In a world where people
born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are both feared and
exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the
Grace of killing.
Feared by the court and shunned by those her own age, the darkness of her Grace casts a heavy shadow over Katsa’s life. Yet she remains defiant: when the King of Lienid’s father is kidnapped she investigates, and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced man whose fighting abilities rivalled her own?
The only thing Katsa is sure of is that she no longer wants to kill. The intrigue around this kidnapping offers her a way out – but little does she realise, when she takes it, that something insidious and dark lurks behind the mystery. Something spreading from the shadowy figure of a one-eyed king...
Feared by the court and shunned by those her own age, the darkness of her Grace casts a heavy shadow over Katsa’s life. Yet she remains defiant: when the King of Lienid’s father is kidnapped she investigates, and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced man whose fighting abilities rivalled her own?
The only thing Katsa is sure of is that she no longer wants to kill. The intrigue around this kidnapping offers her a way out – but little does she realise, when she takes it, that something insidious and dark lurks behind the mystery. Something spreading from the shadowy figure of a one-eyed king...
My review of Graceling (3/5 stars):
This book
took me a little longer to get through than I expected. I’m not completely sure
why as I was looking forward to reading it and I did enjoy it, but maybe it
comes down to the slow pace of the book as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I did
enjoy this book and some of the concepts in it were so original but there was
just something lacking in the characters and plot; I loved some characters and
I hated others; I loved some bits of the story and weren’t interested in other
parts. The book was lacking in complexity and despite it being exciting it just
didn’t totally grip me and immerse me into the world. Despite this, I love
books with a good adventure and this book was definitely full of adventure and
excitement and I did enjoy my journey with Katsa, Po and Bitterblue.
I really
liked the whole idea of the Gracelings, and I thought it was a brilliantly
original idea that really had me interested from the start. Individuals whose
identity is obvious by the different colours of their eyes, the Gracelings are
skilled in many different things and our main protagonists Grace is both
powerful and deadly. Katsa’s Grace is killing, one that evidently helps her
survive but also a thing that she is troubled with as it allows others to
control her for their own monstrous deeds. I found Katsa’s Grace intriguing but
I also thought that it made some of the fighting scenes within the book a
little anti climactic as she is obviously more deadly than all others.
Katsa was
a tough protagonist to relate to. She is just so masculine in her personality
and attitude and at parts of the story I was silently screaming at her to just
to stop being so stubborn. Her opinions on marriage and having children are
just so frustrating and one sided. I know she hates/fears control and manipulative
individuals but I just believe that she could have marriage and children
without fearing that she would be under the control of others. Maybe she is
just too much of a free spirit and wants to be her own person in every way but
I just wished her character would embrace other things than what she believed
in at the beginning of the story. Anyway, I did admire her strength and
determination and felt that she was a good female protagonist even if I did
feel that she was a little challenging. Even though she went on a physical
journey throughout the book I don’t think she changed much as a person except
in little things like better controlling and understanding her Grace. She went
through so much on her journey of self-discovery, met so many new people but
still felt the same towards the end of the book as she did at the beginning. Maybe
it was simply because as a reader I couldn’t relate to her personal beliefs but
she was a challenging and exasperating character that I didn’t fully enjoy
getting to know.
My
favourite character of the whole book was Po or maybe Bitterblue. Po was just
so cheeky and cocky that I couldn’t help but love him and he added a bit of
mischief and comedy to the book which it needed. His relationship with Katsa
was especially fun but also frustrating, but I did genuinely enjoy their
interactions and actually enjoyed Katsa’s character more when she was around
Po. Bitterblue was also such a cute and fun character and despite her age she
was feisty and confident. At the end of the novel she had truly come into her
own and a timid, scared young girl is transformed into a powerful and independent
individual.
The
baddie of the story is initially King Randa, Katsa’s manipulative uncle who
uses her grace as his weapon, controlling his subjects and Katsa in the process.
As the story progresses the main antagonist is revealed; King Leck, on the
surface a seemingly kind and peaceful man who harbours a dangerous and deadly
secret. He was a believable antagonist despite not being in the story
physically but at one point in the story he really did send a shiver down my
spine!
I think
my favourite aspect of the whole story was the storyline in general. It was a
fun and fast-paced adventure story in parts and I did enjoy travelling with the
characters through forests, over mountains and through fields not knowing if
danger lurked around the corner. The story never really sat still and there was
always something happening to spur the characters and plot forwards. The one
serious problem that I had with the story in general is that I never felt that
the characters were in any type of real danger mainly because of Katsa’s Grace.
I was never kept on my toes in anticipation, was never really surprised with
the turn of events and this disappointed me in general and made the story a
little anti-climatic. There was only one time throughout the whole story that I
was really shocked and my shock barely lasted a few seconds because the problem
was quickly resolved.
As to the
ending of the book? Well I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I can’t really
say what I want too but personally I thought it was a good little ending that
finished the story off nicely for some characters. For other characters I just
wanted a little more information about their futures and then I would have been
a little happier with it all. All in all, I think that Graceling was a fast
paced, exciting story with a unique concept that was inevitably anti-climatic
with a frustrating protagonist who barely changed throughout the whole story.
Despite my concerns I would recommend this book to lovers of YA fantasy books who
want to read an exciting tale with a unique twist, a feisty protagonist and
strong characters.
As usual, you wrote a great review. I really do enjoy reading them!
ReplyDeleteHi Becca
ReplyDeleteYou won my Giveaway- Come check it out! http://enchantedbyjosephine.blogspot.ca/2012/09/5-winners-of-robin-maxwell-giveaway.html
Lucy
I started this one and just couldn't finish it because of the slow pacing that you mentioned. Maybe I'll have to give it another try.
ReplyDeleteAllison (Geek Banter)