Graceling: A Review

Hey guys,

Well, if I had known I would get through the last 100 pages so fast I would never have put this book down in the first place! But alas here I am with the second review of the day!

What would you do if your only talent was killing?

Graceling is the first book in a trilogy, written by Kristen Cashore; with all three books now out it is perfect for you to marathon!

‘[This] exquisitely drawn romance… will slake the thirst of Twilight fans’ Publishers Weekly

I will be honest, this review (plastered along the front cover) kinda put me off. Now I loved reading Twilight , it had room for improvement but I liked it. However, after reading Graceling, they are nothing alike! I cannot see how this similarity could be found, other than as a method of drawing in the die hard Twilight fans!

I think they forget that Twilight is an extremely controversial piece in the literary world, making such a bold comparison almost instantly turns those who despise Twilight!

Another problem is that this is not a romance! Yes, there is a romance; but it is not the be all or end all for the book! It is an epic adventure, some courageous and pretty outstanding characters, and can definitely stand its own!

So please… don’t base your opinion of this book on the comparison to Twilight!

They don’t even sound the same:

In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are both feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: The Grace of Killing.

Feared by the court and shunned by those her own age, the darkness of her Grace casts a heavy shadow over Katsa’s life. Yet she remains defiant: when the King of Lienid’s father is kidnapped she investigates, and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? And who was the extraordinarily Graced man whose skills rivalled her own?

The only thing Katsa is sure of is that she no longer wants to kill. The intrigue the kidnapping offers her a way out- but little does she realise that something insidious and dark lurks behind the mystery. Something spreading from the shadowy figure of the one-eyed king…

Katsa should be noble, her family is that of Royalty and yet she finds herself at the whim of a King who only uses her for his dirty work. Her discovery was an accident, and Kristin worked it wonderfully into the story; Katsa never wanted to kill… but she just couldn’t not kill!

Now this is definitely a book that teenage readers could enjoy alongside adults! With only occasional scenes of vulgarity or bloodiness, Cashore portrays a very different side to the assassin that we have found riddled throughout YA and adult fiction.

I believe that this is a book that you should know little a the twists and the turns of the plot for yourself, and trust me there are some intense ones! Okay, there is a little bit of a romance, but definitely not the kissing and cuddling kind of romance that frankly has no place in epic fantasies! But rather the lets go kick some ass kind of romance!

So this got me thinking… what would your Grace be?

Personally I think mine would be procrastination… I always manage to pull something off good even if I leave it to the last minute!

I would definitely recommend!

Helen x

If you want to pick up this book, check out Amazon or The Book Depository!