Review » Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Walk on Earth a Stranger 

By Rae Carson
Release Date: 9/22/15
Published by HarperCollins
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance
Format: ARC
Page: 432

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MY RATING: 3.5 Stars

DESCRIPTION IN 6 WORDS
Girl Disguised Boy, Gold Powers, West

Goodreads Description
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.



      I felt like this book was good, but I admit that I had some problems. I received this book as an ARC at SDCC 2015 and was really excited to read it. It was an ARC and wouldn't be coming out for a couple of months so it was a great opportunity to read it and review it. Unfortunately, when I tried to read it for the first time I was really bored with the beginning, so I put it down. A couple months later, funny enough - after the book came out I sat down and read the whole book within three days. I definitely found Walk on Earth a Stranger was a really good concept, that a girl can sense gold and has to travel west to escape her Uncle disguised as a boy, but what fell short was the execution. I have heard tons of mixed reviews surrounding this book and I have to say the beginning of Walk on Earth a Stranger was really good, it kept me really interested! But the entire middle, consisting of 250 - 300 pages was really boring and slow and I wished Carson added a little more action.
      Though I did add Walk on Earth a Stranger as a "romance" genre-wise, I wouldn't say it's a hardcore romance story. For sure it's not a Jennifer L Armentrout romance though, because those are just swoon worthy. But anywayyyyys, this book has touches of romance that isn't really clearly identified as romance. It's obvious that Lee likes a guy, and throughout a lot of the book she thinks about him, but it's not like Lee (Leah) rides off into the sunset with this boy. So if you enjoy romance, but not too much, Carson did a good job with that. Walk on Earth a Stranger isn't about romance, and by this - I mean that the romance isn't a main conflict. If you are into historical young adult books I would recommend this. If you prefer science fiction, I don't recommend this because there are no aliens. I repeat, no aliens! Another thing I'd like to point out is the fact that if you like fantasy, like Graceling or Carson's other work, The Girl of Fire and Thorns , this book isn't necessarily high fantasy. There aren't Princes or Queens, it's very country. I haven't read Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman myself, but if you liked that book, I'm sure you'll enjoy Walk on Earth a Stranger! They have some similar ideas. As a whole, Walk on Earth a Stranger had some up's and down's obviously, I didn't hate the book, but I don't think I'll be reading the second book. Thank you very much for reading and will catch ya later! 

~ Claire