The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth
The following review does contain spoilers of the FIRST book in this two book series. Click here to see Hawk's review of the first book - Carve the Mark.
The lives of Cyra Noavek and Akos Kereseth are ruled by their fates, spoken by the oracles at their births. The fates, once determined, are inescapable. Akos is in love with Cyra, in spite of his fate: He will die in service to Cyra’s family. And when Cyra’s father, Lazmet Noavek—a soulless tyrant, thought to be dead—reclaims the Shotet throne, Akos believes his end is closer than ever. As Lazmet ignites a barbaric war, Cyra and Akos are desperate to stop him at any cost. For Cyra, that could mean taking the life of the man who may—or may not—be her father. For Akos, it could mean giving his own. In a stunning twist, the two will discover how fate defines their lives in ways most unexpected.
The conclusion to Carve the Mark- which really continues with the same pace and character personalities of the first book.Okay, so Hawk didn't love the first book. I don't remember loving it but I did find it enjoyable. It's hard for Roth to beat the insane world building she did in Divergent- but she does it again in this series- so I did love that.As I was reading Fates, I thought I would rate it lower than I ended up rating it! I wasn't enthralled and could easily put the book down and go to bed when a chapter was over. The main reason for this, is because each chapter is written from a different characters perspective, and I didn't like all of the characters.
The character I liked the most was Cyra, she is witty and sarcastic and has a good knack for reading people. Our other main character is semi likeable but not entirely likable. He is understandable so you can empathize with him. Teka also deserves honorable mention for likability factor. Really, the thing I liked most was the ending (no spoilers!). I felt like by the end- a good school paper could've been written about this book about the core of a person and black & white answers, and protagonists and antagonists (hello, high school English). There was just something that really stuck with me about how Roth was able to end this book. I will say that I HATED the third and final Divergent book and it made me pretty irritable with Roth, so I really had no expectations for how she would choose to end this series. I was pleasantly surprised!
Because each chapter is written from a different perspective there are so many descriptors every single time. I'm not a big "multiple paragraphs to set up the scene" kind of reader- so I didn't like that at all.I also didn't like some characters (cough, cough, Eijeh!) so his sections were a little more rough. Though, they were still well written. And even though I liked Cisi and Akos, I REALLY liked Cyra, so I would get annoyed when someone elses chapter would overtake hers. She had the personality to propel the book and the others didn't always do it for me.Overall, if you found the first book enjoyable then you should read this one! If you hated the first one, this one is a lot like it- so I would skip it if I were you.If you would like to buy this book, click here
Drink: Loose leaf tea (you can feel like Akos making a concoction)Listen to: Leave the Pieces When You're Gone by The WreckersAlso listen to: Gone Away by Safetysuit
