Promised -- Caragh M. O'Brien

Book 3 of Birthmarked trilogy

2012 Release -- Roaring Book Press

Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance

So let’s get straight to the point:

The concluding book in the Birthmarked trilogy was honestly kind of unnecessary and felt out of place.

As I had already stated in a previous post, I’m not sure I understand what was actually going on in this book. Birthmarked had been a mediocre read, but it still had a good concept, a strong enough story line, well-developed characters, and enough interest to keep me hooked. It wasn’t the best book in the world, but I still enjoyed it. I went on to read Prized because I wanted to know what would happen to Gaia and how the entire dystopian aspect would be settled. But Prized turned out to be fairly disappointing: all the typical YA tropes that hadn’t been used in Birthmarked found their way into Prized and a lot of other things about the book didn’t make much sense either.

So I’d been hesitant to start reading the last book Promised without some outside motivation.

And so I stuck the darn book on two different Reading Challenges.

I had a small inkling of hope that things would turn out a bit better. Prized had to have used up the YA quotas of love polygonal angst and “speshul snowflake” main character clichés, right?

Guess not.


The Story in Brief:
So after all the too many events from Prized that I don’t really remember, the Birthmarked story line takes Gaia and her people (now that she’s a teenage leader of a large community) back to where she had started out from: the Enclave, Wharfton, the Wall that divides up the rich from the working class… the place where people outside the wall are expected to give up their babies for the honor of letting people inside the wall raise them as their own.

But Gaia was a runaway fugitive and Leon is a man despised by his own adoptive father, the Protectorat, who wouldn’t hesitate to use his own manipulations to get what he wants, even if other people have to die or suffer.

Gaia and Leon are now engaged to be married. The people of Sylum are bent on creating New Sylum with hopes for a better life. But the Protectorat of the Enclave still stands in everyone’s way.


My Thoughts:
This book was ill-executed (as had been the case with Prized).

That is the only reason I can think of as to why nothing made any sense at all and why all the characters we had sort of had respect for ended up being flimsy excuses for main characters and heroes of the people.

As I had mentioned before in my previous post, I don’t remember being so annoyed with Gaia in Birthmarked. She had been strong, resourceful, and intelligent. She had her priorities straight. She had a purpose. She wasn’t so naïve.

I remember that Birthmarked was one of the first few YA dystopians I had read back when they were first becoming popular. I was in a phase of having just finished the entire Hunger Games trilogy in one marathon read and needed to find another, similar type of story to satisfy my Bookish needs.

Having just discovered Goodreads at this same time, I started looking to the whole “similar books other readers enjoyed” recommendations options provided.

Being that a good number of YA books are written in the first person POV (which is probably my least favorite POV, but I deal with it because, BOOKS), I was happy to see that Birthmarked was written in a third person POV.

And I also found it great that Gaia wasn’t (supposedly) a typical YA heroine. She had a scar on her face, she had her personality flaws, she reacted naturally to everything that happened to her. Sure, she wasn’t the best candidate for rebellion hero for the people in this dystopian, but she had time to grow and develop, and that was what she did throughout that first book.

But then Prized came along and backtracked a lot of her growth, opting, instead, to make Gaia that special YA female lead who attracts all the men, solves all the mysteries with her limited intelligence, and becomes the savior of all the people by doing… stuff.

And now, in Promised Gaia further cements her “speshul” status by being the leader of her people who is loved by all despite the fact that she makes really bad decisions, comes up with ill-conceived strategies, can’t control her own people, and doesn’t have any foresight into the “Bigger Picture”. I mean, her plan was to get back to Wharfton and the Enclave and request assistance from the Protectorat so that she and her people could start a new little community. And it surprised me that she thought she could just waltz right back into her old home and get exactly what she wanted without any problems.

She left the Enclave as a wanted fugitive--did she really think the Protectorat would welcome her back with open arms and fulfill her every request without giving her any trouble?

What irked me the most about her was that, as the leader of New Sylum, she doesn’t act like it. She gets arrested upon arrival and still she continues to attempt “playing nice” with the Protectorat without any back-up or contingency plans. The Protectorat manipulates her in brutal ways time and again and she still believed that she could find peace with him, that his people and her people could all live together under some misguided sense of comradery. And whenever any one of her closest people came up with any plans for her to think about, she immediately shoots it down with her own twisted logic and being all, “No, this is not how we are going to run New Sylum. I know what needs to be done and I’ll thank you to stop disobeying me even though I make really bad decisions, too.”

