Review: The Mark by Jen Nadol

Title: The Mark

Series: The Mark #1

Author: Jen Nadol

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: January 2010

Published by: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

Sixteen year old Cassandra Renfield has seen the mark since forever: a glow around certain people as if a candle were held behind their back.

The one time she mentioned it to someone else, the mark was dismissed as a trick of the light. So Cassie has kept quiet, considering its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until the day she watches a man die. Mining her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person's imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Cassie searches her past, her philosophy lessons, even her new boyfriend for answers, answers, always careful to hide her secret. How does the mark work? Why her?

Most importantly: if you know today is someone's last, should you tell them?

My rating: ★★★☆☆
This book was great! But I have to admit, these were my thoughts about the first half of the book as I read it:

-“Whoa! That is so interesting! Cassie knows when people are going to die? Weird.”

-“Oh man, that is sad. Its horrible that her only living relative (her grandmother, Nan) just died. But that guy Jack is really nice ;)”

-“Cassie has an aunt she never knew about and now she has to move with her for 3 months? Weird.”

-“Hmm. A philosophy obsessed boyfriend (Lucas)? I‘m still liking Jack better ;)”

-“And who goes and has sex with a guy (Lucas) you talked to like 4 times before?!?! Tsk tsk, I disapprove.”

-“Okay, this is getting boring…”

-“Seriously? Where is this story going? Where‘s the action?!”

I just about gave up on the book right there. But since I’m not the giving-up type of girl, I continued. And I do not regret it! Though I do wish it would’ve been a little more, I don’t know, action-y. And I sometimes I felt like I was the one taking the philosophy class. Because I don't have enough of college as it is -_- lol.

[Anyway, after the boring/unaction-y part was through, I felt like smacking Lucas! First of all, Cassie saved him after seeing the mark on him. She pilled everything about her gift/curse to him and he didn’t believe her. Sure the hey- I-know-when-people-are-going-to-die-and-you’re-going-to-die-today phrase is unsettling, but Cassie had to go as far as leading him to a girl who committed suicide! And then, of course, Lucas believed her. *shakes head*

From then on, their relationship shifted from being the boyfriend-girlfriend type to something that seemed more like a project. That is how Cassie described it. She felt like she was Lucas’s project because all he wanted to do/talk about had to do with the mark she can see. Truthfully, I wasn’t really fond of Lucas from the start. But by this point the was really bugging me. He was very fascinated with Cassie’s gift/curse, that I understand. But from there to making her go and find the mark on purpose? Okay, maybe I understand that too. Lucas just wants to help Cassie help those who have been marked. However, I felt like he was practically forcing her to do that, even when Cassie wasn’t sure what she felt was the right thing to do. People shouldn’t force other people to do things they aren’t sure of doing.]

With all this going on, Cassie also found out a few unexpected things about her family.
At one point in the book I suspected that Cassie’s gift was hereditary, which meant that one of her parents (her mother, I thought) had also possessed it.

[So I wasn’t surprised when I found out that her mom, indeed, was also able to see the mark.]

When you read a book about a character who possesses some sort of supernatural ability, you always wonder how/why they acquired it... well, at least that's how I feel. The reason behind Cassie's power... was wow.

[I did not expect Cassie to be a descendant of one of the Fates from Greek mythology! In the beginning of the book it mentioned that Cassie was Greek, but Whoa! The Fates?! The three goddesses that shaped people’s life from Greek mythology? I am in LOVE with Greek mythology (thank you Percy Jackson! :P) and I thought this was very awesome! And then I thought: well no wonder Cassie knows when someone is going to die! It made up for the slight boringness in the middle of the book… kind of :P lol

So back to the Fates. One Fate spun the thread “of life” (Clotho), another measures it out (Lachesis- Cassie‘s ancestor), and the last cut it with a pair of shears to end the life span (Atropos).]

Besides the slight nothingness that I already mentioned a few times (lol), I thought it was a pretty good book.

[I LOVED the Greek mythology twist.]

I really liked (like always) the supernatural aspect. Plus, it was an easy read :)

Alternate cover:

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)