A review by ailsaod
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I thought Graceling was a standalone so I was pleased to discover the existence of Bitterblue, then I read the first three chapters and chickened out for two or so years. I thought it Bitterblue's investigation was heading for imminent crushing embarrassment and I didn't fancy dealing with that however upon trying again I can say this book is very good and I didn't get any second hand embarrassment! 

Ultimately this book is a mystery set in a fantasy world and in the first half the questions just keep on piling up until it feels like there is no possible way to answer them all! Then some of the mysteries begin to be revealed and oh boy it gets more intense from there.

I am a little conflicted about Bitterblue as a character. On the one hand she is pretty great as she is very determined to discover the truth and wants to do the right thing and holds herself accountable when she realises she's made mistakes. However I found that the incident that starts her off on her quest for answers is not anywhere near big enough to make her so determined so quickly. Like if her curiosity could have been aroused so easily surely it would have happened sooner??

It was nice to catch up with many of the characters from Graceling and to see how they've grown up and there are a lot of interesting Monsean side characters. I especially liked Death (the librarian - his name rhymes with teeth!) and his cat, Lovejoy.
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