Source: eLibrary
Promised by Caragh M. O'Brien
Series: Birthmarked #3
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Length: 10 hours and 6 minutes
Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer
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Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo
Description:
After defying the ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever. She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enclave and persuade the Protectorat to grant them refuge from the wasteland. In Gaia's absence, the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or rebelling have never been higher. Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to sacrifice what--or whom--she loves most?My Rating:
This is the last book in the Birthmarked series (Reviews of Birthmarked and Prized can be found around here as well). Gaia is now more than a midwife. She's a leader of New Sylum determined to lead her people away from the poisoned poppies and into a sustainable society. However Gaia is moving from one society with genetic difficulties and must negotiate to achieve peace and a sustainable future for her people while still maintaining self and preserving her goals. Things do not go as expected because that i snot how things go in an adventure.
On the story...
As a stand alone novel, this one was pretty solid. This book focused more on the conflict introduced in the first book and emphasized the relationship aspect (the love triangle/square) less. More information is unveiled and the solving the conflict (integrating the two societies) kept my attention from beginning to end. As a completion to a series, I was quite disappointed. The second book in the series took a big detour and this one didn't do enough to bring me back into the story. Gaia was a horrible leader and I found myself more disappointed and disliking her at times. The world building still felt incomplete which is inexcusable at this stage of the series.
On the narrator...
My thoughts on Ms. Mercer-Meyer. She isn't remarkable in anyway but she doesn't take away from the story. I'd continue audios with her as a narrator.
Overall...
While the series started with a bang, it ended with a whimper. Most of the action happened at the very end, though it worked here. Overall, the second two in the series just didn't meet expectations.
