Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien - Top Reviewer

Miss Havoc @  Cry Havoc!

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Here is her review:

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien(formerly THE ORION TATTOO (formerly THE BABY CODE))

(ARC woo-woo!)

Synopsis: (Publisher synopsis)

After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.

Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.

Gaia carries an encoded ribbon from her parents, and its secrets hold vital information about certain advanced children who were "birthmarked" by tattoos. The Protectorat, who safeguards the population within the wall, needs Gaia’s code and its genetic counterpart to offset the hemophilia that plagues the Enclave. Sgt. Grey, a young, handsome guard of the Enclave, is used by the Protectorat to manipulate Gaia and gain her cooperation with decoding the ribbon. As Sgt. Grey faces his own complicated past and Gaia recognizes the moral ramifications of her actions, they take desperate steps to escape.

Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.

Review: I really liked this story. I'm really hoping there is a sequel. I'm still getting into the groove of reviewing without it sounding like a book report, or worse, not telling you anything about the book at all. (which is really all I've done so far-yikes!) So, lets start with Birthmarked and see how I can make this better. Birthmarked is set in a dystopian future. Where Gaia, a sixteen year old midwife, must "advance" the first three children bore every month to the Enclave. The Enclave is a gated city full of wealth and a better life, that Gaia lives outside of. When Gaia's parents are arrested, she sneaks into the Enclave to rescue them. Without spoilers, she finds herself way over her head and dealing with more than what she thought was going on. With the help of a high ranking officer, Gaia breaks the "baby code" and helps her people find their families. At times it's full of action, at others blooming with romance, Birthmarked just HAS to have a sequel to satisfy my curiosity of "what happens next!"

I highly recommend this to others who enjoy dystopian novels.

I've already loaned it to my sister! 4/5 stars!