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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
It has been quite a long time since I've read any historical YA or I guess more specifically western historical YA.
I liked it! The story was unique (seer who can find gold but it's during gold rush time, lots of gun references that I didn't understand, etc.) and I really liked how it focused on Lee/Leah and her development as opposed to too much romance and busyness of other things. It focused on HER and it also gave a peek into the other people she traveled with and the complications of their lives.
How women of all ages were controlled and "given" and "taken" as if they were shiny objects to be kept pretty and harmless. How each of them dealt with it.
Lee embraced the freedom that came with being a man, she liked being able to depend on herself but she also embraced the fact that she was a girl and that she liked being a girl.
The diversity was also pretty crazy (good). There were gay guys, there was an Indian mix (Native American), there was a German family.
Even with the diversity, the book also showed a clear view of the prejudices that were prevalent back then and the danger of them.
Despite these many things... there are a few things that pulled it back down to three stars.
There was SO much description and, while I can understand maybe that a book like this needs a lot of beautiful description, I found myself getting bored or skipping sentences because of how much there was.
Also, did there have to be so much detail about all these days in the trip? Maybe there did and I'm not mad about it just... it was very monotonous at times.
But, then again, maybe that's how it was supposed to feel, because I can only imagine how monotonous and long and never-ending a trip in those days would feel.
I guess in the end it didn't click with me as much as it could've but I still enjoyed it very much.
It has been quite a long time since I've read any historical YA or I guess more specifically western historical YA.
I liked it! The story was unique (seer who can find gold but it's during gold rush time, lots of gun references that I didn't understand, etc.) and I really liked how it focused on Lee/Leah and her development as opposed to too much romance and busyness of other things. It focused on HER and it also gave a peek into the other people she traveled with and the complications of their lives.
How women of all ages were controlled and "given" and "taken" as if they were shiny objects to be kept pretty and harmless. How each of them dealt with it.
Lee embraced the freedom that came with being a man, she liked being able to depend on herself but she also embraced the fact that she was a girl and that she liked being a girl.
The diversity was also pretty crazy (good). There were gay guys, there was an Indian mix (Native American), there was a German family.
Even with the diversity, the book also showed a clear view of the prejudices that were prevalent back then and the danger of them.
Despite these many things... there are a few things that pulled it back down to three stars.
There was SO much description and, while I can understand maybe that a book like this needs a lot of beautiful description, I found myself getting bored or skipping sentences because of how much there was.
Also, did there have to be so much detail about all these days in the trip? Maybe there did and I'm not mad about it just... it was very monotonous at times.
But, then again, maybe that's how it was supposed to feel, because I can only imagine how monotonous and long and never-ending a trip in those days would feel.
I guess in the end it didn't click with me as much as it could've but I still enjoyed it very much.
*Review also posted at Briar Rose Reads
I liked Walk on Earth a Stranger very much, with one notable exception: the lazy, useless, no-good burden of a reverend. That trope was thin and tired seventy years ago, and I'm taking off a full star for it. I expected better from the author of the Girl of Fire and Thorns series, which explored the complexities of faith and belief in a beautiful, authentic way.
Still, there was much about Walk on Earth a Stranger to love. The main character yearned for freedom, and deeply enjoyed her taste of it while posing as a boy, but she didn't gleefully throw off all trappings of the feminine. Putting back on a skirt, she said, felt like being in her own skin again. She didn't want to abandon being a woman--she wanted freedom as a woman.
There were a wide variety of other well-developed female characters, with complex relationships and motivations. And Jefferson was wonderful.
This book reminded me, too, of why I loved the Western genre so much as a kid: the danger, maybe, the thrill and drama, but mostly the possibility. The wide-open sky. The idea that anything could be around the next bend or over the next ridge. Adding a touch of magic just makes it better.
I liked Walk on Earth a Stranger very much, with one notable exception: the lazy, useless, no-good burden of a reverend. That trope was thin and tired seventy years ago, and I'm taking off a full star for it. I expected better from the author of the Girl of Fire and Thorns series, which explored the complexities of faith and belief in a beautiful, authentic way.
Still, there was much about Walk on Earth a Stranger to love. The main character yearned for freedom, and deeply enjoyed her taste of it while posing as a boy, but she didn't gleefully throw off all trappings of the feminine. Putting back on a skirt, she said, felt like being in her own skin again. She didn't want to abandon being a woman--she wanted freedom as a woman.
