Author: Kerstin Gier
English language publisher: Macmillan
Rating: WORTHY!
Sapphire Blue was originally published in 2009 in German as Saphirblau with a subtitle evidently common to all three books in the trilogy: liebe geht durch alle zeiten (love goes through all times). This is book 2 in the Ruby Red trilogy (also know as the Edelstein trilogy). It's preceded by Ruby Red (published as Rubinrot in 2009) and is followed by Emerald Green (published in German as Smaragdgrün in 2010, in English in 2013). The English language translator is Anthea Bell.
After I’d read Ruby Red (Ruby read?!), I went to review the reviews about it, and I did the same after Sapphire Blue. I read the reviews afterwards because I hadn't wanted to encounter any real spoilers, but I found that my fear was unfounded: I never would have happened upon spoilers because most reviewers don't tell you a darned thing about the stories, they discuss only the reviewers' emotions! They're like those movie reviews that don't tell you squat about the movie but reveal only how self-obsessed the reviewer is, a critic (in the most common sense) who evidently had one semester of 'Film as a Gut Form 101' at some college or other and insists that everyone should fetishise that.
It's like when everybody was supposed to stop eating grapes. I didn't because I like grapes. (Those last two sentences are a quote from a movie. Kudos if you know the movie. If you don't, go find it and watch it! It's hilarious! I'll wait.) As far it it goes for me in reviews, please lose the pretension, lose the immodest delusion that you're a despot monarch and we must therefore obey your every capricious whim. Just tell me what was in the book, toss in some trivia if you like, but I don't really care what emotions it stirred or whether you recommend it (unless, of course, your thoughts are liberally sprinkled with amusing asides), since I don't know you well enough to reliably place a value on your imprimatur.
One review I read was evidently written by someone even younger than Gwen; it consisted only of a single sentence declaring that the reviewer loved the story, therefore I should too! Seriously? That's not a review, that's a recommendation. Why would I take a recommendation from someone whose opinion I haven't had the opportunity to evaluate beforehand? Some reviews I read were bad. They were not reviews declaring the book to be bad (pretty much everyone recommended it) - the actual review itself was awful: badly spelled and/or ungrammatical. For example one of them misspelled the author's name even though it also sported a book cover image with the name right there on it.
Another didn't know the difference between pension and penchant (and the author probably isn’t even penitant!). I’m guessing that reviewer doesn’t know the difference between Eragon, Aragorn, and Aragog, either! Some were not accurate in describing what actually happens in the book. That sort of thing immediately makes me wonder if they even read the book they're recommending. I hope I don't do any of those things, or if I do, I soon catch them and fix them. Or my commenters embarrass me and make me fix ‘em!
One review was evidently written by someone whose second language is English; once I'd realized that, I actually found that one quite charming. She certainly had a better grasp of my language than I ever will of hers! Anyway, enough reviewing of reviews. Now I'm in a mood, so this review is going to have spoilers galore! Deal with it! Here's the first revelation: After reading Sapphire Blue (not to be confused with Sapphic Blue which I might actually write some day now that title came from nowhere into my head) I became convinced that Gwen's mother is actually not her real mother.
I think Gwen's actual parents are Paul and Lucy (in the past with chronographs!). There's a song in there somewhere! Can you believe it's half a century - literally - since the Beatles released their first number 1 single? Here we go:
Picture yourself in a time-travel novel
With green-eyed heroes, and young English girls
Somebody calls you, you answer in German
Es klang auf englisch rhythmischer
Taffeta dresses of yellow and green
Sticking a bustle behind
Look for the girl with the time-travel gene
And she's gone
[cue Ringo's triple drum beat]
Lucy in the pa-ast with chronographs (etc., etc.)
I know that young adults don't really have much of a handle on who the Beatles were, but this YA novel wasn't written by a young adult; it was written by someone who does indeed have a handle on the Beatles, especially since she's German herself and the Beatles came together as a real band whilst playing in Germany. But why Paul and Lucy? It was John who wrote Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, not Ringo or Paul, by George! I digress (is digress the feminine form of the Australian term ‘digger’?).