So doesn't make her decisions based on what she feels is best for her people.  It just feels like she makes her decisions based on what she stubbornly believes to be the "right way" to settle a new community, even if it means endangering her life, her friends' lives, and the rest of the people of New Sylum's lives.  Because she makes really bad decisions.

She should be thinking about her people and what's best for them.  As the leader they look to for guidance and commands, she shouldn't be trouncing off and almost getting herself killed.  As the leader trying to establish a new community and see her people to a new and safe life worth living, she shouldn't be negotiating terms with the Protectorat while at his mercy without any fallback plans; especially after he threatens her and her people time and again.

She knows what kind of a person he is and what kind of an army he employs and knows that they wouldn't question razing her New Sylum to the ground without hesitation.  So why, oh why, was she so stubbornly set against having a fallback battle plan just in case the Protectorat decides to squash all of them rather than extend that friendly hand in peaceful alliance that he was never going to extend in the first place?

No one else in the book made sense either. Leon would go trouncing off on his own to wreak his own havoc without consulting anyone, which then caused Gaia to go after him rather than holding her place as her community’s leader and taking charge. The Protectorat and his wife would arrest or torture Gaia and then claim that she has a place with them in their baby factory as a guest, claim that she and her people are the terrorists, claim that Leon is the monster and a murderer, then turn around and arrest and torture her some more.

And, again, all this time, Gaia is still hopeful that she can come to peaceful terms with the Protectorat and get her people what they need to have.

Honestly, a rebellion against the Protectorat should have started up two books ago, and Gaia should not be the leader of that. Maybe she could be the symbol of the rebellion, but an emotional teenager who makes really bad decisions should never be the leader of any war. Especially since she keeps putting herself and everyone else into danger by acting on her own ill-conceived ideas.

But in the end, everyone still loves her and everyone still believes she’s the only one who can lead them into equal rights and freedom.

This last book felt like it was written with no direction, and that the story’s events were randomly plucked out of thin air as the author thought of them. Nothing really made any sense. I’m going to admit right now that I skim-read a good portion of the last half of Promised. At least the book was short.

***

This book is a pre-chosen participant in the following Reading Challenge(s):

• 2015 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader
• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

I really don't like dropping books.  My sequence of events typically goes a little something like this:

1.  Dragging out the reading of said draggy book.

2.  Start reading other books (usually two or three others) and finishing them.

3.  Reading one or two more chapters of said draggy book to try to make some progress.

4.  Read and finishing reading more books (usually another two or three).

5.  Continue dragging out the reading of said draggy book and convincing myself that I will come back and finish it... after I've read this other, more exciting book I've been dying to read!

6.  Read one more other book that holds more appeal.

7.  Start realizing my own futility and grudgingly admit that maybe it's time to put down said draggy book.

8.  Start reading other books that sound more promising.

9.  One and a half months later, after having started reading said draggy book, put the book on an 'ON HOLD' shelf, because obviously I won't be touching it any time soon, but I have plans to come back and test my stubbornness once more, even if I have to skim read the first half of the book again.

10.  Update lists accordingly then brood about the fact that I had to put a book 'ON HOLD' for a couple hours before returning to the rest of the my reading list.

And there that book remains on an 'ON HOLD' shelf for at least six months before I finally concede to either drop it completely ("I'll probably never touch this book again, for reasons.") or stick it back on my TBR ("I'll come back and try again when I've had time to let said draggy book's events fade from my memory so I can start over from the beginning and hopefully have better luck.").  Either way, I know I haven't fully dropped the book yet and there is still hope.

Why on earth am I so stubborn about dropping books?

I chalk it up to simple stubbornness.  Or maybe the fact that, if I've put enough effort into reading approximately 50% of the book, I feel like I should just finish it.  And sometimes I look back on a lot of other books I have read to completion, knowing full well that I didn't really like them and think that I can just do the same.

I don't know what it is.  I should be able to just set a book down and walk away and not feel bad about it.  I really should.

And normally I can finish a book I'm not getting into.  But to encounter three at the same time is probably a record for me.  Maybe that's why I'm having a harder time this time around, because I'm trying too hard to finish all three of these books that I am not really getting into.  And while Promised is a fairly easy read, I'm still struggling with it rather than breezing through it and calling it done.

