Book Review- Birth Marked

By Caragh M. O'Brien

Published by Roaring Books Press

Released on March 30th, 2010

Source- author & publisher

4.5 stars- Definitely Recommend

After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.

Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.

Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code (quoted from Goodreads).

From the moment I opened Birth Marked, Caragh had my undivided attention, as she drew me right into Gaia's world. Following in her mother's footsteps, Gaia is a midwife. Delivering her first baby should be something to be proud of, but when you have to take the baby away from a grieving mother and turn it over to the Enclave, how could you celebrate? Everything up to this point in Gaia's life has been about serving the Enclave, honorably and without questions.

After delivering the heathy baby to the Enclave, 16 year old Gaia returns home to find her parents have been taken to the Enclave and the handsome solider standing in front of her wants answers Gaia's can't give him. What I liked about this story, is that there's no need for a drawn out explanation into the story's history, and as Gaia is trying to figure out what's really going on behind the walls of the Enclave that separate her people and the "wealthy" ones, and why her parents were taken, I found out the answers when she did. That's what made Birth Marked such a remarkable page turner. I didn't have time to think, I just kept reading as I wanted to know what would happen next.

Scared from a burn that covers her half her face since she was an infant, Gaia is no stranger to trails and tribulations. Where I would want to throw my hands up in the air and yell "what next", Gaia's inner strength gives her the courage to continue on. I absolutely wish I was more like her. She's a very strong heroine and was very relatable as she tries to do the right thing, holds on to her faith that her parents are still alive and will do what ever it takes to try and save her family, even when all hope is lost.

Birth Marked is one of those stories that I easily found myself drawn in to. It's one that I can understand (not agree with) how a society would (and they do) separate people by class and while those who live on two different sides of the wall have two completely different live styles and may romanticize about life on the other side, they have no idea about the horrors that are there. While this dystopian is set in the year 2300's, it's one that made a lot of sense to me, as there's bits of the story that ring true to life now.

Birth Marked has a lot of great elements that make it an addicting read, as there's mystery, adventure, a search for truth, and of course the right dose of romance. From the moment Gaia meets Captain Grey, there's just something about him that drew me to his character. Caragh did a great job with their chemistry. It was well written, and very realistic. Plus I easily fall for two characters who live in a society they can't change, but they find their voices and way to inspire change around them.

Birth Marked is a very unique book and I think it stands out among dystopian books. As the story progressed, it evoked different emotions from me, and the ending left me feeling hope, when all hope looked to be lost. I definitely recommend picking this book up and I'm really looking forward to Birth Marked's sequel.