XXXV
Book Title: "Rubinrot"
Author: Kerstin Gier
Page Count: 345
First Published: 2009
Rating: superfunk - golden - sweet - blah - superblah - blergh - goatfood
First things first, this book pretty much rocks. It's a YA novel about time travel, conspiracies and love, so what can go wrong. The author is pretty well known in Germany for books such as "Die Mütter-Mafia" (The Mommy-Mafia would be my tentative translation) and other gems of the chick lit isle. But that doesn't mean she can't write, she can write pretty well, very gripping, and mostly convincing, except that the book is supposed to be set in England, and well. That was pretty much its one weakness. There was no sense of place at all, and she even makes two of my favourite mistakes, calling the heroines school "High School" and serving plain Yorkshire Pudding for lunch (this is a) gross and like serving plain rice, and b) unrealistic, because it would be served with chips at the very least). But the heroine herself, 16-year-old Gwendolyn, was very well crafted, convincingly out of her depth with the time traveling and stuff and never a stereotype, and her hero, Gideon, is quite dreamy without being exaggerated. And he can be an ass. Unfortunately this is the first part of a trilogy. Everything has to be a trilogy these days, when the re-publish the Duden, it will be in three parts. The second part, "Saphirblau", is already out, with "Smaragdgrün" following in September, I think. This would be okay if every single volume of the trilogy was a story in its own right, with an arch connecting all three, but alas, there's just the arch. That will be annoying once I've finished "Spahirblau" and the waiting begins, I think. And it also shows the marketing ploy at work, because obviously three books that the reader can finish in two hours each will make more money than one whole book. But I didn't really want to rant about that (though it is annoying). To sum up: Yay time travel teenage romances, booh trilogies.
Author: Kerstin Gier
Page Count: 345
First Published: 2009
Rating: superfunk - golden - sweet - blah - superblah - blergh - goatfood
First things first, this book pretty much rocks. It's a YA novel about time travel, conspiracies and love, so what can go wrong. The author is pretty well known in Germany for books such as "Die Mütter-Mafia" (The Mommy-Mafia would be my tentative translation) and other gems of the chick lit isle. But that doesn't mean she can't write, she can write pretty well, very gripping, and mostly convincing, except that the book is supposed to be set in England, and well. That was pretty much its one weakness. There was no sense of place at all, and she even makes two of my favourite mistakes, calling the heroines school "High School" and serving plain Yorkshire Pudding for lunch (this is a) gross and like serving plain rice, and b) unrealistic, because it would be served with chips at the very least). But the heroine herself, 16-year-old Gwendolyn, was very well crafted, convincingly out of her depth with the time traveling and stuff and never a stereotype, and her hero, Gideon, is quite dreamy without being exaggerated. And he can be an ass. Unfortunately this is the first part of a trilogy. Everything has to be a trilogy these days, when the re-publish the Duden, it will be in three parts. The second part, "Saphirblau", is already out, with "Smaragdgrün" following in September, I think. This would be okay if every single volume of the trilogy was a story in its own right, with an arch connecting all three, but alas, there's just the arch. That will be annoying once I've finished "Spahirblau" and the waiting begins, I think. And it also shows the marketing ploy at work, because obviously three books that the reader can finish in two hours each will make more money than one whole book. But I didn't really want to rant about that (though it is annoying). To sum up: Yay time travel teenage romances, booh trilogies.