Why do I do this to myself?

Ani's First World Bookish Problems #11:  The desire to finish every book you start, but not knowing when (or wanting) to stop struggling with a book you're not enjoying.

(Yes, we are reiterating this First World Bookish Problem.)

Anyway...  Let's call a rant a "rant".  'Cause this is what this really is.

I'm putting An Ember in the Ashes on that dreaded 'ON HOLD' shelf, finally; however, since I got about halfway through the book, I still believe I'll be able to come back and finish it some time later.  I own it as a Kindle book, so it's not like I have to go digging for it in the future.

Because Rook is a borrowed library book, I'm going to try what I can to finish reading it.  To be honest, I'm bored with it because I'm frustrated at not understanding the setting or the story or even the characters.  But I keep getting this slight hint that SOMETHING is about to happen and it might be exciting.  Chances are that nothing is going to happen and I will have wasted my time.  But I'm crossing my fingers with some hope, because I really DO like Sophia Bellamy's character on paper, even if she's kind of dull in action.

And, for the life of me, I really don't know why I even bothered to read Promised.  I read and enjoyed Birthmarked despite it being just a mediocre dystopian read.  But at least it was a pretty good story.  Then I struggled through Prized because, "What the heck happened here?" and also, love polygon... or tetrahedron, if we want to be specific.

And I know it's been at least two years since I read Prized, because I just wasn't quite interested in finishing the series even if the idea was in the back of my head (which is why I added the darn book to two reading challenges so that I could make myself read the last book in the trilogy...), but I've found myself wondering if this series' story line has always been so confusing.  Did all the characters make sense in the previous books?  Because they don't in Promised.  Was Gaia always so emotionally immature and naive?  Did she always make really bad decisions and break at the slightest drop of a pin?

And why are we still rehashing the love tetrahedron if Gaia has already chosen her Leon as her OTP?  Can we not focus on more important life or death matters without dragging up the whole "Everyone is in love with Gaia because she's oh, so perfect in their eyes, even though she makes bad decisions based on emotions and has no sense of self-preservation or foresight to survival"?

And of course, I haven't dropped Promised yet.  It's a fairly short book and I'll be darned if I'm done in by it when I'd been able to finish other, worse books before.

In the meantime, I'm finding a new book to keep me sane.

Some of these books came out in the summer (The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson; The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh O'Brien) when I was moving and grieving my friend's suicide. Some came out in October (Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan; The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters) when I was trying to catch up with all the ARCs that I was now behind on because of various things. And now I've finally caught up with these books and had time to read and review them. I hope that it's not too late, and you'll give them a shot!

The Vanishing Season - Jodi Anderson | Goodreads
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: Harper Teen

Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.

The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both.

All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

From bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a friendship story bound in snow and starlight, a haunting mystery of love, betrayal, redemption, and the moments that we leave behind.

A lot of the reviews I've read said that nothing happened in this novel, which is not strictly speaking true. Its summary suggests ghost hauntings and puts the murders of the girls at the forefront, and that is what I think their complaints are: their expectations were of something else. Strictly speaking, the murder mystery fuels some of the plot points related to the love triangle and helps create a frosty, haunting atmosphere, but this book isn't about the horror of the murders. I saw it classified in my local library as "mystery," and I guess that fits more in relation to the ghost than the murders: as you learn more and more about Maggie-Liam-Pauline and Gill Creek, you start to wonder why you're hearing from this ghost. Will the ghost protect the three of them? Is the ghost related to the murders? Why does the ghost exist? The answers to these questions neatly merge with the climax of the love triangle and the novel, but for the majority of The Vanishing Season, you mostly get beautiful writing & atmosphere + complex characters stuck in a love triangle. It almost feels like a character study, and I'm not sure I've read another YA novel quite like this since their pacing tends to be quick and the action frequent. This one is much more luxurious and much more about these teens and growing up.

