Review: Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
Author: Leigh Fallon
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: HarperTeen
Length: 342 pages
Original Publishing Date: October 4th, 2011
Series: Carrier #1
Where I got it: Audiobook from the e-library
Links: Goodreads Amazon Author's Website
Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRÍs.
But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.
Main characters: 1.5/5
Megan was sweet and realistic. I understood why she did what she did and liked her in general, but she was also boring and unmemorable. I was also completely unsurprised with the direction that her character evolved, and was uninspired by the lack of originality. The only pro I can give Megan is that she is not completely dependent, as Bella from Twilight was. At least Megan can stand up with the rest of the De Ris family and makes her own mark.
Adam reminded me of every other YA male crush out there, especially the part where he started off rude and standoffish to Megan. I'm so sick and tired of that being attractive to YA heroines, and I didn't find anything remotely attractive to their "repartee". Don't get me wrong, there were some parts where Adam was really sweet, but I still never felt a sincere connection to him.
Overall, I was disappointed in the depth and quality of the main characters, including their relationship together. I didn't understand their initial attraction to one another, and it just got worse from there.
Secondary characters: 2/5
The secondary characters were polarizing. Adam's brother and sister were straight outta Twilight, but even still, I couldn't help but like Anya. She was sweet and charming, and provided a good antithesis to Rian. Besides that however, I was unimpressed with the portrayal of Adam's family and I felt like they were pretty wooden stock-like characters.
Caitlin on the other hand was a riotous good time. I loved her quirky charm and I felt like she contributed that normalcy to Megan's life that made the novel seem more realistic than it was. Megan's father was sweet and charming in his own way too, but reminded me way too much of Charlie.
Writing style: 2.5/5
Fallon's writing style was surprisingly not awful, given how the characters were portrayed. It moved along at a good clip and kept me entertained at least. The action wasn't necessarily "edge-of-your-seat", but Fallon kept my interest and the writing didn't make me groan or moan at any given point.
Plot: 2.5/5
I was wondering where the plot was going to go but it was something that, while not unique, was not an oversaturated market. I liked the mystery of not knowing right away what the secret was. The plot itself, however, honestly felt like something that I'd seen a million times. I could walk you through the ways that it was exactly like Twilight: new girl moves to city where she meets standoffish boy and siblings, learns their secret powers, gets involved, falls in love, etc.
Ending: 1/5
A little anticlimactic, honestly, in terms of climax. There were some parts that were overdramatic and had me rolling my eyes. It all felt very rushed as well.
Best scene: Any scene with Caitlin. I loved her!
Reminded Me Of: Haha, haven't you guessed it yet? Twilight
Positives: Entertaining writing style, premise that hasn't been done a lot
Negatives: Flat and annoying main characters, the Twilight copycat, the ending
Cover: Honestly, people were so in love with the cover, but it's not my favorite
Verdict: An uninspiring copy of Twilight
Rating: 3.8 / 10 (2 stars)
Your Thoughts: Have you read it? What did you think? If you haven't, will you be adding it to your TBR list? Let me know!
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