The novel is set four centuries in the future, when the water in many of the world’s lakes have dried up to create “unlakes.”
Sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone lives outside the wall that divides her poor community from the rich and powerful inside the Enclave. Gaia has followed in her mother’s footsteps and become a midwife. Her job is to deliver babies and ensure that the first three born every month in her sector are given to the Enclave. Separating a mother from her baby may seem cruel, but it's her duty—payment for their community's rations.
Arrested
One night, after delivering her first baby unaided, Gaia returns home to find that her mother and father have been arrested by the Enclave. Gaia wonders what they could have possibly done wrong, and more importantly, how she will get them back.
Breaking and Entering
After weeks pass with no word about her parents, Gaia decides to take matters into her own hands. With the help of a local baker, Gaia sneaks into the Enclave, where she witnesses a brutal hanging. A pregnant woman and her husband are being executed for incestuously spawning a child.
As a midwife, Gaia won’t stand for such cruelty. When she discovers where the bodies are kept, she sneaks in and delivers the innocent child. This decision attracts the authorities, and Gaia is quickly arrested.
The Genetic Code
It’s in jail that Gaia discovers a devastating truth—her father was killed by the guards for trying to protect her mother. She also learns why her parents were arrested. Her mother kept a secret record of every baby’s birth parents after completing a delivery. And now, because of the increasing rate of genetic inbreeding, the Protectorat needs those records.
All Gaia knows is that her mother tattooed a pattern of four freckles on each baby’s ankle shortly after delivering them. But now the Protectorat expects her to decode a pattern of symbols written by her mother, symbols Gaia knows nothing about.
With Gaia’s own life on the line, how will she save her mother and escape the Enclave?
Birthmarked Review
As the vampire trend beings to wane, post-apocalyptic teen science fiction is on the rise. Other successful series like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Gone by Michael Grant, and The Maze Runner by James Dashner have become the pioneers of this invigorating genre.
Birthmarked is on par with these novels. O’Brien’s setting is believable and unique, her characters are highly developed, and the plot offers nothing to be desired. Readers who have read and loved the series mentioned above will definitely enjoy Birthmarked.
Nicole Skutelnik - Nicole is an avid reader and lover of books, particular teen and young-adult fiction. At an early age, she decided to turn her passion ...
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