I actually quite liked this novel. I don't remember a lot about Tiger Lily, and I know that a lot of the reviews I saw said that they liked Tiger Lily but not this; and yet both books feel very similar to me. Though Tiger Lily is a retelling of Peter Pan, the elements of the novel match those here: a love triangle couched in a coming-of-age for the main characters (Tiger Lily, Maggie), the main characters learning to find their voices, settings unique and well purposed for the coming-of-age (Tiger Lily exploring with Peter; Maggie exploring with Liam and Pauline), side characters who feel complex and easy to relate to even as horrible things happen to the main characters as a result of their actions. And though it seemed like the books had similar elements, the plot felt rather unpredictable to me. The answers I got for the murders, the ghost, the love triangle - not everything was expected, and certainly the way Jodi Lynn Anderson answered the questions she raised allowed for us to see the beautiful imperfections of her characters. She doesn't make it easy; she's an author willing to take risks, that's for sure. I would suggest this book to people who don't mind a slower pace and like beautiful, wintry atmospheres that highlight the character development of three flawed teenagers and accordingly, their love triangle and friendship.

The Vault of Dreamers - Caragh O'Brien | Goodreads
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Source: ARC
Published by: Roaring Brook Press

From the author of the Birthmarked trilogy comes a fast-paced, psychologically thrilling novel about what happens when your dreams are not your own.

The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success: every moment of the students' lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students' schedule includes twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras in the school. What's worse is, she starts to notice that the edges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

This book to me proved Caragh O'Brien's versatility as a writer. I love her Birthmarked trilogy - the last book is still on my TBR, but definitely this year I'm getting to it. The third person writing style is a little dense, but works really well for those dystopian novels with science fiction mystery elements and a strong midwife heroine. Here O'Brien switches to a snappy first person perspective from a poor, naive, desperate girl, and that helps build on the creepy and mysterious elements of this psychological thriller.

The premise of this novel is wonderful and quite unlike any other YA that I've read. At a film boarding school, where classes and everything in between is being filmed on national television, creepy things are happening while the students dream. Ms. O'Brien did a fantastic job exploring a lot of the possibilities of this premise - the technology involved, classes and creativity enhancement, the relationships between characters, the social media aspects. Oh, the social media! This is one of the most fascinating elements (to me) of the book because as a blogger and someone of this generation, so many of the observations about how the Forge Show works warranted discussion. It also made me identify almost immediately with Rosie because of how she'd started off this novel. It's true that I was a bit confused by the timeline at the beginning, but how Roise came back from being an underdog and her determination, her caring for the other people despite her own desperation to not return to her poor home life, were qualities that made me want to root for her from the very start. I quite liked the dynamic between her and Linus, too, their romance, even if I'm little less sure about Linus himself (just because I identified so strongly with Rosie). This book in general is just plotted really well as a thriller - the pacing is strong and I was kept on edge throughout the work. Ms. O'Brien knew exactly when to end her chapters and what little tidbits to reveal.

What kept this book from being a favorite read was the last 30 or so pages. The ending. I abhor this ending. I realize that this is a harsh thing to say, and it gives me zero pleasure in saying it, but the ending, for me, didn't fit with the MC's characterization or the logic of the situation. It kind of felt like it was just there so the sequel would begin a certain way. Ugh, I really don't want to say that! I feel terrible saying that! But if it weren't for the ending... Perhaps you won't have as strong a reaction to the ending as I did. If you're a fan of psychological thrillers that keep you on end like the Mara Dyer trilogy or Stephanie Kuehn's novels, but with a science fiction overlay, you should check out Caragh O'Brien's latest twisty work.

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel - Sara Farizan | Goodreads
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Source: Netgalley
Published by: Algonquin Young Readers

High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia's confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own.

This book worked really well for me, and I can't tell if it's because I could relate to so many elements of the MC's background, whether my enjoyment stems from that personal sympathy. Regardless, let me tell you about this book's awesome elements.

I was laughing really hard when it came to observations on Persians because I could apply them to my own childhood growing up with Lebanese parents. The mother insisting on bringing gifts to parties/gatherings, how the men gathered at the family party and the rivalry between the MC's sister and their cousin, etc. etc. How the dad and mom acted together - their dynamic - also felt really familiar, and I can't tell if this is a Middle Eastern thing or what, the idea of the children always following in the father's footsteps, but I could totally identify with Leila when it came to her dad wanting her to become a doctor but not feeling like that was the career for her. Even the portrayal of her rich school felt like a reminder. I didn't quite stick out the way Leila did - I look white and don't have "racially ambiguous skintone" (was that how Leila had put it? can't remember) - but my gosh, so many things made me feel a lot closer to Leila. Her fear of coming out to her conservative parents -- I can definitely see that with Middle Eastern families. And isn't that what we want in reading experiences? Where we find something we can relate to and that's what keeps us going?

