Graceling
Ratings382
Average rating3.9
If they could make graphic novels for ALL my favorite fantasies, that would be awesome. Just sayin'.....
1: Graceling ★★★★★
#2: Fire ★★★
#3: Bitterblue ★★
#4: Winterkeep ★★
#5: Untitled - will not be reading
Everyone always talks about Throne of Glass when they think of a woman assassin for a king, but this book is overlooked. While I know Maas was very young when she wrote it, I felt more compelled to feel for these characters that Kristin Cashore created.
It does not focus its plot around the romance but rather the other way around. It's just a good enhancement to the story and the character's arcs.
I hope more people read this book and that it gets the attention it deserves.
2.5 /3
DNF at 70%
Les juro que intenté e intenté, pero es la primera vez que lo acepto, nomás no me interesa el libro, me fastidió lo lento que iba, la idea era excelente, dentro de su cliché, pero sus personajes uugh, nomás no pude.
SPOILERS A CONTINUACIÓN. (VAGUE)
mi principal problema: Katsa.
UGHHH les juro que no pude con la imitación en baja calidad de Katniss, quisieron captar su molde de personaje sin entender la escencia y obviamente quedó una réplica vacía. Gurl just stfu. La hacen super fuerte y la chingada y medio justificado, pero nomás no me termina de agradar, es que su actuar casi ni tenía lógica. Uno creería que con el tiempo cambiaría, pero es que llegó un punto en el que dejé de tener esperanza. (verdaderamente me dio tan igual que ya ni me acuerdo de sus actitudes, solo sé que mi memoria dijo aghhh con la unika y diferente)
Segundo problema: El ritmo.
Me sentía como avanzando por miel con este libro, todo sucedía demasiado lento, se enfocaban en los detalles en exceso y ya para cuando avanzaba había olvidado qué estaba sucediendo, no logró atraparme más que en unos pocos momentos, pero incluso esos fueron de que... meh.
Le doy puntos por el worldbuilding, que parecía tener sentido, aunque verdaderamente no me acuerdo bien porque ni eso me interesó la vdd
y por Po, que no es lo mejor, pero sí lo rescatable de la historia skdjfvnsdk.
Creo que en otra época me habría gustado más, pero ahorita ya no estoy pa estas decepciones sdjfvijsd.
Contains spoilers
I have read Graceling before, but it's been seven years and I knew I was going to get more out of it now than I did when I was a teenager. That being said, I wasn't prepared for how viscerally angry it made me. Reading it now, Katsa seems so much more vulnerable. Despite her physical power, she lives in constant fear and anxiety, primarily because other people feel unpredictable and unknowable to her. She has a hard time understanding the motivations and emotions of others and it makes her avoidant of forming relationships. No matter what her character or abilities are, she is perpetually on the outside of every conversation, every joke. She is vulnerable, sure, but she isn't immature. This is a fact that escapes most of the men in this book, which is the reason why I was filled with rage for the first half of the book. Once Katsa leaves the court, I started to feel better, and especially after she realizes that her Grace isn't killing. And, in the end, it's her relationship with Po that enables her to overcome her weaknesses, in every sense of the word. He teaches her to trust herself, and even when she loses control, it's him that pulls her back to herself. The ending is just the final manifestation of this, killing Leck not because he is threatening her or because she has broken free of his power, but because her loyalty and her instinct to protect Po is stronger than her own control.
Po... yeah that's our boyfriend now. Truly the prince of the universe, has any fictional man been as thoroughly good to his core before? I doubt it.
On a more serious level though, it's incredibly refreshing to listen to a book I used to enjoy as a child and have the relationship not be the absolute dumpster fire so many of my old favorites have turned out to be now that I'm (kind of) capable of critical thought. There is real and honest communication from both sides, and they handle their emotions openly and deal with them with the complexity and the nuance that comes from truly knowing and trusting each other and I have to say that's the hottest thing a YA couple has ever done. There not being a miscommunication trope is so near and dear to my heart, my fucking soul is singing. The side characters are written in a way that you can't help but feel for them even if they're not mentioned that often and the description of the world is wonderful.
I love when I get to keep a childhood favorite for good reasons and not just because my nostalgia driven brain still loves it even though I know it's objectively bad. This is just good. Through and through. Made me fall a little bit in love with fantasy all over again.
There's a reason this is a “best of” book and an award winner.
