Promised (The Birthmarked Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Caragh M. O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 2, 2012 | Series: The Birthmarked Trilogy (Book 3)

After defying the ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever.  She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enclave and persuade the Protectorat to grant them refuge from the wasteland.  In Gaia's absence, the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or rebelling have never been higher.  Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to sacrifice what--or whom--she loves most?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

More than a year has passed since Birthmarked (2010), and in this trilogy ender, 17-year-old Gaia returns to the walled city of the Enclave along with her Sylum followers, who are desperate to once again have female babies. But things have changed in the Enclave. The ruthless Protectorat has created the Vessel Institute: a baby factory for birthing offspring for wealthy but childless couples. Will the standoff between camps be breached by diplomacy or violent assault? (Take a guess.) Though some of Gaia’s impulsive actions to save her beloved Leon strain credulity, this is a satisfying finish to a strong series that deftly mixed romance and, of all things, genetics. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

Review

 

“An interesting mixture of fantasy and science fiction.”—VOYA, December 2012

 

 

“…a satisfying finish to a strong series that deftly mixed romance and, of all things, genetics.”—Booklist, October 1, 2012

 

 

“Readers […] will want to see Gaia succeed against the odds once again.”—Kirkus, September 15, 2012

 

“Readers who relish romance, lots of action and drama that includes overthrowing an evil regime, and strong female characters will love this book.” —School Library Journal, January 2013

  --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; 1 edition (October 2, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596435712
• ISBN-13: 978-1596435711
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caragh M. O'Brien is the author of the young adult, dystopian novel BIRTHMARKED and its sequels, PRIZED and PROMISED. The story of teen midwife Gaia Stone, BIRTHMARKED has been honored by the YALSA BFYA, the Junior Library Guild, the Amelia Bloomer List, and state reading lists in Texas, Arkansas, Utah, Georgia, and Rhode Island. Ms. O'Brien lives with her family in Connecticut, and recently resigned from teaching high school English in order to write. For more information, visit www.caraghobrien.com.
Photo (c) Tomy O'Brien

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating and disappointing end to the Birthmarked series November 9, 2012

By Christina (Ensconced in YA) TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

I have been looking forward to this book since Prized came out a year ago. I thought there was no way I could be disappointed. I was wrong.

Promised by Caragh O'Brien is the third installment of the Birthmarked trilogy. I really enjoyed Birthmarked and Prized, and was excited to see what Gaia and her friends were up to next since they were travelling back to the Enclave, where the scary Protectorat (and Leon's father) rules with an iron fist. Gaia is traveling back with her company, now Matrarch of New Sylum, after the death of Olivia. Her goal is to set up another community outside of the Enclave and broker for water and peace between their people. Unsurprisingly, she runs into difficulty.

I was so incredibly frustrated with this book from start to finish. First, we have Gaia, who I really liked in the first two books, but just couldn't like in this book. She has become Matrarch and fumbles around like someone who has no experience. This is the third book in the trilogy, she is allowed to be pretty awesome now in knowledge and skill, especially with all that she's been through. Instead, she makes mistake after mistake (pretty obvious ones too, ones where I was yelling to myself, WHY are you doing that??).

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. She has supposedly PICKED Leon, but we still have Will and Peter Chardo in the background, always hanging around, because everyone is in love with Gaia. The thing that is most annoying is that she is bothered by the fact that these two boys may start developing feelings for other women. I almost stood up and gave Peter a high five when he asked Gaia if she enjoyed having two backups just in case things with Leon didn't work out. And what's sad, is that Leon knows this is true-- even on his deathbed, instead of professing his undying love to her, he says that she'll end up with one of those Chardo brothers. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I read that. Talk about a totally unhealthy relationship.

Gaia also is completely condescending to Leon and doesn't realize it at all until the end of the book. She expects him to just follow her commands (which aren't very intelligent orders anyway-- she keeps trying to have him not do anything because she's afraid to lose him and doesn't listen to him and pretty much dismisses him when he has thoughtful and accurate concerns/opinions) because she is the "leader." He is so patient with her, which I don't understand at all. I would totally have dumped her at this point. She's just horrible to be around. There are some awful things that happen at the end of the book, but are totally predictable. The fact that Gaia didn't TALK to anyone about her plans before she blindly wandered around, almost killing herself, to find Leon when she has a huge group of people to look after-- she doesn't deserve to be a leader. I'm not saying she shouldn't rescue her loved one, but she should take some time to plan out what she does and also take into account all the people that depend on her leadership.

