Roth creates new worlds so vividly that I felt I was in the Thuvhe temple and the palace-like Noavek manor.
Thirteen-year-old Akos lives in frozen Thuvhe where his father cultivates hushflowers, the lifeblood of the universe, and his mother, one of Thuvhe's three oracles, holds a position of power.
When Shotet soldiers invade their house, Akos promises his father he will bring his brother home just before his father is slaughtered. From that moment Akos lives for one thing alone – to fulfil his promise.
Cyra is daughter to the Shotet leader, Thuvhe's arch enemy. Her current gift is a constant source of pain as it courses through her veins. This current gift can also kill. Akos and Cyra's lives become entwined when his current gift - a physical ability to short-circuit her pain - is discovered. Their journey from combative co-existence to something very different is mesmerising.
Carve the Mark's twists are so skillfully placed that it was agony to have to walk away without finding out what would happen next.
Believe me.
You will want to know.
Title: Carve the Mark
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins, $19.99
Publication Date: 18 January 2017
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780008159498
For ages: 13 years +
Type: Young Adult Fiction
