Review: Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa lives in a land of seven kingdoms and is the orphaned niece of King Randa. She lives freely and comfortably in the castle but must do as Randa demands. It wouldn’t be such an awful trade-off but Randa demands that she does horrible things to other people, for Katsa is Graced with an exceptional ability to kill. She is tired of Randa’s bullying and has started the Council, which uses a network of informants and spies to help people in need.

On one of her rescue missions Katsa encounters Po, a foreign prince Graced with fighting who is trying to unravel the mystery of his kidnapped grandfather. When Katsa and Po eventually discover that they are trying to solve the same problem, they team together to take care of it (and a problematic king) once and for all.

Graceling had been getting rave reviews from tons of blogs and starred reviews from major book review publications, so I decided I had to read it. It has quickly become one of my favourite books and one that I will re-read gladly. There are so many things I loved about this book: Katsa kicks butt but is also hilarious and empathetic, the plot never stops for a moment, and there are twists at every turn. One thing that really impressed me is that the moment I figured something out, the characters figured it out too. Nothing irks me more than knowing something integral to the plot and the characters haven’t a clue until 100 pages later. It drives me crazy! This book is smart, funny (I laughed out loud several times), action-packed, thrilling, and devastatingly romantic. In one word: wow.

Thankfully, Graceling is the first in a series.

5 stars out of 5 for Graceling.

Kristin Cashore’s blog.

An interview with Kristin Cashore.