Graceling

(First of 3. Seven Kingdoms trilogy. Fantasy)This is Kristin Cashore's debut novel, which I hunted down at the library - and then bought for myself halfway through reading it - because of so many enthusiastic recommendations on LT.In the seven kingdoms, Gracelings are marked by mismatched eyes of different colours, and are Graced with exceptional abilities beyond those of other people. No two Gracelings have exactly the same power - it could be skill at cooking or being a superlative swimmer, or - like Katsa - the ability to kill. Gracelings, easily identifiable by their eyes, are looked at askance no matter how benign their abilities, and ordinary people are uneasy about looking them full in the face.Katsa, of the bright blue and green eyes, is an orphan and niece to Randa, king of Midluns. Her Grace, discovered when she was a child, is killing. She is a superb fighter, whether armed or unarmed. Spotting an opportunity, Randa uses her as his royal Lady assassin, so most people tread warily around her and Katsa has very few friends. Consequently, she treats any unwarranted kindness shown to her with suspicion.Katsa, however, is unhappy about her role as a tool to terrorise people who displease Randa and uneasy about the way he wields his power, so she works in secret for the Council, who try to reverse the wrongs done by Randa and the other kings of the seven kingdoms. Also on the Council is her cousin Raffin, who is Randa's heir and one of her few friends.Then she meets Po of the gold and silver eyes, a Lienid prince who is also a superb fighter, though his Grace works differently from hers. Finally, Katsa has someone she can practice against without holding back and one more friend who can look her in the eyes without flinching.But Po is at Randa's court for a reason, which coincides with a matter in which the Council is already involved. As they investigate further, they realise there is a deeper mystery behind an apparently pointless kidnapping and they get a glimmer of a subtle danger insinuating itself throughout the lands.So Po and Katsa set out on a fraught and difficult mission that will have repercussions across all the kingdoms. And even their combined Graces may not be enough to see them through.I like the way Katsa is portrayed. Though she is a strong person both physically and mentally, she has also had to develop a thick skin to cope with people around her shunning her. Through that, however, you can still sense her emotional vulnerability. It is heartening to see the few but strong friendships she develops, sometimes in spite of herself. I like the friends she makes, too: Po is effortlessly charming and handsome, but he has his sensitive side, too; Raffin doesn't follow his father's lead and has always been Katsa's friend, from their childhood onwards.This is, as other people on LT have discovered before me, a strong debut (though I have to agree that the denouement was a bit sudden, especially after the long, suspenseful build-up). I'm looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

In the land of the Seven Kingdoms there are people born with special abilities, and the way to tell them apart is by their eyes – one of each colour. They are called Gracelings, and their power is their Grace. Katsa is a Graceling, and her Grace is killing, which is exploited by her cousin, the King – Katsa is his assassin and thug, doing his dirty work intimidating, maiming and killing whoever opposes him. But Katsa keeps her mind, and has started to do some work on her own, trying to put right the wrongs done by all the Kings of the Seven Kingdoms. And when the Lienid King's father is kidnapped, she has to investigate.This kidnapping is the connecting thread in the story, present from beginning to end, and although more quests and subplots are added to it, it does not deviate from wanting to know who kidnapped Grampa. That was one of the main things I loved about Graceling, the fact that by the end of the book I could still see the connection to the beginning of the story.One thing that I can say about this book is that it was so much fun to read. I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time (which meant people looking at me oddly on the train), and there were a lot of parts where I was chuckling and snickering.The story was very captivating, even if not exactly surprising. It reads well as a standalone (although there is prequel published and a sequel announced), the story has a beginning and an end. And regarding the ending, I confess to be dreading it when I was coming close to the last pages. There were merely 50 pages ahead of me and most of the plot was yet unresolved, and with no prospects of being resolved soon. But I needn't fear – when the end came about it was perfect and fulfilling. I loved the characters one this book (so much that it saddens me that Fire is a prequel and not a sequel). It was easy to love all the good characters, and fear the evil ones. And even if the ending was fulfilling to the point that I consider the story finished, I still want more, more adventures with those characters, more time exploring that world, because I absolutely loved it.Graceling is a very good fantasy book, that seemed almost impossible to put down. And that smile that I had when I was reading stayed on my face long after I finished the last page. Truth be told, it comes back every time I think about this book. A fun read, and most importantly a great read.Also at Spoilers and Nuts

