From the Bookshelf of Nerds & Encrenqueiros…

Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)

Kristin Cashore

Start date: February 1, 2021

Finish date: February 28, 2021

Discussion: Leitura Coletiva

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What Members Thought

Jul 16, 2014 Raquel V rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ne-livros-do-mes, audiobooks, re-read, yes-please, fantasy, ya

Rating: 4.5/5 - Incredibly fun! The controversial opinions are a bit too exaggerated -

This book has been in my To Be Read pile for a long time, and I don’t know why I haven’t read it before. It’s a great book, filled with great, complex main characters. It generated a lot of buzz and a lot of controversial opinions. I’ll tell you mine, but it’s not nearly as inflammatory, I have to say.

First of all, this book was great. I loved the premise of a world where people have Graces – heightened abiliti Rating: 4.5/5 - Incredibly fun! The controversial opinions are a bit too exaggerated -

This book has been in my To Be Read pile for a long time, and I don’t know why I haven’t read it before. It’s a great book, filled with great, complex main characters. It generated a lot of buzz and a lot of controversial opinions. I’ll tell you mine, but it’s not nearly as inflammatory, I have to say.

First of all, this book was great. I loved the premise of a world where people have Graces – heightened abilities that give the person a little super-power edge in something very specific (like swimming, or knitting, or nearly anything you can think of, or killing, in Katsa’s case). I loved Katsa, she is a bad-ass and a no-nonsense kind of girl in a medieval-like world where women are dolls and not much more. But she is also kind and loyal.

It was confusing to read the reviews for this book, where more traditional people accused it of being too sexually forward for teenagers (since *spoiler alert* Katsa engages in sex outside of marriage *end spoiler*), and some feminists accused her of being too rigid in her views of feminism (since Katsa says from very early in the book she will never get married), interpreting that Katsa’s views are the author’s. And this is what I have to say about this: It’s a piece of fiction! I do hope teenagers can make their own decisions over having sex or not, getting married or not, fighting their oppressive ruler or not… In our globalized society, teenagers will certainly see different lifestyles (as they should), and it’s up to the adults in their lives to guide them through it. As it concerns the book, all it matters to me is: was it relevant to the plot? (“Yes!”) Was it a cohesive thing to do? (“Yes!”). So that’s that.

Being an orphan who was feared by most people for most of her life, I do understand Katsa’s reluctance to give herself away. She is adamant about not getting married, and I do understand her concerns about it. I also (like some people who were critical of this book), particularly, believe in marriage and I’m married myself. But a person should keep in mind what a great difference it is to get married in our society and in Katsa’s. How different it must be to be someone like me and someone like her. In other words, people (and characters) have the right to their own opinions, and it’s ok if they are different from ours. We can still love them, you know?

I remain thinking she is a great role model, as is Po. Po, who is both physically and emotionally strong, is a great hero because he shows you that a true hero knows when to step up when you are needed, and when to step down when someone else can do the job better than you. Humility and patience is a great and refreshing characteristic in a hero. I love all of the other characters – like Raffin, Oll, Giddon – and I even liked the villains. None of them were as complex as Katsa and Po, but they were cohesive and worked fluidly with the plot.
Similarly, the world-building wasn’t that complex either, but the parts it featured were beautifully described and delicious to imagine. It’s a book driven by plot and the main characters, that’s for sure. And it had a fun, great plot; wonderful, strong main characters. So it worked for me!

My rating: 4.5/5
Would I read it again? Sure, it was fun.
Will I read the next ones? Yes, no doubt about it!
Do I recommend it? Yes! To fans of YA that are over 12 years old and want to read something really fun. This is High Fantasy, but I would recommend it to anyone. I would even say this is a good High Fantasy book to start with if you have never tried the genre. ...more

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