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Promised (2012)

by Caragh M. O'Brien(Favorite Author)

3.76 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1596435712 (ISBN13: 9781596435711)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Roaring Brook Press

series

Birthmarked

review 1: I enjoyed the first book of the series even though there was a slight pro-life sentiment. At that point, it was so background it didn't yet bother me and I couldn't decide if it actually made the book unpleasant to read or I just thought it would. However, by the third book, the pro-life, anti-adoption, anti-surrogacy and anti-fertility treatment message became overpowering. Quite honestly, I found the way the main character blatantly speaks about adoption and surrogacy and less blatantly fertility treatments in general to be completely off-putting and ruined the book for me. It could have been a good story, but it wasn't.When I read the first book, I thought that it would have been a great movie, but now I fully understand why this series never took off like other dys... moretopian young adult trilogies.
review 2: Well, I'm glad that I didn't start reading this series until after the third book was published, because I think I would have went crazy waiting. :)Unfortunately, in my opinion, this book just isn't the same caliber as the first two books in this series: Birthmarked and Prized. Both of those books were fueled by a romantic tension between Leon and Gaia that is, for the most part, solved by the time Promised starts. They're in a happy relationship by this point and have had a year after Prized ended to establish one (this year is alluded to but never detailed). Promised, when compared to the other two books, is much shorter (weighing in at less than 300 pages, and the font appears to be bigger with larger margins), giving the book a padded feel to it, like there wasn't quite three books in this series...perhaps only two and a half. And then there is the whole idea of going back to the Enclave. Yes, Sylum is a (slow) death trap, but going back to the place where both Gaia and Leon were nearly killed promises instant annihilation. And, of course, that is nearly what happens. Gaia strolls into town and is immediately arrested, and then she acts surprised. Does she remember what happened to her last time and how she barely escaped with her life? Gaia, in this book, appears to be struggling with the role of matrarc, and more than once she practically stomps her foot with a "because I say so!" I realize that she is only seventeen, but she seemed more mature in the other two books (especially the first one).The book could have also used better editing. There are duplicated words, missing punctuation, etc, etc. There are also a few instances of ridiculousness: Gaia talking about how her skirt is soaked, and then two pages later someone asking about the trousers she is wearing (which is it?), or Gaia telling someone that she has never had a sister before (uhh, who then is Maya?).I don't mean for it to sound like I hate this book; it's just that this book wasn't a solid ending to the series that I had grown to love. It is more of an "oh, okay...I guess the series is done now" kind of book. less

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