Reviews

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

justplainbecca's review against another edition

4.0

The second book I read this year was Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I'll start with the concession that the plot was just a little weak, in a way that I attribute to the fact that Graceling is Cashore's first novel. There are occasional holes, jumps, and tenuous links, but I think that style will be ironed out and strengthened in her next novel. My other objection to the plot was the late entrance of the villain; it was as though the climax of the book happened at the wrong time. Like most fantasy novels I've read, Graceling has an action-adventure plot and it definitely plays second-fiddle to the characters. Who I love. I tend to prefer character-driven novels to plot-driven ones (as you might imagine if you are familiar with my love of romance novels, since the plots of those are often pretty darn similar).

There are many things I enjoyed about Graceling, but I'll just go ahead and tell you a little about Katsa, the main character, and I think you'll see why I enjoyed this book so much. Katsa does not want to get married or have children. Cashore makes this pretty clear early on, so I of course thought, "oh, well she must hate children." Nope, she likes them well enough. "Oh, well, then she must be troubled. Women in novels only ever don't want to have children because they were abused or because they have low self-esteem and don't want their kids to be like them. Considering Katsa's a killer, I guess that's mildly understandable." Nope, her childhood wasn't perfect, but nobody's is. "Oh, oh no...Cashore didn't use any of the other conventions to make Katsa change her mind and start popping them out, so she's going to go...there...to the place where Katsa falls in love and then, oh my gosh, just can't wait to start reproducing because that's what women do when they fall in love. No. No. No!" Nope, Katsa falls in love. They don't get married. They don't have kids. They're cool. Can there please be more female leads like this? Please?

lovelyloro's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this book. First to get on my "favs of '09" list. I must admit that I was disappointed when two things didn't happen in the end of the book. Not because the author somehow lead me to believe they would, it was just my own silly romantic expectation that kept me hopeful. But I knew that neither of the two things could really ever happen. With that said the story is unique and original and although there were times that I felt it drudged on ever so slightly I was still grateful for ever detail into Katsa & Po's life that I was given. The characters felt every real to me. It was remarkable how much I empathized and related with Katsa. That is the sign of great character development, in my opinion. Excellent book and I highly recommend it.

bookdust's review against another edition

3.0

Overall some REALLY creative aspects that I enjoyed, but the ending fell flat. It had one of those, "running from a treacherous unstoppable villain" plots that was WAY too easily solved. Also, it felt like I was crawling through certain parts of the story. In particular, the last three chapters could have been lopped off and condensed into a single chapter or the epilogue because they didn't seem necessary to the story at all. Regardless, the main characters were likeable and the action and settings were interesting. I'd recommend it to people who aren't incredibly picky about the genre.

fribbitgua's review against another edition

4.0

3.5/5
Initially I picked up this book because of the new book cover. I also thought that the theme was a girl thats born to be an assassin was interesting.
I think the book was ok, I was confused about the age of Katsa and concerned about her relationship with Po, which I had to look up (18 years old and 19 in this book)
I liked Po as a character and Katsa was alright, maybe because being a tomboy who hates dresses and likes being “one of the boys” is no longer considered “cool” in this day and age that her behaviour can be annoying at times.
I love the graceling concept, but the world building could be so much better and some parts just felt unexplained and underwhelming especially at the end. But this book does make me want to read the sequels

joyreadsinnc's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoyed this book even though I am not a huge fantasy fan and thought that I wouldn't enjoy it. I connected with the characters and was anxious for them to accomplish their goal. Also, I think the story had some good messages within it and is a good book for the young adult population.

delreese's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sacrne's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.5

smuttea_matcha's review against another edition

3.0

Is it weird that it took me a while to get into this book? I mean, you can tell by my reading time slot that it took me a while. Anyway, I regret not picking this back up earlier. Once the reader gets past the world building and character building that Cashore does extensively, it's actually pretty good. One of the things that I love about this book is that the reader can either leave the series and never come back, or decide to pick up book two. This book has an ending that gives the reader that freedom instead of dumping a cliffhanger. Katsa is a wonderful character, her bad ass skills and well, just her, is awesome. The build up of her and Po is wonderful, even though I really, really disliked many of the character names (Bitterblue? Po? Oll? REALLY!?). Once you get past the atrocious names, you discover what great characters they are. Actually, once you get past many things in this book, it all blends very well together. Po and Katsa are friggin' adorable. I don't know if I can emphasize that any more. They truly understand each other and I love how they both decide not to restrain each other. One of my favorite scenes in this book is Grella Pass (Mountain?). The struggles that Katsa faced really had me on edge. It was when I really appreciated Graceline. I also adore Bitterblue because she's so relatable. She doesn't have a Grace or any skills. She's just a girl who, unluckily, gets born into her problems. However, she grows out of it. She really grows as a character and I feel like she's one of my favorite characters. She has weaknesses, but she won't be a priss and just sit there.

Spoiler

I also found Leck's death to be wildly anticlimatic. Definitely not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I was like holy fuck. However, I totally called Po being a blind bat at the end. I also adore how he grows as a character from his weakness and how his relationship grows in response to his new handicap.

All in all, this book was pretty awesome. I definitely enjoyed it, even though it does seem to drag for a bit in the beginning. Once it starts rolling, it doesn't stop. In a good way of course.

loudeveaux's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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

4.0

k4imer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0