Carve The Mark is a hilariously thrilling novel about war, pain and love.

In Carve The Mark the current flows through every living being and bestows a gift on every person. The current can also gift a family with certain fates (A fate is something that happens in every version of a person’s lifetime). Cyra and Akos are 2 different people from rival countries living on the same planet and they both believe their gifts and fates are a curse. Cyra’s gift makes her always feel pain and she can  
transfer it for a short time to others when she touches them and Akos can’t feel the current which therefore lets him cancel out all current gifts. Cyra’s older brother is a brutal tyrant who is determined to avoid his fate so when he kidnaps Akos and his brother Eijeh Akos is thrust into Cyras world. Both Cyra and Akos learn more about each other and soon learn that their fates and gifts may not be a curse.

I personally love Veronica Roth’s writing; I thought the Divergent series was brilliant so I was just as skeptical as I was excited to read Carve the Mark because I was worried that I wouldn’t love it as much as Divergent, but it did not disappoint! Carve The Mark is an amazing story that focuses on race quite a lot. Cyra and Akos follow 2 different “religions” and are a part of 2 different “people” which pushes the idea of racism throughout the book which was interesting. It created a whole new world because the 2 rival countries Thuvhe and Shotet are so different. I loved learning about the different countries and what makes them both special. This book is full of twists and turns and keeps your attention throughout the whole book which I love. Sometimes when I read this book I felt as if I were in a movie  
because everything was described with such detail that I could create a picture in my mind. Veronica Roth created a world full of mystery and kept me thinking but she didn’t confuse me. Everything was laid out for me to imagine which I liked. The characters of Cyra and Akos were developed really well throughout the book which kept them interesting and relevant. Cyra’s character particularly interested me because in the back of the novel Roth talks about how she modelled Cyra off of struggling female teenagers with chronic pain; I never understood this until I was halfway through the book and then I began to fully understand Cyras pain. Overall, Veronica Roth creates a beautiful tale of love and war through her imaginative thinking and descriptive words. I am excited to start the next book in the Duology, “The Fates Divide” and continue to learn about the world that Roth has created. I recommend this novel for everyone because no matter what age you are I am sure you will either be able to relate to the characters or fall in love with this twisting tale of war, romance and self acceptance.

5/5 for an amazing story that is fit for every age!

Erin Year 8