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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
So this book mainly caught my eye because it's really pretty, but then I listened to the sample on Audible and I really loved it. Still not sure why. It's about a girl living in Georgia who decides to go west to the California Gold Rush. I loved the parts about her going north to Chattanooga (old-timey Chattanooga!) and I loved the wagon train part because it's been SO LONG since I read a wagon train book and that felt familiar and endearing, but still filled with just the right amount of tension. The big device in the book is the main character's ability to sense gold, which the author describes so well! This book also got me reading all about mid-1800's Chattanooga and the Gold Rush trail and thinking about how different groups (women, black people, Native Americans) would navigate the situations that came up in the wagon trains. Really fun and interesting! I immediately started the sequel.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Western scenery, wagons and gold are the top themes in this new trilogy coming from one of my favorite authors!
The year is 1849 and America lives through the "gold fever" a period in which many migrated towards California searching for gold and a new life. Lee lives with her parents in Georgia and has a secret; she can sense gold and her power is so strong she can even feel it under the mountains and deep in the earth.
Her best friend is Jeff who is half Native American and he is also considered as a person with "defencincies" through the novel despite him being a good person. After Lee's parents are found dead, she will not only become a boy but also she will journey towards California in order to escape her parents' murderer and keep her abilities a secret.
The book is mostly about the journey through the harsh enviroment of the American territory, through forests and rivers, mountains and deserts. Many times I opened a map in order to see the route for myself and I assure you that this is an adventure. Not only Lee has to travel as a boy, act like one and stay safe but she also meets with many people, most of them either travelers or greedy pursuers.
On the other hand, having in mind that this is the 19th century, Lee's status as a woman is always considered as fragile and delicate, yet she wokrs harder than anyone. Also, the women who are shown into the book, despite having a different position than the men, they are strong in their own ways. From how they act with their families, to childbirth and taking serious desicions.
Lee's character was one of the strongest I saw in the book. Through her POV and eyes we see a detailed world building which really felt like a perfectly made movie, and her moments with Jeff were sweet but slow. The romance here I hope will escalate in the second book, as along as something doesn't happen to any of them (if you have read Rae's first trilogy you'll know what I mean).
In the book also you may come to see how everyone treats Native Americans as "lowly, savages animals". Jeff is also treated disrespectfully because of his heritage and there are some bad scenes in the book, in which the men of the wagons treat the Native Americans badly. The term which is used in the book, which also has to match the time period, is "Indian", so please don't get angry. I know that Rae has done her research and she is actually very accurate in the words she uses.
This book has quite a lot of promise and I am defenitely reading the next one too!
The year is 1849 and America lives through the "gold fever" a period in which many migrated towards California searching for gold and a new life. Lee lives with her parents in Georgia and has a secret; she can sense gold and her power is so strong she can even feel it under the mountains and deep in the earth.
Her best friend is Jeff who is half Native American and he is also considered as a person with "defencincies" through the novel despite him being a good person. After Lee's parents are found dead, she will not only become a boy but also she will journey towards California in order to escape her parents' murderer and keep her abilities a secret.
The book is mostly about the journey through the harsh enviroment of the American territory, through forests and rivers, mountains and deserts. Many times I opened a map in order to see the route for myself and I assure you that this is an adventure. Not only Lee has to travel as a boy, act like one and stay safe but she also meets with many people, most of them either travelers or greedy pursuers.
On the other hand, having in mind that this is the 19th century, Lee's status as a woman is always considered as fragile and delicate, yet she wokrs harder than anyone. Also, the women who are shown into the book, despite having a different position than the men, they are strong in their own ways. From how they act with their families, to childbirth and taking serious desicions.
Lee's character was one of the strongest I saw in the book. Through her POV and eyes we see a detailed world building which really felt like a perfectly made movie, and her moments with Jeff were sweet but slow. The romance here I hope will escalate in the second book, as along as something doesn't happen to any of them (if you have read Rae's first trilogy you'll know what I mean).
In the book also you may come to see how everyone treats Native Americans as "lowly, savages animals". Jeff is also treated disrespectfully because of his heritage and there are some bad scenes in the book, in which the men of the wagons treat the Native Americans badly. The term which is used in the book, which also has to match the time period, is "Indian", so please don't get angry. I know that Rae has done her research and she is actually very accurate in the words she uses.
