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Nov 28, 2011

Clare rated it:

This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write, both because the book left me heartbroken, and because it was so confusing that it left me quite exhausted. It is also difficult because I highly respect the author, especially for her openness to honest feedback, and though I disagree with some of the things in this book I continue to respect her and will eagerly await whatever else she may write. The other difficulty is that the themes dealt with are highly controversial, and yet they More...

18 comments like (35 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

I'm Your Ramen Eating Mate ~~~~ rated it:

I AM SO BLOODY EXCITED!!!
WHOOOOO

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker rated it:

If the debut book in a series is even semi- good, I will continue with a series. I understand that it is hard for a debut book in a series to knock my socks off because you have significant amount of world building, and brand new characters to introduce. Usually, the plot is deep in the book and so I know patience is the key.

Why I wanted to read book 2 in the Birthmarked series?

I liked book 1 but I did not love it. I did like the 2nd half and because I thought it had po More...

9 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

Cici rated it:

The first book, Birthmarked is one of my favorite books! I really loved all the characters and coding and puzzles. I can't wait to get a hold of this book! :)

Prized is AMAZING! I LOVED it! It feels very different from Birthmarked (maybe because of the place setting and how Gaia is treated) but I loved it just as much. Definetly a new favorite.
Gaia Stone and her baby sister, Maya escape the Enclave with hope of finding a better life for them in the Dead Forest(Sylum).
Sylum, More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Ambur rated it:

I absolutely loved the first book in this series, Birthmarked, so I was really excited to read Prized, and I wasn't disappointed! While the feel of the two books differs quite a bit, they both still have Gaia, and they both still center around some very amazing women...and powerful women.

In Prized, Gaia has left her home and is now in Sylum. Sylum is completely different than the world she knew before. First, the women are the ones in control, and the leader is a woman. In Sylum, wom More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Carmen rated it:

First off, this cover is absolutely gorgeous! Kudos to the cover designers, April Ward at Macmillan and Tim Green (of faceout studio).I have just finished Prized by Caragh O'Brien and I have got to say, I can't wait until the 3rd book being released in Fall of 2012. This novel continues with Gaia Stone and her sister Maya after they have escaped the Enclave. They find the "Dead Forest" which ends up actually being called Sylum. In Sylum, women are prized since there is a large maj More...

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Feb 12, 2012

BookHookup rated it:

Once again we were lucky enough to have Cyn drop by and review with us. Thanks, Cyn! :)

♥ Random Thoughts About Prized:
Celeste: Loved it. I read it in one sitting and was up into the wee hours of the night. I think I just kept turning the pages because I needed to find Leon.
Cyn: I definitely love this one more than Birthmarked. SO much more. I squeed and giggled a LOT.

♥ Favorite Part: (warning – maybe a lil spoilerish!)
Celeste: When Gaia was on Leon’s lap More...

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Feb 09, 2012

Jill rated it:

This was the rare sequel that was stronger than the first book in the series! I could not put it down.

_Prized_ picks up Gaia Stone's story from where it left off in Birthmarked. Gaia is a 16-year-old midwife in a future world where global warming has dried up much of the water supply. She escapes from The Enclave, the society that exploits her small village, and makes her way to the Dead Forest. Gaia is searching for her maternal grandmother, who is supposed to have escaped to the More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Suzanne rated it:

Again, this series is addicting. I read the first one and could not wait for the second. Gaia's saga continues this time after she has left the only home she ever knew and entered the Wasteland. She settles into a "civilization" (the Sylum) and is shocked to find that women are in control and men are the underlings. When Leon follows her in, he is arrested. Gaia struggles with feelings for three men, wanting to follow the Martriark, and wanting to rebel. Another good read.
More...

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Jan 25, 2012

Stephanie rated it:

Although Prized presents some fascinating concepts I couldn’t help but feel that it all feels massively distant from the world we were introduced to in Birthmarked. Without Gaia and Leon, and a few other tidbits there’s little to bridge the two novels, and there’s a lack of cohesion as a result. I also felt that there was rather too much going on to allow the novel to have the depth that it otherwise might have. (This is certainly true of the characters, who although generally nuanced, can occas More...