So anyway, Sapphire Blue opens immediately at the end of Ruby Red. Gideon and Gwen have just kissed right on the bench in the church confessional (actually on the lips in the church confessional, for the more perverse of you) and the ghost gargoyle, who is also a demon as it happens, has spoken to Gwen, unbeknownst to Gideon. It's amusing to see Gwen try to conduct a conversation with the gargoyle (named Xemerius), whom Gideon cannot hear, whilst also trying to converse rather breathlessly with the latter, post first kiss.
The gargoyle attaches himself to Gwen, to which at first she objects, but later, she sees some advantage in this. Why she doesn't take much more advantage of the gargoyle's ability to fly to distant locations, eavesdrop invisibly, and report back, and of his ability to walk through walls and closed doors is a mystery. Note that Xemerius cannot travel through time with Gwen. This is intriguing since objects can: clothes, cell phones, weapons. It’s not your Terminator-style time-travel in the Ruby Red world! But try getting a cell-phone signal in 18th century London....
Now whether this reveals something of later importance with regard to the nature of ghosts or of time-travel, remains to be seen. It's also intrguing that since he's five hundred years old, or something like that, Xemerius actually existed in Gwen's travelable past, so it's possible she may meet him in vol 3 ‘in the living stone’ as it were! We also learn that Gideon is even more of a jerk in vol 2 than he was in vol 1. Talk about blowing hot and cold: Gideon just blows! Just as Gwen is the Ruby, Gid is the diamond and is as hard as one towards her, yet this fails, somehow, to throw a wet blanket on their relationship, which is funny because Xemerius feels to Gwen like he’s a wet blanket when he wraps himself around her....
Okay, trying to stay focused here. Gwen unaccountably (and literally) swoons for Gideon even more in this book than she did in the first, despite being treated worse by him. Are we supposed to learn from this that young girls should both expect and accept maltreatment? Given the news coming out of Pakistan and other Islamic nations of late, this would seem to be a lesson which has apparently been taken to heart there, but it isn't acceptable in any enlightened society, regardless of its prevailing religion or lack of same. I'm forced to wonder why Gier, herself a woman, would faciltiate it; I now feel she has her work cut out ahead of her in vol 3 to fix these injustices and I’ll be sorely disappointed if she fails!
Anyway, Gideon doesn't trust Gwen. This is supposed, I guess, to explain his insufferable behavior towards her, but after vol 2, I remain unconvinced that he's not one of the villains. No one trusts Gwen, actually; all of the super-secret society think she's a potential traitor to the cause having been brought (through no fault of her own, let's be clear) so belatedly into its clutches. Hence she's blindfolded before being taken down into the catacombs where the chronograph is kept locked away in a safe (safe ire blue anyone?) for her time-traveling forays. But have no fear: Xemerius can steer! He can follow the route and no doubt reveal it to Gwen later.
Xemerius is a welcome addition to the story. Normally, I dislike intensely these supposedly cute animals in fiction (and sometimes in fact!), but Xemerius is an exception. He’s not at all like that absurd monkey-like creature in 1998’s Lost in Space or like Bubo the demented mechanical owl in 1981’s Clash of the Titans. Yes, he's not an animal as such, but he's often described in Sapphire Blue as being similar to a cat in appearance or behaviorally, although Xemerius behaves more like a flying monkey, almost like something out of Wizard of Oz (maybe after the wizard gave it a heart). Despite being a demon, he's helpful, smart, and makes astute and often humorous observations throughout vol 2. It's worth reading it just for that experience.
What's conspicuously missing in vol 2 is any reference to the midwife who helped Gwen's mum forge her purported daughter's birth date. It seemed like the super-secret society couldn't put enough resources into play to track her down in vol 1, but nary a word is whispered about her in vol 2. She's disappeared; not only from the extensive clutches of the society, but from the very novel itself! This is one of the things which helped to convince me that the midwife is none other than Lucy, and Lucy is none other than Gwen's biological mum. I think Gier is playing Run Silent Run Deep on the midwife so she can reproduce her with a flourish and a big reveal in vol 3.
But that's just wild speculation. Since I neither speak nor read deutsch and have not seen vol 3 which is evidently already published in Germany, I have no inside information. On that front, why they're making us wait in the English-speaking world for vol 3 is as big of a mystery as what's going on in the super-secret society, or with the expected results of finally completing the magic circle. Nothing more of this is revealed in vol 2.