Very fluid, easy to read, descriptive, yet not dumbed down for the YA audience. I also appreciated that it can stand on its own. I like series but can't always get to the next one right away. Which means cliff hangers annoy me. ;)
this was really YA, it was fun, interesting and sweet. I liked KATZA AND PO AND THE LITTLE QUEEN BITTERBLUE
Reading this book was a whole journey. Something about the writing stuck out to me immediately, although I am not fully sure what it was. This is truly fully about the characters and their interactions. Even though a lot happens in the plot, long journeys, kings challenged the focus is really on the relationships of the main characters. I don't think I have ever read such a deep and kind relationship.
I don't usually read romances because I don't enjoy the constant troubles within the relationship, but this didn't centre their troubles with each other but their love within the troubling world. Which I always enjoy so much more. And it was truly also very dark and terrifying in many ways. Honestly probably the perfect book for me and I will be buying the next ones for sure, I usually love anthologies and expect this one to be no different.
Okay this was pretty good considering it made me sad so many times. Everytime something happened to Poe and Katsa I was wiped out
First read this in high school for summer reading. I enjoyed it the first time but I don't think it fully sunk in as to WHY we were reading it in the first place. Now though, I can see why they chose this, simply because of Cashore's ability to build a fantasy world centered around a strong female protagonist. Someone who is physically strong and mentally strong, and cares deeply for justice and those she cares about. Katsa could've been molded and manipulated into becoming someone so evil and vile and twisted, just like Leck, who used his powers to abuse those around him. But the fact that Katsa's very own moral core is so strong, that she breaks free from Randa's control, takes charge of her own life, starts her own special inter-kingdom Council to help others... She's such an amazing and thoughtful character that you can't help but enjoy reading.
Though, I think the driving force of Graceling has to be Katsa's relationship with Po. It is built so gradually, where they learn to rely on, understand, and trust each other. They respect each other and pine for each other. They have such a deep connection and balance one another so well. Katsa never had interest in love, until she found someone who understood and connected with her, not even realizing she's fallen in love either. Their devotion and their tension was just chef's kiss. It's so nice to read a healthy relationship dynamic that depicts both of them as equals, where they TREAT each other as equals.
This is one of those fantasy novels where women are fully empowered to make their own choices about sexuality and marriage and motherhood, but the one flaw in the narrative concerning sexuality is that it's presented as an undisputed truth that for the recipient, first PIV will always involve pain and that bleeding is normal. This was the received wisdom for my parents' generation, but pain and bleeding are neither inevitable nor unavoidable. In a culture that doesn't value women's pleasure as much as men's, of course it would be the most common experience, since the recipient's partner is would be likely to ensure that the recipient is physiologically ready to receive their partner. In the society of this book, women are taught that their own pleasure is important, so it's very odd for characters to be discussing “Why does it always hurt the first time, for the woman?”
Fantasy authors have a responsibility to correct this myth so that readers do not believe that bleeding (which is an injury) and pain during PIV are ever inevitable or normal. It's only “normal” in a context where the receiver's partner is not attentive to the receiver's body being physiologically ready or the receiver has a medical condition that causes muscle spasms or dryness.
In the scene where Katsa experiences PIV for the first time, it is at a time when she and Po have been doing other activities for a while with increasing intensity. Discomfort from a new sensation would make sense, but it doesn't make sense for there to have been actually pain for her unless she had a medical condition or was dehydrated, or if she was automatically clenching her muscles in expectation of pain instead of relaxing them (a possibility if you're taught that pain is inevitable, but Po might have felt pain from it too or been completely unable to do PIV, and asked her to relax), or Po was inadvertently being too rough. But it would have been much better for the scene to involve Katsa telepathically communicating “you're hurting me” and Po to apologize and slow down in response, to show readers that pain can be lessened or eliminated by slowing down and relaxing, and to leave readers feeling empowered to tell partners if they're having pain.
Fantasy authors: please do better!
“Mercy was more frightening than murder, because it was harder.”
A solid good read. I thought it was unique and even though not much happens regarding the plot, i still enjoyed every part. The characters are likeable too, especially Po. The romance takes a back seat but it's so good and endearing. I also liked the seven kingdoms conflicts and the graces concept.
