Birthmarked

I surprisingly enjoyed this book quite a lot! It wasn't the best dystopian I've read but it was still quite good. I really enjoyed the world and the characters were decent. However, I found there was a few slower portions in this book which made me want to either put down the book or just skip through until the faster parts :) but other than that there wasn't much I didn't like!

I decided to buy this book after having read a couple of reviews on Goodreads. My expectations were quite high, and the book did not disappoint! While reading, I felt like the whole world – the Enclave, Wharfton, the Tvaltar – was really well described and I could easily picture it in my mind. The book is dystopian, and set some 300-400 years in the future. The climate has changed and it's incredibly hot, lakes have dried out and it almost never rains. It all seemed very realistic with all the global warming stuff that goes on today.

I liked Gaia as a main character; she's brave, intelligent and kind. She's not had the best childhood in the world, but she's always had her parents to lean on. But suddenly that changes, too. And that's where the book starts off!

The code thing was brilliant! I love when books have these little riddles and symbols that the author invites you to solve with the main character as the story progresses. I have to admit that I did not figure it out by myself!

I didn't quite feel the romance in the book, but I feel like the action and all the things happening were more important anyway, so it didn't matter much. The end was pretty heartbreaking, though. And everything with Maya – awww! Yes, I did get a little teary-eyed at times. But I won't spoil you – read the book! It's good, I promise.

This was a read that I was interested in. I tend to devour YA fiction/fantasy over summer breaks, but I've been rather disappointed this year. Most books I read would lead into a series that I found myself uninterested in following. “Birthmarked” kept me guessing and wanting so badly for Gaia to discover the secrets surrounding her, and for her to overcome her own shyness (poor thing). I finished it and actually looked for the copyright date and was more than frustrated when it read 2010. I simply can't wait for the next book!

Being a loyal midwife to the walled city known as the Enclave is all Gaia has ever known. Following in her mother's footsteps of fulfilling the quota of delivering three babies per month, Birthmarked opens with Gaia's first unassisted delivery. Gaia has always believed the Enclave to be a dream place and feels satisfied to serve it. When Gaia goes home to find that both of her parents have been arrested in question of a secret baby record, a record that Gaia is clueless about, she soon too is questioned and imprisoned. Through frightening twists and stumbling turns in her plan to escape and free her parents, Gaia must make adjustments here and there that accommodate bizarre encounters.


I want to believe that Birthmarked was epic in a dystopian perspective, but for me it was just sad. Don't get me wrong, it isn't without it's merits but at different points in time I really thought that Gaia was stupid. I blame this in part because of the secrets her parents hid from her. Now, I don't really find when the main character has some mystery to solve and secrets to uncover a bad quality in the book–it really just makes it more intriguing, to say the least–but the way Gaia is kept so out of the lope (and is constantly reminded of it) is unsettling. There were some dull spots where inaction was frequent. The parts that I really liked and admired were the intricacy laid into the importance of the “advanced” individuals in the Enclave, and how brave Gaia was to go through it all and not think about giving up with all those obstacles thrown at her. I just wasn't pleased with the over-the-top descriptions about every other thing that happened to her. At first I really didn't think I was going to have a favorite character, but after learning more and more about Sergeant Grey/Leon's identity, I found out the motives for his actions and underlying pain he hides about his adoptive family. His interaction with Gaia is rocky at first, but by the end your pleading that he stays by her side. Now that I mention it, the ending itself was sad and dissatisfying.


Grade: C