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Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark, Book 1) by Veronica Roth

WAY better than Divergent.

It's a relief to finally have a Young Adult book that's more Adult than Young. This book does not shy away from death or violence, and can be rather brutal at times. The science fiction of it is also a welcome and refreshing break from the countless dystopian novels.

A trend that irritates me in many YA books is that there's always a lot of nothing happening. That's not the case here. Carve the Mark is very well paced, every chapter and scene has meaning and purpose to developing the characters and keeping the story moving forward.

I only have one complaint about this book: the last chapter should be removed.

Don't worry, I won't spoil anything.

The second to last chapter has a pretty significant ending, one the that would do a great job of leading you into the second book. And then you read the last chapter. It's not a bad ending in the way you might be thinking, it's humble and heart warming and gives you a sense of camaraderie amongst the characters. Sounds good, but not when it comes AFTER what would've made for a great ending, it completely downplays the events of the previous chapter as if they weren't that important. It felt like an ending to give you a sense of closure, but in doing so, makes you forget that you're only half way through the story.