Graceling

Towards the middle the melodrama and romance got to be too much for me and I had to put it down for a couple of days, but overall I liked it. An interesting world and characters.

it was wonderful and well written and woven to perfection .

the whole concept of the people with the eyes and ungraced , the world and the building of it just blew my socks away.

the langauge was my favourite , it was full of that classic fantasy elements and joy , anger , sadness , overpowering emotions , basically the best 300-400 page fantasy roller-coaster i have been on to date .
so the people :
-katsa - a badass beauty of a human being , with a side helping of stabby stabby stuff( assassin )
-po - prince who sees a lot of things, most of the time, ( most adorable guy ever not lyin' )
-oll - a guy working with (assasin) katsa
-giddon - a (according to katsa and me ) a somewhat annoying (katsa )but still beautiful ( that part was me ), persevering ( katsa here but me too !) , good human ( my view , i think ..)
- bitterblue - super sweet , great girl for her age with prosperous parenting issues . ( she is(not in the book, but in my eyes is so great that she is ) from another planet , that is how good ok )* hands trophy for amazingness*

i cannot put my love for this novel into proper words , hence the lack .
but ! i love it , and so do you ok ? ok.

love ,
bookishwolf :)

Absolutely amazing! I loved the take on how people's special powers worked and were thought up of. It made the story very interesting.
Katsa is a strong female character, one I've been looking to read about and I absolutely loved it. I look for so long and finally found another great one ^_^
Her relationships with people and how her character develops was enjoyable to read.

I'm horrible at reviews and this is one of those times I wish I could do better because I devoured this book and loved every minute of it.

Slow at times, dragged out a lot in the end, which I wasn't very satisfied with

3.5 Stars, but a high 3.5

This is going to be a hard review to write. I loved the world and the characters, but the plot and the writing were difficult at times and lessened my enjoyment.

Update: 02/16/2015

If you'd like to read this review on my blog.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

Graceling is the story of Lady Katsa, a girl who is graced with the power of killing. She has been trained all her life, and used by her uncle, king Randa, to do all of his errands, torturing and killing people. And then she meets Po, who is graced with the power of fighting. Together, they'll search for the answer to Grandfather Telif's capture, and find a few mysteries of their own.

I've wanted to read this book for a while. More than a year and a half, I'd dare to say. But somewhere along the way I heard this tiny bitty bad review about it. I can't even remember who was it from or what exactly did it say, but I remember it discouraging me from reading it.

Enter present world, where I find myself with new friends and companionship (book related) and they happen to mention their love for this book. Reason why we're here. I read it. And I regret really hard not reading it before.

The writing is one of the things that did it for me. It was a special kind of writing due to it being more 1600's, to say a year. And I've heard a lot of people complain about it not being good, but I'm not a native English speaker, and for what I saw, I think that she wrote what was best.

Then we have Katsa. I don't necessarily love her as my favorite character. She's super bad ass and hilariously dense. But she's very robotic, issue acknowledged as part of her Grace, which is fine for me and this makes me not feel her as much. And there's also the “I don't want kids, not getting married cause freedom” thing. In my case, I related her intensity towards that problem due to the era in which she finds herself. I mean, if someone was like that in this century, or the past one, or even the one before, I wouldn't have bought her. Because it would have been fake and very unnecessary to dig so much into it. But Katsa is kind of in an older time (or at least that's my perception) and I think it's not that exaggerate. Of course, it did bother me, for her to be so surly. But I get it.

I found the idea of Graces and their relation to the eye color to be such an original idea and very cool. Very well thought and executed. And all this Grandfather Tealif being captured and who is the one who ordered it. That's just plain awesome. One thing I didn't really like, which is very characteristic of series, is that not everything is revealed. And I wouldn't mind it that much if it wasn't because they really didn't say anything. There are so many things mentioned but not explained that it feels like the the author forgot about this things. But I guess I'll have to read the other two. on my way

But the thing that really bothered me about this book is how anticlimactic is was. It built up so much things and there was so much potential, and it all ended in this...nonsense. It really blew it for me. But the book in itseld was so amazing and interesting and full of awesomeness all over that I gave it 4.5.

AND OMG PO. Cutest thing ever. I'm in love completely. He's A+ perfect. And that ending Po being blind was perfect. Really sad but it was meant to be. The only thing I didn't like about it, is that you could see it coming miles away. But oh well.

You should definitely read this if you haven't. You won't loose your time and you'll end up so delighted.
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Amazing, amazing book. Can't believe it's over an in such a bittersweet note (more sweet than bitter to me) but I'm not really mad at it, I feel like it was fair. Really great story and the characters are amazingly done. Really really loved this book. I'm glad I finally decided to read it. Review to come.

