Book Review: Ruby Red

Happy Wednesday! We're halfway through the week! Today I'll be reviewing a book I picked up at a Scholastic Book Sale a while back. It's been sitting in my to-read pile for so long I forgot what the book was about, which is really sad. It's has a gorgeous cover with and even more wonderful story contained within.

Title: Ruby Red

Author: Kerstin Gier, Anthea Bell (translator)

Series: The Ruby Red Trilogy #1

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Original Publication Date: January 6, 2009 (by Scholastic October 2012)

Format Read: paperback

Genre: YA Science Fiction, YA Fantasy

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description on Goodreads:
English book series: Ruby Red Trilogy

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, Lesley. 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 century . . .

First of all I clearly need to learn German STAT. I managed to get a copy of the 2nd book from my library, but the 3rd book doesn't come out in English until OCTOBER! OCTOBER! That is clearly way too long to wait. 

This book was originally published in German, not that you could tell. The translator did an excellent job. So far the book has been translated into multiple languages (seventeen according to the back of my copy) and has been on the German best sellers list for about 2 years or so. AND apparently a movie just came out (see trailer below). Now I need to figure out how to get a European film with English subtitles on it. 

Awesome, right? You can see a few more scenes if you watch this music video from the film.



Anyways, I'm not here to talk about the movie, but the book. The writing works well for the slightly younger crowd. The publisher recommends 12 and up. I would be more than okay letting a 12 year old read this and possibly even a 10 or 11 year old, depending on their level of maturity. 

The book starts off with a short prologue and then you are off into the story. If you are anything like me, then it won't take you very long to get sucked into the story. My copy was a little over 300 pages, so it took me less than a day to read, counting stopping to do things (only when I had to). 

I really liked the main character, Gwen. After her father died, her family (Mother, Brother, Sister and Gwen), moved in with the Montrose family, which is also Gwen's mother's family. Their family has a secret. They have a time-traveling gene that runs in the family. Not every generation time travels. It was believed that Gwen's cousin Charlotte had inherited the gene. Gwen and Charlotte are the same age. Since it was always been believed that Charlotte had the gene, she was treated as the better member of the family and had been introduced into the secret ways of time-traveling. They are both at the age, when the gene becomes active. They are on the lookout for certain symptoms to appear. 

The following is an excerpt from the book from between the prologue and chapter one:

"Uncontrolled time travel usually announces itself a few minutes in advance, but sometimes hours or even days ahead. The symptoms are sensations of vertigo in the head, stomach, and/or legs. Many gene carriers also speak of a headache similar to a migraine. 

 The first journey back in time ̶ ̶ also known as the initiation journey ̶ ̶ takes place between the sixteenth and seventeenth years of the gene carrier's life.

From The Chronicles of the Guardians, Volume 2: General Laws of Time Travel" 

Unfortunately for Gwen, she starts to experience these symptoms, but complete dismisses them, because she is NOT suppose to have the gene. She dismisses it all the up until she time travels for the first time. She is obviously confused. AND her family, especially her cousin is NOT happy with her at all. 

Besides the whole time-traveling thing, Gwen can also see ghosts. I wasn't prepared for this part of the story, but I was quite amused with the school ghost. We follow Gwen as she adapts to her new found role. Not only to be a time-traveler, but also a time-traveler with a specific purpose or task she is suppose to complete with her time traveling partner (who is a slightly misunderstood hottie). As she is not completely trusted we don't find out fully what that task is in this book.

In between each chapter is a little tidbit from one of the time traveling books that Guardians have or a quote related to time travel, etc...these were all interesting to me. Well, the whole book was really. I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable read and I think you will too.

If you want more time travel fun, you might want to consider checking out Waterfall (River of Time #1) by Lisa Tawn Bergren.

My Rating: