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READING THE TBR, DAY 29: Carve the Mark (2017) by Veronica Roth

And with this we have my first DNF book of this TBR challenge. It is very, vanishingly rare for me to not finish a book I have begun. And if I get more than three chapters in, that’s usually it, I’m committed, no matter how much I am hate-reading by that stage.

But this one? Oh, no. I wouldn’t finish this book if you paid me. It is a slog, a torture, a freaking disaster of a YA space epic, far too long and far, far too boring.

I got about 25% of the way in. I gave it that much time, merely because Veronica Roth wrote Divergent and for all the problems I had with how that series progressed, at least the first one had a little something going for it, if only just the fun of taking the odd Faction Quiz. (I’m Erudite, in case you were wondering.) 

But then things were just getting worse, and I bailed hard.

Our story centres on two races who hate each other. The Shotet are brutal and warlike, kind of the TOS-era Klingons of our narrative. The Thuvhe are gentle and spiritual, the… I dunno, Bhuddists, maybe? And both are given a few identifying physical characteristics that make this book feel kind of… unwoke, perhaps? Certainly somewhat problematic.

Cyra is a Shotet, sister to their cruel ruler and his greatest weapon; she’s basically Jane of the Volturi from the Twilight Saga. Meanwhile, Akos is the abducted son of his planet’s revered shaman-style religious leader, and he has powers, too; he’s basically the Harry Potter of this story, except if Harry’s only value was speaking in Parseltongue.

I have no doubt the two of them will get together at some point. Usually, this kind of cross-culture, forbidden, damn-the-man YA romance would be my catnip. Here, I just don’t care.

Now, it’s possible that part of the reason I threw this book from me with extreme prejudice is that I — and this is revealing a lot about me, here, in the interests of fairness — am no stranger to chronic pain. So having it described as  part of Cyra’s “gift” kind of pissed me off. But I think I could have gotten past even that misrepresentation if I was even remotely interested in what else was happening. I was not. 

This book is itself a chronic pain. And, quite honestly, there are no nerve-blockers strong enough.

SCORECARD

TBR DAY 29: Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Veronica Roth
GENRE: YA Science Fiction
PUBLISHED: 2017
TIME ON THE TBR: 2 years.  
PURCHASED FROM: Amazon.
KEEP: Absolutely not!

Published inTBR

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