Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth | Book Review
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth | Book Review
“I may be in pain, but I am not weak.” – Veronica Roth, Carve the Mark
So I really enjoyed this book, for a number of reasons. When I got halfway through this book I heard there were some issues people have found with this book, namely racism, bad portrayal of chronic illness and issues with scarification. Now, I didn’t notice issues with the racism. This is not to say they aren’t there, I realise coming from a place of privilege means that I’m not as aware as I’d like to be about these issues. I read Veronica Roth’s response to the allegations and it raised issues I hadn’t even noticed. Scarification was another issue I’ve heard people talk about and I think I can see why this is an issue, though I really don’t feel comfortable commenting on it.
So that being said, this is a review of my enjoyment of the book. To those who were negatively affected by content in this book – I hear you, I see you, and I understand. But I have my reasons for really liking this book.
One of the main reasons I really enjoyed this book is the next hot point of contention:
Representation of Chronic Illness
This is what made me really bond with this book. I already loved the story anyway from a very superficial level. I love sci-fi, especially when space is involved and magic and this book had the perfect combo for me, I’ll get more into that later. As a person who suffers from a chronic illness that causes me pain daily, I really enjoyed reading a book where one of the main characters was suffering from pain. Pain isn’t something we see represented overly well in fiction. We have these epic fight scenes and people getting hurt then still continuing like nothing had happened. These are extreme examples. What I also find hilarious is people who get put of bed without groaning, who run from demons etc and they don’t feel jarring pain with every stride, where I feel pain with every step I take on a gentle walk.
So to see pain represented in some way in this novel really spoke to me. Listening to it as an audiobook also added to this as the narrator, Emily Rankin, really conveyed the pain in her voice.
Obviously the pain represented in this novel was different to my pain. But I felt a kinship with her as she tried to take painkillers and they didn’t work. I felt envious that she had a way to stop the pain completely, albeit briefly.
So – for me this representation really helped me in a time where I’m struggling with coming to terms with my failing health.
“Pain had a way of breaking time down. I thought about the next minute, the next hour. There wasn’t enough space in my mind to put all those pieces together, to find words to summarize the whole of it. But the “keep going” part, I knew the words for.
“Find another reason to go on,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be a good one, or a noble one. It just has to be a reason.”
― Veronica Roth, Carve the Mark
Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark, #1) by Veronica Roth Published by Katherine Tegen Books on January 17th 2017
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 468
Goodreads
In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift.
Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.
Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost.
Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?
Carve the Mark is Veronica Roth's stunning portrayal of the power of friendship—and love—in a galaxy filled with unexpected gifts.
This novel is quite complex and the world building has been clearly thought out and developed – though I will admit some bits do confuse me a little still, though this could be due to the fact that I listened to it on an audiobook rather than read it. I heard people were confused with the complex names but they were all developed to represent the cultures of the people who owned them so I appreciated the thought behind it.
The story mostly focusses on two races – the Shotet and the Thuvhe. The Shotet are a harsh race who face many hardships and as a result are a bit more rough around the edges, whereas the Thuvhe were portrayed as the ‘good guys’ (but I’m not sure this is the case). There are two main characters and are from either side of The Divide – where the respective races each live. It was really interesting to see both sides of the story and I feel that the next instalment will show us Thuvhe and show us that they aren’t as innocent as we’re made to believe.
There were a number of twists that I wasn’t quite expecting or I hadn’t seen coming, and I’m certain there are more coming. I can’t wait!
“What a person did when they were in pain said a lot about them.”
― Veronica Roth, Carve the Mark
I found it a bit jarring at the beginning as we start with Akos, then we’re with Cyra for the next handful of chapters. I got confused and thought that the story wasn’t going to go back to Akos’ POV because it was with her for so long. That being said I really enjoyed her chapters at the beginning. It gave us an overview of why she was the way she was, and also did a fair bit of world building without shoving it in your face.
I liked the way the story progressed and was from each of their POVs at relevant points. There wasn’t much repetition and we got to learn so much from the culture and what their motivations were.
The narration was performed beautifully. I loved how Emily Rankin very clearly altered her voice to show the different characters so I always knew when it was her brother speaking by the condescension in his voice. She portrayed the pain very well and I was completely engaged in her performance. Same for Austin Butler. I really enjoyed his performance as well, his voice pulling me in constantly. He wasn’t as skilled as Emily in portraying the different voices but I didn’t find myself confused so it was still a really good job.
Akos. I love his name – I have an affinity for people who have K in their name, always have. Not sure why! Anyway I really enjoyed his character. We start off by meeting him when he’s very young and learn that he blushes easily, showing that he has a kind and innocent heart. We get a bit of history of his people before bam, tragedy strikes.
Over the course of the book we seem him develop. He struggles with the idea of taking life, which I love and is something that is often mirrored in my own writing, though it’s not done in a cliche way. It’s little things, like taking the life of the equivalent of an animal and he marks it on his arm to show respect. He grows throughout the story, making choices that backfire on him and you see him deal with the consequences and see how they affect him.
Cyra. Now she’s a character. Blind to her own suffering and blaming herself all the time. There’s a quote that really stuck out to me, that no matter what people say or do she feels undeserving of their love because of the things she has done. I feel a kinship to her, not just because of the chronic illness I mentioned earlier, but also because of this. Now, I’ve never done the things she’s done, obviously, but her feelings are very relatable to me as I’ve often felt that isolation.
She shows clear development as a person throughout the story. I don’t want to spoil things but she makes choices you wouldn’t expect of her nature because of the changes she’s undertaken.
The supporting characters are also all very well developed, there are no characters just shoved in there as filler which I really enjoyed.
So thanks for reading this. This came out much longer than any review I’ve done for a while. I didn’t initially feel comfortable reviewing this book as I know there are a lot of people who had reasons for not liking it, but I can’t deny that I enjoyed it. It’s also frustrating to see books that also have many issues highlighted by readers being slated for similar reasons but still being lauded by everyone anyway. So. I do recommend this book to you – but bear in mind what others have said and go into it with wide eyes. If it’s something that is likely to hurt you then definitely steer clear.
Not all books are for everybody but this one is for me. I hope you can understand that.
14 Comments
I have Carve the Mark on my bookshelf (I got an ARC of it from a fellow blogger but I’ve yet to read it), and your review makes me want to pick it up soon! You should pick up When Planets Fall by Abby J. Reed–it’s a YA sci-fi novel in which the characters deal with chronic illness and disabilities, and I loved it. 🙂
Yey amazing! Thank you, and I’ll deffo be checking that one out!
I’m glad that you found a book that you were able to relate to. I haven’t read this book and it kind of seems confusing. I loved reading your review! 🙂
Representation matters. Haven’t read it yet but I’m glad you found a book that you could relate to. Great review!
Thank you! It was great to read it
Love the review. Should pick up the book soon if I get passed the Divergent triology.
Did you ever manage to?
Not yet. Unfortunately, I benefits too busy with my huge pile of books and just been side tracked
I forgive you haha!
It’s nice to see somebody taking the time to write a thought out review of this book, I haven’t read it but I saw all the backlash and I agree that not everyone will see the racism and that is a problem but I also think unfortunately that too many people jumped on the bandwagon and started hating on it just because it was a popular thing to do. So thanks for being honest about enjoying it and for such a full review 😊
I have chronic pain too and your review has encouraged me to finally pick up Carve the Mark. I’d avoided it for the reasons you mentioned but I do still own a copy.
Honestly I really enjoyed it. That being said it’s not for everyone so I hope you enjoy!
This one sounds interesting. Adding to my list. Great review!
Yay I’m glad!