Book Review: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Carve the Mark

by Veronica Roth

Source: Pre-ordered from Indigo

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy/Science Fiction

Synopsis:

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.

Then 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?

Review:

*SPOILER WARNING*

This book was one of my most highly anticipated releases for 2017 and actually pre-ordered it (something I very, very rarely do!). It just sounded really good, and plus I had already really enjoyed Veronica's Divergent series so I was excited to read something else of hers. I'll admit that I got kind of nervous about it just before its release, with all the crazy hype and bad reviews it was getting. But, in the end I decided that I would just go for it - read it for myself and make my own decision, and I'm glad I did.

So, this isn't a very in-depth review (TBH, none of my reviews are...), and, not to make excuses, but that's mostly because it's been months since I read the book, many other plot-lines and characters have been introduced to my mind since, so I honestly can't remember everything that happened, and I tend to write these reviews away from home and my books, so I can't even grab my copy to flip back through. I have just been reading books too quickly lately to be able to keep up with the reviews. Which, I guess, is a good problem to have!? Anyway...

 

It took me a few chapters to get into the story. Part of the issue for me was the pronunciation of the names, but the author had made some videos in which she explained how to pronounce some of the more frequently used names, so finding those helped me get into it a bit more.

I liked Cyra's character, but I think really Akos was my favourite. I really liked Cyra's intensity and sense of rightness & justice... but Akos' loyalty and kindness won me over. I hated Cyra's brother and the way he used her, but it was kind of necessary for her character to become what she was. I also really liked the world. I tend to have difficulty picturing fantasy worlds, and honestly this was no different, but what I was able to picture from the descriptions was fun and different and I liked it.

I quite enjoyed the story, I found it intriguing and captivating, and I honestly couldn't see what the fuss was all about - but please, don't try to enlighten me. I've read some of the reviews and their claims, and I just can't agree with them based on what I read, which is still ok, right? It's still ok for people to have differing opinions? Sometimes I wonder... The only thing I was really disappointed about was that it's not a standalone, and so I have to wait ages for the sequel. Not cool. There should be a warning on new books, stating that they are first in a series/trilogy/duology/whatever so that we can prepare ourselves!

Goodreads rating:

Progress Report - April 2017

You may remember that in February I posted a progress report (check it out here), in which I mentioned that I wanted to make a habit of posting similar posts every month. But with my vacation the end of March, March and April have kind of blurred together into one long month and things just got neglected.

Whoops.

Anywho!! So, in March I read five books, as well as an audio book. They were as follows:

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill - ***** A story about a girl trying to avenge her father's death, and decide whether the man she loves is a good guy or a bad guy. It's full of adventure and innocent romance, and I adored it.

Caraval  by Stephanie Garber - ***** This is a story about the love between sisters (Scarlett & Tella). It's a magical tale of an elaborate game set on a private island. It was dark and weird and had a twist or two, and I just loved it. It definitely lived up to all the hype and anticipation for me.

Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie - *** Kind of cute. This young girl is writing a series of letters to a college admissions officer, explaining the weird things she has encountered as a "babysitter" for her peers, etc. It's all fun and games until the last couple of letters which ruined everything for me.

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - ***** The third book in the Flavia de Luce series. This time Flavia gets involved with gypsies, and helps solves an attempted murder, as well as an old kidnapping/murder case.

Grounded by Katie Klise - **** This one was kinda weird. Similar to Flavia, Dolly is a 12 year old girl who likes a bit of a mystery. Through a kind of creepy and semi-dangerous series of events, she uncovers a cheating swindler in their midst.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio - technically a "re-read") - ***** One of my fave books of all time! If you haven't read it, you must. All I will say is it's magical and takes place in a circus.

In April I also read five books and an audio book. I feel like I probably could have read another, but the last one was really long! So, April's reads were:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - **** I wasn't sure how to feel about this one. The main character, Sam, dies and relives her last day about 10 times, changing things every time. She becomes a completely different person and ends up making very different choices, but in the end she still dies, and I couldn't quite figure out how I was supposed to feel about that.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - ***** Full of weirdness, magic, psychics, ghosts, talking trees. This story follows Blue and her Raven boys (Gansey, Adam, Ronan & Noah) on their quest to find the resting place of Owen Glendower.

Servant's Hall by Margaret Powell - *** A first-hand account of life "below stairs" from a former kitchen servant. She tells the true story of how a servant girl from downstairs married the family's son from upstairs, which helped inspire Downton Abbey (new episode of Downton of Netflix were what inspired me to pick this one up!).

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon - ***** Crazy cute love story. I can't wait for the movie!

Wildwood by Colin Meloy - ***** An adventure-packed story, very reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Prue's baby brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows and taken into the Impassable Wilderness. Prue and her friend Curtis head into the forest to rescue him, and find all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (audio) - ***** I love that this is written in the form of letters and telegrams, which was kind of fun with the audio version, because different actors read the different voices of the characters. I really enjoyed all the little war-time stories that are shared, and the romance we see develop.

Mid-April, seeing that I was already over two-thirds toward my goal of 35 books, I decided to increase my Goodreads goal to 45. So, to date, I have now read 25 out of 45 books and have completed 56% of my new goal. I will increase again in a few months, if I feel it is necessary. I'm really impressed with how much I've been reading this year. Part of me wishes I could read faster (so many books, so little time!), but as it is I'm reading too fast to keep up with writing reviews, so I guess I'll just stick with this pace.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Floral/Botanical Covers

Hey guys! I'm participating (on time??) in this week's Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. The theme this week is a cover theme freebie: anything to do with covers! I took a look through my Good Reads To-Read list and saw a bit of a trend... gorgeous botanical covers!

Of these books, I have only read Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden, but sadly not these beautiful versions. The rest of these books are all on my To-Read list, and primarily piqued my interest because of their beautiful dark floral/botanical covers! Yes, I judge books by their covers!

So, without further ado, here are some of my favourite covers:

1. Wild Beauty by Anna-Maria McLemore

2. Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane

3. And I Darken by Kiersten White

4. The Muse by Jessie Burton

5. Wicked Like A Wildfire by Lana Popovic

6. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

7. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

8. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 

9. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

10. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - this is not an official cover for purchase, this illustrator (Charlotte Day) just made her own beautiful covers for three of Jane Austen's books, and this one in particular fit well with my theme so I included it!