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Oct 18, 2011

Clare rated it:

I cannot wait for the sequel! I thought this would be a heavy read, but I was so wrong. It is everything a gripping dystopian should be, but has wonderful characters who grow through adversity and whose experiences afford powerful insights into what is most important in life.

A dark future world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those - like sixteen year old Gaia Stone - who live outside. Gaia was trained as a midwife by her mother, and it's now her job to "a More...

9 comments like (19 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

karen rated it:

the fact that i can't think of a single thing to say about this book should be review enough, right? and yet, that could be misconstrued as one of those "if you don't have anything nice to say" remarks. and that's not it. it was a "good" "read," i am just having difficulty saying anything interesting tonight.

i will just sit here and hope the votes pour in without any effort on my part...

yes??

no??

okay, i will give it a go.
More...

18 comments like (37 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Cici rated it:

This is a story made 300 years into the future. The main character is Gaia, a scarred, 16 year old midwife, taught by her mother. They live on the outside of the wall of the Enclave. They live to serve the Enclave.

The first three babies of each month, from each midwife(I believe there is three midwives, though I'm not 100% sure) will be advanced to the Enclave to have a better life. You should feel honored to have your baby advanced.. Well, some things start to change and Gaia starts More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

prettybooks rated it:

Gaia Stone lives in a dystopian society that's split in two: the rich, privileged members live inside the walled Enclave while the rest, including Gaia, live in poverty Outside. It is an acquiesced law that the first three babies born every month will be "advanced" into the Enclave to be brought up by the elite. Gaia happily serves the Enclave as a midwife, alongside her mother, until she comes home one night to find that her mother and father have been arrested. Gaia has been told tha More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Reynje rated it:

This book and I got on a plane together, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that we were both trapped in a small space with little else to do, we might have parted ways early on.

I didn’t step smoothly into the first few chapters of Birthmarked. My reading experience sort of tripped, stumbled, almost face-planted. At first the writing seemed quite dense and strangely... formal? I had some difficulty getting my head into the world – possibly due to some pre-conceived ideas I had abou More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2010

elissa rated it:

Definitely had a good start, but I found it to be slightly uneven. Dystopic futuristic atmosphere was very good, and reminded me of Handmaid's Tale, partly because of the reproductive aspects involved in the plot. World building good, characters interesting, plot was compelling and moved the reader along. I guess sometimes the coincidences didn't always work for me (like when the main character meets just the person who can help her in an alley--a man who she's never met before--right when sh More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

papalbina rated it:

I stayed away for this book for a long time based on stupid suppositions. One was the ugly cover, the other a deja-vú feeling haunting me telling that I've already read the book. Because of that I started the book with low expectations. Funny that the expectations and what I got don't have anything in common :P

One of the strong points in this book is the main character. Gaia may be innocent and naive but she's strong-minded edging stubbornness, and brave, a bit too light-headed, if y More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2010

Milly rated it:

I actually enjoyed this book despite the mix reviews it garnered. It helped that I had no preconceived notions or expectations upon reading it. I found the premise and the plot intriguing and refreshing as I've never encountered any dystopian book with the same themes especially with regards to the codes and cryptology in this book. I love mystery and code breaking and I felt that the codes in this book, though not as sophisticated and intricate as the ones in the DaVinci Code, were interesting More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 28, 2010

Julie rated it:

wow...great pick for BWB. full review to come..WOW. Recommend this book to friends who liked Hunger Games or Maze Runner.

Gaia lives on the outside and helps her mother with delivering babies.Both of her brothers have both been advanced to help the Protectorate. Gaia does her first delivery and she advances her first child , which to her is helping the community. She comes back to her home and finds that her parents have been taken away to jail. Gaia also has a scar on her face, which More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 31, 2009

Laura rated it:

Set about 300 years in the future, after the "cool age" (which seems to represent both the time during which we were dependent on oil and possibly pre-serious global warming), this dystopian novel hits all the usual notes: babies born with genetic problems (here, due to inbreeding), a division between the haves and have-nots, babies taken from families are reared elsewhere, etc..

