Emerald Green (The Ruby Red Trilogy, #3)

by Kerstin Gier

Anthea Bell (Translator)

Since learning she is the Ruby, the final member of the time-traveling Circle of Twelve, nothing has gone right for Gwen and she holds suspicions about both Count Saint-German and Gideon, but as she uncovers the Circle's secrets she finally learns her own destiny.

Since learning she is the final member of the time-traveling Circle of Twelve, Gwen has become suspicious of both Count Saint-Germain and Gideon. As she uncovers the Circle's secrets, she finally learns her destiny. The plot contains violence. Book #3

• ISBN10: 0805092676
• ISBN13: 9780805092677
• Publish Date: 8 October 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 November 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 5 Stars

OHMYHEART! TRÉS FANTASTIQUE!

WHAT A HIDDEN GEM OF A TRILOGY (pun intended) !!! It is the kind that you cherish & will re-read time & time again, & that steals a piece of your heart forever !

Time travel is truly tricky for me—
Definitely a hit or miss kind of trope... and this series was A BLAST!

This final installment kept me guessing at every turn; what a ride it was! The whole of the ending was one I never could’ve POSSIBLY figured out!

This truly is amazing as well, because it is a translation from German, as the original version is by a German author, which I love about it! Always down to venture into stories written in places other than the US, Canada, the UK, or Australia, haha.

This really is a massively underrated series that needs more hype! Pleaseeee give it a try; Especially if you like historical fiction SFF, because a lot of it takes place in different periods in the past.

It is a consistently fast paced story, with fated/ star-crossed lovers fighting the odds, secret societies, amazing quirky family dynamics, & an undercurrent of nefarious mystery.

100% recommend !!!

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I am sitting outside on a brick wall in a charming little courtyard in the shade of trees. It is precisely 76-degrees out and the skies are blue and sunny and there’s a perfect, quaint little wind. It is an absolutely perfect day, and I am ever so slightly miserable.

Why?

Because after lovingly dragging it out over the course of the last few years, I have finished finished the Ruby Red trilogy.

I adored this story. The only bad thing I can really say about it is that it’s a bit silly. I like that silliness, though, I think it works for Gwen’s character. Listening to these audiobooks has brought me such joy and I’ve anxiously anticipated each next installment. The trilogy as a whole feels very much like one story that’s been split apart due to page count, and now, I’m just waiting for more (which is not coming).

Don’t get me wrong – as the last book in the trilogy, Emerald Green ties everything up quite nicely. The story arc is closed in a satisfying way, and Gwen stays true to her character. That’s a big thing for me, the fact that Gwennie didn’t suddenly become some kick-butt heroine at the last moment for sensation and thrills. In fact, the YA genre has me so spoiled with extraordinary things that I was pleasantly surprised to see that the characters were consistent… and that they always felt real.

Another really nice thing about Emerald Green was the timeline consistency. What with the tiny little subplot here, I’m sure some things changed in the present, but as a whole, it kept to its own rules and followed through. There were bits and pieces from the first book that I’d forgotten about until they were playing back to me in Emerald Green and I’ll admit, it took some self-control not to say “AHA!” in the right moments, though that interruption would have been largely frowned upon in an otherwise mostly empty office. The rules of time travel is the sort of thing that can make or break a story, and right through to the end, this one was consistent (*side-eyes Vortex*).

I’m just… all shades of happy/sad here. I’m so delighted because this book is such a romp and a good time. But I’m also sad because it’s the end of my journey with Gwennie and Leslie and Gideon and the crew. For all that I’m outside of the demographic and the book’s a bit older now, this is easily going to be a comfort read for me. And I knew it from the outset, when I fell in love with Ruby Red. It’s so nice to discover books like these.

It may not have always been surprising, but I cannot deny the sheer delight Emerald Green brought me. It was just the book I needed right now. If you’ve not read this series and you don’t mind light-hearted YA time travel stories, I cannot recommend it enough.

[littleread1]

ok that was expected but still very good.

[liz089]

I loved this last part !! It was full of surprises, romance and friendship. Great series !! I will miss them :(

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

The Precious Stone Trilogy or The Ruby Red Trilogy is made up of three books: Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green. The trilogy is written by Kerstin Gier and translated from German by Anthea Bell. I picked up Ruby Red at Half Price Books originally because the dust jacket was gorgeous and the book was unusual in size. I purchased the book because it fit right in there with my love of historical fiction and time travel. I thought about reviewing each book separately, but Gier crafted each book to pick up immediately where the previous book left off and the big mystery isn't solved until the last 30 or so pages in Emerald Green.

