Graceling By Kristin Cashore Release Date: Available Now Harcourt Children’s Books Ratings Action Romance Characters Overall Purchase on Amazon Purchase at Powell’s Find independent bookstores

Mismatched eyes means that one has been born with a Grace, a skill they can do better than others, like swimming, cooking, or climbing. Katsa discovers she has the Grace to kill when as a child she accidentally kills a harasser with a well-placed blow to the head. Whatever the tool, she quickly learns that she can figure out how to kill anyone without hardly trying.

Katsa’s Grace to kill has kept her as her uncle, the king’s, personal enforcer, and lead her to do many things she’s ashamed of. But she lacks the will and self-respect to stand up to him and change her life, for she fears she really is an animal and worthy of no better life.

Between missions for her uncle, she finds time to help others and to save those that the kings are oppressing. On one of these personal missions, she learns of a plot that will doom the Seven Kingdoms. Even worse, her resolve to never get married is threatened by a young man Graced with fighting, making him the first real fight she’s had in her life. With him by her side, they must save a young princess, defeat a Graced king, and most importantly, Katsa must learn the true nature of her Grace and how to take charge of her life before someone can use her as their personal killer.

Apparently I have a love for girls kicking ass lately. Katsa is a great, realistic heroine that has the power to kill, but the complexity to fear her own power. The premise of Katsa having the power to kill and her feeling like she is a wild child (which she is to some degree) could have come off as horrid and unbelievable in another author’s words, but I found this story to be utterly believable and Katsa to be a sympathetic and understandable character.

My only complaint is that I wanted some back story for the main villain. He seems to have mysteriously appeared in the kingdom some time ago, done evil things, then is eventually killed by our heroes. But that’s pretty much all the back story or motivation we really get. The author seems to fall back on the "he’s a bad man" explanation, even as she’s making the point that Katsa can be a good person even though others have used her for killing. So much effort is made to show that Katsa is not defined by her Grace, yet that seems to be what the villain boils down to.

I can’t say this book exactly wowed me, but I couldn’t wait to keep reading every night when I went to bed, and I was enticed the whole way through. It was a solidly good book, but as I said above about the villain, it seemed like it lacked a level of complexity I would have liked - though I can’t pinpoint what exactly I felt was missing.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 5 – Well-told fight scenes and plenty of action to keep the reader’s adrenaline going. Plus a few "will they all make it??" situations.

Romance 5 – There was a good, realistic, and well-done romance at the center of the story. Apparently there are some complaints that the book is anti-marriage, but whoopie, marriage isn’t for every couple, and it’s obvious these two are loyal to each other regardless.

Characters 4 – The main characters were well-played, but I would have liked more about the villain and why he did what he did.

Overall 4 ½ – This book is packed with adventure, romance, and tough decisions. And given how often I saw it on my goodreads list with four or five stars, a lot of people are reading and enjoying it.

Extras:
This is Kristin Cashore’s first book, but you can read about her writing life on her blog. There she has some various FAQs about the book, though they don’t seem to be indexed all that well, you just have to go through the posts. There is also a prequel to the book that will be out this fall, called Fire.

There is also an official book trailer that I can’t help but find both interesting and silly. For some reason, I just can’t take it seriously, even though I think it’s meant to be. Anyways, judge for yourself. Part of it has to be that it looks like it has a high production value (for a book trailer at least), yet it comes off as rather cheesy.

For other books, I’d recommend my recent favorite, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, or perhaps the Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook, though I haven’t read that one, only heard good things.

Parents: 13+ This is shelved in the adult section, though the newest addition says YA on it. It also was originally put out by a romance imprint. While the book is probably 75% fantasy and 25% classic romance novel, there is sex happening off screen, a bit of seduction, etc. I’d feel fine giving it to most thirteen-year-olds, but of course every parent may vary. No worse than the last Twilight book though.

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