Review: Division of the Marked by March McCarron

Division of the Marked
March McCarron
3.5

For all of written history, on the day of Da Un Marcu, fifty boys and girls across the three kingdoms are marked. They become a class apart from society. Taken to join their brothers and sisters, the Chisanta, they enter a culture of knowledge-keepers, martial artists, and possessors of strange and wonderful abilities.

When Yarrow discovers himself marked, he feels lost and lonely; until he meets Bray, a spirited and curious girl with whom he feels uncommonly connected. As the two of them become familiar with their new lives, unaccountable events unsettle the peace. A mysterious murder leaves the Chisanta in confusion. Odder still, one of the fifty children never arrives. In the years that follow, more and more children of the Chisanta go missing.

Ten years later, the devastating truth comes to light. The death of a young marked girl is uncovered. Yarrow and Bray—separated for a decade and grown apart—are thrust back together to investigate the crime. Can they overcome their differences to save the fate of their kind and the peace of the nation?

Overall, this is a really good book.  It took me a minute to get into it, but once I did, it kind of grew on me. 

It starts out kind of slow.  However (to be fair) it is an epic fantasy, and they do tend to be heavy on detail and take a little longer to really take off.

 In the end though, it was all worth it, because once it gets going, it gains momentum pretty quickly.

Things get really interesting once the two opposing groups come together to work towards a common goal.  It was rather amusing watching them have to learn to live and work together to figure out the mystery of the missing children. 

Those were probably some of my favorite moments.  Those are the moments that pushed me to not just like the characters, but *love* the characters.  Not only did I really love Bray and Yarrow, I absolutely adored the supporting characters as well. 

There are some seriously heart-wrenching moments in the book too.  I can't talk about them without spoiling something, but we'll just say there were times where I looked like this:

Also, I love how the mystery unfolds.  It is honestly what kept me going through some of the slower parts.  I was so intrigued to know how all of it would play out, and McCarron does a good job of building it up.
  
Oh, and the cliffhanger ending... we all know how I feel about a good cliffhanger!

Overall, I think the book was a little detail heavy (for me) and I would have liked for the pacing to be a bit quicker.  However, despite all of that, McCarron still created a mystery and characters that I was able to feel invested in and fall in love with.  I'm really excited to see what happens in book two!