Why Was 'Carve The Mark' Controversial?

Question

Reading 'Carve the Mark' got me questioning genre expectations. The debate around character tropes and dystopian sci-fi themes is surprisingly intense online.

Kisha Jordan · Answer

'Carve the Mark' has gotten a lot of flak for its portrayal of race and of disability, particularly in the ways that its worldbuilding too closely parallels the ways that real human beings have struggled with racial and ableist oppression. The book is uncomfortable, and speculative fiction often stumbles over serious themes. But that tension between a character’s personal struggles and their destiny is something that can be done well, as in ‘Marked, Broken and Carrying his Heir’ where a young woman with a magical brand that curses and blesses her alike is forced into a dangerous political marriage. The story is excellent at exploring the rawest conflicts between external pressures to fulfill destiny and a character’s struggles to survive.

Quinn · Answer

There is so much debate over ‘Carve the Mark’ and for good reason. While The Shotet’s characteristics are scrutinized for possible racial coding, Cyra’s chronic physical pain has received equally polarized reactions as to whether they are powerful or exploitative. Most of all though, the extreme amount of violence in the novel overshadows some of its deeper points and upon further reflection, a lot of the controversy surrounding the novel could have been avoided if Alina King had gone about handling a few of the more sensitive topics with a bit more care. Leia makes a great point about this novel being one of the most polarizing that she has read.

Uma · Answer

Many are up in arms over the “divisive themes” presented in ‘Carve the Mark’ including the fairly problematic Shotet culture which seems to rely on somewhat uncomfortable racial profiling. Others are frustrated by Cyra’s pain and how it fuels her powers, labelling it ‘inspiration porn.’ Most contentious of all, however, is the book’s overall tone and the brutal and sometimes unpleasant warfare that it presents. Readers have reacted with everything from “this is edgy” to “this is just gruesome” – in short, the book’s ambitious ideas have, for many, fallen flat.

Josie · Answer

Carve the Mark was a really gritty and cool world, but I do think the author kind of failed with Shotet, portraying them as ‘savage’ as kind of a negative trope. I think the author kind of handled the negative stereotypes with their darker skin poorly. Also, Cyra’s power being tied to her pain is sort of hard to read because it kind of feels like her disability is being used as a plot device. The brutality of the fighting in the book also kind of felt like it was being glorified or that the author was celebrating sort of suffering in order to achieve something. It was a really bold story, but it didn’t always work for me.

Mia · Answer

'Carve the Mark’ has been the center of controversy mostly because of the ways race and disability are represented in the novel. While trying to provide a realistic portrayal of a protagonist with a chronic pain condition, the author ends up portraying disability as something negative, which is to be avoided. Furthermore, the racialized Shotet other, especially the dark-skinned ones, are portrayed in a very stereotype-ish way, with some even noting the resemblance to a variety of racist tropes. The world-building of the author at times fails to be sensitive to real world issues and therefore can have a very tone-deaf effect on the reader.

Many readers were also disturbed by the violence in the novel. While Kiera Yaxley’s various battles and near-death experiences were intended to be moving and meaningful, they sometimes felt excessively grueling or even celebrated. In addition, the deeply entrenched hostility between the two cultures in the story, the Thuvhe and the Shotet, was seen as black and white. Although the novel was supposedly about more than just good vs. evil, it felt that way to many readers, leading to frustration with the story’s direction.

Daniella ogbole · Answer

I read this as an audiobook and the narrator was really good. I can imagine some of the less-than-great writing being masked by the performance, but at the same time, there were moments where the ‘savage’ Shotet was introduced and Cyra’s various pain points that really made me pause. After finishing, I went to Google and looked up whether I was somehow mistaken in how I perceived certain plot points, and found instead a slew of blog posts and Twitter threads that explored similar themes and reached similar conclusions. It was kind of a weird read for me — I really enjoyed the performance of the story as it was, but at the same time it contained these really profound flaws, and I spent a lot of time afterwards wondering whether I’d just been blind to them the first time through.

beejaylogistics · Answer

The depiction of the oracle figures in this story and the larger theme of fate added another layer of distastefulness to the book. People are determined by their national identity to have fixed personalities and a predetermined fate based on their planetary origin. And we already have racial coding in this book. A magic system that reduces differences in people to their birthplace and then essentializes them is a terrible choice. It literally magically justifies prejudice. The Thuvhe are peaceful because that’s their fate. The Shotet are violent because that’s theirs. It reduces complex characters to a simple trope and denies them the ability to grow and evolve as individuals and as a culture. It is a horrible concept and is even more horrible when viewed through the lens of even the most minimal real world application.

Tanya Foster-smith · Answer

Ableism was also a huge issue in this book. Cyra has a ‘currentgift’ that forces her to hurt people, but she is also wracked with constant pain. Many readers with disabilities or chronic illnesses were frustrated that her pain was largely used as a plot device to make her out to be this tragic figure, rather than actually exploring what it would be like to live with that kind of constant pain. It even used the ‘supercrip’ trope in reverse, portraying Cyra’s disability as a secret superpower. For a community that is desperately starving for accurate representation of people with disabilities, it was disappointing to see pain handled in such a fantastical, metaphoric way and then dismissed from being real for people with chronic illnesses.

Brandon Putnam · Answer

A small thing, but all the cultures in your work seem to have been named with care. Shotet sounds very harsh and guttural, while Thuvhe sounds very soft. Thus Shotet must be evil, while Thuvhe must be good. This is a very binary way to view the world, and I suppose that is the point of the controversy, but it is also how stereotypes are formed. All the cultures in your work have been named with care, and so they reinforce stereotypes in a most subtle but insidious manner. I had not realized that in choosing the names of cultures an author can reinforce the stereotypes that already exist. This is why the controversy exists.

Marcia Francis · Answer

As a case study, this may be worth reading by people interested in publishing, cultural criticism and YA literature. But as a read in itself, it’s not really worth reading. There are so many other great, innovative and respectful SFF novels out there, and not reading them in order to read this would be a waste of your time. This book makes you cringe for all the wrong reasons. For people who are interested in looking at the controversy surrounding this book in publishing, then it might be worth a read. But otherwise, no. The controversy surrounding this book is the defining feature of the book. Unless you are specifically researching the discourse surrounding this book, then the book itself is not worth reading over the problems it presents. It is a historical artifact of a certain moment in publishing.

Nirla Pratiwi Nurwan · Answer

I was confused when I picked up Allegiant. I loved Divergent so I was excited to get into the next book. After the backlash, however, I read a few of the critical essays. One of them compared the Shotet to common stereotypes of Romani people. It included descriptions of violent, spacefaring nomads, who were also described physically in ways that were correlated with the stereotypes. It made me realize how much I wouldn’t notice as a reader unless I happened to be part of the marginalized group in question. The controversy was, for me, educational in a not-smooth way. We can all learn to read more critically and seek out the perspectives of marginalized readers, even if the books in question are tricky.

Why Was 'Carve The Mark' Controversial?

11 Answers

Kaugnay na Mga Aklat

Mark Of The Alpha King

My Mate Replaced Me on Marking Ceremony

Marked by Fate

Marked By Three Kings

The Mark You Hide

The Red Mark

Paksa

Kaugnay na Mga Tanong

Why is 'The 57 Bus' controversial?

What is The Marks of Cain book about?

Why is 'Death of the Author' controversial?

Why is Throne of Glass controversial?

Why was 'Brokeback Mountain' considered controversial?

is mark rober mormon

What are the controversies surrounding 'Free Use Mom'?

Why was Memoirs of a Geisha controversial?

Why was the half bad ending controversial among fans?

Why is 'Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA' controversial?