Tag: Ruby Red

Waiting on Wednesday (87) – Sapphire Blue

Dani @ Overflowing Shelf1 Comment

Sapphire Blue
Kerstin Gier
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
To be released: October 30, 2012
Summary (from Goodreads):
Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean. At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.
This is one of those times I really wish I could read German so I could know how the next book in this amazing series goes! I loved Ruby Red and have been dying for the sequel. Too bad I have to wait for forever to read it! If only I could read German, the language these stories were originally published in, I’d know how the whole series ended.
Also, not sure how I feel about the cover. I know they redid the cover for Ruby Red since I read it, but this cover….hmmm….not sure if I like it or not. It’s so different from the German cover.

German cover
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event highlighting exciting upcoming releases. It is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Dani @ Overflowing Shelf2 Comments
Ruby Red
Kerstin Gier
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Series or Standalone: Series, Book 1
ISBN: 9780805092523
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 324
Source: Library
Websites:
Ruby Red – Goodreads page

Rating: 4.5 Stars


This book blew me away. I mean, what is there in this book that is not for me to love. It has an amazing story, amazing characters and TIME TRAVEL!!!
Ruby Redwas a really new take on time travel. In this book there is no time machine like the TARDIS are mythical powers that allow a person to travel in time. Instead, there are two families who carry a gene for time travel. They are the only two families who carry this gene. The gene carries them back in time and there is no way to prevent it. They do have a machine that works on science that helps to control the time travel. The element of time travel is huge in this book. Gier combines part science and part magic to make her time travel occur and I loved it.
The writing and story-telling in Ruby Red is top quality. The writing was very mature and
descriptive. The writing felt like that of older fairy tales or stories. And then the story-telling was perfect. The plot unfolded at a perfect pace. Once again, this book reminded me of a fairy tale. I felt the writing along with the story makes this book have the potential to be a modern day fairy tale. While it doesn’t have princess or princes, it just has the classical fairy tale feel, or at least for me it did. I do want to say that because this book is translated, I do not know if it has the same feel in German as in English, but the translator did a beautiful job.
The characters in Ruby Red were all really enjoyable. I feel as if each character in this book has a secret that has yet to be revealed to us yet. There are parts of each character that remain a mystery as of yet. The main character Gwyneth was a enjoyable narrator. She was thrust unexpectedly into the role of time-traveler and reacted the way one would if they suddenly traveled in time. I really liked Gwyneth because she felt like an authentic teenager. Then there is Gideon. Gideon to me is still a mystery. He is not your typical swoon worthy hero. At first he is kind of a jerk, but there is still something about him. I feel like we still have much to learn about him and I cannot wait to discover more about who he is.
And now I want to talk about how evil that ending was. The ending was PERFECT in a really evil way. It kind of left the main characters in the middle of a scene but it was a perfect cliffhanger. Now I want to say, if an excerpt for the next book is included in the first book I usually do not read it, but with Ruby Red I HAD TO read that excerpt. I just needed to know what happened next.
Ruby Redis a beautifully crafted story. It spoiled other books for me afterwards. I truly wish I could read German so I could go and buy the next two books in the series and read them now because I do not know how I am going to wait for them to be published in English!