Birthmarked (Birthmarked Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Caragh M. O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010 | Series: Birthmarked Trilogy (Book 1)

IN THE ENCLAVE, YOUR SCARS SET YOU APART, and the newly born will change the future.

Sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone and her mother faithfully deliver their quota of three infants every month. But when Gaia’s mother is brutally taken away by the very people she serves, Gaia must question whether the Enclave deserves such loyalty. A stunning adventure brought to life by a memorable heroine, this dystopian debut will have readers racing all the way to the dramatic finish.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7–10—In a dystopian world of the future, apprentice midwife Gaia, who has served the Enclave faithfully along with her parents, is thrust suddenly into a crisis. She delivers her first baby independently of her midwife mother and takes it to the Enclave inside the Wall as the first of her monthly quota of three newborns. Then her parents are arrested and she learns that they will soon be executed. Gaia springs into action and smuggles herself into the Enclave to rescue them. What follows is an exciting, almost breakneck adventure, as Gaia tries to discover what information the Enclave wants from her and her mother and tries to save both of them from prison. Along the way there is a mildly romantic turn to the story as Gaia develops a friendship and attraction to one of the soldiers, a man with a mysterious past. This world is one in which a small society, composed of an elite inside the Wall and a subservient class outside, is completely cut off from knowledge of anyone or anything outside of its borders. The rulers are authoritarian and mysterious and resemble a monarchy rather than the strictly ideological communitarian system in Lois Lowry's The Giver (Houghton, 1993). The cliff-hanger ending sets up the action for a sequel. Readers who enjoy adventures with a strong heroine standing up to authority against the odds will enjoy this compelling tale.—Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

It’s been 300 years since Lake Michigan became Unlake Michigan; the “cool age” is only hazily known to residents of Wharfton, a small village that sits alongside the walled city of the Enclave. Gaia is 16 and works in Western Sector Three with her mother delivering babies, “advancing” the first three per month to live a better life inside the city. It’s a wrenching routine Gaia doesn’t question until her parents are mysteriously arrested by Enclave authorities. Gaia’s rescue attempt is fraught with peril—the burn scar on her face marks her as a “freak” who would never be allowed into the Enclave’s exclusive gene pool—and soon she herself is tossed into a cell with other female physicians. Although the setup suggests speculative fiction, O’Brien’s concerns are corporeal; her impulsive and spirited heroine (who even resists, yes, romance) is the kind readers adore. The facts behind inbreeding and the numerous birthing scenes will give this an added appeal to science-minded teens. Continual revelations push this toward an ending that hints at more to come. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; 1 edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596435690
• ISBN-13: 978-1596435698
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (138 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caragh M. O'Brien is the author of BIRTHMARKED and PRIZED, two young adult, dystopian novels published by Roaring Brook Press. The third book in the series, PROMISED, is due out in the fall of 2012. She has published a handful of romance novels and recently resigned from teaching high school English in order to write full-time. For more information, visit www.caraghobrien.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful sci-fi distopian YA novel, March 4, 2010

By 

S. Power (Detroit, Michigan, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birthmarked (Birthmarked Trilogy) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Gaia's world is outside the wall. She is a midwife and those outside the wall are required to give up three of their babies to the enclave inside the wall where they will live the privileged life every month. When Gaia's parents go missing she suddenly questions her existence and the rules that her society has always followed. She breaks into the enclave and finds that things there aren't as perfect as they've always seemed.

As the story continues the moral story of a perfect race and the perils of inbreeding and genetic manipulation (with an elementary genetics lesson wrapped in) becomes an engrossing one and Gaia has to make difficult choices to save herself and do what she knows is right.

Gaia is a wonderfully strong teen heroine. She fights for what's right and won't let anyone or anything stop her. If you liked Katniss from The Hunger Games and Tally from the Uglies series you'll love Gaia.

The ending is complete yet leaves space for a sequel which I will be thrilled to purchase.

Appropriateness: There isn't any subject manner that will annoy adults. No drinking, drugs, sex or graphic violence. The romance is sweet and the herione is the type of girl that parents would like their daughters to be.

36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing special here, April 5, 2010

By 

YA book lover - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Birthmarked (Birthmarked Trilogy) (Hardcover)

An ARC of "Birthmarked" was gifted to me by my friend, so I feel kind of bad for giving this book such a low rating, but at the same time I don't want to sugar coat it either. The thing is, "Birthmarked" is not one of those horrid books that I despise for awful writing or atrocious characters ("Evermore" and "Hush, Hush" come to mind). It is not bad, but it is simply boring and unremarkable. To be honest, only a marginally interesting premise kept me skimming last 200 pages of the book instead of giving up on it completely.

