Fates Divide - Veronica Roth

"Fate brought them together. Now it will divide them.

The lives of Cyra Noavek and Akos Kereseth are ruled by their fates, spoken by the oracles at their births. The fates, once determined, are inescapable.

Akos is in love with Cyra, in spite of his fate: He will die in service to Cyra’s family. And when Cyra’s father, Lazmet Noavek—a soulless tyrant, thought to be dead—reclaims the Shotet throne, Akos believes his end is closer than ever.

As Lazmet ignites a barbaric war, Cyra and Akos are desperate to stop him at any cost. For Cyra, that could mean taking the life of the man who may—or may not—be her father. For Akos, it could mean giving his own. In a stunning twist, the two will discover how fate defines their lives in ways most unexpected.

With the addition of two powerful new voices, Veronica Roth's sequel to Carve the Mark is a chorus of hope, humor, faith, and resilience."

The first chapters of the Fates Divide pick up where Carve the Mark ended. Typically, this is great. Unfortunately not this time. Roth decided to kill off the villain in the opening chapters leaving me wondering what all the development was for. Why spend all this time building a great villain just to have him killed uneventfully in the opening pages? This left the rest of the book's story wide open. 

After Ryzek's death we get quite a slow intro into the rest of the book. Politics and Alliances take over. Cyra is now the leader of Shotet. I really loved this idea and couldn't wait for her to be her full bad ass self, but she never really stepped up into that role. There was too much internal angst and not enough Cyra decisiveness. 

The themes of the book of fighting a predetermined fate was great in this, and the pacing was also good. I found others were complaining about too much politics but I actually enjoyed this element. It made the world feel more grounded and real while not bogging down the story. I also thought the dividing of the planets by "fate faithful" and the cynics was an interesting side plot. 

The inclusion of Eijeh and Cisi's perspectives really added a lot to the story and the world. We got to see so much more through them than just through Akos and Cyra, and it was greatly appreciated.

I still don't understand why everyone's POV was told from 1st person except Akos - his was told from third, because of this he seemed very one dimensional. I got my more planets wish and got some awesome visuals along the way, I found Ogra truly exquisite!

I was very hesitant about the Lazmet death retcon, but it was done fairly well and didn't detract form the book too much. However we hardly knew him so I wasn't overly scared or angry with him and I wanted more explanation to why/where he was locked up. Because of this there was little threat permeating the book. 

However what really threw me was the main bombshell which I won't reveal as it gives way too much away. Roth definitely pulled the carpet out from under my feet with this one. I personally really didn't enjoy it and didn't think it was at all necessary. It undermined the characters and came from left field. 
Because of the unnamed bomb Akos leaves without a word to Cyra. They’re both filled with self-loathing and each have their own secret missions. Where they could have just spoken with one another like responsible adults, they act like immature assholes and go their separate ways. 

I liked how they stood together in the last book and seemed inseparable. In this book they felt too wishy washy and the emotional bond felt weaker. The relationship which was strong and pretty much cemented felt fragile and this relationship angst frustrated me. 

I really wished that I liked this more. It had an interesting plot but as the story went on, it became predictable and anti-climactic. 

Let me just say that I hate Isae Benesit and will never like her.

Age Restriction 13+. A perosn is starved but it really isn't horrific. Lazmet has a thing for collecting eyeballs but this just comes off cartoonish with no real meance.