"Prized" by Caragh W. O'Brien Rules As Wonderfully Wicked Read-A-Thon ~ Drew to an End

The "Read-A-Thon" drew to an end last night and I'm hung over today with regret. I fell asleep yesterday in the middle of "Fallen" for lack of sleep the night before and for pain due to my recent horrible illness that some of you know about.  Not by any fault of "Fallen" which I have to get back to and think is an awesome book!

So, I woke up in the early evening and thought I should finish reading a book I'd already started as a review book and finished it for the last in my read-a-thon series (since I'd pretty much already blow my goal!).

Here's the great book:

Published by: Roaring Brook Press

Pages:  368

Genre: YA Ficion



The Dame's Review :

Fantastic novel with a very good plot and resolution set for book #3.

This a well written dystopian about a society built around one of the remaining bodies of water after a world disater that's left the US in crisis.  The society, however, is controlled and under the dictatorship of a matriarch whom everyone fears and "trusts" at the same time.  Women are scarce, becoming prized, and those who gain them as wives are considered highly capable, regarded men.

This is a well written novel. I was completely mesmerized by the story. The author's way of drawing me in immediately took me right to the heart of the world she was creating and into the center of the struggle that was to ensue.  I enjoy a read such as this; not alot of description--just getting to the heart of the matter and descriptive text worked into it as a secondary emphasis.  It makes for a gripping novel.  This author knows what works and keeps a reader wanting to know more about her characters.

Speaking of characters--completely involved! Every character O'Brien chooses to draw in the story is complete and real.  Gaia, the strong female protagonist who comes from a former society which she's fleeing, is so interesting as a midwife, revolutionary thinker and foil to the matriarchy.  Her love interests Leon, Peter and Will (yes, there are 3 of them!) are different and infinitely satisfying as characters.  And, the matriarch herself is a character so well defined that it's not difficult to imagine such a woman in power.

Without spoiling anything for you, let me say this is a novel that will be engrossing and difficult to put down to the very end where good will triumph.  Even though it's the 2nd in the "Birthmarked" series, it does stand alone. Not perfect in every way, but certainly a contender in the dystopian genre.

4 secret-keeping stars!

Yours, though not  having met my reading goals for the weekend  :[

Deborah/TheBookishDame

Darling little Calavera of the Living Dead dolls had to dress up prematurely for Halloween to let me know all was not lost in my Wickedly Wonderful reading blast...she lost her brain when she fell from concrete steps and she's still here!

What did you read over the weekend???