The Enclave's insistence on perfection is what ultimately saves Gaia (yep, the name is signif More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Joan rated it:

Título: Marca de Nacimiento
Autor: Caragh M. O'Brien
Traductor: Alberto y Nuria Jimenez Rioja
Editorial: Everest
Número de páginas: 495
ISBN: 978-84-441-4675-1

En un mundo futuro agostado por el sol inclemente, donde el agua es más valiosa que el oro, hay quienes viven dentro de las murallas del Enclave y quienes, como Gaia Stone, comadrona de dieciséis años, viven extramuros. Gaia siempre ha creído que su deber, como el de su madre, es entregar una pequeña cuot More...

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Nov 29, 2011

Michelle rated it:

In this world the privileged live in luxury inside a large walled city. Around the walls lives a poor class. The poor have what is essentially a baby tax. The first three babies born every month are delivered to the wealthy sector for adoption and the birth parents have no further contact with them. Gaia and her mother are midwives. On the night Gaia delivers her first unassisted baby, both her father and mother are arrested and disappear. Gaia is determined to find out what happened to th More...

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Aug 29, 2011

Clover (Fluttering Butterflies) added it

Review originally posted at Fluttering Butterflies

I was thrilled to hear that Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien would be published here in the UK. The book had been on my wishlist for ages as so many US bloggers seemed to have read it and loved it. I was really looking forward to reading it and while at first I found it difficult to get into, once Birthmarked hit its stride, I found myself completely lost in the story.

Birthmarked tells the story of a future world where a smal More...

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Feb 15, 2012

Sarah rated it:

I didn't think I would like this story at first, based on reading the back cover and the first chapter provided online, but I can happily say I wasn't disappointed.

My first impression of the main character in Birthmarked was that she was your generic teenaged heroine, with a mysterious scar to top it off that 'marred her beauty'. As I read further I was happy to find that the scar held other meaning and the character wasn't so generic after all. She had a bite that I wasn't expecting, More...

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Feb 10, 2012

Iria rated it:

He escuchado maravillas de esta distopía desde incluso antes de que saliera a la venta y después de leerla, he de darles la razón.

Gaia es una chica joven, educada desde siempre para ser comadrona, al igual que su madre. Tras su primer parto en solitario, de vuelta a casa se topa con que sus padres han sido detenidos por el Enclave (los mandamases). A partir de aquí, surgen los misterios, la búsqueda de explicaciones y los viajes en los que se nos descubren las dos zonas de la civilizac More...

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Feb 08, 2012

BookHookup rated it:

The Book Hookup was lucky enough to have our friend Cyn stop by and review it with Celeste. Thanks so much Cyn! :)

♥ Overall thoughts about Birthmarked
Celeste: So glad you told me to move this book up my list, Cyn! It is exactly the type of dystopian novel I love. Total crack for me! Birthmarked was about a society whose goal was to create an elite population, and they did this by building an Enclave to keep the desirable people in and the less desirable people out. They eventua More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Catherine rated it:

I’ve read a lot of dystopian novels recently and they have all been really good. So, with the likes of The Hunger Games, Matched and Ashes, there’s a lot to live up to in this particular genre.

And how did Birthmarked measure up? I think it definitely proved itself more than worthy of being placed in a league with the aforementioned titles.

I was drawn into Gaia’s world right from the very start. We are thrown straight into her challenging More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Brainwiggles rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Dec 16, 2011

Melissa rated it:

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The premise seemed really interesting, but the book just fell flat. Gaia was just boring and the rest of the characters were flat and underdeveloped. I honestly didn't understand why everyone was risking their life to help her because she wasn't inspiring and her cause for the most part helped only her, no one else (saving her parents). I also didn't understand the need to separate the people from the Enclave and those outside the wall, since the Enclave More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2011

Liyana rated it:

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. You need to read this. I can't really classify this as a dystopian novel because it's not as devastating as the genre usually is. It didn't feel me with hopelessness and grief, which is a good thing.

Dystopian is synonymous to devastation and hopelessness, in my eyes.

