A review by anagram
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

2.0

Friends, Romans, lend me your ears, and let me tell you something: SETTING SOMETHING IN SPACE DOES NOT MAKE IT SCIENCE FICTION. You can write fantasy novels that include spaceships, planets, and stars, but unless your story is well-researched and explained through gee, I dunno, actual SCIENCE, it is NOT science fiction! The Martian is science fiction. The War of the Worlds is science fiction. Even Cinder can be considered sci fi. But let me tell you what is NOT science fiction:Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth.

To be clear, I didn't like Divergent. At all. But the cover of this bad boy was pretty and the synopsis sounded interesting, so I was like, huh, why not?

My main problem with this book was that it felt like nothing happened. Like sure there was a plot and stuff, but it felt soooooooooo slow. There was no tension. (This might have stemmed from the fact that I had exactly 0 emotional investment in the characters.) It was only my pride that stopped me from giving up completely.

Also, everyone acted like there was a clear divide between Thuvesit and Shotet cultures and stuff, but the book didn't really give off that vibe. The major issues in this world were reduced to minor issues through the eyes of the protagonists, which also didn't really make sense?

BUT it would be unfair to review a book without finding at least a few of its positive traits. Though I didn't really care enough to enjoy the romance, I did appreciate that Cyra and Akos decided to, like, take it slow instead of having their hands all over each other every chance they got. Had I been invested in the characters, I probably would have liked that it stemmed more from "oh, they're a neat person" rather than "oh, they're smokin' hot".

My recommendation: don't read this book if you're looking for sci fi. But hey, if you liked Divergent, you might like this one too.