The Little BookwormBorn into a world where some people are born with special "Graces," Katsa discovers at an early age that she has a Killing Grace. Made into her uncle the King's special enforcer, she decides to do some secret good to counteract the orders she carries out for the king. In the midst of rescuing a noble, she encounters Po, a prince for another kingdom and also Graced although harboring a secret. This sets off a chain of events that lead to an epic adventure and to Katsa discovering the truth of her own Grace.I'd seen Graceling reviewed in a couple of different places and I knew I had to read it. This book certainly did not disappoint. I love when the female character is the strongest and can kick some serious butt. Katsa, despite doing some questionable things, is a sympathetic character and I enjoyed her. She is strong and willful, but doesn't recognize her true power in the beginning since she has been treated as an attack dog by her uncle and the people around her fear her. Po brings out the best in her and the way he treats her like a person makes her understand that she is more than how she was raised. Po was also an awesome character. He is strong and determined and tries to do right by Katsa. I loved him. I loved them both.Now I can't wait for Fire, the companion novel.

I read this book but can't remember it completely so I'm re-reading it starting 3/8/17 before I go on to the 2nd book.
Wow I didn't remember most of that book. I enjoyed it

I read this novel after reading Fire, which is a parallel novel that could be considered a prequel, as Fire is set when the main antagonist in Graceling was a child. This novel was intriguing enough to keep me wanting to read until the end, which was fortunate. I couldn't see how the stories of the two companion novels connected until almost the end. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that Graceling was less appealing than its monstrous companion. Fire's plot was tighter, the motivations of its title character were clearer and made her more likeable, and Fire's Prince Brigand was a stronger character than Po (whose name I had to look up to review). Bitterblue (in the third book) is introduced here, yet she didn't capture my interest enough that I intend to complete the trilogy.The magical system, not characterization, was easily my favorite aspect.

I LOVE this book. It took me a while to pick it up but I am glad I did. Kasta is an independent girl looking for her place in the world and trying to be free of her uncle. This sends she on an adventure that tests her limits and leads her to who she truly is. I would recommended it to anyone who wants a story of adventure.

Katsa has been graced with a talent for Killing, and often serves as her uncle the King's thug. It takes an adventure like this to turn her life around. Violence, romance and survival keep things exciting and I curled up with some tea and finished it this morning, satisfied.

