The Divergent series, which Veronica Roth started at university and which went on to become a major Hollywood blockbuster, was sprawling and silly at times.
However, its heroine was strong and bold and capable, making it a young adult trilogy you could easily get on board with – even if the dialogue was poor and the plotting haphazard.
Carve The Mark is undoubtedly better. More tightly written, less convoluted and, thankfully, the first book in a duology, rather than a seemingly never-ending series, its heroine is also wildly more nuanced and intriguing.
Cyra, of the Shotet tribe which rules a planet where fighting to the death is enshrined in law, is debilitated by crippling pain, an agony her brother wields as a weapon against his enemies.
Her world is all hurt until she meets Akos, a prisoner with a gift for disrupting her pain, but who is desperate to rescue his brother from Shotet clutches.
The question, of course, is: can they overcome their differences and work together?
Carve The Mark fits a very popular slot in YA fiction at the moment – a love story, in space, set against a backdrop of war – but it’s more interesting than most, particularly when dealing with chronic pain, loss, self-hatred and guilt.
The dialogue is more realistic than Roth’s previous work too, and although themes are supernatural and mythical at times, it’s actually rather grounded.