Gaia Stone is a 16-year old midwife in training in a small village near a walled city called Enclave. At the beginning of the book Gaia assists in birthing a baby and an hour later "advances" it, meaning she takes the baby from its mother and gives it over to the Enclave guards to be raised inside the city walls. Even though the mother of the child is in tears, Gaia advances the baby without any hesitation, this is a part of her job and she knows it's a right thing to do. When later that night Gaia reaches her home, she is told that her parents were arrested and are now imprisoned within the city. The girl doesn't understand why it happened, the only clue to their possible discretion is a hair ribbon covered in mysterious symbols that Gaia'a parents left behind. What follows is Gaia's quest to find her parents and uncover the importance of the ribbon.

I think the first major mistake the publisher of "Birthmarked" makes is that it markets it as a cross between "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Hunger Games" which happen to be two of my favorites. Trust me, it not even close to either of these books. It lacks the depth and emotional impact of the first and non-stop action and hot teenage romance of the second.

Even more, both the characters and the dystopian world are not sufficiently developed.

Gaia is a very flat heroine. Her main characteristics are: a huge burn scar on her face (the emotional implications are explored only superficially), her ability to get various people to help her by simply asking (even prison guards are always willing to answer her questions and demands, imagine that!) and naivete akin to that of a 10-year old. How this girl ends up getting a mature guy by the end of the story is a mystery to me.

The world of Enclave misses the mark too. I recognized many aspects "borrowed" from "The Handmaid's Tale" (the colored uniforms based on the professional occupation, the titles - Masister, genetic and ecological problems, etc.), but even that is not enough to create a convincing dystopian reality. For a regime that is supposedly totalitarian and oppressive, the Enclave comes off as rather nonthreatening and lax.

All this combined with the general slowness of the story, uninteresting characters, lack of convincing action, conflict, or romance, and absence of any kind of emotional impact that dystopias are known and lauded for, make "Birthmarked" a pretty mediocre read. I might be in minority in my assessment of this book, as there are many 5-star reviews of it, but I am quite positive that even though some fans of sci-fi/dystopian YA might enjoy this novel, it is definitely not the next big thing.

P.S. Almost forgot, the book has an ending, but it is extremely open for a sequel.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Enthralling Debut Read About a Society on the Brink and a Courageous Girl That Can Either Save or Destroy Them..., March 8, 2010

By 

Fiendishly Bookish "fiendishlybookish" (The Virtual Ether....) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Birthmarked (Birthmarked Trilogy) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Caragh O'Brien explores the bonds of kinship in a deteriorating dystopian society that brings to a head many provocative themes, and forces us to ponder some difficult questions and even more troublesome answers. In Birthmarked, three hundred years into the future, humanity's survival depends on diversity. But the citizens of Western Sector Three don't know that. For countless years they have been sacrificing their select newborns to the Enclave for basic necessities, never to see them again. One girl will unravel the mystery and thrust these two societies into chaos.

Birthmarked was such a compelling read because it's chock full of substance. O'Brien's world is one of obedience. Where the technology, the advancements of a bygone era, hydroelectricity, computers, and the means to grow food are all controlled by the Enclave. Their rules are harsh and unforgiving to those that disobey them. Those outside the walls live a simple life, largely uneducated and supply...babies to the Enclave unknowing that genetic defects are so prevalent within the upper castes.

O'Brien does not purposely soften the tone of her story merely because it is young adults who are her audience. Rather the adversities that Gaia Stone goes through in Birthmarked, bonds the readers to her plight. When Gaia starts to unravel the mysteries that are left to her after her parents are jailed, she must confront the consequences of her actions. What ultimately happened to the babies that she and her mother "advanced"? What became of her two older brothers? What does Leon want with her? What is the significance of the tattooed "freckles" and worse, how will the Enclave use that knowledge especially as their situation worsens? She has the power to destroy or join together both societies...will she do it?

There is harsh death as well as the balm of new life within O'Brien's world, which makes it realistic and meaningful. I have read plenty of YA dystopian novels but none of them can come close to the subtly expressive and thought-provoking themes that Birthmarked contained. I was enthralled from the first page, contemplative, and reveling throughout the entire story. It was simply an amazing debut read. Every reader will want to accompany this courageous heroine on this journey to discover exactly what she is capable of, unravel the mystery of the coded ribbon, and whether she can step unfettered into the future. I definitely want more and am anxious to find out what happens in the next book!
A Fiendishly Bookish Review