Carrier of the Mark - Leigh Fallon
Synopsis: 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.
I knew I was going to fall in love with this book before I even opened it. Way back in July, I think, there was a YA Scavenger Hunt hosted by a ton of awesome YA authors. Leigh Fallon was one of them and she posted a scene from the book. After that I was sold. But, of course, I then had to wait until October to actually read it. So I'm telling you now, it's a book that's worth the wait - but you don't have to wait anymore - and if you've been on the fence about it, just get down and pick it up.
I actually was choosing between reading this and a couple other books when I decided I really needed an Ireland fix. I travelled to Ireland last April and fell completely in love with it. It might be that it was my first time travelling to and staying in a new place by myself (I met up with friends later, but my first night and day I was by myself) but I feel a very strong connection to Dublin. It's a place of my own liberation and in my opinion, it's where the best of all worlds comes together. It's absolutely wonderful. So I've been toying with ways I can live there (Ph.D programs, writing programs, marrying someone Irish....) so Ireland has been in the back of my mind for some time now.
And then Carrier of the Mark came along and now I'm positively burning to move there. Reading about Megan and Adam walking around Trinity was painful - I wanted to be there too. But I did love that most of this book was set in a small town, that's perfect for the setting behind all the dark whisperings about the DeRÍs family. There's a part where Megan and Adam are cozying up on the ancient ruins of an old fort and I just melted. You don't get ancient ruins to hang out on where I come from. I need ancient ruins!
Anyways, enough about my Ireland obsession. I don't want to give anything away but the magical aspects of this novel are thrilling. I love the ideas behind it all. I actually found it fascinating, the way the hierarchy of this world that Megan is discovering seems to have some sort of commentary on the British monarchy (this is my English major nerdiness surfacing. I just had to read The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson -a National Irish novel from 1806- and let me tell you- I enjoyed reading Leigh Fallon's Ireland so much more). The whole system is complex creating this illusion of a secondary world living and operating in the margins of our own society. And the fact that we are all dependent on this world without even realizing it....(As I'm writing this I'm resisting the urge to go into critical analysis mode...but hello colonialism!)
Ok- I'm gonna talk about the boy to get away from my critical interpretive tendencies. Adam is wonderful. This is one of those books where the two characters have an instant, intense attraction - which it's safe to say is getting old. However, it totally works here. It just feels like that's the way it's supposed to be. Leigh wasn't afraid to make their relationship complicated, but she also wasn't afraid to let them be together. I feel like a lot of these characters that have that instant attraction often have to struggle until the end of the series before they completely give in and let themselves be with that person. Megan and Adam get to go through their struggles together.
I'm going to stop raving soon, but I need to also put in a very quick word for the secondary characters. They provide such a strong and wonderful support system for Megan and Adam to stand on. They are all awesomely developed and you get the distinct impression that they all have their own lives and stories, they aren't just there for support.
Carrier of the Mark is the first in a trilogy - the second, Age of the Knights, is due to be released sometime in 2012. Here's a video of Leigh Fallon talking about Carrier of the Mark and how it was discovered on Inkpop (you have to love that accent!). Seriously, though. This is an awesome book.
Carrier of the Mark - Leigh Fallon
Synopsis: 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.
I knew I was going to fall in love with this book before I even opened it. Way back in July, I think, there was a YA Scavenger Hunt hosted by a ton of awesome YA authors. Leigh Fallon was one of them and she posted a scene from the book. After that I was sold. But, of course, I then had to wait until October to actually read it. So I'm telling you now, it's a book that's worth the wait - but you don't have to wait anymore - and if you've been on the fence about it, just get down and pick it up.
I actually was choosing between reading this and a couple other books when I decided I really needed an Ireland fix. I travelled to Ireland last April and fell completely in love with it. It might be that it was my first time travelling to and staying in a new place by myself (I met up with friends later, but my first night and day I was by myself) but I feel a very strong connection to Dublin. It's a place of my own liberation and in my opinion, it's where the best of all worlds comes together. It's absolutely wonderful. So I've been toying with ways I can live there (Ph.D programs, writing programs, marrying someone Irish....) so Ireland has been in the back of my mind for some time now.
And then Carrier of the Mark came along and now I'm positively burning to move there. Reading about Megan and Adam walking around Trinity was painful - I wanted to be there too. But I did love that most of this book was set in a small town, that's perfect for the setting behind all the dark whisperings about the DeRÍs family. There's a part where Megan and Adam are cozying up on the ancient ruins of an old fort and I just melted. You don't get ancient ruins to hang out on where I come from. I need ancient ruins!
Anyways, enough about my Ireland obsession. I don't want to give anything away but the magical aspects of this novel are thrilling. I love the ideas behind it all. I actually found it fascinating, the way the hierarchy of this world that Megan is discovering seems to have some sort of commentary on the British monarchy (this is my English major nerdiness surfacing. I just had to read The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson -a National Irish novel from 1806- and let me tell you- I enjoyed reading Leigh Fallon's Ireland so much more). The whole system is complex creating this illusion of a secondary world living and operating in the margins of our own society. And the fact that we are all dependent on this world without even realizing it....(As I'm writing this I'm resisting the urge to go into critical analysis mode...but hello colonialism!)
Ok- I'm gonna talk about the boy to get away from my critical interpretive tendencies. Adam is wonderful. This is one of those books where the two characters have an instant, intense attraction - which it's safe to say is getting old. However, it totally works here. It just feels like that's the way it's supposed to be. Leigh wasn't afraid to make their relationship complicated, but she also wasn't afraid to let them be together. I feel like a lot of these characters that have that instant attraction often have to struggle until the end of the series before they completely give in and let themselves be with that person. Megan and Adam get to go through their struggles together.
I'm going to stop raving soon, but I need to also put in a very quick word for the secondary characters. They provide such a strong and wonderful support system for Megan and Adam to stand on. They are all awesomely developed and you get the distinct impression that they all have their own lives and stories, they aren't just there for support.
Carrier of the Mark is the first in a trilogy - the second, Age of the Knights, is due to be released sometime in 2012. Here's a video of Leigh Fallon talking about Carrier of the Mark and how it was discovered on Inkpop (you have to love that accent!). Seriously, though. This is an awesome book.
