Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth and the Reader/Author Contract

I checked out Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth from the library. To be honest, I added myself to the wait list for the ebook on a whim and went back and forth several times as the countdown lowered. On the one hand, I loved Divergent. I still love Divergent. I will always love Divergent. It stands as a shining example of what YA dystopian fiction can be. The rest of the series though, stands as an example of what it should never, ever devolve into. In fact, I haven't read the third book in that series because I know what she did at the end and I know how angry it would make me and even though she wrote some lovely blog posts justifying her choices (which were legitimately hers to make as the author), she broke the reader/author contract that I subscribe to.

And that makes me wary with Carve the Mark.

I'm about half-way through and I seriously consider adding it to my DNF (did not finish) pile and moving on every time I reach for my kindle. I don't love any of the characters. Honestly, I don't even really like them. It's Tris and Four all over again, but this time in reverse, and we know how well that worked out last time and so...I can't--won't--get attached. Which makes the book an incredibly dull slog.

I'm not positive it wouldn't be a dull slog even if I could bring myself to care about either of the two main characters. But I'll never know, because I can't -- and I can't because I don't trust Ms. Roth.

Ultimately that's what it boils down to. I don't trust her to write a story that has a satisfying conclusion. Oh, sure, I'm nearly positive books 1 and 2 will be fine. But it lurks at the back of my mind that she'll murder us all in book 3 and claim artistic integrity like she did with the Divergent series. And while that may work for some people, it doesn't work for me. I want books where good wins over evil and the hero and heroine that you've thrown into love for two books end up happy together (honestly, if you don't want a happy ending romantically, then just keep romance out of your book. It's that easy.) I don't want tragedy in my fiction. I know there are people who do, and that's fine - to them I heartily recommend Roth's books, cause she'll break your heart six ways to Sunday every chance she gets.

Roth isn't the only author I feel this way about, she's just the only one I still try to take a chance on (but given Carve the Mark, that may be ending). Shelly Adina lost me with her Magnificent Devices series when I realized that every "book" was going to just stop, in the middle of the story, so you felt compelled to find out what happened. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger with nary a conclusion - not even a semi-conclusion to one or two story threads? Nope. Not for me, thanks. I like my stories to have beginnings, middles, and ends all right there in the same volume. Then there's Sara Ella's Unblemished series that honestly feels like it was written by a twelve year old and makes Stephanie Meyer seem like a writer of literary fiction (to be clear, I enjoy Meyer's books, even the Twilight books, but she's not a literary writer and that is just fine.) I don't know why people rave over Sara Ella because I find her books unreadable - full of love triangles where the best option is for every single one of them to take a breath, grow up, and realize that their relationships are dysfunctional bordering on abusive.

Maybe I'm just too old. If that's the case, then so be it. I like to read books where authors abide by the unwritten contract with their readers that good overcomes evil and love, if it's in the pages, lasts for a lifetime after the final chapter ends, and I'm grateful that there are plenty of authors who still seem to understand that there are people out here who want those stories.