Author: Kristin Cashore
Published: October 1, 2008
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Genre: YA Fantasy
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Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight -- she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the King, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.
When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.
She never expects to become Po's friend.
She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace -- or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...
Lisamentary:
Well, first off, I want to say that this is an AMAZING book!!! It has action, romance, a friends-to-lovers theme, AND people with that are a little beyond the ordinary, which are all favorites of mine. Another thing is that it has a very strong female lead, Katsa, who is a full-on feminist (this is only one of the many emphasis on feminism in this book). She has been privileged but oppressed by her Uncle Randa who forces her to use her Grace to kill his enemies. Being Graced means that these people are born skilled and usually can be identified by having two different colored eyes: Katsa has one blue eye and one green eye; her love interest and ally throughout Po, silver and gold. Together, Katsa and Po go on this thrilling adventure to find out the secrets of the surrounding kingdoms, which are quite shocking, and unexpectedly fall in love along the way.
Well, first off, I want to say that this is an AMAZING book!!! It has action, romance, a friends-to-lovers theme, AND people with that are a little beyond the ordinary, which are all favorites of mine. Another thing is that it has a very strong female lead, Katsa, who is a full-on feminist (this is only one of the many emphasis on feminism in this book). She has been privileged but oppressed by her Uncle Randa who forces her to use her Grace to kill his enemies. Being Graced means that these people are born skilled and usually can be identified by having two different colored eyes: Katsa has one blue eye and one green eye; her love interest and ally throughout Po, silver and gold. Together, Katsa and Po go on this thrilling adventure to find out the secrets of the surrounding kingdoms, which are quite shocking, and unexpectedly fall in love along the way.
With that being said, let's get started. The plot in this book I felt was very thought out. It was well-paced, despite the book overall being a tad lengthy, and gave readers a bit little of everything. The romance was an underlying plot while Po and Katsa trying to rescue Po's grandfather and save Bitterblue later on were the main focus. There was the appropriate amount of violence for a book of this nature and Cashore really made the details believable. Like you knew that Katas could kick some major butt. Also, the book isn't what you would call cliche because a lot of things that happen leaves you like "dang, I did not see that coming" at least. Without giving any spoilers, I'll leave it at that.
Next off: the romance. The relationship between Katsa and Po, personally, was what I'd call cute. This is rare for me because I'm not the rainbow-and-unicorns kind of girl who coos at the sight of babies and puppies. They are alike in many ways: they grow up as royals since Po is a prince and Katsa is the niece of the King of the Middluns; they are both Graced; and they have well-matched fighters, but, of course, Katsa has the advantage since her skill is survival (which is pretty cool since that isn't the kind of skill you'd expect). However, they are polar opposites in personality since Katsa is fiery in attitude and action whereas Po is very calm and zen. As a result, they are a great pair and become great friends turned couple. This is pretty much their relationship in a nutshell, as Milla would say, and more could be said, but that's for another occasion when someone wants to, in what the K-pop fans would say, "fangirl" with me.
Before I end this post, I want to address the quite controversial thought in this book where Katsa says she doesn't want to get married because she feels that even though she will have her freedom, it would actually be a gift from Po to her. The operative word here is gift. A lot people say "why would she think that?,""that doesn't make any sense," etc. or some variation. However, I am here to defend her because based on the setting and how she has grown up, freedom has always been a privilege since she has always been under a man's control, her Uncle Randa. Also, she lives in male-dominated world where women are oppressed. So, it makes a lot of sense that now she is in charge of her own future, she would want to keep it that way.
Story: 10
Characters: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall:
I think that this novel was good, but starting off with a perfect score for the first review is too easy.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean, but since this is one of my all time favorites, it was no doubt a perfect score. However, never fear, not all books are held to such esteem in my opinion so their ratings won't all be perfect. Yet again, this does not mean the next rating may not be a perfect score 'cause you know, I may really like it. Thanks for sharing your opinion, Kevin!!!! :)
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