This book started off really well. There was a curious action-type scene at the start and then, some time afterward, the love interest was introduced. I was just buzzing along with the story, it felt like I was practically flying through it and never having enough time to sit down and read as much as I wanted to. Then I closed in on the halfway point and the romance pretty much got resolved. I soon discovered, that was one of the few things this story had going for it.

With no real romantic tension subplot to keep me interested, I soon realized that all this story was was a journey from point A to point B then an event happened in front of the main characters that made it necessary to turn around and head back past point A to point C and then we had to turn around shortly after doing something there and head near point B to point D.

Really, the second two-thirds of the book was nothing but one long, protracted journey. Hardly anything even happened during the journey - it wasn't as though the bad guys were chasing them and they were fighting every few pages. I hate ‘endless journey' type stories and there was one reason and one reason only that I didn't skim more than a few pages.

The characters.

I love the people in this book. No, seriously, love them. Katsa is just so plain awesome and a tortured soul. It's great that she's such a tomboy and I'm glad to see a young woman in a fantasy setting that isn't crazy about wearing dresses. She does have some Mary Sue tendencies, but she's not perfect. She makes too many bad decisions to be perfect.

Po (I'd say ‘thankfully this is a nickname', but his given name is even sillier) is such a sweetheart. I heard wonderful things about him before I started the book and was actually a little concerned that he'd be just like so many other guys I've come across in YA. But he wasn't. I'm so glad to see a leading man in YA not be a jerk.

Bitterblue is so darn cute I just wanted to hug her. And Raffin... Raffin, who I don't have enough words for how much I loved, absolutely loved him. (Because blue hair is cool.) My heart broke a little when I discovered neither of the sequels were about him.

Honestly though, sometimes this book felt...bipolar. The first half was pretty typical light fantasy fare. It had its romance and bouts of hilarious humor and just felt pretty typical. The second half, things took a decidedly darker turn (an ‘on screen' death, talking of torturing animals and people, most disturbing though were the strong hints of a character engaging in pedophilia) with essentially zero romance and very little humor. And the ‘endless journey'. I don't mind ‘dark fantasy' but I do like my books to stay internally consistent. For me, I actually had to spend time getting acclimated to the shift in tone of the book.

Finally, to me the world really wasn't anything special. I really got a ‘rival warlords' feeling from the kings. I also got the feeling that they were almost universally creeps. Looking at the map, I couldn't believe that it took a night of hard riding to cover a distance that couldn't even have held the thin side of a matchstick.

This was a slow book - especially the second half. In no part of it did it have much action or fights, but at least the first half had a romance to keep me entertained. The second half didn't have much to break up the slowness or the slow journey. Everything about it was very anti-climactic.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)

After I read this book I did not want to continue with the series because I thought I'd be cheating on Katsa and Po. Fantasy and romance are my downfalls and anything that captures both in such a delicious way, as this book did, creates a spectacular read.

Very sad that Po becomes blind in the end.
Other than that...I LOVE THIS BOOK .-.

Upped to 5 stars on second reading. The full-cast audiobook is great! Highly recommended.

4.5/5 stars more to come later

I'm not sure why I put off reading this for so long, but I am so glad I finally sat down with it. Graceling was my favorite combination of elements: action, romance, loss, victory and a supernatural twist. The romance especially stuck with me—it was realistic, perfectly paced, and at times heartbreaking. It didn't fall for typical YA tropes and I found Cashore's take on Katsa and Po's relationship refreshing.

As for the characters themselves, Katsa was a breath of fresh air. She's easily one of the strongest female protagonists I've ever read—stubborn without being unlikable, and caring without being weak. I've added the companion novels (Fire and Bitterblue) to my TBR list and I look forward to reading more about the Graceling realm.

Had a hard time making it past the setting and names to connect to the characters, but only at first. So refreshing to see a strong female lead!

It may not be fair to review this book as I could not finish it. Childish story telling and the obviousness of a looming love story made me put it down early. I hope I was not mistaken about the plot and its not a awesome action adventure with great magic and sword sage built in. A very twilight saga feel early on!

one of the few 5 stars of 2012

I totally enjoyed this romantic adventure. The romance was well done and suited to my taste–NOT a love triangle. Katsa is a strong heroine, though I sometimes felt she was coming across as a little too perfect. I don't like when people have fake flaws like “caring too much.” (Looking at you, Mr. Potter.) I sort of felt Katsa was like that a little bit.

Recommended for high school girls. Action hero chick with a boyfriend and only a medium amount of angst (when they're together, at least).

I did have some trouble getting into the novel in the beginning. The writing didn't seem smooth. It seemed repetitive and bumpy. When I finally was being pulled into the novel I was soon pulled back out with the whole romance between Katsa and Po. It turned me off since, to me, it seemed forced. I didn't care about the anti(?)-marriage or anti(?)-child message I just didn't like how much of the novel it ended up in. It is character development but pages and pages of her thoughts about marriage and children, I get it. I was missing the connection to the storyline, and the journey.
I lemmed it. Maybe one day I can go back to it and enjoy it. I want to! So many people I know liked it but right now, it's not for me.

