Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Prized

Hey! It's the one and only GalleyGirl and I am here to bring you the what's what of the hottest new books that aren't technically out yet! ;)
This weekend, during a 14 hour car trip, I got to read Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien, the sequel to Birthmarked.
Prized is another dystopic novel set around the 25th century. Where we last left Gaia, she had wandered into the Wastelands with no more than a rumor of "The Dead Forest" and her premature baby sister, Maya. Now she has found the village of Sylum, where women rule because they are a minority. Women aren't allowed to have any romantic relationships unless they are married and plan on having at least 10 kids. 
I encourage you to read Birthmarked before taking on this book because the author moves quickly through the book assuming you have the information of the previous book. It was a difficult read because you need to know the history from Birthmarked. I found myself looking back to the prequel many times trying to understand it better. If you take on these books, you will be rewarded with Gaia's eerie, dystopic world.
I liked this book because you got the chance to see Gaia develop relationships and defy the law yet again to do what's right. For example, Gaia develops a relationship with a girl named Josephine and her daughter, Junie, and Gaia helps Josephine because she wasn't married and she had a kid. This means that Josephine will have to give away Junie and she will never be able to have her own kid because she is not "proper mother material". The reader connects with the characters of the novel and roots for the underdog the entire time and hope that all is well in the end.

2 comments:

  1. Maddi,
    Do you think Prized ended in a way that might produce a follow-up?
    ~TLC

    ReplyDelete
  2. why yes. It is the second book in the trilogy.

    ReplyDelete