When she runs into her friend, Emily, who she basically screwed over (and she really did, although all the guys pat her on the back and say it's not her fault), she's OFFENDED when Emily is like, you basically killed my husband, and I can't be friends with you after that. I TOTALLY understand Emily's position, and agree with her. I mean, now her husband is dead and her kids were taken away from her, and she's forced to be a breeding cow. I think life pretty much sucks, and Gaia should just get over herself.

I also didn't get this whole "master plan" of surrogate mothers. First, I was really offended by Gaia's standpoint of surrogates being worse than having your children forcefully taken away and adopted by families. At least in this way, the women are getting paid so they can support the rest of their family. OK, so O'Brien makes the situation even worse so that the reader may agree with Gaia, but Gaia doesn't know the women are being forced into things at the time she presents her opinion. She just condemns this way of life because she has never heard such a thing. Second, the idea that Gaia can just have 100's of kids from her eggs and this is going to save the population doesn't make any sense. Weren't they already worried about siblings getting together? Hemophilia isn't the worst genetic defect a population can have. By decreasing the variability of the population even more, things will get worse. How stupid can these people be? I know that the Protectoract realizes these issues... he talks about it in the first book. So why does he thinks this suddenly changes now? The "doctor scientist" Sephie is ridiculous-- she actually says something like "well I was only told to cure hemophilia so that's what I've done," when Gaia says her first smart thing in this whole book-- she asks about the variability of the population.

Characters that were once more three dimensional, or had the possibility of becoming three dimensional, suddenly are flat and uninteresting. I was just so incredibly disappointed by this book, which was supposed to be the triumphant last chapter of a great trilogy and instead falls flat.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Depressing! October 4, 2012

By The Book Runner TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have one word for this book: De. Press. Ing! I admit that Caragh O'Brien is an excellent writer and can weave a good story, but when I started out reading the Birthmarked trilogy, I had no idea it was going to be so dark and gut wrenching.

Promised starts off with the exodus of 1800 Sylum residents traipsing across the wasteland for weeks to get to The Enclave to set up a city outside the walls next to Wharfton. On the way, they rescue Gaia's older brother, Jack who has been stabbed, and his 8 year old brave friend, Angie. Will and Peter are still in the story and are still in love with Gaia, but have resolved that she is with Leon and their chances with her are over while still being fiercely protective of her. Upon arriving, Gaia is immediately arrested and only the quick thinking of Leon's sister Evelyn is she able to get free. The Protectorate and Mabrother Iris are just as evil as they were in Birthmarked and continue with the torture and lies, taking them to a new level of wickedness.

I did love that Leon is back and is a co-leader with Gaia, not just her lackey. I love that he is strong and stands up to Gaia, protecting her, standing up to his father and courageously taking the physical and mental torture the insane Iris dishes out. He was a main character in this book who did what he thought was right and was a powerful force against his father and in helping the revolution get started. He was extremely romantic with Gaia and beyond understanding in his love for her. He makes my heart melt and was the best thing about this story.

While Birthmarked was about a dystopian patriarchal society that allowed babies to be "stolen" or "advanced" from their families and given to wealthier infertile families inside the Wall, Prized was about Sylum, a matriarchal dystopian society whose men were sterile and whose women produced only male children and were dying out. Promised is about the two societies trying to co-exist with the new dystopia involving surrogate motherhood or baby factories. Apparently The Enclave's offspring suffered from hemophelia and using surrogate mothers who didn't carry the gene would help rebuild their society.

There were some tender moments between Gaia and Leon that I loved and some terrifying experiences between Mabrother Iris and Gaia that I hated. The story ended with hope which I suppose is a good thing, but it was so depressing and so many suffered needless violence, that I, for one, am glad that the trilogy is over.

Would I/Did I buy it? Yes (10.79)
Would I read it again? Probably not
Would I recommend it to friends? Yes, to finish the trilogy

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Love the first two but a little let down with the final book October 17, 2012

By Marken1014

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The first two books were absolutely amazing!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Gaia's story.
Unfortunetly I feel like the author either ran out of ideas or she just wanted to get the book out on time.
The book was nowhere near as developed or connecting as the first two except near the end. I cried lol.
And I didnt like how I read the last page (kindle) and then expected to read on and found out it was over.
I felt like it left me high and dry. Also a lot of things in the story just werent logical and not like the
characters the author developed through the first two books. I was very upset since I loved the first two
books. Honestly I could have left the story off at book two and been satisfied. Still if your like me you
have to read to till there is no more. I pre-ordered this book as well so you can tell how much I was expecting.
Everthing said, I still enjoyed spending time in Gaia's world a little longer :)