Book Review: Graceling

The book “Graceling” written by Kristin Cashore, is a very interesting and unique book when it comes to fantasy. This is not some fairies and unicorn fantasy book my fellow readers; for in these pages lie exciting adventure, action, and romance. The characters seem to be living in a period similar to Europe in the medieval times. Katsa is a Graceling with the rare skill of being able to kill people easily. Gracelings are unique people that can have a special skill varying from extreme things like being able fight ten people at the same time without receiving a single blow as well as tamer skills like being able to sing better than average. Her uncle, King Randa, has been using Katsa to make people fear him ever since her skill was first discovered. Katsa hates killing and torturing people for her uncle and she wants to escape. When she meets Prince Po, who is searching for his kidnaped grandfather, she finds herself unexpectedly becoming friends with him. Could Po be her ticket out of there? Later on, in a city far away, terrible atrocities are being committed and she will find herself in the middle of it, unraveling the secrets of its horrors.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an exciting plot and some good fight scenes. Personally I love fight scenes in movies and I didn’t think book fight scenes could be as cool as the movie ones. However “Graceling” has without a doubt let me experience the same joy and heart racing feelings I get when I watch a fight scene in a movie. Of course the whole book isn’t just fight scenes but the readers do get to see the way Katsa thinks strategically when it comes to taking people down. If there are any readers that are worried about how descriptive the violence parts of the book are, don’t worry. The book is not gory or solely focused on the violence; it is simply about a girl who is being used for her skill and her journey of changing little by little until she finds out who she really is.

This book was very addicting to me and I find myself always mentioning it whenever someone is talking about books they love or asking about books they should read. One of the things I love about this book is that it has a strong female main character that can take care of herself and fight for herself. To me I think that’s very admirable because even though their world is not real, yet they seem to still live in what seems like a medieval time period and women didn’t have the same rights as men, she still can take care of herself and hold her own in a fight. I like that even though she’s different and even when people show how they feel about her she brushes it off. Of course there are times where she feels guilty for everything she has done for her uncle but in all she accepts who she is and knows that she can control her grace. I like her personality of being distant and sometimes cold or emotionless without trying to be even though it is generally not an attitude people like from main characters. Yet it is understandable because technically her grace is what pushed everyone away from her so in return she learned to be cold and distant without trying to be. So in all I give this book 5 stars out of 5.