Graceling takes place in a medieval time period where seven kingdoms rule the land. Among the people there are those who are ‘graced’; those bearing two different colored eyes and a superhuman expertise in a particular skill (Ex. fighting, swimming, climbing, archery, mind reading, etc).Katsa, the protagonist, has the grace of killing. She lives in the Middluns kingdom where those that are graced belong to King Randa and have little freedom. The king uses her as a weapon, sending her out on missions to threaten, torture, and kill against her will. It is only when Prince Tealiff of the Lienid kingdom is kidnapped that Katsa embarks on her own mission of saving him and learning the reason for his capture. She is accompanied by some friends and allies along the way, including the charming Prince Po of Lienid.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When I first picked this book up I initially that there was a greater emphasis on the ~*magic*~ aspect of the story. But in actuality, it is a pretty normal setting except for the graced people. And even the skills of the graced are pretty normal: swimming, running, fighting. The only grace that we see that is particularly supernatural is mind reading.However, the lack of a magical atmosphere did not take away from the story, or make it less interesting. Kristin Cashore somehow made the story feel very magical despite there being little of it.The majority of the story takes place in the woods and mountains that stretch between each kingdom. The author brings whimsicalness to the natural beauty of the world. She describes trees as wide as horses, babbling creeks and trickling streams, moss covered stones and vines hanging from colorful autumn trees. We travel through the mountains where caves rest beneath cliffs and waterfalls give way to underwater tunnels. Cashore did something different than other fantasy writers in that she emphasized the already beautiful world in which we live. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~It took me about 5 chapters to get into this book. The story begins abruptly, plopping you into this world with little preparation. It was confusing at first, with a lot of names of places and people being thrown over my head.After this point, the story was fast paced and addicting, the pages coming and going breezily. There was always something happening and I don’t recall a time the story grew dull or sluggish. Despite the characters spending weeks in the wilderness, the author was able to pace it well enough that weeks passed within pages, yet the gravity of the time passage still registered with the readers.My biggest issue with the story is that I wish the reader was given more of a reason to care for Prince Tealiff. He is Po’s grandfather, yes, but all the characters go through such length to find out the reason for his kidnapping, talking about who could have done it, conspiring in secret, etc etc. Meanwhile I forgot the wrinkly old man’s name every other page.I started to care later on, but leading up to this point I wanted some sort of emotional connection to Tealiff. I’m going to sound like an evil demon when I say this, but I feel like it would have been better if Tealiff was badly beaten when he was kidnapped, or even killed. That way, from the beginning I would have wanted revenge for him…FORGIVE ME TEALIFF~~~~~~~~~~~~~I think the relationship between Katsa and Po has to be one of the healthiest and most organic relationships I have ever seen in a YA book. Like wow, let me find myself a Po.They accept each other for who they are, for all their vices and virtues. Katsa learns she doesn’t need to give up her freedom or herself to be with Po. They grow together throughout the novel, yet they remain their own individual person with their own goals and desires. They do not change; they simply grow into better versions of themselves. This book beautifully showed how a relationship can build on trust and acceptance, while each partner still maintains their individuality and freedom.So yes, I *really* love Katsa and Po’s relationship. It’s slow, tender, frightening yet exciting, and simply beautiful. Have you ever cried because a couple was so beautiful? BECAUSE I DID DURING THIS BOOK!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Katsa: I absolutely loved Katsa’s character. She is strong due to her grace, yes, but she is also strong willed. She won’t let people dissuade her from her thoughts/opinions, and she has been raised to be a killer yet cannot help but feel compassion for those she hunts. Although her skills stay the same, her confidence and self-assurance grow throughout the book.Po: Po is one of seven princes of Lienid, graced with fighting, and on the search for his grandfather’s kidnapper. He and Katsa’s relationship evolves slowly and organically, and Po is nothing but kind and understanding to Katsa. He is strong, smart, and determined, but also humble and is never embarrassed to admit defeat or weakness.Raffin: I’m so happy to see a beautiful friendship between a boy and girl in a YA book that doesn’t involve romance! (I mean he is her cousin but STILL) I loved Raffin and Katsa’s friendship and how much they care for each other. Raffin is the Prince of Middluns, the son of King Randa. He spends his time learning about medicine and herbs with his friend Bann. He may be a goof, but he’s my goofGiddon: Giddon, along side Captain Oll, accompanies Katsa on her missions for Randa. He does not play a huge part in the story, but he wasn’t particularly likable. He is basically…the manifestation of the oppression of women. I feel like that was his main role in the book. Let’s throw tin cans at his headBitterblue: Bitterblue is Po’s cousin, and King Leck’s daughter. She is a mere 10 years old yet undeniably strong and brave. She grew so quickly so fast and I cannot wait to see where her story goes.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Overall, I loved this book: the characters, the setting, the relationships. Magical without the typical magical qualities and the pages flew by (Seriously did not like 475 pages at all). The ending was satisfying and answered a lot of questions while also leaving room for future plots. I know the next book focuses on a different set of characters, but if it’s anything like Graceling I’m sure I’ll enjoy it!

This is a very special book in my opinion. I absolutely love the writer's style. It felt like reading a fairy tale, but a more in depth, awesome fairy tale. It made this book magical to me, as did the characters. Katsa is a strong protagonist that I grew to really care about. You see her character grow thoughout the book. The plot is very character-driven, but still filled with action as you'd expect from a book that features an assassin/thug as the main character. There's also a bit of romance, but thankfully it's not overdone at all. I recommend this book to fantasy lovers.

Another book (strongly) recommended by my sister.A Graceling is a person with a gift, an almost magical ability to do something (although it's never referred to as magic). Someone Graced with speed, say, or swimming, or juggling can perform feats in that area that no regular person could hope to achieve. In Middluns, Gracelings are feared no matter how benign their Grace may be, and that fear is multiplied with Katsa's killing Grace. Even her uncle the King fears her, though he uses his authority to force her to dole out punishment across his kingdom. But what if she decides she will no longer only be his pawn?Katsa is a wonderful character who grows constantly and believably over the course of the book. I was so surprised by some of the plot developments that I exclaimed out loud several times. The only thing that bothered me was the climax of the book - with such an enormous build-up, the climax was shockingly brief and unsatisfying and I was concerned for most of the rest of the book that something was wrong and things were somehow not what they seemed.I enjoyed Graceling from beginning to end, with that one exception, and I am looking forward to the upcoming books in the series.

