Individual characters have individual characteristics, of course, but there are definite generalizations. Funnily enough, the color associations from Divergent are largely the same. The different nations are somewhat simplified to a few defining traits: the Shotet are murderous religious fanatics and the Thuvhe are a gentle people whose livelihoods are tied to various mystical plants that can be made into drugs, tonics, and poisons. There are also factionlike elements to Carve the Mark.

Both Divergent and Carve the Mark feature violent female protagonists, though Cyra is a far better developed character than Tris is. Akos is assigned to Ryzek’s sister Cyra, because his current gift is the only thing that can quell hers: she lives in constant agonizing pain and can spread the pain to another simply by touch. Akos wants desperately to escape, save his brother, and return home even though his fate is to die for the Noavek family. These fates are usually hidden, known only to a few oracles, but towards the start of Carve the Mark, the names and fates of the fate-favored are leaked, causing chaos. In an attempt to change his fate, which is to fall and therefore to fail to earn Shotet legitimacy, the warlord Ryzek Noavek captures a Thuvhe prophet, Eijeh, and his brother Akos. The Shotet people worship the current, but the Thuvhe are more focused on the “fate-favored.” These fate-favored people, including protagonists Cyra and Akos and villain Ryzek, have a fate that is set in stone. In this universe, of which Thuvhe is only one of several planets, people’s lives are strongly affected by “the current,” a mysterious force inside every person.

It is about two opposing cultures on the icy planet Thuvhe: the recognized and therefore legitimate Thuvhesits and the scavengers turned warlords Shutet. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (who wrote Divergent) is the first book in a sci-fi series.

Carve the mark book series