TimMason reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I found the whole series to be readable.
Hardcover, 417 pages
English language
Published Dec. 1, 2008 by Harcourt.
4 stars
(48 reviews)
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.
Tsundoku reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Truth is a precarious thing; Content Warning: Abuse, Gaslighting
4 stars
Me in 2013: This sure is rad! I could go for more of this, but the villain doesn't seem like a big deal! Me now: Oh, God I GET it now. 2016-2020 has taught me how precarious truth is and how ultimately devious gaslighting is. Also I love how Katsa and Po's graces compliment each other, it's really fitting, but OH GOD LECK IS THE WORST.
Maybe if you're 21 and naive like I was, and lived under a rock the past 4 years, you won't appreciate how powerful an ability to gaslight is.
I don't think you'll feel that way if you read Graceling now. It will scream "too real" as you remember the reporters talking about being gaslit by 45 regarding things they personally witnessed.
While I look forward to Winterkeep, the 4th book in the series coming out next year, I'm imagining I will see Fire and …
Me in 2013: This sure is rad! I could go for more of this, but the villain doesn't seem like a big deal! Me now: Oh, God I GET it now. 2016-2020 has taught me how precarious truth is and how ultimately devious gaslighting is. Also I love how Katsa and Po's graces compliment each other, it's really fitting, but OH GOD LECK IS THE WORST.
Maybe if you're 21 and naive like I was, and lived under a rock the past 4 years, you won't appreciate how powerful an ability to gaslight is.
I don't think you'll feel that way if you read Graceling now. It will scream "too real" as you remember the reporters talking about being gaslit by 45 regarding things they personally witnessed.
While I look forward to Winterkeep, the 4th book in the series coming out next year, I'm imagining I will see Fire and Bitterblue much in a similar light now.
I won't say politics in the US "ruined" the book, because I should have appreciated Graceling properly in the first place. I just hate that it took me this long to fully appreciate this book.
I have one problem with the book (with Cashore talks about with recent printings) where someone becomes disabled, but their Grace means the disability is effectively meaningless. I don't think we were having that discussion in 2008, but we should have been.
Anyway read Kristin Cashore
Axl reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Katsa is the most competent girl ever, and the romance was very sweet
the_lirazel reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Rereading this one because I want to reread Bitterblue. Still trying to figure out what it is about this book that doesn't quite work for me. Maybe it's the vaguely-medieval pseudo-European worldbuilding, which is literally my least favorite kind of historical fantasy setting (just because it's done to death. So. Boring.). Maybe it's that I never really believe that Katsa has been torturing and killing people since she was a child and that's kind of...her whole story.
The book is well written, and I understand why it made a stir when it was published, but I think that both of the next two books in the series are much better.
I really like Po, though, even if I find his name distracting. Top quality YA fantasy romantic lead.
govmarley reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Surprised how much I liked it by the end! A bit of a slow build up, but I ended up loving how it came together.
Katsa is my favorite kind of heroine. Strong, smart, and flawed. The supporting cast is good, too. Po and Bitterblue help make Katsa who she is by the end. And she is flawed, to be sure. There were times in the book where I wanted to shake her. She has some messed up ideas about marriage, and love, but I'll give the girl a pass because of how she was raised. And the grace system is interesting, so I'll eventually read the other two books. Rounding up my 3 1/2 stars to 4 because I'm sappy and I loved Po.
Ell reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on Goodreads
4 stars
Thoroughly enjoyable, captivating, and delightful, both while reading and upon reflection. Gets right so many things that are wrong with much of literature and media in general, and does so effortlessly and unobtrusively, in a story that is quite compelling in its own right. Great characters, the Graces and their dynamics are intriguing, lots of surprises and development.
Ell reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Thoroughly enjoyable, captivating, and delightful, both while reading and upon reflection. Gets right so many things that are wrong with much of literature and media in general, and does so effortlessly and unobtrusively, in a story that is quite compelling in its own right. Great characters, the Graces and their dynamics are intriguing, lots of surprises and development.
Ell reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
Thoroughly enjoyable, captivating, and delightful, both while reading and upon reflection. Gets right so many things that are wrong with much of literature and media in general, and does so effortlessly and unobtrusively, in a story that is quite compelling in its own right. Great characters, the Graces and their dynamics are intriguing, lots of surprises and development.
betty reviewed Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm, #1)
Review of 'Graceling' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I failed out of this book a little less than 1/3 of the way through. None of the characters managed to seem real to me; the author jumped back into the main character's past and had to tell me how old she was each time, but she seemed no more mature at sixteen than she did at eight.
The main villain seemed like he answered a call from central casting and got the part because he had an especially villainous beard; I assume the beard is also his motivation for villainy. I'm not really sure what the do-gooders motivation is for do-gooderery, since I don't think any of them even have beards.
The entire plot is motivated by people doing the obvious, except that somehow it's not obvious to the characters until someone points it out. Sometimes this is lampshaded by Katsa being canonically bad at people.
I liked parts …
I failed out of this book a little less than 1/3 of the way through. None of the characters managed to seem real to me; the author jumped back into the main character's past and had to tell me how old she was each time, but she seemed no more mature at sixteen than she did at eight.
The main villain seemed like he answered a call from central casting and got the part because he had an especially villainous beard; I assume the beard is also his motivation for villainy. I'm not really sure what the do-gooders motivation is for do-gooderery, since I don't think any of them even have beards.
The entire plot is motivated by people doing the obvious, except that somehow it's not obvious to the characters until someone points it out. Sometimes this is lampshaded by Katsa being canonically bad at people.
I liked parts of the setup, with some people having special mutant abilities, (here called 'graces' and the mutants called "gracelings") but I couldn't identify with any of the characters enough to care, and gave up on the book when I realized I'd rather do a load of laundry.
