Review: Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1)
by: Rae Carson
Publication Date: Sept. 22, 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Genre: Historical Fiction/Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-ARC received via Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 432 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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.
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.
Having been a huge fan of Rae's debut fantasy series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I love the whole westward movement and manifest destiny ideals and let's be real: The Oregon Trail was one of my favorite games ever as a kid. Naturally, when I saw that Carson had added a bit of magic to this time period about a girl who could sense gold, I HAD to read this one. While I'm glad I did, I felt this one read a bit slower than I would have liked. Don't get me wrong, I was still engaged, but there was a lot of traveling and build up and not enough action and fantasy.
I really liked Lee's character though. She is resilient and does what she must in order to survive. She disguises herself as a boy and heads West to meet up with her best friend Jefferson, who already left town to hopefully find gold in California like so many others. She does not have it easy though. She has to deal with thieves along the way, as well as always keeping an eye out for her uncle who will undoubtedly come after her for her gift. Seeing her make her way to her friend was pretty impressive because she had to do everything on her own. She meets all kinds of people- some kind, some not.
Carson certainly surprised me with some characters' development though. I ended up really liking and respecting characters I never thought I would and the ending scenes were really heartwarming to see especially after everything Lee has lost.
While this book focused primarily on the journey, I am looking forward to seeing how things will go now that they have reached their destination. I am also hoping we will see some more development in the romance area, as this book doesn't really have one. It alludes to a potential one in the future, so my fingers are crossed that it happens because I think it would be precious.
Overall, I did enjoy this one despite it not being what I expected. I liked the journey west and seeing all the gritty details that went along with traveling at this time. But I am really looking forward to seeing how things will go with Lee's gift and her uncle's determination to use her for his own selfish gain. And of course, I'm looking forward to seeing how the relationships and friendships that were developed in this book evolve and continue in the next book.
4 comments
I have been debating for AGES on if I want to read this. With my pressed time for reading, I don't feel like I could get engaged with a slower paced book. (the last two were HARD to finish) I am glad you liked this one overall, though!
ReplyDeleteI was so torn on this one. I adore the cover but the synopsis never really grabbed me for some reason. I'm still curious about this author, but I think I'll start with her other series first. Great review!
ReplyDeleteEveryone who's read this book has definitely fell in love with it and I've heard that Rae Carson's books are just like amazing. SO OMG I need to be reading this soon since it's on my bookshelf anyways. Awesome review and I'm definitely going to read it next because of you.
ReplyDeleteAlex @ The Book's Buzz
This one definitely sparks my curiosity. The idea of it, the concept, is very interesting. The "gritty details" sounds like something I would really enjoy.
ReplyDeleteLovely review!
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