As for what it did do, it actually filled me with hope. Because babies! They're the embodiment of life, so anything involving babies must have a happy ending and a future for More...

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Dec 13, 2011

Lily rated it:

Marca de nacimiento es la primera novela de la trilogía distópica del mismo nombre y ¡vaya comienzo! Con sus casi quinientas páginas de pura adicción, puedo decir que es una de las mejores novelas que he leído en lo que va de año. No solo quiero destacar la calidad de su historia sino la forma engancharme a sus páginas. Me lo he bebido sin darme cuenta. Cuando no estaba perdida entre sus letras me sorprendía a mi misma pensando: "¿qué pasará a continuación?" o "¡quiero llegar a ca More...

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Nov 29, 2011

Kristina rated it:

I really enjoyed this dystopian novel. I snuck it in between Victorian children's books by leaving early for school and taking the long way on the T.

Gaia's society "advances" three babies a month from her sector to the Enclave where they are raised with every advantage, technology, money and society. The divide between the walls has a long established history. Gaia's mother and father are taken by the Enclave for questioning, and Gaia is left to take on her mother role as mi More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Myla rated it:

Well, well, well.... Another dystopian themed book. Why am I not surprised? It's like they're rabbits, just popping out everywhere. Not that I hate all dystopian novels. Most of them are pretty decent but I just see them everywhere and I feel annoyed after awhile. But anyways, onto "Birthmarked". As you've already gathered, this is a dystopian themed book. Set in future Earth, this is told in the perspective of Gaia Stone. A sixteen year old girl turned midwife of her region or "v More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Shaheen rated it:

Read the full review here.

I found the book to be an easy read which raised questions about current lifestyles in the western world and the scientific, political and social effect a climate change crisis could mitigate. Gaia’s world on the edge of the Enclave is sheltered and she believes that those inside the walled city are justified in withholding commodities such as electricity, water and education from those living outside. Every month, three babies per midwife are allowed to adv More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Alice rated it:

If you liked the world of The Hunger Games, you'll feel quite at home in this book. There are no games, and if there are districts, they are aware of each others' existence. But this big brother government, The Enclave, still takes children away from poor, unprivileged parents-- the first three babies born in each month -- for the betterment of the greater good.

Gaia is a new midwife, following in her mother's footsteps to serve The Enclave and deliver the babies from the mothers and t More...

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Nov 06, 2011

Liz B rated it:

This was a fast and very enjoyable read. O'Brien draws on some of the traditional tropes of ya postapocalyptic fiction--stratification of society, clothing/ colors as symbols, deliberate withholding of information, and a smart but foolhardy teenager who refuses to accept her place--but by having her protagonist be a midwife, she does something
I've certainly never seen before in ya fiction. And I really liked it.

Seriously. How was this book not on my radar? My Google reader is More...

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Oct 26, 2011

Nikki rated it:

Whew, what an amazing book! I completely fell in love with this it. I loved the plot, the characters and the setting, everything.

I had devoured this book within two days and was completely amazed by miss O'Brien's writing. She makes you feel everything in this book. I think that the best thing to be able to do when you are a writer is to make people feel, or think about certain things and I believe that Caragh O'Brien is such an writer who can. she amazed me and entranced me More...

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Aug 28, 2011

Ivelisse rated it:

I felt like this book was such a rip-off of the Hunger Games.

The Enclave raminded me way too much of the Capitol. WAY TOO MUCH. Not too mention that half the time I didn't even know why Gaia did some things, and I didn't understand the whole code and what its purpose was and why the parents were even taken in in the first place.

The romance was super dry. Leon and Gaia = FAIL. I mean, I loved Leon, and I didn't have a problem with Gaia, and when Leon and Gaia had a few s More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Iris rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 18, 2011

Megan rated it:

Not enough time to write a full fledged review, but wanted to make a few short statements regarding the book anyway. I think the idea was there; the writing is good, but with so many distopians out there, this one didn't stand out. I felt that the pace was needlessly slow sometimes, the characters a little shallow, the romance was unbelievable in light of their formidable years. And a few things that bothered me were that some character descriptions didn't come until much later in the book. And More...

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