O’Brien,
Caragh. Promised. (Birthmarked trilogy,
book 3) Macmillan/
Roaring Brook Press 292p $17.99 978-1-59643-571-1 2012 hs E-BN Fantasy
This is the third title in a trilogy,
following Birthmarked and Prized.
As the new Matrarc, Gaia leads the majority of her people on the long
trek from doomed Sylum through the wasteland to the outskirts of Enclave, where she was born. Gaia only
wants to establish New Sylum and peacefully negotiate for water. The ruling Protectorat has other ideas. He wants to harvest her ovaries for the eggs
that can be inseminated to produce hemophilia-resistant children.
Trying to be fiercely independent, Gaia
once
again becomes a pawn in political battles. As she makes the Protectorat’s
plans for her known, she finds many allies. In a revolutionary demand to set things
right, the rebels are gaining when Gaia is captured and the surgery is
performed. This information strengthens
the rebels’ position, and the Protectorat is arrested.
Gaia has won, but at a great expense. At
the end of the story Gaia and her promised one, Leon, plan to marry. There are still questions about how they will
handle the fact that they will never have children, but they appear to be headed
toward happiness.
This one is well written, with love, action, intrigue and conflict. It
will be eagerly anticipated by readers of the trilogy. It also stands quite well without its predecessors. For mature high-school readers.
Dystopian Fiction,
Science Fiction --Joan Theal
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