The California Gold Rush comes to gritty, magical life in Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson.

Georgia, 1849.

On the outside, Lee Westfield is an ordinary young woman — if unusually independent. She lives with her parents on their struggling homestead, hunting and working hard in her sickly father’s place. She is close friends with Jefferson, the half-Indian boy from the next claim over. And she hunts for the last nuggets of gold in the scoured earth of Rush-town Dahlonega.

But inside, Lee is anything but ordinary. She does not need to pan for gold, or dig fruitlessly in stubborn earth. Lee has gold-sense, and the metal itself calls to her, tingling in her throat and leading her right to its coveted richness.

In a country barely bound by law and maddened with gold fever, Lee’s brand of magic is a very dangerous thing. When greed and betrayal arrive at her doorstep, she is forced to abandon her homestead and flee across the United States to California. Disguised as a boy, Lee sets out for the territory of freedom, independence… and gold.

The journey will make her fortune — one way, or another.

‘Walk on Earth a Stranger’ review

In the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, Rae Carson crafted a complex magical world made familiar with landmarks of politics, faith, and war. In Walk on Earth a Stranger, Carson does the reverse – sewing a thread of strange and relevant power into the fabric of the California Gold Rush.

The westward trail toward prosperity has been the territory of tropes and memes for decades, but Carson brings an invigorating freshness to the landscape of covered wagons and grassy plains. (Though it’s hard not to flash back to Oregon Trail as Lee surveys the supplies necessary to mount a trip out west.) But while elements of Lee’s story may feel familiar, they are never extraneous, and always provide a hefty substance to the story..

Carson imbues every step of her protagonist’s journey (and there are many) with thematic weight and emotional consequence. From its bullet-like beginning, Walk on Earth a Stranger establishes risk as Lee’s — and therefore, the reader’s — unshakable companion. Not only is there danger in every step toward California, but for Lee and many of her fellow travelers, it is dangerous simply to exist.

For California beckons to the stranger, and at its heart, Walk on Earth a Stranger is a story of the disenfranchised. What does it mean to be a woman at a time when proprietary conspires against survival? What is it like to defy definition when the world functions by the strictest of dictionaries? What does it mean to be alone when community is inescapable?

Carson handles all of these questions with the same empathy and weight she brought to The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, reasserting her considerable skill at blending the magical with reality. For Carson, Lee’s arcane ability to sense gold is not a gimmick or a hook — it is a crucial thematic element which serves to both propel and deepen her story and characters. Lee is the avatar and antithesis of an era defined by greed, and no one in the story is left unscathed by the forces driving them to California.

But for all of its thematic and psychological intensity, Walk on Earth a Stranger proves to be a swift and thrilling journey. Carson is a master at crafting tension, driving Lee across the country with a compelling cocktail of betrayal and surprises. Lee herself is equally engaging; intelligent, pragmatic, and entertaining, she is sure to earn a place of honor among YA’s collection of stealthy badasses.

Heartfelt and exciting, grueling and wise, Walk on Earth a Stranger is an invigorating addition to the fantasy genre. Rae Carson reveals the subtle magic in a familiar landscape – and opens a tantalizing door to a literary Promised Land that readers never knew they had been seeking.

Walk on Earth a Stranger will be available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent bookstore on Sept. 22.