Monday, September 7, 2015

Review: Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Title: Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1)
Author: Rae Carson
Genre: Young Adult, Historical
Source: Greenwillow via Edelweiss
Goodreads



Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety?

Walk on Earth a Stranger, the first book in this new trilogy, introduces—as only Rae Carson can—a strong heroine, a perilous road, a fantastical twist, and a slow-burning romance. Includes a map and author’s note on historical research.
Review by Nara

I haven't read very many YA Westerns at all (or Westerns in general to be honest), but Walk on Earth a Stranger has certainly set the bar very high. In fact, it's made it so that I actually want to seek out some other books in this genre, because the atmosphere is fantastic.

Overall, the pacing of the story is pretty slow, but that's understandable considering it was mostly centred around one big journey. This slow pace wasn't really a problem for me though, as Carson focused mostly on character development and how main character Leah overcomes all the problems she faces as she disguises herself as a male and makes her way across the country. Leah is seriously such a badass. Even after she's lost so much, she's able to pull through and make a journey that even seasoned veterans find difficult.

The romance was seriously adorable, but also one of those frustrating ones where it's like GAHH TALK TO EACH OTHER! I mean, it's understandable why Lee might not have wanted to reveal some of her secrets, and it was obvious that Jefferson was trying to speak up about various things and kept getting interrupted. But gahh the frustration!

The only minor twitchy thing was why did she have the power to find gold?! I mean, I get that sometimes these things don't have explanations, but I want to know dammit! I completely didn't realise that this was going to be a trilogy, though, so maybe these things will be revealed later on. I certainly hope so, anyway.

Really liked it
Ratings
Overall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 4/5