Red (Trilogia delle gemme, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Mar 05, 2013 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

What a delightful book! This almost deserves 5 stars. It wasn't brilliant, but it was well done, with one of the most REAL heroines I've read in a long time, a character who was genuinely a teenage girl, a normal one with a healthy but realistic self esteem. Brave, but who would admittedly prefer to be eating crisps in front of the telly with her best friend Lesley than off doing adventures with the gorgeous but annoying older boy. I found her relationship with Gideon totally appropriate for her What a delightful book! This almost deserves 5 stars. It wasn't brilliant, but it was well done, with one of the most REAL heroines I've read in a long time, a character who was genuinely a teenage girl, a normal one with a healthy but realistic self esteem. Brave, but who would admittedly prefer to be eating crisps in front of the telly with her best friend Lesley than off doing adventures with the gorgeous but annoying older boy. I found her relationship with Gideon totally appropriate for her age and believable too. Anyone who calls this insta-love doesn't remember being 16 and being around the most gorgeous older boy imaginable. Of COURSE she was attracted and hopeful. But given how obnoxious he could be, she advocated for and defended herself pretty well, with an appropriate level of (im)maturity for her age. Even more importantly, Gwyneth was likable, and I was rooting for her from the beginning.
Aside from Gideon, who can be a pain from time to time, and one or two of the other Guardians, many of the other characters were likable too. Especially the irrepressible, curious Lesley, who, with her inquisitive nature, was not only a character's best friend but also an author's clever expositional device. Gwyneth's mum and her siblings are also charming, and even Lady Arista seems to me to have hidden depths. I'm curious for more about Lucy and Paul and Grace as well.
I didn't realize until I was significantly into the book that it had been translated from German. The only reason I even realized that was because the tone seemed so authentically British, with its loos and underground and crisps and all, that I checked to see if the book had been published in England first. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was published in GERMANY instead. Exciting! The translation work was brilliant--even the poetry flowed and rhymed in English, and I never felt like I was reading some awkward, lesser version of an original work.
The ending caught me by surprise--I wasn't ready for the story to end yet! This book just flew by, and I can't wait to start the second one, Sapphire Blue. Waiting for Emerald Green to be released in its English translation is going to be difficult.

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Jun 28, 2011 Ellen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!

Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon--the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose p ...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: translation, young-adult, time-travel

From the NPR poll of best Young Adult fiction.

This was really good (and, no lie, I've got the next two in the series on hold at my library already), but it was not the FANTASTIC book that some reviews on here led me to expect. It was just ... good. In fact, it was borderline fluffy cotton candy.

Let's see ... Gwyneth comes from one of two families in which a time travel gene is passed down through generations - only a special few get the gene, and the prophecy indicates that only twelve people to ...more

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Nov 03, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, adventures, british, series, young-adult

Unexpectedly enjoyable, this is the first book of the Ruby Red Trilogy. Telling a story about a secret society consisted of people who can travel through time, this book is pretty good- considering I'm not too keen on YA fantasy series nowadays. The dialogues are laugh out loud funny, the characters are likable, and the setting is pretty convincing. The translation is not really good, though, there are some errors that are pretty annoying. But I still enjoy it nonetheless. Let's see if this feel ...more

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Mar 10, 2017 Laurie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

I tore through this and its two sequels on a sick weekend. Looking back, I see more plot holes and I think it was a little slight in the end, but at the time it was a great ride.

Read for teen romance, time travel, family drama and historical costumes! Also a great best-friendship.

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