There were a wide variety of other well-developed female characters, with complex relationships and motivations. And Jefferson was wonderful.
This book reminded me, too, of why I loved the Western genre so much as a kid: the danger, maybe, the thrill and drama, but mostly the possibility. The wide-open sky. The idea that anything could be around the next bend or over the next ridge. Adding a touch of magic just makes it better.
I'm being generous by rounding up from 2.5: the incredibly slow pace just did me in. A part of me enjoyed the trip, but anyone who remembers the Oregon Trail game will find this familiar. And gold dowsing (if I can call it that) wasn't as exciting as it sounds.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I love that moment I get to click that arc shelf! I didn't even know arcs were available yet.
4.5
Loved it-though the degree of heartbreak was fairly high which I guess is to be expected from "Covered Wagon Fiction" God--that makes it sound so typical which it most definitely was not.
In Lee Westfall, Rae Carson has written a strong female who has more than one secret to keep as she heads to the California goldfields. I don't want to say more because I don't want to give anything away. All I can say is if you loved her debut series I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Don't know how I'm going to wait until the next volume!!
4.5
Loved it-though the degree of heartbreak was fairly high
Spoiler
with the main characters parents being murdered at the start of the storyIn Lee Westfall, Rae Carson has written a strong female who has more than one secret to keep as she heads to the California goldfields. I don't want to say more because I don't want to give anything away. All I can say is if you loved her debut series I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Don't know how I'm going to wait until the next volume!!
*chanting* Next book! Next book! Next book! Next book!
I didn't get out of my seat while I was reading this. Straight through in one sitting. Now I'm dehydrated and starving. (Too soon?)
I didn't get out of my seat while I was reading this. Straight through in one sitting. Now I'm dehydrated and starving. (Too soon?)
I LOVED Rae Carson’s Girl of Fire and Thorns series. I liked this (and yes, I've gone through the whole trilogy, back to back, before I got around to writing my review on the first book) but it didn't quite measure up. Interesting time and events - the California gold rush, trekking across the continent. I'd just got through another book that had travel across the U.S. The touch of magic with the gold sense was a nice touch (a tad reminiscent of Carson's other series).
Lots of experiences and tragedies, this book covers the introduction to the setting and characters, and the trek to California. As mentioned, I did feel like going on directly, and happily the next book was available from my library immediately.
I went with the audiobook - great narrator. Her male voices were so good that sometimes I would forget it was a woman voicing them. Slight twang, which absolutely fit the characters for sure and certain!
... one memorable moment, was the word "boughten" (as in not-homemade). This was a word that happened in our house, only in regards to bread. Boughten bread vs homemade bread. When Hubs entered the picture, he just couldn't get over this word coming from an otherwise uber educated family! And while technically it IS a word (per MerriamWebster) I honestly had never heard it said, or seen it in print, before this. I brought it up on a Facebook Book Group I'm in, and it created a lively discussion (I guess it is in the "Little House" books, and there were many others who had grown up using the word too). It appeared throughout the trilogy. I couldn't quite parse it (okay, that's a stretch, but "parse" was used quite a bit too, for sure and certain ... which obviously was used a lot too!)
Lots of experiences and tragedies, this book covers the introduction to the setting and characters, and the trek to California. As mentioned, I did feel like going on directly, and happily the next book was available from my library immediately.
I went with the audiobook - great narrator. Her male voices were so good that sometimes I would forget it was a woman voicing them. Slight twang, which absolutely fit the characters for sure and certain!
... one memorable moment, was the word "boughten" (as in not-homemade). This was a word that happened in our house, only in regards to bread. Boughten bread vs homemade bread. When Hubs entered the picture, he just couldn't get over this word coming from an otherwise uber educated family! And while technically it IS a word (per MerriamWebster) I honestly had never heard it said, or seen it in print, before this. I brought it up on a Facebook Book Group I'm in, and it created a lively discussion (I guess it is in the "Little House" books, and there were many others who had grown up using the word too). It appeared throughout the trilogy. I couldn't quite parse it (okay, that's a stretch, but "parse" was used quite a bit too, for sure and certain ... which obviously was used a lot too!)