** This book was originally published in German, however, as I have the english version, I shall be referring to the novel(s) by their english names to avoid confusion.
The Book
Gwyneth Montrose’s life has always been… clumsy to say the least. Still, she’s a little more than shocked when she finds herself suddenly transported to a different era. Soon Gwyneth’s life is stuffed full of secret societies and a mission she wants to part of, can she survive without losing what she cares about? Featuring: Perfect boy in love with female protagonist, klutzy female protagonist, smart sidekick/best friend/lacky, annoying comic relief, secret keeping villains and in-on-it parents.
The Good Bits.
– Time Travel. I don’t care how confusing it is, you can’t go wrong with a time travel story.
– I would call this type of character a Donna Noble, but you could just as easily call her a Bridget Jones. She’s not nerdy. She’s obsessed with regular things like magazines and make-up and boys. And it’s not seen as a bad thing. That her shelves aren’t weighed down by books is fine. Of course, we see a lot of readers in fiction because readers are probably more likely to be writers, and that’s fine. But it’s nice to see someone who’s not.
-Gideon’s a dork in this one.
The Not So Good Bits
– I found it too Romancey. This is probably because of her regular-person obsessions, but I found that it got in the way of the plot sometimes.
– The whole trilogy takes place over, like, 3 weeks. When you’ve got books coming out once a year, that time frame is way to short. Cool your jets and just let our protagonists have some down time to develop the relationship you’re pushing towards us.
– Despite the fact that Gwyneth has to time travel every day. There wasn’t enough time Travel. I know that you can’t have every protagonist be “curious” but with Time Travel involved, you really do need to curious ones. This way you can see all the world building skills you have. Because you need to world build when you’re traveling in time.
Thoughts From the Back Cover | Why not every story needs to mean something.
AKA John Green Vs Ruby Red.
I used to love John Green’s writing. I saw TFIOS on the opening night with every other teenage girl. But now that I’m older (and wiser) I can see what I couldn’t see before. At least to me, it feels like John is trying too hard to make it mean something. With all of his novels actually. The book can’t just be a book. It’s got to be a metaphor. The teens have to be wiser than most, and better than some. Now don’t get me wrong, John Green himself is fine. He’s done amazing things with Hank and the Vlogbrothers Youtube channel for the rest of society. I’m just saying that someone needs to tell him that metaphors can be overused. It’s okay for Ruby Red not to be a conversation about cancer. It’s okay that The Statistical Probably of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith is literally about two people falling in love on a flight. It’s okay. It’s okay for your protagonists to not read books. Or not be smart. It doesn’t make the books your read, the novels you write any better or worse than the next one.
Get Reading. Get Travelling.
Ash
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