Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier

“Those who believe in coincidence have not understood the forces of destiny.”

Gwen’s life has been a roller-coaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

Personal Thoughts:

Let me get straight, I stay all night just to finished Sapphire Blue and I was rewarded by another abrupt ending. After reading the first book, Ruby Red I am utterly frustrated by how it ends, so I immediately bought a kindle copy of this second installment from amazon instead of ordering a physical copy from book depository just to be able to read the next part of the story right away. But again I am thrown to another mid-sentence kind of ending, which makes me more frustrated than the first book. Specially now that I don’t have a way of reading the last book because it isn’t translated yet to English. Now I’m wondering which would be faster, me getting to learn how to read and understand German or waiting for the final installment’s translated version to be released?

In Ruby Red we are introduced to Gwyneth Shepherd one of the time travelers in a circle of twelve who will fulfill an importance prophecy for the secret society. In this sequel, she is still learning her roles and responsibilities while trying to discover the mysteries that surrounds her family and the secret society. With the help of her best friend Lesley and her unseen friends, James and Xemerius she is determined to find out everything she needs to know while also dealing with the ever confusing hot and cold behavior of her fellow time traveler and companion, Gideon.

I did expect from the title, Sapphire Blue that there will be additional key character in the story which will represent another time traveler just like Gwyneth being the Ruby Red. But I was wrong, Sapphire Blue doesn’t represent any character in particular, instead it is just a dress that Gwyneth wear in one of her time travel to the past. As Gwyneth continue her participation with the secret society, fulfilling her task as a time travel, visiting the old London, dressing in old costumes and acting like someone who belong to the old-time, she were also trying to work her way in discovering the truth about the closing of the circle of twelve. She finally learned why Lucy and Paul stolen one of the chronograph, and some background and history about the Count. With the help of her grandfather, she is now one step closer in opening the secret. But the question is how many more steps she still needs to take to finally unfold the mysteries of circle of twelve? Though there are more prophecy lines and more hints and revelations, it is still unclear how far the history and revelations can go. There are lots of build up but not enough resolutions. And for a story that is set in different era with lots of histories, this may go in different ways. There are so may possibilities and theories that can easily pulled for the plot. So basically, most of the important details are still unknown to us.

Other than the secrets of the time traveler organization and Gwyneth family history the story also focus on Gwyneth and Gideon’s relationship. Basically, it is a hot and cold relationship, which most of the time vary from Gideon’s personality swings. As much as I enjoy reading the interactions between these two characters, their constant misunderstanding is just too much to take. It eating too much space of the plot which should have been focusing more in discovering the real deal of the Count and the circle of twelve. Gwyneth is so wrap up with Gideon’s hot and cold treatment to her, which makes her missed a lot of important things going on around her.

While Gwyneth is busy with Gideon, her friends are busy helping her in digging more information about the secret society and feeding her information about the past. Her best friend Lesley is spending a lot times in researching more about the Count and information that will be helpful to Gwyneth. She is feeding Gwyneth with lots of information and research that are really useful for Gwyneth. In fact, she knows more about the time travel histories and stuff than Gwyneth. James, Gwyneth ghost friend is also helping Gwyneth how to adopt in the past. Then there is Gwyneth new friend, Xemerius who is helping Gwyneth in fishing information to other people in the secret society. This little talking gargoyle who James said looks like a cat can go through walls and follow others without noticing. Beside helping Gwyneth, he also offers comic relief in the story. I enjoyed reading all his antics and witty comments. His banter with Gwyneth and side comments about almost everything is simply hilarious.

While the plot moved a bit forward, it still feel that nothing much actually happened. Most of the questioned raised in book one were unanswered and more questions were added together with my so many theories about what really is happening inside the secret organization, the circle of twelve, Gwyneth family and Gideon. I am just hoping that the final book, Emerald Green will handle all those revelations properly, without pushing everything into rush or limiting the details to readers.

Overall, Sapphire Blue is a quick entertaining read that continue the intriguing edelstein trilogy. With more actions, mysteries and suspense than the previous book, the story becomes more compelling and addicting. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the next and final installment of this series.