Book Review: Emerald Green
Book: Emerald Green
Author: Kerstin Gier
Genre: Teen/Sci-Fi/Time traveling/Romance
Summary: Gwen has a destiny to fulfill, but no one will tell her what it is. She’s only recently learned that she is the Ruby, the final member of the time-traveling Circle of Twelve, and since then nothing has been going right. She suspects the founder of the Circle, Count Saint-Germain, is up to something nefarious, but nobody believes her. And she’s just learned that her charming time-traveling partner, Gideon, has probably been using her all along. This stunning conclusion picks up where Sapphire Blue left off, reaching new heights of intrigue and romance as Gwen finally uncovers the secrets of the time-traveling society and learns her fate! - Henry Holt and Company, 2010.
Spoilers will be kept to a minimum as usual.
This is final book in the Ruby Red Trilogy. I have the hardcover version of this book, so the cover for it is slightly different, but for the sake of continuity, I used the paperback version of the cover instead.
It’s a very fast read - I finished it in a day. Even though it was a fast read, it still has a good pace for the plot and it doesn’t drag anything out. The plot continues until it resolves at a very even, neat pace. All of the questions raised in the previous two
books are answered here.
The climax was very anti-climatic mostly because there was little to no tension. There was no build-up of any kind. All of a sudden - boom - there’s the climax, time to decide the fate of the main characters. It was truly a let down. The only good thing about it was that it remained true to the plot and didn’t pull a deus ex machina.
The ending itself was a tad sloppy, but it was cute and most of the loose ends were tied up fine.
The romance, overall, was forced to me. It’s clear why Gwen falls in love with Gideon, but as for Gideon, I have no idea how or why he falls for her. There’s no real hint any time before he confesses his feelings for her that indicates he’s falling in love with her. He just is; there’s no other explanation. Since the story takes place over the course of two weeks, I highly doubt they’re really “in love”, but since this is a teen series, I can’t expect too much. I can’t be too critical since this series isn’t catered to my age group. At the same time, since Gier had two books to set up this romance, she should have spent more time on developing Gideon’s attraction to Gwen, rather than making him one-hundred percent mysterious bad boy.
Overall, the series is decent. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s not horrible either. It tells a well-thought out story and sticks to it.
I give Emerald Green a B+.
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