Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
Hardcover Edition-Bought
5/5 Lily Pads
No Spoilers!!
Hey everyone I'm back with a review. Today I am reviewing "Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier. This is the first book in the "Precious Stone Trilogy". This book was originally published in German and there's a movie in German too. Let's get on with the review.
The Plot
I'm very bad at describing books but I will try my best. If you want a better description, look it up on goodreads.
Ruby Red is a fantasy/historical fiction novel about a teenage girl named Gwynth(in the German version her name is Gwendolyn). There are 12 families and in each family one person has the gift to time travel. In Gwen's family, everyone believes her cousin, Charlotte has the gift to travel back in time. Gwen goes about her day and she soon gets symptoms of having the gift. Gwen starts to think she has the gift instead of Charlotte. It turns out her mother lied about her whole life. Gwen discovers she was born on the same day as Charlotte and everyone is shocked when they find out Charlotte doesn't have the gift. Gwen discovers she is the "Ruby". Every time traveler has a name of a gem, and Gwen is the last time traveler. Gwen doesn't want the gift but she can't do anything about it. She is forced to go back in time and she discovers secrets about her family. She meets a boy named Gideon who is also a time traveler. Gideon really doesn't like her but he's forced to travel with Gwen. Gwen just wishes her life was normal, and she has to accept her gift.
My Opinion
I heard mixed things about this book on booktube. Some people didn't like it and some people loved it. I wasn't really interested in reading the book at first, but I'm glad I gave it a chance because I really liked it.
Let's start with the plot. I felt the plot was very different and unique. I've never read a book about time travel so I thought it was very cool and unique. It wasn't really slow, but not much happens. That didn't bother me at all, I like slow books. Gwen goes back in time throughout the book but not much happens. I guess the author was trying to build it up for the next book and you learn alot about the world building. I found it very interesting. I wasn't confused when she went back in time, I knew when she was in the past and the present.
Let's talk about the writing. I liked the author's writing style. The writing is simple, but it was a very quick read. I flew through the pages, it was just so easy to get through.
Now let's discuss the characters.
I really liked the main protagonist, Gwen. She is a normal girl and she finds out everything in her life was a lie. I don't blame her for being frustrated and angry at her mom. She also has to accept herself and it was hard for her because she wasn't prepared for traveling because she always thought Charlotte had the gift. She didn't know how to do anything including defending herself, but she was a strong character. She was a nice person, she just has a lot to learn.
Even though Charlotte is a mean person, I liked reading about her. I guess I feel sorry for her because her whole life, she thought she had the gift. She wanted it her whole life and she prepared for it. It must have been terrible when she realized Gwen had it and she didn't. Charlotte is very arrogant and snobby, she thinks she's better than everyone including Gwen. I don't know why I liked her, she made the book interesting. I love mean characters in books, they make the book entertaining.
Finally let's talk about Gideon. Gideon is considered the love interest of Gwen. In the beginning of the book, we think he's with Charlotte, they've known each other for a long time and they learned everything together. He doesn't take the news well when he discovers Gwen has the gift, not Charlotte. At first, Gideon really doesn't like Gwen, he thinks she's just like all the other typical girls in the world, but later he finds out she's not. Even though he was a mean, arrogant jerk, I liked him. I don't know why I like him.
Overall, I really liked this book. Even though I gave it 5 Lily Pads it wasn't amazing. This book didn't blow me away but I liked the plot and the characters. I want to read the second book in the trilogy. I think this book is worth a buy, I recommend it for anyone who likes books about time travel. That was my review, thank you so much for reading and I will probably have a review on my channel soon so stay tuned for more, bye :)
Here is an update. I just finished reading the sequel "Sapphire Blue". I thought about doing a separate review for it, but I don't have too much to say about it, so I'm just gonna put my review here.
I really liked "Ruby Red". It was really good. I was so excited to read "Sapphire Blue", but I was a little disappointed. This book wasn't as good as the first one. I thought this book would be better. As I was reading the first half, I loved it and thought it was better than the first one. However, once I got to the second half of the book, I completely lost interest in it. It got really slow and boring and I just didn't want to read it anymore. I guess I was sick of reading it because it took me 5 days to finish it. I just couldn't get into it for some reason. I did force myself to finish it. I ended up skimming the end, so I don't really know the ending. After I finished it, I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.
It was good, it wasn't a bad book or anything. I still like Gwen, I don't really like Gideon, the insta- love was in this book too. My main issue was the plot, nothing happens! I said that about the first book too but this book was so much slower than the first. It was boring and I couldn't get into it. Overall, I didn't hate it. I was generous and gave the book 4 Lily Pads. Even though I didn't love this one, I will probably read the last book, "Emerald Green". So yeah, that's my short update for "Sapphire Blue". If you liked "Ruby Red" I still recommend for you to read this one. I hope the third book is better. I like this series, I just don't love it. Anyway, thank you so much for reading my reviews for this series. If I read "Emerald Green" someday, I will post my review for it here. Thanks again and happy reading!
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