Sure to be a great seller for Cashore's first novel. It's gotten a lot of buzz from the ARCs that went out, but in my opinion, suffers from competing with The Hunger Games (Collins), which coincided both with the ARCs and pub date. Many people I speak to seem to be reading the two almost as a pair, and it defiantly does a disservice to Graceling. Graceling was a great book to take me back to my childhood. Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet seems to be an inevitable comparison. None-the-less, while I feel that Pierce's writing has taken a different turn in recent years, I'm glad to have found Graceling; A book the brings back a realistic, strong, female protagonist. It's a nice refresher to the Bella Swan's who've been dominating the YA scene for a while. Katsa is both physically and mentally strong, yet she knows she has room to grow in the mental sense. She can be entirely independent and her own woman, yet she doesn't fall into the trap of never being able to ask for help or rely on any man, (a trait which I find extremely counterproductive and unrealistic in many of the more feminist fantasy novels). He cast of supporting characters are diverse, and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. In short, I believe Katsa is an attainable and realistic role model, and also a character that will be envied by many teens and adults alike!....But really, go pick up a copy of The Hunger Games at some point, as well, ok?

I loved this story, despite my issues with the audio version that I'll get to at the end of this review.
It was fairly easy for me to sink into Katsa's world from early on in the book, her feelings regarding her grace and what she was made to do with it, and how she saw herself as a person. I loved how her feelings changed after she met Po, and she started seeing things a little differently.
The romance between Katsa and Po was believable and not overdone imo. A lot of the other reviews I read before starting this book talked a lot about Katsa being opposed to marriage and children. However, this made complete sense to me in the context of the story. Why would Katsa, raised as she was, find the concept of legally giving over her freedom to a man to be remotely attractive to her? She didn't really get into her reasons why she didn't want children but as I assume Katsa was fairly young in this book, I don't consider it a negative that she didn't feel her only path to happiness was as a wife and a mother.
Overall, I think this was a great book and I'm interested to see how she continues the series.

Now, as far as the audio version of this book, I have a lot more to say. I initially thought that the "full cast" audio would be off-putting for me, but it either grew on me or as I became more invested in the story, I no longer noticed. However, the music.... THE MUSIC!! That was the most annoying thing I've ever listened to in any audio book. It was constant, between every chapter, used to punctuate jokes, played during the sex scene, and most annoyingly during climactic scenes almost overpowering the narrators voice. I HATED it and strongly recommend that if you're going to read Graceling, get the actual book.

I loved this book, it was a great fantasy read.

The characters were good, and well I hope to see more of them in the next books. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, good characters and just a good story in general. I am happy I finally read it.

From the first page, this story caught my interest and held it. I liked the idea of the gracelings and their graces. I would love to read more from Kristin Cashore. I especially liked Princess Bitterblue and would love to see how she develops as such a young queen. I probably would have rated this a 5 star, but the anti marriage message turned me off a little, sorry, just my personality.

Cute story, entertaining, for a first novel it is quite good, sometimes you get a tiny bit lost as to how and why, but it doesn't matter too much...

I actually picked this book at random from an online library. I just wanted to read some kind of fantasy book and the cover screams "generic fantasy book." Obviously, as I read it, I found way more depth and creativity than I had expected. Actually, it was not long after I had finally caved and read The Hunger Games, and one of my first thoughts in the book was "This is what I wanted Katniss to be." The strong female protagonist and role model who would do what she had to to survive and fight, but took no pleasure in hurting people and would rather use diplomacy where she could. I thought the book was incredibly well put together, and I loved the characters. It's one of my all-time favorite fantasy books.The audiobook is also good. It's full-cast, which I always love, and the casting is excellent. I especially liked Bitterblue's voice.

I don't really know how I feel about Graceling (Kristin Cashore). It didn't take me long to read it, and I didn't hate reading it, but some things definitely bugged me and I didn't exactly get sucked in.

