Carrier of the Mark is a very traditional new-style YA paranormal (as in Twilight)(Yes, I realized that's an oxymoron). It's very comfortable if a little boring as it goes through the story motions. I normally would have given it a three star and left it at that, mildy curios to see where the story is going. I can't do that anymore. As Megan and Adam find love and settle into each other all the tension in the story just washes away. The problem is that this is in the middle. So that author introduces the ultimate terror- a group of old men from a secret order who tell Megan that her romance might spell the end of the world. She's sutibly terrified. Not only that, but she's told that the man she will marry and make babies with should be someone the said old men choose.
Is it only me who gets irritated by this? Why on earth should a modern girl who seems reasonably independent not completely freak out when a group of people tries to run her life up to the point of arranged marriages? She's so docile about the whole thing that I start to wonder if she's been drugged. After that I was never able to really get back into the story.