Ruby Red - Book Review

Ruby Red (Precious Stone #1)
by Kerstin Gier, translated by Anthea Bell

What is it about:
Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

What did I think of it:
I'm a sucker for time travel stories even though most get the time traveling wrong and end up annoying me.

This trilogy however is of to a good start.

I liked Gwyneth from the start. I could understand her impatience with her weird family, especially as everything is about Charlotte and her imminent first travel through time. Then Gwyneth suddenly finds herself in the past and it turns out that she is the one with the time travel gene.

I loved discovering how the time traveling worked and was eager to find out why it's such a big deal and what the society formed around the time travelers wants to accomplish. It's clear lots of secrets are being kept from Gwyneth, and some may be very important. I was frustrated by how secretive people were and I could understand why Gwyneth decided not to listen to some of them.

Gwyneth has a best friend and I liked how they share everything. No bitchy drama or secrets: even though Leslie can't travel with Gwyneth, they talk about what's happening to Gwyneth, and Leslie Googles the shit out of everything and everyone to help her friend.

Gideon is a bit of an ass at first, but he slowly grew on both me and Gwyneth. We will see how this relationship develops.

As reader you get a bit more information than Gwyneth, so you know some things that Gwyneth still has to figure out. This makes it fun to see if you can spot additional information that Gwyneth might pick up on.

All in all this was a fun read. I will most certainly get the next book to see what happens next.

Why should you read it:
It's an enjoyable YA time travel story


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