The Carrier of the Mark
Author: Leigh Fallon
Series: Carrier #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Summary:
This electrifying debut novel was first discovered on inkpop.com, the online community for aspiring writers, The Carrier of the Mark sizzles with unbridled romance, a unique supernatural hook, and a breathtaking Irish setting, and will entice fans of the Need series by Carrie Jones and the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast.
First Sentence: Flames engulfed the boat, and my lungs ached as dark, noxious smoke filled the air.
I received an ARC of The Carrier of the Mark through ARCycling. Thank you ARCycling! (:
My Review:
When I hear the words The Carrier of the Mark, the next thing I immediately think of is Twilight. I thought people were exaggerating about how alike The Carrier of the Mark is compared to Twilight, but sadly, I have to apologize to them. After I read The Carrier of the Mark myself, I realized that I had underestimated how similar the two books are. (Please note that I read Twilight more than five years ago, and if I can recognize tons of similarities between these two books, then that’s definitely bad news.) I’m not even going to list all the similarities between The Carrier of the Mark and Twilight since there are probably tons of other reviews out there that have already done that and there’s nothing new I can add to that already long list.
My first day at a new school…again. (ARC 5)
The Carrier of the Mark could have been good, despite it’s strong similarities to Twilight. I mean, take Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout for an example. Obsidian is very similar to Twilight too, but the way Jennifer L. Armentrout wrote it made it actually enjoyable to read and stand out from all the other Twilight-like books. The Carrier of the Mark could have been like that, but sadly, it wasn’t.
In my opinion, the worse part of The Carrier of the Mark is that just like Twilight, Carrier of the Mark has – you guessed it! – instalove! After knowing each other for less than a week, Megan and Adam can’t live without one another and would sacrifice everything just to be near each other. It was highly unrealistic and totally Twilight-like.
“Adam DeRis, the guy down the back. Don’t look now, but he’s staring at you.”
I felt red heat climb slowly up my neck, stinging as it passed over my scar. I ached to turn and look. (ARC 10)
Another thing that grated on my nerves was the fact that in most of the dialogue, the characters say each other’s name all the time when they’re talking to one another as if the author was worried that we would forget their names. We readers are not slow, we can keep track of who’s who and who is speaking when. We don’t need constant reminders like, “But, Adam…!” and “This will solve nothing, Megan.”
Not to mention, there were also tons of info-dumping in The Carrier of the Mark…all done in the dialogue. To test this, I flip to a random page and bam! I see a huge paragraph…that is a long dialogue of Adam explaining something to the others. I honestly don’t think that I’ve ever read a book that info-dumped using dialogue before.
“So the elements were maintained, but in order to perform elemental alignment, the Order needed four elements fully evoked at the same time. The strength required of the four elements to connect and balance Earth is substantial…” (ARC 148)
The only one redeeming (if you can even call it redeeming) thing about Carrier of the Mark is that the book is set in Ireland. That’s it. Leigh Fallon inserted a bit of Irish culture into the book, and it was fun to read about that.
As I was reading The Carrier of the Mark, I really wanted to DNF it, but since I received it for review from ARCycling, I rather not because they deserve a full, proper review. I can’t promise that I didn’t skim most parts though, but hey, I tried.
Overall, I definitely would not be checking out the sequel to The Carrier of the Mark, Shadow of the Mark. Hopefully Shadow of the Mark would have nothing in common with New Moon or any of the other Twilight books.
*phew*
Do you know I have a copy of this, and I’ve been wondering if its even WORTH reading? Guess this is my answer. Thanks Kelly, for being honest and well detailed in your review :D
Jules recently posted…Book Review: Crush by Nicole Williams
I’m going to keep my copy for the beautiful cover, that’s it.
And nah Jules, I’m sadly not that detailed in my review. It would have been fun for me to list all the similarities I found compared to Twilight, but tons of other reviews already did that. :P
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: The Carrier of the Mark – Leigh Fallon
Woah, I just bought that book a couple weeks ago o.O I’m a bit scared to go into it now though… I’m not sure about the Twilight comparison (I see that thrown around quite a lot and don’t always agree – sorry ^^”) but the info-dumping is something I hate :/
Since I already bought it though I will check it out… but I probably won’t give it priority.
Thanks for your honest review, Kelly!
Carmen B. recently posted…Review: With All My Soul, by Rachel Vincent
Don’t apologize Carmen, everyone has a different opinion. :D
I’m like you, I don’t really believe anything until I try it for myself, then form my own opinion on them.
And yeah, ugh, the info-dumping. It literally put me to sleep because the author gave readers so much information in so little time in big clumps of dialogue instead of spreading it throughout the book.
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: The Carrier of the Mark – Leigh Fallon
Since I’ve never read twilight before, I wouldn’t know about their similarities. I actually enjoyed this book cause I found it very interesting. One thing I agree about though is the instalove. It just ruins a perfectly good book. It was way too close to the beginning for their first kiss for me, but otherwise the topic was what drew me in.
Yeah, if it wasn’t Twilight-like, it would be A LOT better.
