From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)

Kristin Cashore

Start date: August 1, 2016

Finish date: August 30, 2016

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: Alternate Group Read (YA) - August 2016
[close] Alternate Group Read (YA) - August 2016

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 26, 2009 Literary Ames rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, 1st-in-series, dtb, series-abandoned, hunters-warriors-assassins, young-adult, fantasy, bye-bye, trilogy, 2024-to-donate

Dashed hopes. That's what this book was for me. With all the rave reviews I expected a 5 star read but I was left disappointed.

The first half of the book was ok and seemed to be heading some place good but then Katsa and Po rushed into a sexual relationship that she wasn't ready for. For some reason she thought that being with Po was an all-or-nothing affair, she needed time to get used to her feelings for him. One second she acknowledges her attraction to him and the next they're doing the dir Dashed hopes. That's what this book was for me. With all the rave reviews I expected a 5 star read but I was left disappointed.

The first half of the book was ok and seemed to be heading some place good but then Katsa and Po rushed into a sexual relationship that she wasn't ready for. For some reason she thought that being with Po was an all-or-nothing affair, she needed time to get used to her feelings for him. One second she acknowledges her attraction to him and the next they're doing the dirty - I was unprepared for this being a YA book and all. Not a good message for the kids.

Afterwards I expected Katsa to soften just a little around the edges at least with Po; more smiles, small touches, gestures, glances between them but I was left wanting. The tension between the two characters before they got together was good but afterwards...it all seemed very forced. Katsa didn't love Po, Po may have loved Katsa but she didn't love him. She felt friendship - a bond of sharing, affection but love? No. It was almost as if she was responding to Po's desire for her rather than her own wants. She was wooden for most of the book, she rarely had any emotions except anger and perhaps fear. Even her feelings for Bitterblue were muted. She cared for her and taught her how to hold a blade because she needed her to live so that leaving Po behind had been worth it. Bitterblue didn't appear to grow on her at all, Katsa cared very little for others except her cousin and Po and even then it was debatable as to how much she cared for them.

Katsa didn't really change over the course of the book. Yes she refused to be her uncle's tool anymore but what else? She is with Po only because he needs her and she cares about him - that is it. She is not perfect, she doesn't realise that Po would never "trap" her in what Katsa sees as a typical marriage, one where the husband is always dominating and controlling his wife. Po on the other hand, made progress in leaps and bounds, I think I would have been happier if this story had been told from his perspective. He showed plenty of emotion, his grace would have made it interesting and he had all of that family who I would have loved to have seen more of. So much happened to him in this book that he sort of made Katsa look boring in comparison.

**MAJOR SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT**

The demise of King Leck came about rather suddenly and too easily in my opinion. He was made out to be a very powerful evil man, hard to kill but he was brought down after only a couple of very short face-to-face encounters with Katsa. It was implied earlier in the book that he would try to make Katsa hunt and kill Po or someone that one of them cared about. It never happened.

The story after King Leck's defeat was strange. I felt it unlikely that Po would have survived so well on his own even though he did suffer permanent injury. I like a bit of reality in my fantasy - it has to have some believability to it.

All of this made me wonder if this book had originally been written for adults and was cut down to a shorter teenage-friendly size. If it had then I would understand why King Leck had to be defeated so quickly and why the second half of the book was so odd.

As I read the last sentences I felt sad, not because it was an unhappy ending, it wasn't (it wasn't exactly a happy one either) but because it had potential to be something more than it was. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2009 🥀 Rose 🥀 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

I loved this book. The strong lead character, Katsa, who has the Grace to kill at will. Graced children are identified by their different colored eyes and have a special talent that their king will use to their benefit and service. Katsa wants to be released from her king and not be his strong-arm any longer and this decision sets her on an adventure of high excitment in my opinion. But what I loved most was the growth in Katsa from a closed off heart to a fully fleshed out and well loved women. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2012 Kelly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was in my ever growing stack lent to me by my mother in law. In trying to whittle the stack down a little, I came across this gem of a book. I loved everything about it. It was an interesting story with fantastical elements that were interesting and key to the plot. It is a love story, a story of man's struggle against the allure of power and it is just beautifully written. Hard to believe that this is a debut novel, as I didn't catch anything in it that is the normal debut awkwardness ...more

Like · see review

Feb 02, 2012 Catie rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, young-adult-fiction, fantasy, adventure, read-2012

***3 1/2 stars***

I was SO excited to read this book! It has been on my list for a while. I enjoyed the novel, and was sucked in very quickly (about 20 pages in).
Some reviews have mentioned that they had a problem with the main character Katsa. I didn't. I found that her character description was quite believable considering the environment that she grew up in and the role she had to play in her Uncle's court.

I absolutely loved the introduction and character development of Po! The opening sc ***3 1/2 stars***

I was SO excited to read this book! It has been on my list for a while. I enjoyed the novel, and was sucked in very quickly (about 20 pages in).
Some reviews have mentioned that they had a problem with the main character Katsa. I didn't. I found that her character description was quite believable considering the environment that she grew up in and the role she had to play in her Uncle's court.

I absolutely loved the introduction and character development of Po! The opening scene between Katsa and Po - particularly the description of his eyes was captivating.

I loved the idea of "graces", the descriptions of the different realms, and Po's castle...it was so well described I could imagine exactly what it looked like while I was reading!

I will admit though that King Leck really freaked me out, the more I thought about his character. Excellent antagonist! The authors description of him as an animal and small child lover, but in reality torturer, murderer and manipulator of reality was highly disturbing and quite kinky when thought about. Definitely darker material for a YA novel. Which made the story line interesting in my opinion.

I enjoyed this book immensely, BUT, I only gave it 3 1/2 stars because of the ENDING!? My interest was captured until the very end! Ugh! I was SO frustrated with the last part of the story! I felt the author did such a great job with setting everything up and than it just ended... The book was wrapped up and ended too nicely! Such a let down...everything was resolved too quickly in my humble opinion. And, the end confrontation with King Leck was a little yawn worthy to me.

i also had a big issue with the character of Po at the end - I still can't quite place my finger on what exactly. But, at the end of the book, he wasn't as endearing as he was previously. It could have been all the whining and "Wo, is me!", which makes me sound very unfeeling since it was because of blindness!

It would be interesting to see this book made into a movie. Although aspects of it, especially with how Po goes blind and Katsa is stubborn and independent - the movie "Quest for Camelot" came to mind quite often throughout my reading... ...more

Like · see review

Jan 14, 2014 Jenni rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014

At first, I was not a fan of this book. In fact, until I was about 60% through I wanted to put it down. It was long-winded, and the characters were hard to keep straight. I understand the desire to have interesting names for people and places, but for some reason I had trouble keeping the names straight and remembering who went where and who was who. Eventually the story grew on me however and in the end I enjoyed it. It's now one i'll end up recommending to anyone as a "Must read" but it was a ...more

Like · see review

Mar 31, 2015 Jana rated it really liked it

Shelves: just-for-fun, x2015-pop-sugar-reading-challenge

I really enjoyed this book. First time in a while that I read the first in a series and wanted to IMMEDIATELY pick up the next. I would rate this a 4.5/5.

Like · see review