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Jan 16, 2012

Carisa rated it:

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

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Jan 02, 2012

Madison rated it:

LOVED the second book in the Birthmarked trilogy! I read the first book as a galley 2 summers ago and was excited to read more! Similar to the Hunger Games, this series takes place in the future after the world has seen numerous catastrophes and natural disasters and there is a central government that controls everything while everyone lives outside of the main city with little to no modern technology. Gaia is a young midwife who decided to take her infant sister and leave from the life she's al More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Lori rated it:

I could not put it down and stayed up almost all night reading it, only to get up the next morning to finish it. The 2nd book of the trilogy was even better than the 1st. As I noted in my previous review of Birthmarked, I hoped I would get more clear answers regarding some things that needed to be cleaned up. In this book they were cleaned up and will lead directly into the final book. I love the character of Gaia and how we are able to see into her thought processes so clearly. The author, More...

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Dec 26, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

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

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Dec 08, 2011

J.Elle rated it:

I waited with bated breath for this because I LOVED Birthmarked. It appealed to the part of me that enjoys dystopian YA novels and the part of me that is a secret genetics nerd. ALAS. And woe. And alack. The second installment was so lacking in the brilliance of the first. My main complaint was that is felt like it belonged in an entirely different series.

When last we left Gaia she had escaped the Enclave into the wasteland with her newborn sister. Now we encounter her and t More...

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Nov 26, 2011

Novels On The Run rated it:

MARISSA'S REVIEW:

I absolutely LOVED Birthmarked.....so I was very anxious to gets my hands on Prized to continue the saga that became Gaia Stone's life - and of course a bit a Leon!!
Though Prized wasn't as fresh and fast paced as Birthmarked, I certainly enjoyed it.

Gaia grew further as a woman in Prized. She became strong willed and definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her stubborn side was very evident!

At times it felt a little slow within the story - t More...

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Nov 22, 2011

Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it:

I read the first book last year and really loved it. Now that I got to read the next one, I admit I expected more but still loved it nonetheless.

The book pikes up right where it left off from the first one. Gaia is off looking for another settlement that is not crazy like her last. But what she falls into is not what she thought it was. Some parts of this book made me angry! Gaia has been searching for a settlement, one that is okay to live in. But instead she finds an even crazier on More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Donna rated it:

I would give this sequel to Birthmarked 3.5 stars. I liked the story, but not as well as the first book. It begins where Birthmarked left off, but then becomes a very different story. Gaia and Maya, while crossing the wasteland and seeking the "Dead Forest," are rescued by Chardo Peter, from a community called Sylum. He brings them back to Sylum, where the male to female ratio is 9:1 and women are in charge. It has some similarities to the Enclave, but it is a more simplistic socie More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Shaheen rated it:

Read the full review here.

**SPOILERS FOLLOW**

In Prized, the author transplants the heroine Gaia into a new society which is completely different from the setting of the first book. Sylum has climate change survived by becoming a matriarchal society surviving on marshland north of the Enclave. A mysterious genetic defect has caused an imbalance in the number of males and females being born in Sylum, resulting in the men outnumbering the women 9:1. The matriarchal nature of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Mary rated it:

Reviewed from e-ARC provided by publisher via netgalley.com.

Prized is the second installment in the Birthmarked Trilogy. Gaia Stone has escaped the treacherous injustice of the Enclave and now faces new injustices in the matriarchal community of Sylum, where the infant sister she fought to rescue is immediately taken from her. Like the Enclave, Sylum is a dying community, though for different reasons. Sylum has a huge imbalance between male and female population, with very few girls b More...

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Nov 06, 2011

Vicki rated it:

I really really loved Birthmarked -- I had to order a second copy for our collection, because I was always recommending it (especially when all of the Hunger Games books were checked out, which is more or less all the time). Both books in this series have enough of their own thing going on without making me feel like they're just a regurgitation of The Giver, The Hunger Games, or whatever book the author read so many times they started to feel like the ideas were their own. I feel like it's th More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Nicole rated it:

As with the first book in the Birthmarked Trilogy, there were things I enjoyed and things I really didn’t.

