GoodRead - Sapphire Blue

My first review I wrote/posted on my blog this year was Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (my review for that is here). And I enjoyed it. It was fun, fast and addictive read, and I did make plans to read the second and third  in the trilogy, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green. And, several months later, I finally went, after wanting to "try and save money", I manage to get the paperback edition of Sapphire Blue a little cheaper and more indie bookshop than via Amazon and Book Depository.

Picking up immediately after the events with Ruby Red, Gwen is trying to get to grips over what happenings. The time-travelling gene her cousin, Charlotte, should have gone to Gwen so she is unprepared. She is the Ruby, the last member to complete the Circle. But with everyone trying to keep her in the dark, Gwen has to figure it out for herself.

But with the weirdness of time-travelling, there's Gideon, the diamond of the Circle. Gideon who is cold one moment but warm the next. Who kissed her at the very end of Ruby Red. But this is he like this? Gwen wants to find out...

Very much like Ruby Red, this was fun and addictive read. It felt so easy to slip back into the book after several months. And with a new characters of Gideon's younger brother, Raphael, and Xemerius (a demon ghost in the form of a stone gargoyle - I know that sounds weird, but he is such a cool character. I love him and Gwen's best friend, Lesley!), it made the read have more humour than Ruby Red (and Ruby Red have quite a bit of humour, thanks to Gwen).

And this book doesn't try to make time-travelling simple. This is complex time travelling where things happen but not in the right order, and while this is very confusing (more on this in a sec), it felt refreshing to read a time-travel book that goes "You think time travel is easy, fun and makes sense? You think it's like Doctor Who? Ha!"

Saying that, though, this does make you go "Wait, what?" as this happens quite a lot. And as this series happens in a very short period of time (Ruby Red took past over a course of a week and this is the same with Sapphire Blue, if I did my maths right), you literally have to either go with it and accept what's happening or you have to stop every now and then to think it over and keep track.

And Gideon and the Court - I dislike and distrust the Court (am throwing that out there now) and Gideon... Ok, I have problems with Gideon in Ruby Red and while I warmed up to him a bit more, I still found it hard to accept that, within such a short amount of time, that Gideon and Gwen would have strong feelings for each other but, at the very start of the series, Gideon had feelings for Gwen's cousin, Charlotte. And yes, dramatic events happen within these books, but still... I find it hard to accept when I am not reading the books that Gideon can switch his feelings on and off like that...

But I need to know what happens next. I need to read the last book in the trilogy, Emerald Green. But I don't know whether to get the hardback edition now or wait till October for the paperback. Decisions, decisions...

My only word of caution is that if you do want to read this series, read this series back to back. A lot of things happen and if you take longs backs between books, you might get lost and a tad confused.