Sapphire Blue

 The continuation of Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier happens two seconds after the conclusion of the first one. 

Gwen and Gideon get themselves and their fancy clothes back to the House of the Guardians, but Gwen's head is still spinning because he kissed her! and there is a new gargoyle hanging around who won't leave her alone. Maybe he can be of some use, though, when he's not making fun of her. Things are becoming more chaotic and confusing as her world shifts and sways with the new information Gwen keeps getting. Lucy and Paul are trying to get in contact with her, but she's constantly being told that they are dangerous, but are they or are the Guardians or the Count hiding things they don't want her to understand? Then there is Gideon who keeping flip flopping on if he's going to kiss her or scorn her and look the other way. Gwen is only 16, how is she supposed to deal with all of this? 

I enjoyed this one more than the first. Probably because we were more into the story and got a few more answers. I also enjoyed meeting Gwen's grandpa--makes me miss mine. 

I'm intrigued by the bad guy of the series. His motives are understandable and he seems cunning enough to almost get it done. Obviously he won't succeed, at least for long, but I want to know more about this ingenious, charismatic, narsisistic man. 

I can also understand why some people in their reviews give this series a bad time. Gwen, being sixteen, doesn't know what she's feeling and does get led on. She's not the "eat my dust," "all boys suck," "I can do everything myself" kinda girl which is getting shoved down everyone's throat. The "girl power" here is lacking and I think that makes it more believable. I remember being sixteen and seventeen and how windswept you can feel when you find out a boy loves you and kisses you. I remember needing "blowy-upy movies" for a bit after the first break up. It's hard and it's confusing and I think it's portrayed realistically here.

One reviewer in particular hated how Gwen forgave so easily and how she still fauns over Gideon, but didn't we all back then? We want that first love to be real so much that we do stupid things? The fact that everyone keeps commenting that they can see her affection for Gideon so boldly on her face is proof that she doesn't quite know what she's doing, because she has no idea how to hide it! I do believe *SPOILER* Gideon is being manipulative at the start, but I think this is more the romantic troupe of "it started out that way, but then I actually fell in love with you and it's real" like in How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days or other ones like that *end of spoiler.* 

I can't give this one a perfect 5 stars because it's ending was so abrupt again. I think it would have worked better as a single volume instead of three separate books. It would flow better I think. 

Ruby Red

 Originally published in Germany, Ruby Red is a book about modern time travelers, which is something I wouldn't have expected coming from this front cover. 

Gwen lives in a family of time travelers. Not everyone can do it and everyone is waiting for Charlotte, Gwen's cousin, to pop out of time at any moment. What's not expected is when Gwen suddenly finds herself on her own street corner in the early 1900's instead of the early 2000s she pops back to her own time quickly, but it's not supposed to be her that's the time traveler. Charlotte is the one who did all the studying on curtsies and dates of fires and earthquakes, not Gwen. Charlotte is the one who everyone says is perfect for this job, not Gwen. Charlotte is the one everyone is expecting, not Gwen. And everyone lets her know that. Now Gwen is in the middle of a very old, secretive society who still believe that girls are good for nothing except in the kitchen and making babies, as if they don't have a head on their shoulders and brains between their ears. And an 18 Century duke is most interested in Gwen and whatever magic she possesses for his own uses. 

Time travel isn't what I was expected from this book at all. Fellow librarians had suggested I read it ages ago, and it's only now gotten high up enough on the "To Be Read" pile that I was actually able to look at it, or hear it at any rate. I do appreciate the boundaries that are put in place fairly early on when it comes to time travel. I think that if there aren't some form of boundaries, stories get a little too wishy-washy and there are more loopholes than should be "allowed." 

I also think Kerstin Gier did a good job at giving us the information we as readers needed without info-dumping too much on us. "Show don't tell" was well done, for the most part. There are many facets to this story that could make it extremely complicated, what with ghosts and time travel and secret societies, but it's done clearly over all that we don't get too bogged down and are lost. 

The characters are thought out well. There are a bunch of them who seem a little unneeded (particularly kids from school) at this point, though I'm unsure if they will be "needed" farther on into the story. Gwen and Leslie, Charlotte and Gideon, the Count and Mr. George, and Gwen's grandmother and aunt, and even some of the side-side characters were well developed and seem to be their own people. I think the people are what carry this story along the most as they seem naturally like real people. Obviously time traveling and figuring out secrets pushes the plot along, but the story is pushed by the people in it. 

The only thing I have a problem with is the climax. The ending didn't even seem like an ending to me. I was expecting the audiobook to go on much longer and have more at steak than it did--maybe I'm to use to "Sander-lanches" where the endings are grand and have such high steaks that this one fell flat for me. 

EDIT: After reading the other books, I think if they had been one big story instead of being split into three it would have worked better story-wise. Though for marketing purposes and the fact that they are YA books might have meant that they needed to be a trilogy instead of just a larger volume, which would have been more fitting. 

Dance of Thieves

The sequel series to The Remnant Chronicles  by Mary E. Pearson  and it was done very well. There were many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, which I think is a marvelous point in all of Mary E. Pearson's books. 

With a new Queen on the thrown of Venda, Kazi is sent with her Ratan crew to find a certain traitor who has escaped Vendin justice. The small clan city where they believe he is hiding out has also come under new leadership with the death of their Patre. Jace (the new Patre) and Kazi have a confrontation right before they both get knocked out and shackled by slave runners. Chained together and finally escaping, they must find their way back to civilization and not kill each other on the way. Between political interreges and secrets they won't tell each other, complications arise and they must skirt around each other while falling in love. 

The best thing about this series are the two main character and the natural development of their own individual character growth. The supporting characters are fantastic as well and do so much to build each other up to make it feel like a naturally functioning people. The Ratan and Jace's family are fantastic. Sometimes, because there are so many, I did get a bit confused, but many of them have such stark attributes that it's easy to tell what each character is like. I also listened to the audiobook and it helps a lot as well because the readers for this series did such a good job with characterization as well. My favorite is particularly toward the end when Synove fires her blunted arrow at a traitors back. That was perfect. That was amazing and so well set up. 

There are misunderstandings, but not in the cliché "it's going to run the plot" kind of way. They intentionally keep secrets from each other because "national security." With it being intentional instead of happenstance, it makes the story and the dance that happens real and much less the cliché. 

The world building that Mary did for The Remnant Chronicles and this series is amazing. It is top notch, even through it is in a basic "fantasy setting." There is so much time taken into the history of both series that makes it seem alive, seem real. No good story has no history. The histories, the ruins, the monuments, the rivalries all stem off how important history is to many of the cultures in this world. World building is my favorite thing in stories next to good characters. And this book is no exception to that. 

I'm loving it and am listening to the second one animatedly. The cliffhanger at the end of this book, demands that the second book is picked up quickly. So, on we read.