This book has quite a lot of promise and I am defenitely reading the next one too!
I enjoyed this book more than her other series that I read. It held my interest and I do really like historical fiction.
I absolutely adore this book and everything about it. Can’t wait to read the rest
Oh Rae, what happened here?
Carson's first series was one of my absolute favorites. She gave us a fully realized complex, politically interesting world in which people struggled against unknowable challenges. The main character was a strong, quirky, completely distinctive individual. The characters struggled with issues of power in deeply feminist ways that I haven't seen elsewhere.
Then comes this book. In contrast to the first series, this book feels superficial. It is a standard travel adventure, and which a main character moves from one place to another in search of something better, different, etcetera. There's no real plot arc. Instead, it's almost a picaresque-style book, and which the character just has one interesting experience followed by another interesting experience. On top of that, the book wasn't terribly complex. The relationships were much more straightforward then in the first series, and the struggles more straightforward.
I wonder if this book was designed for a younger audience. In any case, it did not make my heart sing as did the first series. I'm hoping that this book is a temporary stop on route to an extraordinary third series.
Carson's first series was one of my absolute favorites. She gave us a fully realized complex, politically interesting world in which people struggled against unknowable challenges. The main character was a strong, quirky, completely distinctive individual. The characters struggled with issues of power in deeply feminist ways that I haven't seen elsewhere.
Then comes this book. In contrast to the first series, this book feels superficial. It is a standard travel adventure, and which a main character moves from one place to another in search of something better, different, etcetera. There's no real plot arc. Instead, it's almost a picaresque-style book, and which the character just has one interesting experience followed by another interesting experience. On top of that, the book wasn't terribly complex. The relationships were much more straightforward then in the first series, and the struggles more straightforward.
I wonder if this book was designed for a younger audience. In any case, it did not make my heart sing as did the first series. I'm hoping that this book is a temporary stop on route to an extraordinary third series.
J'avais très envie de lire ce livre à cause de Westworld. J'adore l'esprit western et c'est un concept original que je découvre dans le YA.
Malheureusement, j'ai beaucoup de mal avec les livres (et même les films d'ailleurs) road trip. J'ai tendance à m'ennuyer et à trouver le temps long dans ce genre de livre, et les voyages m’éreintent autant que les personnages. C'est la seule chose qui m'a empêché de vraiment adhérer complètement à ma lecture.
J'ai retrouvé toutes les qualités de l'écriture de Rae Carson que j'avais déjà apprécié dans Fire and Thorns : un personnage féminin intéressant et fort, une dureté dans l'écriture pour exposer la vie, la vraie, sans trop de fioriture ni de glamour. C'est d'autant plus intéressant que cette période était dure et cruelle surtout pour les jeunes filles. J'ai beaucoup aimé cet aspect du livre, et la réflexion de la place de la femme dans la société naissante américaine.
Je pense qu'il y aura un peu plus d'actions et de "fantastique" dans le tome 2, notamment autour du don de Leah. Je vais certainement continuer car le voyage étant terminé, l'action ne pourra que me plaire.
Malheureusement, j'ai beaucoup de mal avec les livres (et même les films d'ailleurs) road trip. J'ai tendance à m'ennuyer et à trouver le temps long dans ce genre de livre, et les voyages m’éreintent autant que les personnages. C'est la seule chose qui m'a empêché de vraiment adhérer complètement à ma lecture.
J'ai retrouvé toutes les qualités de l'écriture de Rae Carson que j'avais déjà apprécié dans Fire and Thorns : un personnage féminin intéressant et fort, une dureté dans l'écriture pour exposer la vie, la vraie, sans trop de fioriture ni de glamour. C'est d'autant plus intéressant que cette période était dure et cruelle surtout pour les jeunes filles. J'ai beaucoup aimé cet aspect du livre, et la réflexion de la place de la femme dans la société naissante américaine.
Je pense qu'il y aura un peu plus d'actions et de "fantastique" dans le tome 2, notamment autour du don de Leah. Je vais certainement continuer car le voyage étant terminé, l'action ne pourra que me plaire.