I did find it interesting that despite the medieval-ish setting, the main character, Katsa, is allowed so much agency. Then again, it's not a thing she's accorded as a right. Just because she's strong and can fight doesn't mean she can escape from being prettied up, from having people insist on her getting married, etc. Thankfully, the book isn't unaware of this, but it feels like it focuses mainly on the point of marriage, as if marriage can never be an equal partnership and is to be avoided at all costs. I didn't like the handling of marriage at all in the book. It's just fine with me if someone doesn't want their fantasy heroine to get married, but if there's going to be so much of a point made of it, I'd prefer there was actually a good reason. The idea of loss of freedom was barely explored, it was just played as A Bad Thing. In one way I'm glad there's a fantasy book out there where the main character is female and has a relationship without it ending up in stereotypical marriage and happily ever after. In another, it just felt like it was, well, to borrow internets vocab, "pastede on yay".

That's partially because I didn't feel the characters that much, either. I never felt all that invested in the characters, so even when one of them goes blind, which is normally one of my big buttons, I didn't really care. Katsa should be an interesting character, hopefully a likeable one, and Po definitely both. But I couldn't muster up much care, I think because we kept being told how awesome they both are. I'd rather form that opinion myself, thanks. I don't like it when people write by checklist, bolting on faults, but did Katsa have any faults? I suppose that she was blunt, perhaps that she was unfeminine if that's a fault from your perspective. Inclined to not thinking things through. But we don't see any consequences of her faults -- everything turns out just fine for her. And Po... I guess his conceit is a fault, but again. Everything turns out fine. Bitterblue is a strange character: she's meant to be ten years old, but she doesn't act it. There are reasons for that, but it's still a thing that bugged me while reading.

There were definitely bits of it that I liked. Katsa's dislike of mindreading was something I identified with. The idea of mindreading creeps the hell out of me, actually. The way she dealt with it irritated me a little, but it was still interesting and a good idea. I liked the idea of Graces, and that the two main characters' Graces were not straight forward. That's another two-edged sword, though, because Katsa and Po just get more and more special as the book goes on. Katsa's indestructible -- the one thing that counters her Grace, the one thing that might beat her, and she manages to beat it anyway. Bad things happen to Po, but it doesn't matter, he has his Grace.

It was quite fun, for a single read, and I might give it to my sister because I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy the kickass heroine. If you want a fantasy heroine who kicks ass and takes names, Katsa's definitely a good choice, and I doubt the things that bugged me about it would bug everyone -- far from it. I can definitely see the appeal for teenage girls. I don't think I'll be reading the prequel or the sequel, unless I spot them in the library or something.

I'm so glad someone recommended this book to me. I am so not, even a little bit, disappointed.

The ending, oh the ending, it's good. I think I've felt happy and lonely at the same time. And it's a good kind of loneliness. Po. Oh Po.

Where can I start with Graceling? It has been so very long since I have picked up any decent fantasy (no, zombies and vampires don't count) that Graceling was a wonderful change of pace - and I am itching for more of its ilk! Kristin Cashore did such an awesome job with world-building of The Seven Kingdoms and created a rather interesting concept when it comes to Grace (which is, more or less, best described as talent i.e. being really good in something). Not everyone is Graced, but all who have a Grace have the signature 2-colored eyes although the 2 colors vary from person to person. Sometimes the Grace is very mundane such as climbing trees, while others such as Katsa's killing Grace can be used for political purposes by those in charge.There were times when I despaired at Katsa's obvious lack of social skills and thickheadedness when it comes to relationships. She was ten times worse than Alanna from The Song Of The Lioness quartet, but I bet she can kick Alanna's butt any day! :) Katsa was definitely 100% tomboy who detested silly frivolous dresses and hairdos. I admired her resourcefulness and drive to challenge herself and find her limits, whether it be wrestling with a goose in mid-air or trying different fighting scenarios and terrain with Po.One thing to note is that the plot started off a little slow, but steadily picked up the pace as Katsa and Po got closer to the truth behind the kidnapping. When the story finally reached the climax, can I just say that my jaw totally dropped in sheer incredulity because I cannot believe that just happened?!! Wow. The book almost fell out of my hands! Talk about a satisfying end for the villain! Talk about how evil I am for not elaborating any more! :}While I appreciated the ending, I was very surprised that there was still a lot more that happened after the climactic scene. I got a little upset with Po's tragedy - which, by the way, totally sucked - but I was very impressed with how he and Katsa adapted to this new challenge. Usually the protagonists emerge victorious without any major scrapes, but this was not the case for Graceling and I wonder what inspired Kristin Cashore to have the story take this unexpected direction.

