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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
Until Winterkeep came out, I thought the Graceling Realms series was completed, and I was satisfied with that. When Winterkeep did come out, I was pleasantly surprised that not only was one of my favorite authors continuing to expand on one of my favorite worlds but also that the magic of Cashore's writing held up to the pedestal my middle and high school shelf placed it on.
Seasparrow was even better than Winterkeep; I read all 600 pages in the span of a day without putting it down once. Not only is Hava one of the more compelling and interesting POV characters of any YA book I've encountered but the story perfectly balanced suspense and mystery while never punishing the reader for daring to hope or for putting clues together. Also, I'm so glad Cashored decided to expand the role of the Keepish blue foxes in this book.
Seasparrow was even better than Winterkeep; I read all 600 pages in the span of a day without putting it down once. Not only is Hava one of the more compelling and interesting POV characters of any YA book I've encountered but the story perfectly balanced suspense and mystery while never punishing the reader for daring to hope or for putting clues together. Also, I'm so glad Cashored decided to expand the role of the Keepish blue foxes in this book.
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Why do you care about the tiny particles that make up the precious things of our world, if you’re only going to tear it apart?”
Okay, I was too harsh on the previous books in this series because this was definitely the worst. I think the best way to describe this set is that Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue are a trilogy while Winterkeep and Seasparrow are a duology, more of a spin-off of the first three. This book focuses on Hava, the half-sister to Queen Bitterblue. While a storyline solely following her, dealing with her grief and experience with King Leck, and the use of her grace could have been an amazing story, this fell flat. 80% of the novel is set either on a ship or shipwrecked. Winterkeep promised an action-packed ending with weapons of mass destruction and tensions between kingdoms, but none of that happened. Rather, the story was more coming-of-age for Hava than the fate of the Graceling realm.
Favorite Character: the fox kits. Early on, one of the characters smuggles a blue fox aboard the ship and kept it drugged in the storage section. Hava finds the fox, who is pregnant, and raises the kits during their harrowing journey back to Monsea. Throughout the novel, Hava gives different people a fox kit as they help boost morale when food becomes tight and people lose limbs to frostbite. As the kits age, they have fun personalities that add to the narrative. With that being said, the human characters were so dull in comparison that only the foxes were memorable to me.
The Good: this was definitely more coming-of-age for Hava, which is fine. She has dealt with a lot in her life, especially watching her mother die at the hands of her father, King Leck, but outside of that we don't get much of her personality. She is afraid to be herself as she's spent most of her life in hiding (as her grace allowed) but that's really it. Hava is very fascinated in the work done by Linta Massera, the scientist from Winterkeep, but she's not formally educated and struggles with translating the work from Keepish to Monsean. We see a lot of her half interests; she's now interested in sailing, chemistry, traveling, etc. But it really doesn't have much impact on the overall story.
The Bad: as I mentioned earlier, the previous installment painted a world where there may be weapons of mass destruction circulating. This would have been an intriguing way to end the Graceling Realm as we could see how each kingdom utilizes war tactics. We have been hinted at the unrest in Estill and now they have ties with Winterkeep. We know nothing about Pikka or any of the countries east of Winterkeep. That would have been an interesting approach to see how each country was different. Additionally, the struggles the characters faced with the ship and the shipwreck didn't have much bearing on the overall story. They were leaving Winterkeep to begin forging treaties to avoid war, mine the mountains in Monsea to make sure that there isn't more zilfium that can be trafficked, and to continue learning about the people of the Dells. But instead, we got a lengthy novel on how people feel when they're starving, frostbitten, and sick of each other, people who aren't main characters in the series.
Maybe I'm being too harsh on this story and perhaps there will be new installments that clear up some of these things, but this was a terrible way to end the series. We have no idea how the use of zilfium, silver, and air crafts will change the Known World of the Graceling Realm, we're just left with characters questioning who they are and what they want to do with their lives.
Okay, I was too harsh on the previous books in this series because this was definitely the worst. I think the best way to describe this set is that Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue are a trilogy while Winterkeep and Seasparrow are a duology, more of a spin-off of the first three. This book focuses on Hava, the half-sister to Queen Bitterblue. While a storyline solely following her, dealing with her grief and experience with King Leck, and the use of her grace could have been an amazing story, this fell flat. 80% of the novel is set either on a ship or shipwrecked. Winterkeep promised an action-packed ending with weapons of mass destruction and tensions between kingdoms, but none of that happened. Rather, the story was more coming-of-age for Hava than the fate of the Graceling realm.
Favorite Character: the fox kits. Early on, one of the characters smuggles a blue fox aboard the ship and kept it drugged in the storage section. Hava finds the fox, who is pregnant, and raises the kits during their harrowing journey back to Monsea. Throughout the novel, Hava gives different people a fox kit as they help boost morale when food becomes tight and people lose limbs to frostbite. As the kits age, they have fun personalities that add to the narrative. With that being said, the human characters were so dull in comparison that only the foxes were memorable to me.
The Good: this was definitely more coming-of-age for Hava, which is fine. She has dealt with a lot in her life, especially watching her mother die at the hands of her father, King Leck, but outside of that we don't get much of her personality. She is afraid to be herself as she's spent most of her life in hiding (as her grace allowed) but that's really it. Hava is very fascinated in the work done by Linta Massera, the scientist from Winterkeep, but she's not formally educated and struggles with translating the work from Keepish to Monsean. We see a lot of her half interests; she's now interested in sailing, chemistry, traveling, etc. But it really doesn't have much impact on the overall story.
The Bad: as I mentioned earlier, the previous installment painted a world where there may be weapons of mass destruction circulating. This would have been an intriguing way to end the Graceling Realm as we could see how each kingdom utilizes war tactics. We have been hinted at the unrest in Estill and now they have ties with Winterkeep. We know nothing about Pikka or any of the countries east of Winterkeep. That would have been an interesting approach to see how each country was different. Additionally, the struggles the characters faced with the ship and the shipwreck didn't have much bearing on the overall story. They were leaving Winterkeep to begin forging treaties to avoid war, mine the mountains in Monsea to make sure that there isn't more zilfium that can be trafficked, and to continue learning about the people of the Dells. But instead, we got a lengthy novel on how people feel when they're starving, frostbitten, and sick of each other, people who aren't main characters in the series.
Maybe I'm being too harsh on this story and perhaps there will be new installments that clear up some of these things, but this was a terrible way to end the series. We have no idea how the use of zilfium, silver, and air crafts will change the Known World of the Graceling Realm, we're just left with characters questioning who they are and what they want to do with their lives.
I’ve loved Kristin Cashore’s writing since I first read Graceling in 2015 and I continue to love it now. I deeply admire her ability to give each character a distinct voice and Hava in Seasparrow is no different. I believe Cashore is talented at portraying complex and deeply human characters very well. Hava is so different to characters I typically read, but I found that the first-person perspective really helped guide me to understanding her motivations and feelings. While much of Hava’s experience is foreign to me, I also saw myself in her in ways I didn’t expect and enjoyed exploring throughout the book. And after reading the author’s note, I can really see Cashore’s love for sailing and ships come through the pages! Overall, a very thought provoking read that I feel helped connect Winterkeep back to the rest of the Graceling realm we know and love!
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very different writing style from the author's other novels! Interesting choice to change the pov and the voice of the story to match the character being portrayed.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Biased bc graceling series is childhood nostalgia for me. I really liked the growth of Hava. I hope to read more from her point of view.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Medical trauma
Minor: Animal death, Pedophilia