Carve the Mark by: Veronica Roth

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science- Fiction
Published: January 17, 2017 by: Katherine Tegan Books
Pages: 468
Rating: 4/5 stars

Cyra is a Shotet, a brutal group of people on a mysterious planet that are in constant war with the Thuvhe. In Cyra's world, people have current gifts that stay with them all their life. For Cyra, that means a constant pain that she can put unto others, and that her ruthless brother has been willing to exploit. Akos is a Thuvhe, captured by Shotet soldiers and tortured by Cyra's brother. But when Cyra and Akos start forming a connection, they put both of their lives in danger, as well as the fate of their galaxy.

DISCLAIMER: This book has been called out for being problematic, including being racist towards members of the indigenous community and to people of North African heritage. It has also been said to be abelist to people who experience chronic pain. Since I do not belong to any of these groups, I cannot comment on these issues, I can only comment on my honest opinions on the book. If you are a member of any of these communities, please be mindful when reading this book and be sure to read reviews from people who belong to these groups.

I was really surprised by this book! I went into it kind of dubious because I'm not the hugest fan of science fiction, but I was really surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was fast-paced and exciting, and left me wondering what would happen next.

I really liked the plot of this book. It had a lot of plot twists and turns, and I was thoroughly engaged through it all! I did not get bored one bit, which really shocked me because I usually find sci-fi quite boring. But Roth provided a lot of elements in the book that kept the plot super intriguing.

I thought the characters fell a bit flat in this book. I wanted to know a bit more about them, especially the antagonist, Cyra's brother. I didn't mind Akos and Cyra, but I really wanted a glimpse into the villain's mind to see his inner motifs and what drove him to where he was. I don't think this book's characters really struck me, despite me being fully taken by plot.

So overall, I loved the plot, but wanted a bit more on characters. But I think that this book was really enjoyable, you just need to make sure that you take its controversies into consideration. Never, ever read something that you're not comfortable with or that may offend you.

Have you read Carve the Mark? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Four Series ( Divergent Spinoff) By: Veronica Roth

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopia
Published: July 8, 2014 by: Harper Collins

* if you have not read the Divergent series, do not read this review as it may contain spoilers*

 This review is long overdue. I have wanted to share this amazing series forever. A spinoff of the bestselling Divergent series, The Four Series tells the story of Tobias, a 16-year old Abnegation member about to make his faction choice at The Choosing Ceremony. Going against his father's wishes, Tobias chooses the Dauntless faction. There, he will have to prove is bravery, fight past rivals and uncover the secrets of his "dead" mother's past. Told in 4 parts, this series explains about Tobias' life right up to when he met Tris Prior.

This book was flawless. Being a huge fan of the Divergent series, reading this book was quite exciting for me. I was hooked. I loved how the author wrote this book, explaining in detail about Tobias' past life. While reading Divergent, I was always curious about Tobias. This cleared up a lot of my questions.

This series was one of those spinoffs that you have to read after reading the original series. There were a lot of parts in this book that connected back to the Divergent books, so it might be confusing for someone to read this series first. However, both series were amazing.

Divergent is just one of those series that you never get tired of. After hearing about this spinoff, I was sooooo excited to hear more of this story. I applaud Veronica Roth for creating two powerful and captivating series. Overall, I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. If you loved Divergent, then this book is exactly for you.

Bye for Now!

Paperback Princess