lou's library

You know when someone asks you who your favourite author is and there are immediately five candidates in your head but you’re not sure whom to give the title to? For some honestly quite unfathomable reason, Kerstin Gier never pops into my head in that moment, and that truly is completely unfair, because this woman has written so many of my favourite YA fantasy series that she deserves a shrine on my book shelves, at this point.

Now, if you’re not from a German speaking country (of which there are quite few, to be fair), then you might not have heard of Kerstin Gier before. Well, she is one of the most successful YA authors in Germany (she has also written romance books targeted at adults, I believe, although I have only ever read one of them). So successful that some of her books have been translated into English, which really does not happen very often at all if you’re a German writer. Some of her book series have also been adapted, but we don’t ever mention that, okay? Think the Percy Jackson movies but somehow worse (hard to believe, I know).

The trilogy that introduced me to Kerstin Gier is her Rubinrot (Rubyred for my English-speaking folks) series, which is just about the best fantasy series I have ever read, and I know that that is a really steep claim. After all, I have read The Hunger Games and City of Bones, and Harry fricking Potter. And don’t get me wrong, I love all of these books with my entire heart. The thing is: nothing makes me as happy as reading Rubyred. Or her other trilogy Silver, which is all about dream corrdiors and the most impossibly cute couple ever. Or any of her other YA books, really.

Kerstin Gier never misses, and her books are gripping and well thought out, creating worlds I am dying to get lost in. But most of all, I love her characters: They are well-rounded and believable, funny as hell, clever and the kind of people you would love to have around in real life (apart from the bad guys, obviously). I guess I just really love the universe she has created, because no matter if the book is about time travel, dreams, a hotel in the Swiss Alps or an other-worldly reality only some people can access, it’s always the same feeling I have when reading one of those books. A feeling of cosiness, of coming home, of knowing that despite all the drama and bad guys trying to kill our heroines, all shall be well in the end.

I know I am biased, because I grew up with these books (well, I was a young teen when I first read Rubyred) and I return to them more often than to any other books (apart from my all time favourite All Quiet On The Western Front), but I fall in love with them all over again every single time. What I mean by that is that I will use every single second to read, even though I know what happens in these books. The characters are like friends to me by now, but they take over my entire life once I start reading a Kerstin Gier book. And it never is just one of her books. It always starts innocently enough with me dipping my toes back in, telling myself I just want a little comfort and before I know it, I haven’t done laundry in a fortnight or cleaned the kitchen in a month, but I have reread all ten of her YA books.

These are the sort of books that take you out of your daily life, your routines and your worries and throw you in at the deep end. And there’s nothing I love more in the world than loving a book I am reading. And it’s not my fault Kerstin Gier is Queen of creating settings, characters and plots that are simply too adictive to not fall head over heels for them.

Given all of the above, I really should start shouting “KERSTIN GIER!!!!” next time someone asks me who my favourite author is. “Jane Austen” or “Sally Rooney” (both of whom I do love) might sound deeper or cooler, but the truth of the matter is that no one has written so many books that I have rated a perfect 5 stars as Kerstin Gier. And may she keep writing forever, because I am almost done with my massive rereadathon and need new material!!!!