Graceling

Okay, I know this is a day late. See the review below for excuses. I didn’t get time to actually read the book until the weekend, and then didn’t have time to write the review on Sunday. Long story short, I’m sorry and I’ll try to not let it happen again. Put your pitchforks and torches away. Aaaand on to the review of Graceling by Kristin Cashore!

                Graceling is set in an olden land with seven kingdoms (I love it… even “olden land” sounds all, um, olden). In these lands, some people are born with two different colored eyes and have Graces. A Grace is basically an extremely heightened skill at something. It could be anything, like swimming, archery, cooking, or sewing (yeah, that would be a lame Grace). Some Graces are completely odd, like the ability to hold your breath for a really long time or climb really tall trees. Anyway, all Graced children are sent to their country’s king when they are young. If a king has use for their Grace, they’ll be brought up at court. If he doesn’t, they’ll be sent back home.

                Katsa, who in the book is in her late teens or so, is ruled by King Randa of the Middluns. She has a very unusual Grace, though, the Grace of killing, and is forced by Randa to do his dirty work—dole out punishment and the like. One day she meets Prince Greening, or Po. Po is Graced with hand-to-hand combat. He shows Katsa that it would be possible to get out from under Randa’s thumb, and tells her about his purpose being there. Soon the two set out on a journey to uncover the truth about his mission that is buried deeper than anyone realizes. They must learn to trust each other to survive, a process which isn’t helped by some shocking discoveries about both Katsa and Po’s Graces.  Will they both make it through the journey unharmed, or will they be ripped apart by forces beyond their imagining?

                Dun dun duuuun. Yep, this is definitely an adventure-type book. I personally read it in one sitting because I couldn’t bear to put it down. And, I’m not the type to collect a lot of books (I consider it my duty to keep the library running) but I can say that this book is on my Christmas wishlist. Seriously, read this book. It doesn’t matter what age you are, everyone would like this book. Get it at Kettleson, SHS, BMS, and Mt. Edgecumbe. I’m not kidding. Go.