Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer Trilogy, #1)

by Rae Carson

Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.

The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.

• ISBN10: 006224292X
• ISBN13: 9780062242921
• Publish Date: 6 September 2016 (first published 22 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Walk on Earth a Stranger will probably end up being one of my favorite books of the year.

There was a lot that appealed to me in this book. First of all, there’s the western theme. I love a good western story, minus all the inherent racism and debauchery. There’s a handful of YA books that try it, but up until this point, I haven’t read anything historical fiction and fantasy and I absolutely LOVED it. It hit all the points I wanted, from the North Carolina setting to the OREGON TRAIL to the first hints of the California Gold Rush Fever.

Given the Oregon Trail nature of this story, there’s a lot of traveling. The historian in me delighted in every historical landmark and reference. I’m honestly tempted to look and see if any of our side characters here are real people? There were certainly real circumstances and real locations. Even if you haven’t read up on this period of history, it’s very accessible. And honestly now I’m DYING to play Oregon Trail again.

But the traveling? Often, this can bore readers, especially if it’s just walking and conversation and walking and conversation. You need to have events along the way. Rae Carson filled the time so well that I barely noticed they were traveling. There were always secrets in danger of being revealed, and mortal dangers on the road.

I just genuinely loved this book, I really did.

I do want to address some choices that Rae Carson made in Walk on Earth a Stranger, mainly in the perspective of women as property, discussions of slavery, and most prominently the racist attitudes against Native Americans and perpetuating stereotypes. As I found in The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Carson approaches difficult topics with respect. I do believe there’s a difference between throwing around racist terms and stereotypes, and addressing them. The American West and this period in history was fraught with harmful attitudes toward the non-White, non-male. While the word “Indian” is used repeatedly in reference to Native Americans in the book, racist attitudes are repeatedly attacked. A couple time, the word “savage” is used, and as I felt the wrongness of the word… I knew Lee felt it as well. Carson chose to show that there are all sorts of people in this world, and while there are those who put black marks on history, there are also many who do not hold the same ideals. I think she managed the whole situation very well, while still choosing to address it. And I think it’s important to address it, rather than pull out all the “unpleasantness” and pretend it never happened.

The characters – I loved the characters! The side characters were not as developed as Lee, who was so immersed in her own web of lies and fear that she became friends with many and didn’t even realize she was doing it. In the same way, I felt that we readers got acquainted with the other characters. The side characters grew and changed more than I find in many novels, and I was content with them.

I was impressed by the pacing, the writing, the story, the characters, and the setting. I also enjoyed the narrator, who I thought voiced Lee well. Now that we’ve reached California, I’m excited to see what adventures come next! This is a great book for anyone who reads YA or slightly older (Lee is feels like New Adult-aged to me) and enjoys the American West and traveling stories and just a sprinkling of magic.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Rae Carson has this uncanny ability to wow me with any story that she tells and this one is definitely no exception. I absolutely fell in love with this book, the setting, the beautiful descriptions, and the wonderfully fleshed out characters. Expect a fully book review soon.

[Sam@WLABB]

Walk the Earth a Stranger is a captivating work of historical fiction with a touch of magic. This story held my interest for several reasons.

1. The time period The gold rush was such an interesting time in American history. I liked learning more about the hardships these people endured as they sought their fortunes. Their pain and loss really touched me, and made me ponder how much easier we have it now. It also motivated me to google some stuff, and I learned a few new and interesting things.



2. Leah One thing I love about Rae Carson is that she does heroines well. Leah is every bit the amazing woman you expect in a Carson book and more. She is strong and resilient, but also vulnerable, and she has needs. She wants to be loved and wanted, just like everyone else, and that makes her so normal. At the same time, she is so self sacrificing. She consistently put others before herself, showing that beautiful heart of her's time and time again.



3. The "family" element There is nothing like a painful experience to bring a group together, and this group suffered together for months, over and over again. By the end, Leah had a new family, and that ending really touched my heart. I must also state, that this group is full of some very interesting characters. They were multifaceted and well well developed. And man, oh, man, when little Andy has that talk with Mr. Hoffmann, tears sprung from my eyes.



4. The writing Rae Carson is a wonderful writer. She beautifully told me this story, and projected the imagery and emotion perfectly.




"Not bad for a girl," says Jonas Waters. "It's not bad for anyone," Jefferson snaps.



A great read. I enjoyed my cross country journey and cannot wait to see what is in store for this bunch now that they are in California.

[readingwithwrin]

"Only way to reach the green grass of Oregon or the sweet gold of California is through hell itself."
MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS


It has been a long time since I’ve read a book that is a western so I wasn’t even sure if I would like this type of book anymore, but I am so glad I did. I loved this book and how brave Leah is.
When Leah’s parents are killed she is forced into making a very tough decision leave the farm she has worked so hard to keep up in order to go California or to stay and become trapped with someone who may want to harm her. With this choice she also had to figure out how to keep her “witchy powers” secret.
Once she has made her decision she realizes that she will have to hide her identity in order to make it their safely. While along the way she meets a wide range of people, some good, some bad, and some a little bit of both. She also makes a lot of new friends that are willing to help her along the way and keep her safe after they reach their destination.
I really did love this book. I loved how things that had never been talked about before were talked about. (How she dealt with hiding her time of the month and what confirmed bachelor meant) These were things that I had never seen be talked about before and while they were just briefly mentioned I found it refreshing and informative.
Every time Leah was almost found out it was stressful and made you feel like you were in her shoes as well and when she was finally found out it wasn’t the end of the world like I thought it would be. Carson did an amazing job of keeping the “witchy powers” and the real history of wagon trains true to what we’ve mostly been taught about them and made them work together perfectly.