In the world of Graceling there are two distinct kinds of people - those that are graced and those that are not. The skills of the graced from what I have seen so far in this first book of Kristin Cashore's fantasy series are not as flamboyant or should I say obvious as what you would find in, for example, a comic book. There are no lasers shooting out of people's eyes, or tornado's being formed with a mere thought, the gracelings are what I would describe as unnaturally gifted. A normal person gifted in fighting would beat his or her opponent with almost ease, a person graced in fighting could have a broken arm, be faced off against five people and would still never lose a fight. The gracelings could be the most talented dancers, swimmers, runners, singers, weavers etc. or they could have far more dangerous talents.

Katsa's grace allowed her to kill a man when she was eight years old with one hand and from this moment on she has been used by her uncle, King Reyard, to strike fear into the heart of anyone who wrongs him. This along with her particular grace has made others who have not even met Katsa fear her, and her upbringing has not made Katsa the most typical of noble ladies. Still, Katsa despite not seeing herself as anything more than a tyrant leads covert operations where she helps people who need it and more and more recently she is finding it much more difficult to carry out her uncle's orders. And what really sets things off is while on a mission Katsa encounters a graced fighter who unexpectedly helps her unravel the peculiarities of her own grace as well as the shocking secrets of a foreign kingdom.

The story of Graceling for me was truly about not allowing yourself to be shaped by other people's predetermined thoughts of who you are and about being able to achieve anything as long as you never give up despite the odds. Graceling was also filled with such a diverse combination of awesome characters that ranged from brilliant to kick butt that I can't wait to meet them again in Fire and Bitterblue.

In the seven kingdoms of the world created by Kristin Cashore, some people are graced with abilities while most are not. Those who are graced have two different colored eyes. Katsa is the most well known of all of the graced throughout the kingdoms, not only because of her brilliantly blue and green eyes, but because she is a woman graced with killing.

While Katsa is used by her king to dole out his punishment across the land, she is not a monster. She secretly forms a council that seeks justice and compassion in the kingdoms. During a council mission to rescue a kidnapped grandfather, she meets a stranger with one gold eye and one silver. Po is also graced with what appears to be fighting.

The two embark on a strange and dangerous journey to find out why one of the kings would want to kidnap an elderly man and learn that everything is not what it seems. Together, they must work to save a princess and the entire world from the grips of a man who is adored by everyone.

The story itself is fantastical and original; I've never read anything like it. This is one of the few books that generated both an audible and physical reaction from me at various points throughout.

This was a really compelling read. Another book that I probably wouldn't have picked up if it weren't for YA lit class because it seems too “fantasy-ish”, but I would have missed out. I also read this book straight through in one day (and not just because I was traveling). I loved the way she developed unique Graces (special talents... kiiind of like mutant powers or whatever), especially Katsa and Po's. I loved the way the relationship between Po and Katsa developed, and the mystery of the kidnapped prince and the young princess. I'm definitely planning to check out the rest of the trilogy.–re-read in preparation for [b:Winterkeep 53624358 Winterkeep (Graceling Realm, #4) Kristin Cashore https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600268464l/53624358.SY75.jpg 83947956] and it still slaps

A lot like Tamora perice's boooks like it a lot.
There is an ‘adult situation' and it is sort of anti-marriage which I don't agree with, but otherwise a great adventure book.

This is an interesting story. I liked it. As a good friend of mine put it the romance sections are at least PG-13 so be expecting that. Also I wonder what the social commentary would be about Katsa's view on marriage. I don't feel like putting a spoiler in here so I won't but I just hope that she develops as the books continue. Overall I thought this was a very fun, intersting book.

To be “graced” means you've been born with a special skill and the most telling characteristic that distinguishes the graced from the un- is that the graced have one eye with a different color than the other. Our heroine, the feisty Katsa, has one blue eye and one green. Her grace seems to be superior fighting ability. In her kingdom, one among seven, the king reserves the right to use those graced as he sees fit. Katsa is his enforcer of choice. But she's starting to get ideas of her own. And after meeting a skilled (and graced) fighter from the kingdom of Leinid, Katsa's life takes a decisive turn. This was an easy read, a little too grown up for the younger teens perhaps, and the obstacles facing Katsa are handled well. But I wouldn't classify this as a blazing page-turner either. Also: it's a fairly small cast of characters for a fantasy. This is a stand-alone tale but the author has written a separate book set in the same world. I'm not putting it on my To Be Read list, though.

Full Review

4 1/2 stars.