katie_kjh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.25
gartina09_readings's review against another edition
Creo que llegué hasta la mitad del libro. Lo dejé al final porque se me estaba haciendo muy pesado el ritmo del libro, parecía como si no avanzara nada la historia. Fue tan molesto que hasta me salté páginas para leer trozos por adelantado, y en parte me enteré del final, con lo cual ya no me apeteció seguir con él.
roguette's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This duet is everything. I love the characters, I love the tension between the different societies, and I love the way each group is given the space to fight for the their beliefs, even though it may be at odds with the main characters.
remingtonjill's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
zoec24's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It just wasn't great and felt a bit too unrealistic. I can accept a twist like Lazmet's survival. But like, every other twist is plot armour and thrown in there weirdly. Overpowered oracles who control this whole thing and are giving me random twists, I'm looking at you. Eijeh was kind of creepy but had a great character arc-I loved that but would have preferred less creepiness. But like, Also, the conflict isn't over-a literal war is on the horizon. Nice scene at the end where they forgive each other for everything though. I liked these books, it was just a poor ending.
Spoiler
The Ogran oracles revelation. Urgh. Yes, I know it was built up to. I still don't like it because it involves literal overpowered oracles. So Cyra's currentgift can't kill Lazmet ecause we pulled her out prematurely but it can stop a literal nuclear bomb. That's an unrealistic twist. Cisi surviving was plot armour-Ast didn't have to stab her somewhere it would take her a literal hour to die and decide not to spend a second stabbing her in the heart. Vakrez switching sides was kind of realistic, but more plot armour on top of the whole switched-as-babies thing. And like, Akos just kills Lazmet in 5 seconds while half starved. And the whole bit where Isae was being blackmailed into war is never resolved. And in terms of human mistakes-One, you gave away the exile colony, come on. Two, Isae, I kind of get why you killed Rysek even if I hate everythig else you do, but lie better unless you want to get blackmailed again into a war-or don't go around killing people to the point where people have to drug you because they're scared of you killing them.basdejong's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable story, starts of a little slow but from page 150 I was at the end very fast.
jakes_booktakes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
junghoseok's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
98% of the reason I read this book is because I was intrigued by Eijeh's character--the villain, Ryzek, has a currentgift (superpower) that allows him to switch memories with people, and Eijeh is an oracle so he can see the future. In the first book Ryzek switched so many memories that they're basically the same person in two bodies, and Eijeh/Ryzek got a "we" POV in this book. Sadly, this character, definitely the most interesting, only got like 4 chapters, and Ryzek (at least his body) dies in the second chapter, so that takes away from what the author could have explored.
Other than that, the book was okay. Too much kissing and spotlights on characters I didn't care about much, but it did pull me in a little more than the first book did. I didn't care much for Cisi but when she used her power on Ast to make him tell the truth I wanted to stand up and cheer. Also--she's definitely the most dangerous character and the one to watch if there are any future installments. Her crazy powerful currentgift that seems so innocuous at first but is actually incredibly dangerous? The fact that she's the power behind the chancellor? Did NOT see that coming.
A lot of this book explored the themes of fate and personal choice and how much they interact, which was interesting to read about and I liked how the author handled it; there were also some twists that I didn't predict, so points for that. The ending was happy, but also a little vague--Eijeh goes home and has a bunch of visions of the future that seemed like they could just be wrapping up the story, but also could bode ill for the future. I do love that she started and ended the book with a prologue and epilogue from Eijeh's POV (see, I'm only here for him). If the author writes a book that actually focuses on Eijeh/Ryzek and that dynamic, I'll read it, but otherwise I'll pass.
This was supposed to be a short, quick review but somehow I got onto a rant.
98% of the reason I read this book is because I was intrigued by Eijeh's character--the villain, Ryzek, has a currentgift (superpower) that allows him to switch memories with people, and Eijeh is an oracle so he can see the future. In the first book Ryzek switched so many memories that they're basically the same person in two bodies, and Eijeh/Ryzek got a "we" POV in this book. Sadly, this character, definitely the most interesting, only got like 4 chapters, and Ryzek (at least his body) dies in the second chapter, so that takes away from what the author could have explored.
Other than that, the book was okay. Too much kissing and spotlights on characters I didn't care about much, but it did pull me in a little more than the first book did. I didn't care much for Cisi but when she used her power on Ast to make him tell the truth I wanted to stand up and cheer. Also--she's definitely the most dangerous character and the one to watch if there are any future installments. Her crazy powerful currentgift that seems so innocuous at first but is actually incredibly dangerous? The fact that she's the power behind the chancellor? Did NOT see that coming.
A lot of this book explored the themes of fate and personal choice and how much they interact, which was interesting to read about and I liked how the author handled it; there were also some twists that I didn't predict, so points for that. The ending was happy, but also a little vague--Eijeh goes home and has a bunch of visions of the future that seemed like they could just be wrapping up the story, but also could bode ill for the future. I do love that she started and ended the book with a prologue and epilogue from Eijeh's POV (see, I'm only here for him). If the author writes a book that actually focuses on Eijeh/Ryzek and that dynamic, I'll read it, but otherwise I'll pass.
This was supposed to be a short, quick review but somehow I got onto a rant.
book_fantasy7's review against another edition
4.0
Great conclusion to the Carve the Mark duology . I wish I could give both books in the series 4.5 stars.