This book was amazing! No wonder it received so many awards and great reviews. Katsa was a great character and I loved Po too. Original and a world that I would like to visit again. After being an assassin for many years, Katsa begins to question her actions and humanity. Her growth throughout the book just makes her more interesting especially because despite the growth she never really looses the important parts of herself. Po is interesting and I would love to read his back story and his POV during his adventure with Katsa.

I liked this book, although I didn't realise it was Young Adult fiction when I bought it. It wasn't a huge problem but you can tell it's YA which results in it being a bit tame compared to the usual fantasy books. If I was in any doubt that Graceling was a fantasy novel, I need look no further than the naming of locations. As usual the land is split up between rulers and the place-names have arrived at their monikers by virtue of compass direction. I forget exact names because they're not that memorable but if I said North town, West town, East town and South town then I wouldn't be far off the mark.

However, the idea of Graces more than makes up for the unimaginative geography. I love the idea of people with superpowers that are everyday talents boosted to infinity. A grace can be anything from brilliant pastry chef to pitch perfect singer or someone might find themself graced with the ability to spot a lie at 50 paces. It's difficult to blend in though if you find yourself with a grace, because you also find yourself with different coloured eyes....a dead giveaway.

I thought the story itself moved along pretty fast but the romance element that ran through it wasn't really much of a romance and there wasn't enough spark to make what little there was believable.

I liked the ending and it got quite nailbiting towards the finale and the book is not without some really hateful characters who make you root for the heroine.....but it's not a book I'd go back to.
It's worth reading though, just for the novel idea of the Graces.

Plot: 3 stars
Characters: 3 1/2 stars
Style: 4 stars
Pace: 3 stars

A bit predictable and dull in spots, but overall fairly enjoyable.

I have been wanting to read this book for quite a while and it seemed that every time I tried to get it from my local library it would always be checked out. I thought that that was a good thing, but I just wanted my turn to read it. Well, I finally got to read it and boy am I glad that I did. This book is intriguing from start to finish. I love the main character, Katsa. How cool is it that this girl has such incredible fighting skills that even kings fear her? Most people see girls as defenseless weaklings, so the fact that this girl is completely opposite is awesome. I liked how throughout her journey she learned new things about herself, and was able to better understand her powers. Prince Po is another incredible character that deals with many hardships as well. I loved everything about their journey together. And the story as a whole keeps you guessing about what may come next. The ending nearly broke my heart, but that was a heck of an ending. I know the next book is a companion novel to this one, but if it's in the same world as this one, it will no doubt be remarkable.

 A pretty good fantasy novel that's not too way out there. Some of the people of this land are blessed with a special skill - called a Grace. These take many forms and are announced by having different coloured eyes. Katsa is blessed with the killing Grace & is used as a sort of lightweight heavy by the thuggish local king. But she's come to the conclusion that killing isn't actually what she wants to do, and so sets out to use her skills to make life better - not worse, for the people she encounters.
And she encounters some rather interesting people in this endeavour. And discovers more about herself, her skills and how to use them. Nicely presented and entirely believable representation of a society where individuals with a skill are not always made welcome.
There's a sequel, which I'm going to look out.

blew me away! I am hoping for a sequel!

Reminiscent of 'Game of Thrones' for YA. The writing isn't bad and this probably isn't a bad book for its demographic. Probably good for kids who enjoy fantasy.

