Review: The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon

The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
Release Date: 27th October 2011
Publisher: HarperCollin's children's books
Rating: DNF (cut off point: page 281/32)


Goodreads description:


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.


My thoughts:


Looking back, I probably should've realised I wasn't going to enjoy this. The whole synopsis screams insta-love. But I was taken in by the irish setting and the beautiful cover and intriguing name and figured I'd give it a go. 


This novel basically embodies everything I dislike in YA; it's cliche, it has cookie-cutter characters, insta-love, confusing prophecies/destinies. I might have been able to forgive all that; except I found the writing style to be really, really bland. 


I'm trying really hard not to be negative here--this book definitely appeals to the Twilight fans, but that really isn't me I DID give this book a fair shot (as you can see from the rating, I read a great deal of it before I gave up.)


The whole 'female protagonist has magical, mystical powers and is super-uber special even though, inside, she feels plain and ugly' thing is so massively overused it makes me want to cry. The love interest, Adam, held no appeal for me and his behaviour changed so quickly it was totally unrealistic. His sister seemed to embody both Alice and Emmett Cullen, with his older brother playing the role of Rosalie and Jasper. Not to mention their totally cool/understanding/un-related guardian. The whole 'we shouldn't be together, but we're inexplicably drawn to each other' screams of lazy writing, and just didn't inspire me at all.


But what really, really did this for me was the mythology. The whole carrier/royal/marked one thing really confused me. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention in biology when we did genetics, who knows, but I really didn't get it. Not even after several re-reads of the relevant sections. Maybe I'm stupid, or rusty, my last biology class was over 5 years ago afterall. But being unable to understand such a significant point in the story really was the final straw for me, and the point where I lent the book to a friend in the hopes she might enjoy it more.


Like I said, I don't want to be cruel, I did want to love this book. I wanted to be captured by the Irish setting, and swoon over Adam, and gasp over the mysteries contained in the pages, but I didn't. And I swore to myself I wouldn't shy away from negative reviews, because I think they're equally (if not more so) as important as gushingly positive ones.


If you're having severe Twilight withdrawal, and you adored Starcrossed, this is the book for you. If like me, you wish Twilight fever could be killed off easier than sparkly vampires can, I'd advise you step away from the pretty cover and enigmatic title. This is not the book for you.