The world building is solid. O’Brien’s dystopias have clear rules and strong sense of place while introducing mysterious elements. In Prized, the power situation is reversed. In Sylum, Gaia has all the power and Leon has none. Yet both will learn to garner and wield power.

I was less satisfied with the character development. Gaia, who had such a strong sense of self and en More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Katy Book Corner rated it:

I'm really giving this book a 3.5 (between liked and really liked) because I really did like it but there were a lot of things that bothered me about it.

THIS REVIEW WILL MOST LIKELY CONTAIN SPOILERS IN ORDER TO MAKE SENSE.

My biggest problem with Prized is I felt it was a totally different book from Birthmarked. None of the characters were the same. Gaia is supposed to be this strong young woman who stands up for what she believes. While she does redeem herself at the end, I f More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Karen rated it:

When confronted with the second book in a series, I often find myself being very excited about it because i remember really enjoying the first book but unable to remember many details about that first book. That was the case with "Prized," sequel to last year's "Birthmarked." I remembered really enjoying "Birthmarked," but unclear on the details - I knew it was a dystopia and involved genetics and midwifery, but that was about it.

Luckily, O'Brien did a g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Rachael rated it:

Gaia Stone leaves the Enclave with her baby sister and as many supplies as she can carry, searching for a shelter that is only rumored to exist. Close to desperation and death, Gaia is rescued by the people of Sylum, an elusive society her grandmother had run away to years ago. But Sylum isn’t the safe haven Gaia hoped it would be; a rigid body of laws is strictly enforced by the women in charge and anyone who refuses to conform is ostracized or severely punished. Gaia can’t decide whether to su More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Afza rated it:

Okay, so I have so many thoughts on this book, both good and bad.

Honestly, I just wanted to say that I have been waiting like crap to get this book downloaded, and when I finally downloaded the ebook, I finished it in a day.

Soooo many emotions!

All right, I'll just start out with the flaws. There were a few instances that left me disappointed in Gaia's behavior. When she steps into this new society, she nearly has to change herself completely to abide by the More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Christine rated it:

I enjoyed Ms. O’Brien’s Birthmarked so had to pick up this sequel. She does not disappoint. The first page of Prized picks up exactly where Birthmarked ended. No unexplained time lapse to catch up on throughout the story. Gaia Stone is wandering the Wastelands with only her infant sister when she is “rescued” and taken to Sylum, appearing to be a Utopia in the midst of devastation. But Sylum has its own dirty little secret and not everything is as perfect as it seems. Having been drawn to More...

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Dec 21, 2011

Karen rated it:

Prized begins right where Birthmarked left off: Gaia searching for a better life, any sign of life in the Wastelands. She gets taken in by a community known as Sylum. Matrarc Olivia is the head of Sylum, and in this land, there are 9 men for every 1 woman, but the woman have all the rights. Woman (those not banished) have the right to vote. Woman choose a man they wish to ask to marry them. It's the woman's name that gets passed on to the children. Oh yeah, and besides the oddity of having so ma More...

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Sep 02, 2011

Kara rated it:

**Warning! There may be minor spoilers in this review!**

Oh, this book. This book, this book, this book! I remember reading Birthmarked and liking it. I liked the strong, imperfect heroin. I liked the midwifery and the world was well realized, unlike a lot of new dystopian books. But the second book in this trilogy is spades better than Birthmarked. With many series books I feel like the first one is great and every other one after that is just the stretching of a story that wasn't More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Snshyne79 rated it:

I was actually pleasantly surprised at this sequel ... It took a much different twist, but I was happy that it could almost stand alone on it's own.

So if you've read Birthmarked, you'll remember that Gaia escaped the Enclave with here baby sister Maya, crossing the Unlake in hopes of finding another colony where her grandma is rumored to be. She's rescued and brought to such a community: Sylum. While Sylum seems to be better than the Enclave, the people here have their own set of ge More...

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