Summary: Katsa is special. Born with one blue eye and one green - the mark of the Graced - Katsa is a near-unbeatable fighter, either with her hands or with any weapon she holds. Her uncle, King Randa, has turned Katsa's Grace to his advantage, using her as his enforcer, thug, and assassin. Katsa's not happy with this role, however, and has started a secret society committed to righting wrongs on the sly. On one of their missions to rescue a kidnapped old man from the dungeons of a neighboring king, Katsa meets Po, who is a prince in his own right, the grandson of the old man, and who possesses a fighting Grace that can match Katsa's own. They become sparing partners, and eventually friends, but the question of Po's grandfather's kidnapping gnaws at them. Who would order such a thing, and why? They set out to investigate, but what they find is a threat so great that it might engulf all of the seven kingdoms... if they can't find a way to stop it.Review: The short version? I enjoyed the heck out of it. I enjoyed it so much I was creating opportunities to go and listen to more of it, cheerfully volunteering for one of the most boring tasks at work, just because it's a task I could do with my headphones on. I'm actually having a really hard time putting my finger on exactly why I liked it so much, but before I start dissecting it, I just want to reiterate: Graceling was compelling, relatable, exciting, and a thoroughly great read.In almost all particulars, Graceling is very very similar to a Tamora Pierce novel. Teen heroine who has some special ability that sets her apart from everyone else, who's good at almost everything she does, even though these powers make her somewhat of an outsider? Check and check. Romantic interest who is also special/supernatural/powered in some way, and is therefore the only guy who can ever hope to keep up with our heroine? Both have 'em. (As a side note, I now have enough of a bookcrush on Po that I'm willing to overlook his metallic-colored eyes, which is ordinarily a huge pet peeve.) Plot involving political intrigue and corruption within a medieval fantasy kingdom? Yup. A healthy mix of coming-of age, romance, action, plotting, and witty banter? Yes across the board. The only real difference I can pick out is that Pierce's books have more magic/mythology, with direct involvement by the gods, while the origin of the Graces is never really explained. There's not even a method-of-consumption bias: I listened to both of them done by Full Cast Audio (which took me a while to get into, but eventually wound up being very enjoyable; a lot of the voice actors did really excellent work). So, even though there's not much to chose between them, while Pierce's books are reliably enjoyable, none of them knocked my socks off the way Graceling did. In fact, the only thing I can find to ding Graceling for is a bit of heavy-handed expository worldbuilding in the early chapters. The nature of the Graces, the political layout of the various kingdoms, etc., are all presented flat out in a way that doesn't feel particularly organic to the story or the characters, instead of being more subtly woven in. Still, it is a very interesting world that's being set up, and once it's established, everything flows much more smoothly, and the character development and story development are handled with considerable skill, especially given that this is Cashore's first novel. I also really appreciated both the strong feminist lead, and the overall sensibility and mature handling of some thorny issues. Overall, even though I can't entirely define *why* I enjoyed it so much, I found it absolutely engrossing, I was sad that it was over, and I already have Fire queued up on my iPod. 4.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Fans of Tamora Pierce or those who like YA fantasy with a strong feminist twist should definitely put Graceling at the top of their list. Even those who aren't particular fantasy fans but who like a good coming-of-age story with solid doses of romance, humor, and action should check it out; I don't think the fantasy elements are prevalent enough to be off-putting.

This is very, very good. I feel I have to start with that, because it's in my nature to focus on my criticism more than my praise, and I don't want my criticism to take away from the fact that this was a very, very good book. The plot was compelling, the world was interesting, and the main character, Katsa, is FINALLY a female character you can sink your teeth into. She's strong, tough, flawed, interesting, and consistent all the way through (not one of those warrior chicks who finds love only to settle down and learn crochet, ahem).

The only flaw? I wish the author had gone deeper. I felt that there was so much more to this character and this world that could have been brought out. It felt a bit shallow, which is a shame. But I will be reading the rest of this series.

Disappointing. About half-way through the suspense really picks up and it becomes very difficult to put down. The problem was in the characters and their relationships. They came across as stereotypes and cliches rather than fully developed characters. Katsa is the typical tomboy who doesn't like dresses and wants to wear her hair short, etc, etc.

Though this book is part of a trilogy, each book can stand on its own. In Graceling, we follow the story of Katsa, who has the grace of fighting. She is used by her Uncle, a King of one of nine kingdoms, to do his dirty work. But she tries to break free and control her own destiny after she meets Po, a prince from one of the other kingdoms. They go to find out who is behind the kidnapping of Po's grandfather, and get caught up in a conspiracy. This is an easy read with a plot line that moves quickly. On the other hand, I don't feel that it was exceptional writing quality, and at the end of the book I didn't feel any sense of completion. It's a decent read, but I don't feel it will stand the test of time.