Book: Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson

Published September 2015 by Greenwillow Books|432 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy #1

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

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.

I really liked Walk On Earth A Stranger!  I am really glad I read it!

I really like that it’s set during the Gold Rush, and that you see Leah on the Oregon Trail.  The time period made me think of Under A Painted Sky by Stacy Lee, so chances are, if like one book, you’ll like the other one. But really, why are more books not set during this time period?  I want to read more books set during the Gold Rush.  Especially Gold Rush-era books that have a hint of the paranormal.

I really liked Leah, and I felt for her, losing her parents becasue of her ability.  And if people found out, what would they do to get to Leah?  Like her uncle.  Oh, how I hated her uncle.  He’s just horrible.  I did like that that the people she traveled with supported her, and took her in, and stood up to her uncle.  They’re definitely a good group of people, and I hope we see more of them in the next book.  Even though I didn’t like her uncle, and don’t want to see him again, I’m pretty sure we have not seen the last of him.  And I will admit that a lot of the characters could have been a little bit more developed, but I’m hoping that comes later, and I feel like there’s more to them than what we see in the book.

The Oregon Trail really was a dangerous journey, and yet, for people like Leah and the people she traveled with, it was worth it for a different life. If I decided to pack up and move across the country, I probably wouldn’t think anything of it, but for Leah, and others like her, it was a pretty big and dangerous decision and journey, and I can’t imagine the obstacles she had to deal with.  Because of all of the traveling, the book moves at a pretty slow pace, but it was something I hadn’t thought of until right now.  But in this case, it works well for the book, because of everything that happens on this part of the journey.

And her ability to sense gold!  That’s definitely different, and yet it works for the time period.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to know where gold is, and how dangerous it would be to have that ability during the gold rush.  Or that time period.  It could be handy, as long as people don’t figure it out. And really, Leah is just awesome.  She is really tough (though I imagine she would have to be) and she is one determined young lady.  I want things to work out for so, so much.  I like that she wants to be herself, and that she wants to be more than what society expected her to be.  Sometimes, characters like Leah frustrate me, but with her, it wasn’t frustrating at all!  I think there’s a certain vulnerability to Leah, and that was really nice to see.

4 stars.  For some reason, I didn’t quite love it, even though it is the sort of book I would love, but I still really liked it, and I can’t wait to read the next one!