Book Review | 'Carrier of the Mark'

 Carrier of the Mark
Leigh Fallon
346 pg., U.S. Paperback
HarperTeen
3 stars | C



From Goodreads:

Their love was meant to be. 

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.

Carrier of the Mark is a book that I've been wanting to read since August of last year, when I first heard of Leigh Fallon's debut novel. I was undoubtedly sucked in the gloriously, darkly charming cover, which symbolizes so much from the book, which I love--the symbolism, not the book. I was ultimately disappointed by the book, especially it's final 200 pages.

For the first 150 pages or so, I was very off-and-on with my emotions towards this story. The first three chapters I was like, "Hey, this book is really good! I'm impressed!" 

And then I realized I was re-reading Twilight. The biggest thing that turned me off from this book was a scene in which the protagonist, Megan, is being chased by drunk frat boys and is finally saved by the mysterious supernatural love interest. Remind you of anything? There's also a scene where Megan is sitting with her new-best-friend, Caitlin, discussing the socially secluded SUPERNATURAL family. Hm, where have I seen that before? And the main guy's sister, Aine, is very bubbly and sweet (Alice), and his brother is buff, but dark and brooding (a combination of Emmett and Jasper). Oh yeah and his Dad's Carlisle. 

For the longest time, I was worried that my hopes of Irish mythology being in this book would be crushed, but about 130 pages in, I was reprieved! I loved the history of the Carriers of the Mark, and was incredibly pleased with their similarities to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I was in no way angered with. But I felt like the world-building could have used some more depth, and that a lot of things were rushed and expected to be digested in the first introduction of some idea. In the first few chapters, I felt like a lot was rushed, to the point that there was insanely awkward dialogue that was there just to establish some plot points. It was ridiculous.

Overall, the book wasn't bad. Fallon's writing is fresh and nice, but the plot just dragged throughout the whole book, and was hardly original, which lost me there--and the fact that the characters weren't individuals; they were just mimics of Bella Swan (although Megan was a bit stronger), Edward Cullen, and the whole Twilight bunch, which was not fresh and nice.

Carrier of the Mark is the first in a series.