The Fates Divide

Having read through the Divergent series, I was sorely disappointed with how “Allegiant” turned out. (Hell, I’m sure a lot of people were, which is probably why Veronica Roth wrote the novella epilogue “We Can Be Mended” - and that too was a disappointment. But I digress…) So it was with some trepidation that I started reading “Carve the Mark” and was so sucked into it that when I started to read “The Fates Divide,” I was a bit worried that the book would end up like “Allegiant” did.Fortunately, Roth gets the landing right, even if it is a bit on the wistful side. Old characters are expanded upon, new ones are introduced, and there’s even a bit of political intrigue thrown into the mix. And… Roth even throws in a few swears every so often, which surprised me as she didn’t do that in the Divergent series, at least as I recall. Maybe it’s a sign of her becoming a bit of a better writer?Anyhow, this series is only a duology, so give it a chance when you can!

My initial reaction: I don't know what is happening. If I am being honest, I read this book at the wrong time. I began reading this book during a busy time and found myself putting it down for days before picking it back up again. I really wanted to enjoy it, but given that I did not pay much attention to the first book, I had a hard time figuring out what all was going on in this second part of the series. I do blame myself for my lack of attention while reading this book and admit that some of my confusion and lack of interest in it is partially on me. However, with that being said, the story progressed in a way that didn't really draw me in. Again, due to putting the book down for days and not remembering what went down when I next picked it up, I found myself wanting to abandon the book altogether. I may simply have to re-read the series at a later point in time in order to really enjoy it. Though, I would like to comment that I did not find myself connecting to any of the characters in the story. When reading, I always like to find one character I want to follow and know more about, and I, honestly, did not find that character in this novel. I actually found myself confused with all the characters. I found myself forgetting who was who and which characters I was supposed to care about.I would like to give this book another go in the future and have a much better and worthy review of it. But for now, I must simply state my thoughts when I read this book. My reading experience of it was not the same as with other books I have read. There are those stories that I read that go by so fast (the Shatter Me series) and end too soon (Girl in the Blue Coat and the Warcross duology) or those that I find myself completely invested in the lives of the characters (A Reaper at the Gate series); however this was not one of those books for me. I found myself asking when the chapter would end so I could take a break. The reading of it seemed to go by so slowly for me, that by the time I finished it, I was like, "about time." It was definitely not an experience I wanted to have, given that I really enjoy Roth's other series: Divergent. I will revisit this series and give it a second chance. I would like to think that the lower-than-usual review I am giving this book is partially my own fault. If that is the fact, I will be doing a more worthy review of the story when I revisit it.

In love with these characters. It was wonderful. I adore all the descriptions of other planets, so imaginative and really immerses me in another world (which is what I want when I'm reading to escape reality haha). Also the plot twists caught me by surprise!! Usually I see them coming a mile away. Very cool.

I was a little bit disappointed in this series when I finished. I read through it all and wanted to love it but it felt like something kept holding me back from fully buying into the story. The universe Roth created was such a fantastic place to dive into and expand upon but not enough was learned in this series.What I liked:- The idea of the current is such an interesting and unique idea. It was cool that everyone had somewhat unique abilities that we're overpowered and take precedence over the story.- The two main planets in the story Ogra and Thuvhe (Urek) were well thought out with interesting visuals.- Through all of my dislikes I still liked both Cyra & Akos at the end.- Roth did a very good job of writing from different points of view, I feel like different points of view is very hit or miss and Roth nailed it.What I disliked:- Akos sees his father as somewhat of a guiding force and is constantly seeking to save his brother Eijeh. As a reader I wanted to feel connected but I didn't have enough material to draw from on either character.- I thought the "relationship" between Cyra and Akos started way too early in the series and was extremely obvious. As soon as you met the characters at the beginning of the series you know that they will end up together. That would be fine, except there wasn't enough build up to actually get to that point.- The villain from the first book was much better even though the first book built up the 2nd books villain. There wasn't enough depth on the 2nd books villain, you saw him as pure evil and nothing else. To me a villain needs to have some ambiguity, you can't relate to him at all and strictly see him as the bad guy from the start. He had no redeeming qualities.- Lazmet did not have a believable role of power in the story. As it seemed, literally everyone hated him including his closest advisors. I don't believe he was going to retain power without any allies.- The end of the story seemed too easy. The bad guy loses with very few people dying and almost no one you care about.Overall, I think this story and world have such a huge potential that was not fully achieved. I enjoyed the story but lament to say that it could have been so much better.

I got this on the strength of Divergent not the last book in this series. This was a lot better then the first book. I wanted to give it 3.5 stars but is it such an improvement on the last book I thought it deserved a round up rather then down. It is still very slow paced, and there are probably less fights in this book then there were in the last book, but the story is much better and fills in many of the holes/problems in the first book. There is a lot more political intrigue, maneuvering, and manipulation along with some big plot twist.The book is written in the first person for Cyra, and Cisi (Akos' sister), and in the third person for Akos himself. This I think was a good choice as in the past Veronica Roth has said she write better in the voice of her female characters.Since the last book the brutal war on the planet Thuvhe, between the Thuvhe and the warrior nomadic Shotet has been notices and taken center stage in the interplanetary politics. Everyone has their own agenda. With the return of the most ruthless leader for the Shotet people causalities are mounting on both sides. Is all hope for peace gone?Akos, Cyra and Cisi has seen their fates as both a curse and a burden. Now they might has to accept that their fates were just the start of their journey and their gifts/powers can be used for so much more. Maybe it is the comic fan in my but I love when people push the boundries or find new applications for their powers. These characters current gifts develop as much as their characters in this book.The book starts off as slowly as the other book left off, you have to get past the first 150 pages for the book to really get going the last 200 or so pages is where it really turner into a page turner. However they are still parts that are drawn out or not the best thought out plans. This could be put down to the characters being quite young and reckless, so no knock on the writing. I good book I am glad I persevered with it.

I would recommend re-reading the first book again before reading this one. I think it might make it more interesting. The focus in this book is on the duller characters that you didn't really care all that much about in book 1 and there doesn't seem to be much logic to the main characters actions most of the time other than that they think they're destined to do things so they let it control them even when it's ridiculous. The most interesting character in the first book leaves in the first chapter and then they introduce a new villain who sounds like they'll be really exciting but you don't really hear much from them and then they are also quickly written out. The main villain seems to just be the political system which is just *yawn*. If you've ever seen those really dull Star Wars films starring Natalie Portman as the main character where they just talk about the politics of the galaxy the whole time I would say that this is that. The main characters don't even seem particularly likable most of the book.

I seem to keep reading books at the moment that have torture in them, which I'm not a huge fan of, however once past these moments I found the rest of the story enjoyable. Not as good as her Divergent series, but still good with a storyline that made me want to find out what happened next.

Amazing book - the first was superb, and I was hoping this one would be as good, as the Divergent series definitely petered out in book 3 but the author has clearly realised that sometimes 2 books are better than 3, and in this case it's one of the best duos I've read. Love it - can't wait for more by this author.

The first book was way better and this book compared to it is kind of disappointing. I wished the author just ended the series on the first book.