Bitterblue

Bitterblue feels like another mystery unraveled before me. Cashore is a master in creating multidimensional characters which navigate through difficulties. I love the way interactions, love, longing, and all that are crafted into one another. It feels so healing to read this.

After reading this book, I realised there are books I want to actually own in hardcover again. So I'll be buying a copy of this one.

It's a little slower than Graceling and Fire, but the exploration of history and memory and trauma requires the extra space I think. It feels more YA than the two previous books, despite its subject matter, and I didn't buy into the politics, especially towards the end. The resolution felt both oversimplified and unsatisfying to me. Regardless of the ways it fell flat for me, it did make me cry several times. Most notably when Fire shows Bitterblue how much bigger she is than the hurt she's feeling.

It's a little slower than Graceling and Fire, but the exploration of history and memory and trauma requires the extra space I think.