it is so hard to write reviews for books i actually like. no, love.

talking about this book is like trying to describe to someone a relationship from long ago that was bittersweet and is now over, but i have never had a relationship that involved so many horses and swordplay, not even metaphorically. and fewer people care about my love life than about this book.

(i see you ariel - you are glowering at me with tiny slitted eyes)

but this book is like a wonderfully sweet relationship. at the beginni More...

Update 1/24/2012. I probably should already stop being surprised by the fact that every time I reread a book, I come up with something new to say (or feel) about it. Looks like my previous reading of Graceling caused a lengthy rant. Yeah, no such strong feelings this time.

This time, I was able to appreciate the writing more. It's lovely. I really love how it flows, how the sentences connect. This book stands the test of time. And it's great that it stirs so much discussion and, often, outrage. More...

Graceling by Kristin Cashore follows in a burgeoning market for strong female characters.

Katsa is much like Katniss from The Hunger Games in her naive perception of the world, her coldness and tendency towards pragmatic practicality. She is similar to Xhex from the Black Dagger Brotherhood in her disgust of all things "feminine".

The story is well written, with engaging, fun characters. Katsa is fun to read about. The plot may be a little predictable at times but it did throw me a curve ball tow More...

[This is a review of an advance copy.:]

While Cashore shows herself to be a promising writer in many respects, this book could have used a better editing job, especially with the pacing, the climax and the dénouement. Other points:

1. The dialogue she put in the ten-year-old princess's mouth was not believable in the slightest; maybe Cashore should spend some time around pre-adolescent girls to get an idea of what they really talk like.

2. The psychology of several of the characters (including Kats More...

EDIT: THIS REVIEW IS IN NEED OF A REWRITE.

I bumped this up to 3 stars. There's really only 1 thing about this book I didnt like. Katsa's attitude and some of her decisions.
Second review:

Main idea: My goodreads buddy Isis says it best on her review, and I'll echo her sentiments that "being an angry bitch doesn't give someone a strong constitution or character."

Ambivalence: the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person, object, or action, simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions (Dictionary.com). Thus ends my Graceling review.


Kidding! But it does sum it up nicely.

On the one hand, I found it a fast, engaging read that was hard to put down. As a favorite tale states, there is "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..." Alright, maybe not More...

Yay!!! This was just what I wanted. This was like a cone of shaved ice on a hot day by the pool listening to a mix of one hit wonders. Yay!! I feel like I didn’t realize it, but one of my goals for vacation was to stay up till three in the morning with a fun adventure, and this was just the thing. 3 a.m. read: check!

There is such a deluge of young, energetic girl writers, writing women who struggle with their stoicism and strength and have supportive, emotional male counterparts, and I absolutel More...

First thing I need to point out is that I consider myself a feminist, even as far as to take an active role is such matters. Previously, I have written articles on Feministing and I honestly think so many of these issues are still very important in today's world. However you look at it, the battle for equality has not been won and has, in fact, become rather dormant.

On that note, I love reading fiction by feminist writers, Atwood never fails to deliver and The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favou More...

Born with an ability that is more of a curse than a gift, Katsa's life hasn't been an easy one. Katsa is Graced with the ability to kill. And when an accident causes her to kill a man at the age of eight, she soon realizes what her Grace really is.
Upon finding out Katsa's true Grace, King Randa of the Middluns, Katsa's uncle, quickly decides to utilize her morbid abilities rather than kill her for them as most would.
Wanting to harness her abilities and control them rather than be ruled by them a More...

I read Graceling over a year ago and i feel it necessary to say: I don't like this book. The romance is incredibly unromantic and the rest of the story is some (crazy man-hating version of) feminist propaganda.

I happen to like books which feature feminist heroines and are light on the romance. So I should like this book, right? Yeah, but I didn't. First of all, Katsa acts like a petulant child throughout the entire book, not some feminist poster child. Also, I felt like the author spent too muc More...

I finished this book a couple of nights ago, and waited to review it. This is a pretty good YA and as I've said about other books, it gets 4 stars because I can't give it 3.5. I waited because I wanted to think about a couple of things. First as Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" noted she "has an issue" with this book, I had a couple. I don't know if one of them is her's but we'll talk about mine in a second. One of them I can discuss in my general review, the other I'll mention below a spoiler More...

In the seven kingdoms, there are some children who are born different. They are marked with eyes of two different colors, and they are called Gracelings. Gracelings have abilities beyond the natural, and they are feared and shunned by most people. There are many different Graces—some are benign, like the Grace to swim long distances, or to juggle. And some are deadly.

Katsa, niece to King Randa of Middluns, has a killing Grace. Since she was a small child she has been able to kill a grown man eas More...

Excerpt: “And now I’m wondering,” he said, “how it is you don’t realize your eyes ensnare me, just as mine do you. I can’t explain it, Katsa, but you shouldn’t let it embarrass you. For we’re both overtaken by the same—--foolishness.”


That’s Katsa’s eyes. Kidding. But that quite explain the eyes of a Graceling, just imagine it 10 times fantabuluos.

A Graceling is a person with Graced. Being Graced is like having an exceptional talent. But it does not only refer to singing or dancing, it could be t More...

Read this and other strange reviews at Living Is Reading!