The big time-travel trips in vol 2 are to a soirée, to a meeting with the villainous count, and then to a ball a few days later, but whilst we see the soirée trip and Gwen is out for the count (more on these anon), we don’t actually get to the ball until, presumably, vol 3. I suspect this ball is the one where Gwen met herself in vol 1, and it’s held at James’ (the ghost) parents’ house which also happens to be the high school which Gwen attends in her own time.
As I mentioned before, there is some urgency in the soirée trip, but why this should be so isn't revealed. Gwen can time-travel, so she can just as easily attend the event in six months' time after extensive training, as she can in two days time with little or no preparation, yet she's forced to swot intensively under the oboxious tutelage of a guy whose an even greater jerk than is Gideon. As if that were not enough, this training takes place also under the contemptuous eye of her cousin Charlotte - and no one seems to think there's anything amiss with this insulting and abusive treatment, not even Gwen!
Actually, one review I read suggested that Charlotte's story would not only be a YA tale worthily told against the grain, but also an interesting story of itself. Another reviewer suggested that Lucy and Paul's story would be well worth the telling, and perhaps more interesting than Gwen's. I have to agree with both those views. I’m expecting to learn much more of the enigmatic rebel couple in vol 3 - much more! I suspect that, given the short shrift which Charlotte experiences at Gier’s hands in vol 2 (and if you've ever tried to wear a short shrift, you'll know how chilly it can be), we won't hear much more about her in vol 3 either.
Time-travelers in Ruby Red world have to ‘elapse’ - that is, spend regular, planned blocks of time in the past, or they will find themselves jumping back in time unpredictably, and perhaps with dire results. Gwen is typically sent to a safe period (usually in the 1950’s) where she has to sit and read or do her homework in the dark, dusty, dank and rat- and spider-infested basement of the super-secret society’s London HQ for a couple of hours.
In Sapphire Blue, on one such occasion, Gwen accidentally encounters one of her grandfathers, and strikes up (or in this case, since she knew him when she was a child, renews) her acquaintanceship with him. This is evidently another set-up for vol 3, since nothing comes of it in vol 2 after that initial meeting except that Gideon grows suspicious of Gwen when she comes back smelling of cigarettes. This leads to an unfortunate misunderstanding which puts a serious kink (and not of the fun kind) into their relationship.
Anyway, Gwen and Gid zip back to the soirée where they hook up with the Count. The Count’s sinister companion, whom I forgot to mention in my Ruby Red review because he’s so seemingly insignificant (and try saying that three times fast. OK, maybe it’s not so hard...) shows up again in Sapphire blue as an escourt. He’s also known as the Black Leopard. All these colors! I suspect he has an important rôle to play in vol 3. Actually this guy - who is evidently experimenting with absinthe (perhaps because he thinks it makes the heart grow fonder?) which gives him black, dead eyes - is called Rakoczy. This is interesting because there was a real Count Saint-Germain and his suspected father is Francis II Rákóczi (also spelled Rákóczy), a prince of Transylvania! You can look up these guys in wikipedia.
Gwen gets drunk at the soirée which dropped me right out of my suspended disbelief because it seemed so out of character for her. Maybe I misread her, or maybe she was driven to it by the treatment she’d had handed out to her, and by the stress of her circumstances. She ends up being pally with the selfsame Count who had threatened her with strangulation on their first encounter, and he’s pally with her - almost as affectionate as a grandfather. We learn that this is because of their amicable meeting the day before, which Gwen doesn’t make until the day after, Why that is, isn’t explained either, but it does help focus the attention on how whacky things can become when time-travel is an option.
Gwen sings a song from the Cats musical, accompanied by Gid on the piano and she falls even further in love with him. That is until she meets with the Count the next day (in her time and the day previous to the soirée in his). The Count is charming and treats her reasonably (if we ignore his appalling genderism!), but he reveals to Gwen that Gid is only being nice to her because the Count had instructed him to make her fall for him! Naturally Gwen’s nose is seriously put out of joint by this, and she refuses to speak more than a few words to Gid when she returns, especially having discovered that he had spent his time cooking a meal for Charlotte whilst she was tripping back in time!
So there is all manner of disaster, pitfall, mystery and problems lying in wait for Emerald Green, the concluding volume of this trilogy, which I shall review in the autumn when it’s released in English.
