Prized

By Caragh M. O’Brien


Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old 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 and the oppressive rules of Matrarc Olivia. Meanwhile, two brothers claim her attention as they attempt to understand the environmental trap that keeps the people of Sylum captive, and suddenly Gaia must contend with the exciting, uncomfortable, and altogether new feeling of being desired.

But when someone from her past shows up, Gaia discovers that survival alone is not enough and that justice requires sacrifice

 
So, the second book to Birthmarked. This was harder for me personally to get into that Birthmarked. And I was personally ticked at the whole 'now Gaia is desired' thing. I kept forgetting she had a scar, where that was a huge deal in the first book. Now suddenly she is 'it' girl and doesn't know how to deal with it. Not to mention the psycho people of Sylum and the men who let the women dominate over them...which I personally can't see really happening.  This is a small spoiler, though I'm pretty sure you figured it out from the summary. Leon comes back and is suddenly a jerk. What? I loved Leon, then he's all of a sudden acting like he hates Gaia. This was a little too extreme for me. I think he was having mood swings through the whole book. basically I was hating what was happening, but also not able to put the book down once I got into it. It's a page-turner and I was pretty invested in the outcome. I mostly was wanting to know what Leon does and lost interest in Gaia and her fickleness. The last book will be interesting...yes I will read it because I like causing myself to bang my head against the wall. Overall, mixed feelings, but still good enough for me to definately read the ending. Warnings: talks about rape (not any scenes) and also anatomy and birth and women's and men's parts. Needs a mature audience I'd say. 16+ in my opinion.
 
3 out of 5 (average)
 
There is also a bridge book called "Tortured" that is about 20 pages that fills in the gap of what happens to Leon at the end of "Birthmarked". Personally, it wasn't necessary, but I could resist reading Leon's point of view. I got it on my kindle for free if anybody wants to check it out.