story and a very detailed one. I loved the concept. I wish the romance between the two characters would come on already but overall the way everything plays out and the different planets and how they live is pretty amazing. Its several stories within itself. I don’t know where people are seeing these extra crazy details. It wasn’t my favorite book by her but I liked the characters enough I want to see where they go next. I like the idea of current gifts and how everyone has one, even if they don’t mean or do really anything, everyone has something special about them. I can’t promise you will love this book but it is very much worth a listen to me.
If there was an Oscars for books, Carve the Mark would hands down win Best Cinematography.
The setting that Roth has built for us was STUNNING. From the blood red hushflowers, to the suspended raindrop buildings of Shissa, the currentstream, the dark tendrils underneath Cyra’s skin, I could go on and on about how beautifully alive this world was.
This is one of those books that I would love to see on the big screen JUST to see those beautiful pictures of currentgifts and ice planets come to life in front of my eyes.
The characters in this novel were just as bright and alive as the setting. Cyra Noavek goes through one of the most incredible character arks I’ve ever seen. We truly watch her transform from a girl who believes that she deserves pain, deserves submission, a girl who struggles with her self image and strength, to this kick ass motherfucking heroine. Cyra was the star of the show, she was an inspiration to me truly.
AND IT DOESN’T STOP THERE, it wasn’t even just Cyra that was fantastic. It was the whole motherfucking cast. I don’t how Roth was able to maintain so many characters at once but she did. They were all twisted, all shades of grey, all so incredibly alive (if that makes sense lol). Ryzek was definitely one of my favorites as well: the dark ruler of Shotet that follows around his dead dad’s orders, not into killing people but conditioned into it.
“Men like Ryzek Noavek were not born; they were made.”
AND WE GET TO SEE HIM BE MADE INTO IT!!! It’s rare an author shows such depth in the villain, AND I FUCKING LOVED IT.
And Akos, the second main character, was just as fantastic. He wasn’t your cookie cutter love interest, he was quirky and unique all the way down to his constant blushing.
I know at this point in time, you’re wondering why the fuck I gave this novel 4 stars instead of 5 since I’m gushing like a five year old at how much i loved it
And to put this simply I’ll explain like this: have you ever been to the movie to see a movie and it is like 3 hours long, and you’re sitting there half way through it asking yourself, “oh my god it’s still not over?”
…. That’s what the plot felt like in Carve the Mark.
While the characters and setting were spot on, the plot was dragged on and on. It seemed at times that Roth sacrificed utility for beauty. For example, the scene with the dancer from Orgra was completely unnecessary to the plot or character development. It was beautiful, and it did paint a pretty picture of dancers in skin tight suits with fire sticks, but at the end of the day it was just filler. Many scenes that were added in felt exactly like turkey stuffing.
It made the book seem tediously never ending; scene after scene after scene… at some point I sat there and I was like “I’m halfway through this book and I’m just now finally sensing a plot.”
It really weighed the story and characters down, because at the end of the day, no matter how kickass the characters are, no one wants to sit through a 3 hour movie of never ending, turkey stuffing plot points.
The final verdict: 4.5 stars. But you bet your ass I’m getting my hands on the second book.
Carve The Mark is just another amazing book written by an amazing author. Veronica Roth has yet released another great book. I fell in love with all the characters immediatly, it is so well written! It’s a page-turner for sure and has your heart beating violently. I would recommend this book, and the second The Fates Divide.
I was disappointed. Though I enjoyed her world building and characters, it fell flat for me. I guess, when comparing it to the massive world of her other series, this is why? I’m not sure, however, I will recommend it!
Audio: I did listen to this book in audio. Wasn’t a fan of the voice swap. It changed the feel of the book too much.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this story or not. As many of my friends and readers know, I struggle with fantasy stories and suspending my disbelief. But I really enjoyed the mix of fantasy and science fiction in this first book! In Roth’s universe, all of these planets in connected systems have a “Current” that runs through them and gives people “Current gifts” when they come of age, usually in their teens. But really, this is sort of a Romeo and Juliet story. A tale of two rival factions/families that inhabit the same planet. It’s about corruption and lies. And it’s about finding love in the least likely of places. I know there was a lot of talk in the book community about Roth making the current gift for the main character, Cyra, the gift of pain, and how it commented on people suffering from pain, how they don’t feel it’s a gift. But I really didn’t see it, nor the connection to any real life ailments. I was pleased with the way Roth handled every person’s current gift and how it affected them. When I finished the audiobook, I immediately bought the second in the series. I hope to listen to that one next!
(Audiobook edition)