2.5

THE REVISED AND NEW REVIEW NOW THAT I'VE FINALLY FINISHED:

(Please disregard the original review saying I stopped at page 385. I have since gone back and finished those last 90 or so pages I had left, so this review is a review of the entire book.)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a novel that is quite infamous for the debate and discussion that occurs once people start talking about it. It’s a book that it appears you either love or More...

Well, this book was definitely a huge surprise. I mean, I knew I would like it big time because there wasn't a single person who didn't give a 5 star review to this book, but I never though I would like it this much.

It was such a different and original world. I loved the idea of the Gracelings. Specially the heroine's grace. I had forgotten how a good YA's story should be like. This book had everything I usually look for in my reads covered: amazing world building, great plot developing and very More...

I came so very close to giving this one 5 stars. It was a great fantasy adventure with a strong female lead (perhaps too strong).
Katsa is a girl with extraordinary powers. When she meets Po, a young man with powers of his own, they strike up an unusual friendship and together set out to root out a growing evil.
This book had a great plot with some surprizing twists. It had great characters (I loved Po), and a slowly growing romance, but in the end I was expecting someting from Katsa that she just More...

I have to say that I loved this book. Once I started reading, I could barely put it down. The characters were fun and real, or as real as they could be in a world where extraordinary and almost supernatural talents are, maybe a little less than common, but not unusual. This is definitely fantasy, and the characters were fantastic, but still realistic.

Katsa was such a wonderful character. Graced with the ability to fight and kill with ease, she is used as a weapon and Royal Leg-Breaker by the Kin More...

Katsa lives in a world where some people have Graces (i.e., super powers), and her Grace is that she is a badass fighting machine. The king who rules her country uses her as a hired thug to break the thumbs of people he doesn't like.

But then she meets this guy she likes, and decides that maybe she shouldn't be a thug anymore. Also, the guy, Po, has a lot of distant relatives who are in distress, so they have to spend a lot of time riding around trying to help those people.

This was a strange book More...

Simply epic!

Three star books are often the most difficult to write reviews for because they're books that didn't completely work for me and yet I still enjoyed them overall. Graceling is one of those books. I'll start by saying that when it comes to high fantasy I tend to prefer political intrigue over adventure stories, and while Graceling is a mix of both it definitely leans more heavily on the latter. The long stretches of time spent traveling were a bit tedious for me. Those who love adventure fantasy s More...

This review is also posted on my blog, Anatea's Bookshelf.

I spent a whole 5 minutes thinking of how much stars to give this book, which I usually decide in matter or seconds. I couldn't decide if the book is just okay, or do I like it enough to want to read the Fire & Bitterblue. And I decided I do want to read them sometime, so thus the 3 stars.

This book was interesting at some points, but there was a lot of parts that were awfuly boring, like the parts where they travel. The only part I ca More...

Graceling has a beautiful cover, great premise, and lots of hype, and would be a terrific novel if it weren’t for the terrible writing and atrocious main character.

What is with the awkward sentence structures and prose in this book? "In these dungeons the darkess was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind." It should be "In these dungeons, the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind." And look at the next sentence: "One that had so far proven to be correct, as Oll's maps tende More...

Anyone who knows me knows if you want to watch me get upset or start singing very loudly all you have to do is begin to tell me the ending to a book I have yet to read. Of course I always make exceptions with books I'm CONVINCED I'll never pick up, Graceling being one of them. Now it's a pretty cover...but so screams towards its intended fantasy-loving audience, an ultra fancy cover clearly also yelling towards me "Hey Colleen, you don't like fantasy books! This is a Book You'll Hate!" was much More...

My journey into the world of the Seven Kingdoms began and ended in one day. That's right, one day- I started this book at about nine in the morning and finished it around five, and all I can say is wow. Just wow. I am completely blown away.

Let me explain something. I was intially disappointed when I started Graceling this morning- the first part of the story, although interesting, struck me as flat. The characters did not seem to be fleshed out and there seem to be very little plot or character More...

Graceling by Kristin Cashore exudes awesome. It just pours off of each and every single page. In the world within Graceling there are seven kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms are ruled by royalty. Within this world certain people are graced. Being graced means you are exceptionally talented at something. Katsa, the main character, is graced as an assassin. She's essentially a BAMF. (see Dane Cook for explanation)
Read the rest of my review here More...

This was pretty much one of the most irritating books of all time - and consistent with my idea of YA fantasy. But I fought my way through it because, goshdarnit, I picked it up at the library, dragged it home with a load of other books and groceries, and renewed it the max number of times - I was gonna finish it.

You know the kickbutt heroine who is just totally kickbutt and doesn't need no one, no way, no how, and yet loves and feels and hurts deeply and yet keeps everyone away because she is b More...

"A monster that refused sometimes, to behave like a monster. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?"

1. Sentence:
“In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind."

Everyone and their dog seemed to love „Graceling“ and rated it 4-5 stars, so my expectations were rather high in regards to this book.

Man, was I disappointed.

There are so many things I’d like to address when it comes to this book, but I bet More...

Summary
Katsa is a graceling, a person who possesses special skills. This is a sub-group of the population, though the cause is unknown, it's easily spotted by the person having two different colored eyes. A person's grace is unique to each person. And for Katsa, hers is a killing grace. She's fine with this life, until she wonders if killing and hurting people, per the King's orders, is really doing it for her. When she decides it's not, she follows one of her friends, Po -also a graceling, on h More...