I can’t wait to read the second book in this trilogy and see what happens to Leah and her friends next.

See more reviews like this first on my blog

[Chelsea]

Thoughts When I Finished:

Is it weird that this book reminded me of Little House on the Prairie? Maybe not. They are in the same time period. I was actually surprised I liked this book. There wasn’t a lot of fantasy elements in it and it was pretty slowly paced. The events that happened weren’t huge or intense in any way but I still really enjoyed reading it.

What I Loved:

I love the mixture of the fantasy elements with an 1830’s time period. I thought that was really interesting. I found the author did a good job too with what sort of things would be around in that time period. She really did her research.

It’s hard to have an opinion of the characters because there were only a couple that were around for the whole book. I think the characters we ended up with at the end were sort of weeded out and will end up being my prominent in the next books. This was a road trip book of a sort so there were lots of people that were met but then ended up going their separate ways. Who knows though, maybe we’ll see some again. I did mostly like the main character. She has a ways to go development wise but I was never annoyed or upset with her. Even though she didn’t blow me away I was happy with how she turned out.

What I Didn’t Like:

I don’t know what is it that made me give this book 4 stars. I guess it was just that fact that it didn’t completely blow me away. The plot was a little slow sometimes and I like more fast paced, action packed plots. Even though the plot was slow and fairly mild, I still found myself enjoying the story.

Who I’d recommend To:

I’d recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction who like a little taste of fantasy. This was mostly a historical fiction book because the only fantasy element was that the main character had a special gift. Nobody else seems to have any gifts so it’s just a little taste of fantasy. Also, if you liked Little House on the Prairie this might be a good match for you.

Quick Review:

This is the perfect book for lovers of western fiction and those who love going on long journeys while staying at home in bed. It’s an easy book to get through because of the slower, easy going plot. The main character, Leah, isn’t the sort of person to rush things but is still extremely smart. You’ll love being paired with her on this crazy adventure.

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Initial thoughts: My, my, do I keep getting surprised this year! Walk on Earth A Stranger is another book I hadn't planned to read. Even though it was such a hotly anticipated release, I didn't think it'd be up my alley. Was I wrong! I liked this book a lot. The characters had depth, stood strong as individuals and also in groups. Their relationships grew so much and on such a varied spectrum, from best friend, to almost-friend, to strangers and enemies. Best of all, Lee could stand her ground as a person. She knew respect and respect knew her. Amidst their culture, men were above women and out of that Rae Carson weaved a wondrous story of a girl who preferred to be a woman but knew that as a man, she could do so much more. Besides all that, I'm a sucker for good magical realism. This book was good magical realism rooted in historical fiction.

Well, well, well, Rae Carson writes another spectacular book. Walk on Earth a Stranger was a very interesting read. I actually could not put this down, I read it in two sittings. The setting, the characters, the era; all so much fun to read and very engrossing.

I'm very excited to see what the next book entails!

[Angie]

Walk on Earth a Stranger was a ton of fun! I’ll admit that most of my interest in it was based on my Oregon Trail obsession as a kid, and it certainly did bring back fond memories. Also gender-bending, that’s always fun. Leah–aka Lee– can sense gold. This has helped her family out in Georgia where the gold rush was already over. However, after her parents are murdered and her uncle reveals his plans to use her for his own gain, Lee knows that she has to get out of there. And the only place to go is West.

I really enjoyed Walk on Earth a Stranger. I adored Lee. She’s smart, strong, and magical. Being her parents’ only child, her father taught her to hunt and other typically masculine activities. When he got sick, all of those chores fell to Lee, and this served her well on her trek across the country. Simply dressing as a boy wouldn’t have been enough. I also loved how the author didn’t shy away from some complications Lee would face during her charade. She does get her period and has to secretly deal with that, along with binding her breasts. I’m also glad that there were characters who figured Lee out, because that made it feel more realistic. Her disguise isn’t perfect.

I finished Walk on Earth a Stranger in one sitting, because I got so hooked on Lee and her group’s journey West. It is not an easy trip by any means, and it blew my mind that so many people traveled cross-country while only moving 6-20 miles per day! But they persisted! They faced sickness, stampedes, starvation, dehydration, and injuries. But they kept going! The story stretches out over months, but I never felt like it dragged or got boring. Something was always happening, and I never knew who would survive each hardship they faced.

Walk on Earth a Stranger was great. The magical aspect wasn’t as front and center, but then again, there wasn’t much gold along the way. I do wonder what may come next in this series. I actually quite like it as a standalone, with the exception of there still being some business with Lee’s uncle. Obviously, she’ll be using her ability now that she’s in California, but the excitement of the wagon train will be missing.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Stephanie]

I'm rather sad this is a series, because it would have been far more powerful as a stand alone. Rushed ending and nothing surprising, but the best 19th century Western girl-poses-as-boy tale I've read.

This is the second new YA release I've read this month about a girl in the 1800's who flees her home following the murder of her father, disguises herself as a boy, and heads out west in search of gold. VENGEANCE ROAD by Erin Bowman was the first and, while fun as a True Grit homage, was little lacking in places. In contrast, WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER, is epic and magical and completely engrossing.

Having read and loved Rae Carson's Fire and Thorn series, I had high hopes for her new Gold Seer Trilogy featuring a protagonist who can sense gold, and she didn't disappoint. Lee is tenacious and brave without being foolhardy. Her wild west journey is fraught with danger and adventure including thieving bandits and epidemic disease, roving Indians and unexpected romance. There are a couple overdone characters (the reverend comes to mind), but most of this expansive cast sparkles every bit as much as the gold that calls to Lee.

The journey west was at times a tad tedious, but overall, I loved this book and plan to rush out and claim the sequel when it comes out next year.