Review: Prized

Prized
by Caragh O'Brien
Birthmarked Trilogy, book two

Book Description:

Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone survives only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime. In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code, but how can she deny her sense of justice, her curiosity, and everything in her heart that makes her whole?

 

Review:

Hallelujah. A second book in a trilogy that tells its own complete story. :)

 

 

I was amazed at how different this book was from say Ally Condie's Crossed which although it also involved the main characters relocating to a new, dangerous environment, did not seem to actually have any purpose...it was a book that did not need to be written. Here, Gaia grows as a person. She defines her ideals. She faces a new hostile environment and she triumphs.

 

 

I was extremely excited to read about an entirely new and believable society. I thought that O'Brien did a marvelous job with the worldbuilding in Sylum and that the way that Gaia and Leon reacted to it was completely legitimate and realistic. Gaia and Leon, who have both been forced to grow up way too quickly, must still struggle with regular teen issues. 

 

An excellent second book. I cannot wait to find out how the series will finally end! 

Review: Partials

Partials
by Dan Wells

Book Description:

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Review:

Feel like you are tired of dystopians, yet? If so, I'd say give Partials a chance and see if it restores your faith in the genre. I love dystopians, really love them, but with the influx to the market right now, it is easy to get burnt out! I'm finding myself having to be much more careful in my selections and having to space them out between books from other genres to give myself a mental reboot. However, I really, thoroughly enjoyed Partials and would read a sequel from this author in a heartbeat!

This book had a great premise and followed through with realistic fallout. I loved how not only had the human population been decimated by a virus (that they essentially unleashed upon themselves after creating the Partials superhuman army...), but that they then also had to deal with their inability to reproduce successfully and how their society dealt with the prospect of dying out. There were LAYERS of things going on here!! LAYERS, people.

Kira was a great heroine. She was tough, she fought for what she believed in...she made dumb mistakes and she was scared sh!tless sometimes, but she also inspired change! She was a gamechanger. She thought outside the box. In a word, she was awesome. I would take Kira on my side against the world, any day!

Full of action, great observations of people and not only how they react singly to important events, but as a group, with a really strong main character... Partials is a dystopia I recommend to all that love the genre. It makes my top three dystopians list!