The closing novel to Roth’s sci-fi duology, The Fates Divide, continues the story of Cyra and Akos, but adds a few more characters to the forefront of the novel’s conflict.
The prologue is crazy! Literally. It shows how crazy Eijah is as he shares body and mind with Rizek. And while we don’t get to see a whole lot from Eijah’s perspective, what we do get to see helps us understand a little more about the other interactions we see throughout the novel.
The increase of narrators helped cover parts that you wouldn’t have been able to see due to the way things were set up in the first novel. It wasn’t difficult to become attached to our frequented narrators — Cyra, Akos, and Cisi. When I initially found out that there was going to be more narrators, I was a little worried. While I did enjoy Allegiant, the addition of Four as a narrator did not help the already established story. But in this novel’s case, it helped establish how much of an impact the events had on those who were not the main characters we had already spent so much time with. I think the addition of narrators also helped with the self-sacrificial nature of both Akos and Cyra. It made it bigger than just the two of them and their relationship.
Akos and Cyra’s relationship — I really liked that it wasn’t just them constantly sacrificing themselves for one another. It seemed like they each had their own individual motivations as well as concern for others. I appreciated when Cyra was asking Akos to actually choose her. I think that’s something that a lot of people want — to be chosen by someone because they want to choose you. I think that moment added a layer to their relationship that we didn’t get to see in Carve the Mark. I also really appreciate how their relationship is portrayed at the end of the novel. It feels realistic, in my opinion.
I think Roth did an excellent job of exploring how each narrator views their current gift. With Cisi, I got the sense that she semi-struggled with whether or not she was using it for the good of others or for the good of herself. I think she had talked herself into the idea of she was doing it for others, but as an outsider I could see how it could be taken as she was using it for herself. At the same time, you can also see how she sees it as a curse because she can rarely voice what’s truly on her mind. For Cyra, I think her perspective on her current gift is a reflection of how she views herself. With Akos…it seemed to take him a while to really have an opinion on his current gift. And that’s probably because it’s a lack of having current flowing through him. But once things really clicked for him on how he could use it, I think we got a good idea of what he thought of it.
Overall, I did enjoy this novel. However I did not think it was as strong of a story as Carve the Mark. I’m not sure if that came from the multiple narrators or the seemingly fading main characters that we were introduced in the first novel. I just know I didn’t have the same kind of satisfaction at the end of The Fates Divide as I did at the end of Carve the Mark. I’d still say it’s worth picking up.
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