Review of "The Mark"

"The Mark"
by Jen Nadol


2

Pub. Date: January 19th, 2010
Pages: 240

Summary: Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark—a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. But the one time she mentioned it, it was dismissed as a trick of the light. Until the day she watches a man awash in the mark die. After searching her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Armed with a vague understanding of the light, Cassie begins to explore her “gift,” seeking those marked for death and probing the line between decision and destiny. Though she’s careful to hide her secret—even from her new philosophy-obsessed boyfriend—with each impending death comes the temptation to test fate. But so many questions remain. How does the mark work? Why is she the only one who sees it? And finally, the most important of all: If you know today is someone’s last, should you tell them?

I don't know why, but I found this book to be really slow for such a small book. The book was okay, but I honestly only finished it because it was so short. I didn't feel like the book got interesting for me until the last 50 pages and then it ended. I could have done without all the philosophy and more with the family history. I felt like the philosophizing that went on through the book seemed very predictable. I didn't really like the guy that Cassie was seeing; the whole relationship felt very skeezy to me because of the fact that he was technically her TA. I honestly wasn't sure if I liked Cassie's character until the end of the book, which is weird for me because I usually care too much about the characters that I am reading. I felt a much stronger connection to some of the secondary characters, which I wished had played a larger role in the book.

I feel bad because I feel like I am just tearing this book up, but honestly these are only my opinions. There are a lot of great reviews of this book, but for some reason it just didn't click with me. I am going to leave this review where it is just because 1- I don't want to say more than I need to about my feelings... I think they are pretty clear and 2- I would probably end up giving away some of the plot. If this book sounds interesting to you then definitely check it out because you may really enjoy it, it just wasn't the book for me.