I started listening to this one. The audiobook is terrible! It's a full cast, but there was only one narrator that was decent. It was killing the book for me, so I switched to my paperback. Much better. There were a few moments in the first half that were unnecessary and close to vomit inducing. The second half was much better. I actually loved the last part of the book. I would have rated it higher if the whole book was that good. Hopefully the series gets better.
Alright, so... I wanted to like this book, I really did. However, pretty much as soon as I picked it up I wanted to put it down. Seriously, I constantly found other things to do as soon as I started a page.
If it wasn't for the audiobook I may never have gotten past the first couple chapters.
I found Katsa to be super annoying, childish, and unlikable. Po was better but, how did this guy who came off as at least a bit more mature fall in love with this childish teenager? Po seems like a bit of a martyr, he's a prince that's not like other princes, he likes that he has the smallest castle and is last in line, he has to hide his grace, he even takes his blindness with the acceptance of a saint. The only reason I'll give this two stars is because I give one stars to the books I actually loath and I didn't loath this, I was just really, really, really bored. I wanted it to end about 10 chapters before it did and had to drag myself through it. Their romance seemed shoehorned in to me, like the author was told that it needed to have a romance because it was YA. I didn't care about them or their love. honestly would've been better if it was just Katsa going to find and save Bitterblue. Or if it was told partially in Po's POV as well.
Like the last book I read, if it hadn't been on a list of books I'm trying to read through I probably would've DNF'd it.
Almost one sitting. I LOVE an angsty couple with great chemistry. And I LOVE an angsty heroine who has to overcome her inner darkness. And I loved this fast paced and beautiful story.
Katsa is a Graceling, born with the ability to kill a man with her bare hands. Forced into killing for her King, she goes throughout life hating her ability. She is quick to anger, and if she loses control she will kill. What little joy she gets out of life is by secretly disobeying the King whenever she can. Until she meets Po. A beautiful man with a grace for fighting. He opens her eyes to a new world, one where she can be in control of her life and make her own choices.
Graceling had a strong start. Even though Katsa should be a powerful character, lifetime conditioning and guilt made her into a tool to the king. Each time she kills for the king, it's another day she loathes being graced. I saw the potential in Katsa to develop into a strong willed female character. I enjoyed watching her walk the thin line between obedience and snapping under the pressure.
I expected the story to stay focused on Katsa's struggle. Instead, it fades into the background the minute Po came onto the page. Where was the internal battling? Where was the slow climb to redemption? Instead of turning into a stronger character, Katsa just became boring. Even the twist with her grace that was supposed to be this amazing mystery, fell flat for me.
Romance took the center stage. Katsa became this mushball of a woman. A person I guess some would connect with as a motherly protective figure, but I just didn't enjoy the development. The subplots even paled in comparison to the amount of time spent developing the romance between the two characters. It was as if the rest of the story was just filler. I would only suggest this book if you like YA romance.
I liked it.
And you will read some people whining about how Katsa didn't want to wear feminine clothes or hair. It isn't to make her appear a “strong female”, it's because “feminine clother and hair” are pretty impractical and Katsa is 100% of practicality, function, effectivity. I think Kristin Cashore managed to make it very clear, but - some people will always find something to whine about.
What I do have a problem with is the virginity myth. SEX SHOULDN'T HURT. If it hurts - even during the first time - someone is doing something wrong. Most likely the woman isn't properly aroused yet. Usually people forget foreplay, and if it's one's first time, one doesn't even know about it. Nevertheless, if sex hurts, you are doing something wrong.
Well, the rating for this one is a difficult thing. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I loved the main characters (and side ones too), I felt engaged in the story. It was funny and quite easy. Honestly, it is not a literary masterpiece, and the plot is not the strongest suit of the novel. However, I loved it, and it is all that matters to me.
I still love this book so much I love Katsa I love Po I love Bitterblue I love Raffin!!!!!! (also Raffin and Bann are gay af for each other I'm calling it)
Pure unadulterated fun. Graceling is very much a light YA read- I'd recommend it to readers as young as 10. It can be very surface level at times; there is minimal depth to the book- the big villain dies easily and isn't even fleshed out. The so called “feminist agenda” isn't as prevalent as some would have you think, and it is purely pushed through the views of Katsa- never through events or people which is something I'm grateful for.
Don't go in expecting anything amazing. Read Graceling and except it for what it is- a well written, if simplistic YA book that avoids most pitfalls of the genre without doing anything special.
