Not as good as the first one
In "Sapphire Blue", the second novel in the Precious Stone Trilogy by Kerstin Gier, 16-year-old time traveler Gwyneth Sheppard basically continues right where she left off in "Ruby Red". We're still trying to figure out whether her cousin Lucy Montrose and her boyfriend Paul De Villiers are villains and we're still looking for the odd one out that got the whole looking-for-the-traitor thing going on.
Like I already critiqued in my review of "Ruby Red", you can't read this thing without having read the first novel. It's impossible because the story is just cut in three parts and published in three novels without any real cliffhangers or a real justification. Well, aside from wanting to make some extra cash of course. To me it's all just one big novel and that's what made me have such a hard time reading "Sapphire Blue".
Because I've read the first novel in German I also had a lot of difficulties with the name changes and the distinct vocabulary. I still don't get why they had to change Gwendolyn into Gwyneth, but okay. (Writing 1/5)
There are still, after having read an entire novel set in their world, too many goshdarn characters and I found myself cramming out "Ruby Red" in order to look up what relation which character had to whom. That's not even enough, to make it all more complicated more and more characters are joining the party and I contemplated drawing a character map for myself, because I really just didn't understand who was talking and what their business was. In addition to that suddenly everyone has a distinct military rank that isn't explained any further. Why give that information to us without explaining it? Frustrating! It's just annoying to be unable to follow the story without knowing all family trees (plus their corresponding precious stones and abilities) by heart. Don't even get me started on those idiotic prophecies that aren't even 1% mysterious and still had to be repeated four zillion times so that even the last person that dosed off, figured out the magic abilities before the characters.
The new characters aren't really necessary and the sidekick gargoyle-demon-thing Xemerius just made me want to give up on the book. I understand that it might be tempting to add a witty side character that can act as a spy for the protagonist, but the comments and his entirely unexplained being just ... no. I'd rather have James, the school ghost, as Gwyneth's companion than that annoying thing. Gideon is probably the most unlikeable love interest after Will Traynor from "Me Before You" that I've encountered lately. And come on, how old is that whole "my love was just a trick ... wait but now I'm actually in love" plot line thing? Every romantic comedy movie ever, huh? I can't even say that Gwyneth is stupid for falling for it because she seems to genuinely care about the dude. God knows why. Probably because he's pretty. That leads to the next point: Please don't give everyone the notion that teen girls all fall in love with the next dude that's handsome. In "Sapphire Blue" everyone is all over the hot dudes, except Lesley, Gwyneth's best friend, who seems like the only one isn't completely immune to common sense. (Characters 2/5)
Despite everything I said I didn't like so far, I haven't even as much as started talking about the biggest and worst thing about this novel. The plot is completely bonkers. There are scenes that have been in the first novel and are said to take place in the future, that didn't even happen in the sequel. The timelines are criss-crossed several times and you CANNOT expect the average reader to keep up with this mess.
For example: Gideon and Gwyneth travel to ... let's say 23rd October 1783 in Ruby Red. Then because of another undated travel taking place in the future something happens. Gideon and Gwyneth travel to 21st October 1783 in Sapphire Blue and meet the Count of Saint-Germain who references ANOTHER travel that they haven't even made yet. Rinse and repeat infinite times.
I couldn't keep up and I really didn't care anymore. Then cram in some making out and whining about that awful love triangle Charlotte/Gwyneth/Gideon and there you go, you successfully annoyed me right out of this trilogy! (Plot 0/5)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Overall: Do I Recommend?
Absolutely not. The first novel was fun and really got me on the whole time-travel-train and I hoped for the best. The secon novel isn't really a novel on its own, just a terrible way to make more money out of a story that isn't really suitable for a trilogy. The same question gets asked over and over again, the theme of the entire series is "Are Lucy and Paul evil" and "What happens when they get the blood of all twelve time travelers". Had they cut some scenes and not crammed the entire storyline of TWO novels into ONE week, this would have been amazing. But like this, I have no intention of ever reading "Emerald Green" and I actually wouldn't even recommend "Ruby Red" anymore, now that I've read this disappointing sequel.