Continued on my blog, Second Run Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

Well... Turns out there are a *lot* of reviews I didn't post to GR from my old blog... so expect some reviews coming your way. They're not going to be any good (probably), but there you have it..

*-*-*-*-*-*-
I am so very sad this series has ended, because I'm proud to say I enjoyed every second of it. Anybody wants to petition for a spin off about Lesley? *wink wink*

I'm actually not quite sure where to begin with this review. I already talked about the cast - Gwen, Gideon, Lesley and Raphael (there is also the matter of the dead gargoyle, but I'll let you discover that one all on your own). They were as awesome and fantastic as usual, still as lovable, still had great voices.

The romance was great, mostly because even though it does follow similar patterns as other YA books, here, Gwen and her surroundings are aware when she's being overly angsty, know she has no time for it, and snap her out of it. It doesn't validate breaking down and stopping your life because of a guy, but rather it says - "it's okay to hurt, it's okay to cry, it's okay to feel your insides crumbling... but you have to keep living. You have to continue with life, because ultimately, there is more to it than this one guy". I love, love, love that message.

Most of the questions from books one and two have been answered, we finally got to see some of the scenes we were promised from books one and two happening, we discovered the real bad guy - which, I am happy to report, was the one guy in all the cast I hated and suspected. I kept fearing it'll somehow be one of my favorites and that would've broken my heart .

The final Epilogue of this book was pure genius. There are simply no words to describe it. I was squealing at the awesomeness of that last tidbit. I never saw it coming. If anything shows off Gier's amazing-ness, it's that.

One of the things I'm quite sad about is Raphael's place in the plot... or rather, lack of thereof. It seemed to me like this awesome character of which we saw way too little of was thrust into the book for one single reason - to be a love interest to Lesley, so she won't be alone, and perhaps also to assure us that Gwen and Lesley will become a true family one of these days, via their partners. I love this, I honestly do. But I felt like his character had a lot more to offer, and could have some meaning to the plot itself, which sadly he didn't.

Now, from this point on, I'm going to muse aloud. Most of it is going to be hidden behind spoiler tags, but those of you who read the books and want to discuss with me - please feel free to do so!!

There were a few things that just didn't make all that much sense to me, or at least made me think a lot.

1. James's storyline - I love that the guy got to live, I do. But if Gwen prevented his death, than shouldn't all of her memories of his existence as a ghost be gone, as she's never actually encountered him as a ghost in this new reality she created? But not only does Gwen remember, so do her friends.

I've pondered about this quite a bit. The best I could come up with is the next theory: Because Gwen is above Time, being both a time traveler and an immortal, she got to keep her memories of James, so in her head he still existed even though she has changed the course of time and he had never died from the fever to become a ghost. Because she retained her memories, so did the other people around her because to her he still existed, even if he didn't due to her actions. Do I make sense??

Also, I'm really sad she couldn't save Robert. He was such a cute little thing. Although, I suspect the reason she can't save him is that it would affect her directly, as Dr. White would be a completely different man had his son not died... But still, dead kids make a sad me.

2. Gwen's "condition" - So, Gwen's immortal. While it's fitting with the whole Time Traveler who Sees the Dead, I did feel like it kind of came out of nowhere. We had no indication (that I noticed, at the very least), of her condition before she... well, died (And then didn't). Not even an oddly quickly healed wound or something. Did I miss something, or am I right? I kind of dislike when, for the shock value, authors pretend something doesn't exist until the Big Reveal. So, I kind of hope it's just me who missed something :)

3. The Count's Deceit - this is actually something that I have been pondering from book 1. The Count, by all means, knows Charlotte is not the Ruby. He knows that Gwen is. He knows she is going to doubt him, and fight him, and disobey him. Sure, he thinks that he killed her, but still - wouldn't everything have been so much easier for him if he had made sure they all knew Gwen's the one, and so she could've been brainwashed into submission much like Gideon was? What could he possibly have to gain by keeping it to himself?

That's it! All in all, I love this series, and already convinced more than one person to give it a go ;)