Carve the Mark

Carve the Mark and The Fates Divide 

by Veronica Roth

    Young adult dystopian fiction author Veronica Roth is most famous for her series starting with Divergent. That series was the next big thing after The Hunger Games, it was made into the next movie series made off a dystopian fiction story. However, it ended in flames, in my opinion and at least a few people agree because there hasn't been another big movie series inspired by a new fiction story. (Dune is an old story and its movie is being remade, so that doesn’t count).

The first three books of Divergent were AMAZING. Roth created a wonderful disaster of a world filled with human divisions called “factions”. Tris being a bad-ass female character, Four being the tragic love interest, and how they were fighting for equality, but then everything in the fourth book took a turn no one expected. Roth brought in elements that were never mentioned or even hinted at in the series before, such as new technology, a veil, a split reality, humans conducting a human experiment (like in the Maze Runner).

It came out of nowhere.

She might have been going for that shock factor, but it came off like Roth needed to finish the story in 50 pages and she was in a corner that she couldn't get out of without bending the rules of the world that she made.

Now, however, I suspect something totally different happened. Roth simply grew into her true writing style, and she excelled in the next duology that she wrote.

Carve the Mark, and The Fates Divide, revealed that her true talent is not with semi-realistic fiction, but in completely fiction worlds. Roth created a beautiful setting in space. It felt otherworldly and just as big as Star Wars and crafted beautifully. She imagined rich cultures with different traditions as well as everyone grew into “currentgifts” when they reached puberty. The gift matches the person's personality and what the universe senses they need and is said to come from the “current” that flew through the universe that is described as a river of light in the heavens. 

The story follows two very different people, Akos from the coldest planet, and Cyra who was from the coldest culture. These two could not be more different and to help, their cultures despised each other. Akos is kind despite what’s happened to him, while Cyra was born into basically royalty but despises her life. Cyra’s currentgifts was to cause pain with just a touch, but her gift runs over and caused her constant unbearable pain, and she was used as her family’s secret weapon. If anyone questioned their actions, she was forced to torture them. 

Akos’s currentgift was much more special. He could stop other’s currentgifts. Once he was discovered, he was captured and attached to Cyra’s so her could help her manger her pain and she could finally leave their dark home and planet to follow their ancestor’s custom of sailing the universe along the Current. 

After spending months together, they grow close and find out that their paths had crossed way before they had thought.

I loved this duology, it was so carefully thought out and planned, the second novel shocked me with the major twist of this story, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It does have some very dark elements, it deals with war, murder, and loss. But, it is a dystopian, it’s not a feel-good book, and I thought it was really well done and a great use of Roth’s imagination and talent. 

:)