Although I had never seen him before, I recognized him immediately. I’d have known his voice anywhere. This was the guy I’d seen on my last journey back in time.
Or more precisely, the one who’d kissed my doppelganger while I was hiding behind the curtain in disbelief.
Sixteen-year-old Gwen lives with her extended – and rather eccentric – family in an exclusive London neighborhood. In spite of her ancestors’ peculiar history, she’s had a relatively normal life so far. The time-traveling gene that runs like a secret thread through the female half of the family is supposed to have skipped over Gwen, so she hasn’t been introduced to “the mysteries,” and can spend her time hanging out with her best friend, Lesly. It comes as an unwelcome surprise when she starts taking sudden, uncontrolled leaps into the past.
She’s totally unprepared for time travel, not to mention all that comes with it: fancy clothes, archaic manners, a mysterious secret society, and Gideon, her time-traveling counterpart. He’s obnoxious, a know-it-all, and possibly the best-looking guy she’s seen in any centrury . . . .
The cover is what first got me. Sure, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this is a beautiful cover. Look at it! Anyway, that with the blurb, I was hooked and I had to have it for my birthday. A year ago.
I finally got a chance to read it (Bug chose it out for me because of the red) two days ago and finished it yesterday.
Ruby Red is the first book in a time travel young adult trilogy. I’m big on time travel. It’s probably the one big science fiction thing I can handle the best. I loved a trilogy from Michelle Warren that had to do with time travel and I have high hopes with Kerstin Gier’s books as well.
The book is easy to get pulled into. The writing is similar to a person talking, but not an annoying person. It’s in first person narrative with Gwen being our narrator.
Gwen is a normal girl except that she sees and speaks with the dead. She’s also a member of a time traveling family. Except not everyone in the family can time travel. It seems only one person at a time is able to time travel. For now, everyone believes Gwen’s cousin Charlotte is the lottery winner. That is, until Gwen proves otherwise.
The imagery given for the time travel isn’t abrupt or ground shaking. Instead, it seems fairly painless. Well, except for the nauseating dizziness. Basically, you get dizzy and then everything you saw before disappears and changes to a new setting. You can’t travel from present point A and enter past point C. You have to arrive in past point A and work your way to past point C. Time travel also has time limitations.
I liked how’s Gier’s method of time traveling is different from others. Her world seems simple, except for the lingering mystery of “the secret in the secret”. I know, confusing as hell. Just wait until they start time traveling and see themselves doing things or you realize what you’ve read was an effect from something they caused even farther back. That’s going to get confusing.
Anyway, I’m ahead of myself. What I meant to say is that any book that has to do with time travel has a more elaborate story and world than you first preceive. I’m not currently in awe with the world building, but this is the first book and the world is going to end up surprising me. It’s almost inevitiable, being a time travel series.
I’m not entirely sure what the main conflict is in this book, aside from the mystery that spans through the series. I’m not saying that the book isn’t good or doesn’t pull you in; it does. I’m saying that, as a book, this one deals more with the characters and starting up the world. Gier wants fo make this believable for you and she takes the time by doing that with this book. I believe in this world. I want to see more.
No, the climax wasn’t very climatic. However, the world and the characters do excite me enough to want more.
Casia's Corner 