Tolog Review: Birthmarked

Birthmarked 
by Caragh M O'Brien
reviewed by Nancy Zhao 

Birthmarked, would be those books that have surprise twists in the story where you do not expect it would happen. It is also one of those fast paced books that get right into the story. Personally, I hate reading books that are really slow paced and I tend to just give up in the middle. After reading this book, I felt like it was one of the best books I have ever read and it is literally the perfect book for me. It is about adventure, dystopian cultures and the secrets that the society is hiding.

In this novel, Gaia Stone, the main character, who lives outside the wall of the Enclave, she continues her mother’s job, to deliver healthy babies for the Enclave. When one day, she finds her parents captured by the people from the Enclave. Because of that, she starts her adventure first sneaking inside then finding out the reason and more stories behind the capture.

While I was reading, I felt like I solved the codes and puzzles with Gaia and step by step we found the answer to the mystery of the Enclave. At the start, there is a group of people that discovered a kind of wheat that could grow in any harsh conditions. So they built a city and ignored everyone that wanted to come and live with them. They did allow them to build little farms around the city, however the ‘insiders’ made the people on the outside to provide them food and water. When one day, they realized they had too little people in the city they started to make the people outside to provide them babies. On the other hand, if you think about this in a deeper understanding, the world used to be like this. During the 1800s, slavery was a huge problem. The people that had more power made the weak ones work for them with nothing in return. Some of the blacks even gave up and accepted the fact that they are just always going have to be the ones that has to take the orders.

In my opinion, this is one of the best books I have ever read. If you like books that has to do with dystopian societies, finding out the codes or fast paced books, this is definitely the right book for you.