Rating: 4 / 5
A friend suggested RUBY RED by Kirsten Gier (translated by Anthea Bell) for a reading prompt and I really enjoyed the first book so I decided to pick up the rest of the Precious Stones Trilogy to read in February as well. It turns out that the team readathon challenge had a prompt to read two books with matching covers which was perfect timing.
RUBY RED begins with Gwen who lives with her extended family in a way not entirely “normal”. Gwen’s family comes from a long line of time travelers, passing down the time traveler gene to a select few family members. It has long been believed that Gwen wasn’t born at the right time to inherit the gene so she’s never been included on all the training and preparation that one destined to travel receives. It is therefore quite a surprise when Gwen finds herself in the past with no preparation.
Soon Gwen’s life is turned upside down as the family scrambles to make sense of the surprise. Gwen is caught up in family drama, timeless conspiracies and the ever present question of whether she can even trust herself or her future self. Meanwhile Gideon is from another line of time-travelers and not someone she’d choose to spend time with (at least initially), but together they must unravel the secrets of their lineage and destiny.
This series was a lot of fun. There are elements of frustration – often in the lack of communication between characters, but it did keep things moving along. The author did a great job of setting out rules for time travel that were easy to follow but had some logic behind them as well. Gwen and Gideon remain at the center of the story for the full trilogy, but more characters and twists enter the picture as it goes along. I also really loved the friendship between Gwen and her BFF Lesley, a girl who is willing to buy into the eccentricities of Gwen’s life and family while giving Gwen the encouragement she needs.
These wound up being a fun, easy read – plus it was nice to be able to actually start and finish a full trilogy in a quick time period for once! Definitely a series to check out!
Reading Challenge Categories:
#PopsugarReadingChallenge – a book with a gem, mineral or rock in the title
DG Reads 