Sunday, October 4

[Review] Emerald Green (Precious Stone Trilogy, #3) - Kerstin Gier

Author: Kerstin Gier
Original Title: Smaragdgrün
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: October 8th, 2013 (December 8th, 2010)
Finished Date: April 3rd, 2015
Pages: 451
Read in: English

Synopsis

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-German, is up to something nefarious, but nobody will believe her. And she’s just learned that her charming time-traveling partner, Gideon, has probably been using her all along. Emerald Green is the stunning conclusion to Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red Trilogy, picking 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.
Source: GoodReads


Final Rating: 
☆☆☆

I was so sad when I finished reading this series. Not because the ending itself is sad, but because I was so disappointed. The first book was so good, it’s hard to believe the total downfall that took place in the next two instalments.
It was a light story and still fun to read but it had so much potential that I felt like it was lacking. It could have been much more developed than it was. It was overall a good story with a very convenient ending. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.

You can find my reviews for the other books in this series here:
Ruby Red - ★★★★

Sapphire Blue - ★★☆☆☆


The following extended review contains spoilers
If you have not yet read the book and/or do not wish to be spoiled, please do not read any further.

Gwen became the queen of drama. And when I say that, I mean she has become pathetically dramatic.
«“It feels like it’s made of red splinters with sharp edges, and they’re slicing me up from inside so that I’ll bleed to death,” I’d said, trying to describe the state of my heart to Lesley.»

Lesley still remains, resilient, as the only good thing about this. She was the only one who actually had her priorities straight and stayed focused on the problem at hand no matter what happened - you know, the way Gwen should have been, as it had direct impact on her. Lesley said what I was desperately trying to yell at Gwen through the pages of the book.
«“Gwenny, I hate to say so, but all this miserable weeping and wailing does no one any good. (…) You need your energy for other things. Like surviving, for instance. (…) So kindly put yourself together.”»
«“You think of nothing but Gideon, so you simply don’t see how serious the situation is. You need someone who can think straight, like me.”»

Gwen is just plain stupid. So Lesley is worried about what’s happening and is trying to solve the issues, and what does Gwen do? She daydreams about Gideon’s eyes. The same boy she just found out screwed her over.
«They were really attractive, which reminded me that Gideon’s eyes were exactly the same. Green and surrounded by thick, dark lashes. (…) Eyes like that shouldn’t be allowed.»

Plus, this:
«Honestly, the thought of dying didn’t see so bad at that moment.»
Yes, because a boy you’ve known for less than a week disappointing you and screwing you over is reason enough not to care anymore whether you live or die.




So Gideon has just showed his arsehole facet and broke poor little gullible Gwen’s heart - what does he do? He makes a poor excuse for an apology saying he didn’t want to hurt her and making it a point to underline how broken and sad and disappointed she looked. What does Gwen decide to do?
«“It wasn’t as bad as all that,” I said quietly. I thought I could be forgiven for that lie.»
She says that and minutes later calls him a bastard because he had the nerve to ask her to stay friends. She went from a poor little subdued girl to a hellish screaming woman in 2 pages. It was confusing to read about. I don’t understand her at all.

Gwyneth finally decided to tell someone about the creepy mind controlling thing the count did. And still nobody did anything about it, or even thought about investigating how he did it.
«“He throttled you? Without touching you?” Mr. George had stopped and was staring at me. He looked shocked. “Dear heavens. Gwyneth, why didn’t you tell us about this before?”»

Gwen really doesn’t think things through. Like when she went back in time to meet her grandfather in her house, and she locks the door to her room before she leaves to keep Charlotte from “investigating”, and only when she’s talking to Lucas does she remember she has to go back to that same room to travel forward, or else she’ll have locked herself out. Seriously, Gwen? It’s not rocket science.

Mr. Bernard! That was the biggest revelation! I was honestly so suspicious of him, I never even considered the possibility that he could have been actually a good guy. I never would have suspected he would have been Gwen’s family (her brother or nephew, maybe?). I loved the suspense created when the box Mr. Bernard hid turned out to contain a chronograph - I was expecting it to be hiding Lucas’ diaries on the meetings with Lucy and Paul and Gwen.

When Gwen finally discovers she’s Lucy and Paul’s daughter, the question of the year is asked.
«“If Lucy and Paul are my parents, does that mean you and I are related?”»
To which we receive a rather short reply that Gideon and Paul are only “distantly related”. Uh. Convenient.

Unfortunately my master idea of having Madame Rossini as the mastermind didn’t pay out - instead we had the much more predictable (and boring, if you ask me) Mr. Whitman as the bad guy.

And the thing that pissed me off the most was that nothing got explained.
  • The count almost throttled her with his mind. How exactly? We get a one-paragraph story about monks in Tibet. Does that explain anything? No.
  • How does the cronograph work exactly? Where did it come from? Who made it? How is the salt-like-thing that made Gideon immortal made?
  • Paul and Lucy were being paid by the Secret Services in 1912, for all they had done for the country. Wait. What?
  • Where exactly did the prophesies that everyone keeps quoting during the trilogy come from? Are there Seers in this world? Was there an almighty being that wrote them? WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?
  • We see and hear from ghosts during the series. They are the best comedic relief characters I’ve read about in a very long time. But how exactly does Gwen talk to Xemerius or James? How?

«That sounded like a broken heart, and no one in the world understood broken hearts better than me.»
And the drama queen award goes to… Gwyneth Shepherd!



By the way, I’m I the only one who thinks that living forever with someone you just met two weeks ago and are supposedly head over heels in love with is going to end badly? I really want to see how this works 200 years from now, when they’ve become (im)mortal enemies.

Did you read this book? What did you think? Let me know!

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