- Hardcover: 471 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (Oct 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 015206396X
- ISBN-13: 978-0152063962
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.5 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,222,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Graceling
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65 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good debut, with flaws, but fun,
By
This review is from: Graceling (Hardcover)
In Kristin Cashore's début, a Graceling is a person with a preternatural power of sorts. Some Graces allow great skill at fighting, or mind-reading, or anything else that might be useful in a fantasy novel.
Katsa has a very special Grace, one that's very useful, but not one that she wants: the Grace of Killing. She's the niece King Randa of the Middluns, and was noticed from a very early age; the king now uses her to enforce his rule across the land: she is his assassin, his best soldier, and is known throughout the kingdom for her ferocity and blood-lust. Those few who see beyond her differently coloured eyes, and her forced shows of violence, know she is not like that. She hates what she has to do, and with a few highly-placed friends -- the Prince, for one -- has established a secret Council that spans many lands, dedicated to the protection of the people. One kingdom needs no help, though: that of King Leck, the only peace-loving king in the land. Except, the father of Leck's wife has gone missing, presumed kidnapped -- he's also the father of the King of Lienid, and if something isn't done soon, there could be war... Throw into the mix a man with a Grace that makes him unstoppable or killable, and you have a situation... And a good début. The editor who acquired it is in fact the same editor who acquired Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss for Gollancz, both excellent authors, though different in tone from Cashore. In line with the United States marketing of this book as a Young Adult, while there is violence in Graceling it's not too gritty and there's no swearing. I'm having difficulty comparing it to either Rothfuss or Abercrombie, and whilst it has comparisons to the début of Robert Redick, The Red Wolf Conspiracy, in terms of style and readability, that one doesn't work either. Graceling is well-written, very accessible, and very entertaining. It's not a book that's going to win awards, and I don't think it will achieve quite the success of Rothfuss and Abercrombie, but it is a book that I could see a lot of people enjoying. The characters are interesting, there's enough violence to keep me satisfied -- tempered with the odd bit of love -- and the villain is rather dastardly indeed. It has been remarked upon, with a groan by some, that this story features seven-bloody-kingdoms, and some dodgy names, something that, for some reason, is incredibly common in many fantasies. Well, that's true. There are some other flaws, also: I'd have liked to have actually seen some motives behind what the villain does, (though I expect "madness" would be a good summary), but this is apparently to be explored in Cashore's next book, a prequel. Towards the middle of the book, I began to suspect the identity of the villain, and was proved right, but the ending did surprise me, and it's a twist I liked. I'll be interested to see what Katsa gets up to after the prequel, though luckily there's no cliffhanger ending in Graceling to keep me frustrated for several years. A solid début, Graceling is a book I had a great deal of fun reading; entertaining and fast-paced, it kept me quiet for a few hours!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The idea held some promise...,
By Maria Meadowcroft (Essex) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Graceling (Paperback)
The first thing I'll say is don't read this book if you want a really high quality story. You will be rather disappointed. Over all I enjoyed the story but I did find the plot extremely basic with manufactured romance and an obvious villain and I don't see how it was seen as an "exquisitely drawn romance".
I have to say I was a little mislead by the map contained within the first few pages of the book; I've usually found that most books that include a map of the world they are set in are well thought out and have copious painstaking detail, I'll state a famous example... The Lord of the Rings, and a more recent example The Black Magician trilogy and associated works. So I thought as I glanced over the map that maybe the author had managed to be concise as well as detailed. Unfortunately there was hardly any mention of the world the story is set in and it irritated me a little that the main cities were simply named after the king that resided in it. The little detail that is given about the setting was presented in such a way that I absorbed hardly any of it. The characters themselves are also superficial, with more work Katsa could have been a wonderfully constructed character, and she has the potential to be one of those multifaceted characters with a tough outer shell and a deep complex interior. Instead she was a flat and contradictory character. From the first impressions of her she was tough but that seemed to disappear constantly when she would burst into tears for little reason, where a stronger person would have behaved in a completely different way. I would have loved to see her sharp wit embellished on because it did give me the odd laugh out loud moment. The romance is terribly predictable and I knew who the love interest would be by page ten, buy page eleven I had the gist of how their characters would play against each other. I won't say outright that I didn't enjoy the book, served as an ok gap filler but it is unlikely I would want to read it again and again The story has good potential and I really liked the idea of graces but Cashore painted it with a paint roller where she should have used a fine detail brush.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An astounding debut.,
By Bookaphile (Lancashire, UK.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Graceling (Paperback)
Kristin Cashore's debut novel is, quite simply, astounding. It is a far cry from the weak, passive `heroines' that have recently been giving YA literature a bad name; the characters of Graceling spring to life, inviting--no, demanding--that the reader join their world, a place filled with vibrancy and life. From the first page to the last, Cashore's strong writing allows the reader to not only see her fantastical world through her imagination, but through their own: the strongly-defined world of the novel becomes almost as dear and familiar to the reader as something they themselves might have created.
Katsa, the protagonist of Graceling, is not merely a strong role-model for young-adult readers, but for any reader. She is not meek and easily controlled--though the theme of control does have a huge standing within the novel--but rather a young woman who is able to take her own destiny into her hands and mould it, shape it into something better for herself. Her reactions to the situations she finds herself in are believable and provoke empathy in the reader, something which I have been sorely unable to gather for much of the characters in the YA literature currently on the market. She is not, as so many characters seem to currently be, defined solely by her relationships; she loves with reason, and yet, simultaneously, without, for there can truly be no logic in love. Graceling is largely character-driven, but that does not suggest that there is no plot, or that the plot to be found is below average. Indeed, I found myself unable to put this book down; I as much devoured this novel as simply read it. Perhaps my only complaint with the novel is the speed in which the antagonist is removed, but this is not an issue that truly impacted on my appreciation for, and delight with, the novel as a whole. As soon as I'd finished reading Cashore's debut novel, I ordered from my local library the second in this fresh, vibrant new series, entitled Fire. I would recommend both of these novels to anyone who is remotely interested in fantasy or young-adult literature - I would even recommend them to those who are not, in the hopes that these powerful novels would sway their minds. Kristin Cashore's world is fantastical and yet realistic; the setting may not be our own world, but it is no less moving and believable for it.
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