Anywho, this is a really refreshing diverse look on a coming out coming-of-age YA novel. I've already talked about how wonderfully portrayed Leila's Persian heritage is portrayed, but how about Leila's startling observations on the privilege she observes at her school? How rare it is to have such a wonderful main character able to outright point out what's really happening at her schools - and not the typical characterizations that are bland and repeated, like just on people's looks, but instead on how those looks have affected the way that person walks through the world. To me this lent an aura of authenticity to the characters, and in general I loved the supporting side cast, like Leila's best friend, a quiet nerd who actually has confidence and ROCKS the main role of her school's play!

The romance in this is really cool too. There are a lot of intertwining love triangles, but it's a standalone novel so you know it doesn't have the time to Go Through All The Angst of Choosing Between the LT Interests. Here are well done love triangles - how obvious the Bad Choices are, how obvious the Good ones, and how obvious the character development of everyone, not just Leila, who is involved in these romantic interludes becomes. Plus the good choice for Leila made me all warm and gushy inside. So cute! There are so many different subplots with regard to the romance and various side characters, but everything comes together to address a lot of important themes, like the fear of coming out, bullying, assumptions about you make about others, taking people at their word & more.

I would definitely read something again by Sara Farizan. I've seen some people refer to her as another Sarah Dessen, but Sarah Dessen books always remind me of the summer. This doesn't feel quite like what I would associate with a summer beach book, but I do like Sarah's blurb about Sara Farizan being an important voice in YA and I would recommend this novel to Sarah Dessen fans. Also to fans of other coming out coming-of-age YA novels like Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda(particularly this one since they've got similar elements, like large character casts, bullying, and a heaping of theater) and though I haven't read this yet, potentially More Happy Than Not; and other YA novels with larger character casts (Panic) or theater elements (Don't Touch).

The Cure for Dreaming - Cat Winters | Goodreads
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Source: Netgalley
Published by: Amulet Books

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

This was my first Cat Winters book, and I'll definitely be picking up In the Shadows of Blackbirds sometime soon.

I have a confession: I love books that look at elements like hypnotism and mesmerism. In my junior year of college, I took a class called Ghosts and the Machine and it focused on the occult. There I got to learn about the ether, cults focusing on aliens, and Mesmer himself among many other topics. It fascinated me to learn about the origins of mesmerized, and sometimes I just had to text my friends about our readings -- the things people believed and still believe today! People are so weird and fascinating. So essentially this book was right up my alley. While others might not like the paranormal and hypnotism elements, I loved them.

After each chapter of this book, there was a black and white photo related to the Suffragist movement or mesmerism, along with a quote from the books mentioned in the novel, like Dracula. The photos and quotes worked really well with the text to enhance the atmosphere. The setting was perfectly described, the historical detail fully realized and imaginable and the research Cat Winters did to create the setting wonderfully evident. People who love historical fiction will love the backdrop of this novel and how Cat Winters has made her characters fit specifically into the time period. All of them are a byproduct of the age in which they have been raised. And with the 1900s focus, there was a belief in the paranormal, in the power of hypnotism and animal magnetism and the ether etc. So while the novel is not strictly historical fiction, because it presents these elements as truth, it should still appeal to fans of historical fiction and people who like a little dab of the fantastical in their realism. I also really enjoyed the fantastical because our heroine doesn't spend time disbelieving what she sees (a particular irk of mine re: fantasy elements) but rather being realistically terrified by the power of hypnotism and her new found powers.

This also felt like a beautiful tribute to feminism and female empowerment. The romance is sweet, but the book is especially wonderful for its focus on Olivia Mead, our beautiful, strong, self-determined main character whose coming-of-age is furthered by her involvement in the Suffragist movement and runs in parallel to the gains and losses of the movement. While she attempts to gain control over her life despite the severe sexism and limitations of her time, she must fight one of the most terrifying but true villains (didn't realize dentistry would make for such convincing villainy). Watching her overcome her struggles was a true pleasure. She is wonderful role model for her target audience of teens. A wonderful book I would hope is well stocked at libraries.

What do you think? Will you try one of these novels? Have you already read them?