Prized continues the story of Gaia Stone, a 16 year old midwife and refugee from the Enclave. Accompanied by her newborn sister Maya, Gaia is found out in the wastelands by Chardo Peter. Both Gaia and her baby sister are close to death. She finds herself in Sylum, which is just as bad as Enclave only it is run by women.Sylum is a strange settlement. In Sylum, the men outnumber the women, but the women have all the power. Sylum is a puritanical place. A simple kiss can result in an attempted rape charge. Women are encouraged to marry young and have at least ten babies. Oh, and once you arrive in Sylum, you can never leave…This book was not exactly what I expected. I enjoyed the world the author created in Birthmarked and I was excited to see what would happen next in Prized. Prized felt like a completely different book. New world, new rules, and Gaia does the teenage angst thing. Gaia’s rebellious streak bothered me – it just felt like she chose the wrong battles. I also found it odd that after working so hard to save her sister, Gaia would just accept that a complete stranger should raise Maya. I’m not sure if I liked Gaia in this book as much as I did in the previous book. Gaia acts like a petulant child in this book. She refuses to cooperate with the Matrarch Olivia, preferring to be isolated rather than solving her problems. When she is given a note from Leon, she destroys it instead of reading it. I saw that as a betrayal. I also did not like her behavior around the men. While Gaia did not really understand the customs of Sylum, she still caused a few misunderstandings. I didn’t really like the introduction of multiple love interests. Leon – I missed him so much. Then, when he finally gets to be around Gaia, the tension between them was so antagonistic. Leon was hardened and angry, nothing like the Leon of the previous book. He felt like a whole new character. Leon earns the respect of Sylum when he wins a sporting contest. When we finally get more Leon, the story picks up. The book was an OK read for me. I did like it and I will continue to look for more books by this author.Thank you Netgalley and McMillian Children’s Publishing Group for a review copy of this book.Check out this review and more on Badass Book Reviews