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: The Carrier of the Mark – Leigh Fallon
Even without the Twilight comparisons, this would have been awful. Insta-luv and info-dumping are two of my biggest pet peeves when reading, and this has both! The Twilight-like ness of this just made me feel like I should re-read Twilight, haha
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: The S-Word
Yeah, even without the Twilight comparisons, this would still be awful, but at least it would have a high rating for originality.
I’m afraid to re-read Twilight, 5+ years later and hearing how much Edward sparkles in the book is enough to scare me out of re-reading. xP
Kelly recently posted…Monthly Wrap Up: April 2013
Totally agree! In fact, I stopped reading after 100+ pages…it wasn’t that good! I was so disapointed!
Deffianatly won’t be reading the second book.
Charlie xx
Charlie recently posted…Book Review: One More Kiss by Mary Blayney
I wanted to stop, but I can’t because ARCycling was nice enough to mail me an ARC.
And yeah Charlie, I definitely wouldn’t be checking out the second book in the series.
Kelly recently posted…Monthly Wrap Up: April 2013
I actually took this off my TBR list completely after reading Stephanie Sinclair’s review of it. I read Twilight once, I don’t need to read it again thank you very much! Despite the intriguing cover, I plan to stay faaar far away from this book.
Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli Reads recently posted…Undersea Spotlight: Octavia at Read. Sleep. Repeat.
I skimmed her review of the book and when I saw “Twilight,” my first thought was oh no, what did I get myself into? ):
And you’re so wise to stay far, far away from The Carrier of the Mark. Don’t let it come and get you in your sleep! ;D
Why do the not that good books get the gorgeous covers? I just don’t get it.
Kelly recently posted…Monthly Wrap Up: April 2013
Whoa. Whoa. Whoaaaa.
Okay, being too similar to any book is bad. Bad. Bad. I know many times it happens unintentionally, but come on, Twilight is unforgettable for the worst and best reasons, depending on your enthusiasm for it.
What I find even sadder, is that is has only one redeeming quality! And it’s the setting. Oh my, oh my.
Definitely not reading this. Great review, Kelly!
Mhm, just because everyone knows what Twilight is doesn’t mean you have to have the same plot as it to get noticed!
And yeah, it took me a long time to find a redeeming thing for this book. The sad thing is, the culture isn’t mentioned a lot, but it is mentioned some in the beginning, so I have to give some credit for that.
Kelly recently posted…Monthly Wrap Up: April 2013
Oh man! The synopsis had me at Ireland (not to mention the MC’s name is pretty awesome). ;-) So sad that this one sounds like a no-go.
I am one of those people that really liked the Twilight series (shush!), but even thought I liked it, I still don’t like to see other books that are carbon copies.
Great review, good information. Thanks for sharing it!
Meagan @ Reviewing Wonderland recently posted…The Space Between {Review & Giveaway}
LOL, while I was writing this review, I was constantly writing “Meagan” instead of “Megan” because of you. :P
Yes, feel special. ;D
There are tons of books that are carbon copies of Twilight, although I’m sure that some of them didn’t realize that they ARE like Twilight. I mean, that could happen right?
Kelly recently posted…Monthly Wrap Up: April 2013
Ha! I completely agree with you. I didn’t like this book at all. Great review!
Thank you!
It’s really too bad though, the cover is gorgeous.
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Just One Kiss – Susan Mallery
Good review. To bad this book was too much like Twilight. I like original stories. ;)
I like original stories too and The Carrier of the Mark was WAY too Twilight-like for my taste.
Kelly recently posted…New Blog Design + A Giveaway
Hmm, I might have been interested in reading this book if not for your review. One of my pet peeves in books is the characters saying names in every other sentence. I know it might not seem like a big deal to others, but I can’t stand it. It is completely unrealistic and always seems to interrupt the flow of the story.
Thanks for the review. I probably would have tried it just because it’s set in Ireland, but I’m not sure even the setting would allow me to get through so much repetition.
Mhm! This book is FULL of that, which constantly annoys me. It’s not like we’re dumb enough to forget the character’s names and who they are talking to on every single page.
Ha ha, well, if you ever decide to try this one, good luck! (:
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Crash Into You – Katie McGarry
I’m not a huge Twilight fan, although I’m not a hater either, but I don’t want to reread the same story again! Insta-love is a deal breaker for me too. I’ll put this one on the “avoid” list!
Agreed. I’m tired of all the books that try to copy Twilight in their own way. Can’t they make their own books a little more original and unique?
Insta-love always turns me off. ):
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Crash Into You – Katie McGarry
I’ve always thought the covers for this series were so beautiful. I was surprised to see that you rated Carrier of the Mark one out of five. I think this is the first time I see a rating that isn’t that good., but after reading you’re review it’s understandable. You are entitled to you’re thoughts and so is everyone else. I’m glad you were honest about how you felt about this book though. I might still want to read this one, but it also may be at the very bottom of a very long list. So who knows when I’ll even get to read this series :3
Ha ha, really? All I see are 1 star to 2 stars reviews for this book on goodreads. o:
I hope you’ll like this book better than I did when you read it though Hillary! (:
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: Crash Into You – Katie McGarry