Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Saphire Blue did not disappoint as a sequel to Ruby Red. In this book we get to know a bit more about the background story of different people, and I found Saphire Blue to be filled with plot twists. One thing I didn't fully love about the sequel was the confusion surrounding Gwendolyn and Gideon, but I guess it had to be like that to make the story add up! I cannot wait to read the final book in this trilogy, too bad I'll have to wait until 2012!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
2025 Review: this one has strong middle book syndrome where it's almost all setup and no payoff. Not a bad read, but not satisfying either. Make sure you have book three on hand if you pick it up as you'll probably want to dive in as soon as you're done with this one.
Original Review:
In my review of Ruby Red, this book's prequel, I said that the Ruby Red Trilogy reads more like one book than three separate novels and I stick by that claim. This means that, while Ruby Read reads like the first third of a book where you meet all the characters and learn the basic plot, Sapphire Blue reads like the middle of a book. You know, the parts where the plot gets more complex, but nothing major is resolved. While everything works out by the trilogy's end, the "middle book" nature of Sapphire Blue does make it a little frustrating to read the first time through because it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. There are also several times where the characters act in ways that make no sense until you've read the last book and learned the full story.
Speaking of characters, I do feel as if this book suffered a bit by virtue of the fact that we only get to see the point of view of the main character, Gwyneth. It would have been a far more enjoyable read if we got to see something from her love interest's point of view, too. This would have ruined a bit of the mystery as he does a lot of strange things in this book that don't make sense until later on, but I think it would been a worthy sacrifice. Especially when I think about just how many mysteries are present in this book. It almost seemed like Ms. Gier felt that she couldn't give anything away before the last book! This isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't mind it when character's act out of character or in strange ways for reasons that you won't find out until much later.
Alright, let's take a break from talking about the potential negatives, time to look at the positives!
While Sapphire Blue doesn't do a great job with the male romantic lead, it does does a good job of dealing with the topic of teen romance. A topic that' I'm very picky about and often dislike in YA novels. Maybe it's just because I'm in my mid-twenties now instead of my late teens, but the YA trope of having a character who is facing a world-ending, life-or-death crisis choose to focus on whether or not a boy likes her instead of focusing on said crisis makes me want to roll my eyes and put the book down. However, it's also true that people aren't emotionless husks who can easily ignore their feelings just because there's a crisis. Especially teenagers, who are only just learning to handle the powerful emotions that come with love.
In this book, Gwyneth deals with both her crisis and her love in what I consider to be a very believable way. She tries to not focus on the guy who she's falling for and she does do her best to stay on track with her mission, but that doesn't mean that she's perfect and can just ignore the way that her new-found feelings make her heart race every time that she sees the face of her beloved. She's also one of the few heroines I know who actually has a good cry over her feelings and laments her troubles to her best friend instead of acting like she has to face the world on her own.
That's probably one of the most refreshing things about these novels, actually. There's a real team of people helping Gwyneth, almost all of whom she choose to confide in, and none of them are her love interest. This isn't the story of one girl facing insurmountable odds with only her love at her side. It's the story of a girl faced with a very real problem (at least, a real problem in her world) and how she handled it with the help of her friends, family, and Google's search engine.
In spite of all these positives, Sapphire Blue is certainly not for everyone. If you like your heroines to be real leaders who seem to know exactly what they're doing or if you like stories that are driven more by the plot than the characters, this isn't the book for you. If you like fun stories of time-traveling hijinxs that focus more on the adventure and characters instead of the methods behind how time travel actually works, you'll probably enjoy this book. I know that I considered it a wonderful way to relax on an afternoon where I just wanted to sit back, drink tea, and lose myself in a fantasy.
Original Review:
In my review of Ruby Red, this book's prequel, I said that the Ruby Red Trilogy reads more like one book than three separate novels and I stick by that claim. This means that, while Ruby Read reads like the first third of a book where you meet all the characters and learn the basic plot, Sapphire Blue reads like the middle of a book. You know, the parts where the plot gets more complex, but nothing major is resolved. While everything works out by the trilogy's end, the "middle book" nature of Sapphire Blue does make it a little frustrating to read the first time through because it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. There are also several times where the characters act in ways that make no sense until you've read the last book and learned the full story.
Speaking of characters, I do feel as if this book suffered a bit by virtue of the fact that we only get to see the point of view of the main character, Gwyneth. It would have been a far more enjoyable read if we got to see something from her love interest's point of view, too. This would have ruined a bit of the mystery as he does a lot of strange things in this book that don't make sense until later on, but I think it would been a worthy sacrifice. Especially when I think about just how many mysteries are present in this book. It almost seemed like Ms. Gier felt that she couldn't give anything away before the last book! This isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't mind it when character's act out of character or in strange ways for reasons that you won't find out until much later.
Alright, let's take a break from talking about the potential negatives, time to look at the positives!
While Sapphire Blue doesn't do a great job with the male romantic lead, it does does a good job of dealing with the topic of teen romance. A topic that' I'm very picky about and often dislike in YA novels. Maybe it's just because I'm in my mid-twenties now instead of my late teens, but the YA trope of having a character who is facing a world-ending, life-or-death crisis choose to focus on whether or not a boy likes her instead of focusing on said crisis makes me want to roll my eyes and put the book down. However, it's also true that people aren't emotionless husks who can easily ignore their feelings just because there's a crisis. Especially teenagers, who are only just learning to handle the powerful emotions that come with love.
In this book, Gwyneth deals with both her crisis and her love in what I consider to be a very believable way. She tries to not focus on the guy who she's falling for and she does do her best to stay on track with her mission, but that doesn't mean that she's perfect and can just ignore the way that her new-found feelings make her heart race every time that she sees the face of her beloved. She's also one of the few heroines I know who actually has a good cry over her feelings and laments her troubles to her best friend instead of acting like she has to face the world on her own.
That's probably one of the most refreshing things about these novels, actually. There's a real team of people helping Gwyneth, almost all of whom she choose to confide in, and none of them are her love interest. This isn't the story of one girl facing insurmountable odds with only her love at her side. It's the story of a girl faced with a very real problem (at least, a real problem in her world) and how she handled it with the help of her friends, family, and Google's search engine.
In spite of all these positives, Sapphire Blue is certainly not for everyone. If you like your heroines to be real leaders who seem to know exactly what they're doing or if you like stories that are driven more by the plot than the characters, this isn't the book for you. If you like fun stories of time-traveling hijinxs that focus more on the adventure and characters instead of the methods behind how time travel actually works, you'll probably enjoy this book. I know that I considered it a wonderful way to relax on an afternoon where I just wanted to sit back, drink tea, and lose myself in a fantasy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
Втората книга от поредицата е също толкова интересна колко беше и първата!Със спиращи дъха обрати,любовни моменти и малко забава книгата наистина прави впечатление на читателят!Нямам търпение и за третата последна книга от поредицата...