Book Review: Graceling (Kristin Cashore)

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.

Graceling is a fantastic novel with equal amounts of adventure, action, romance and mystery. With breath-stopping sequences and perfectly timed twists and turns, it is written with remarkable elegance and grace which should greatly enthuse readers of a wide scope.

This novel has impeccable pacing. The author has considerably incorporated so much action, romance and adventure in each part of the book without being lengthy or draggy. After the first part (the book is subdivided into three parts), I felt as if I have read an entire book considering the amount of time, character and plot development that has occured. Kristin Cashore delivers each scene with the best effect, highlighting the most important without forgoing the rest, giving each only the right amount of words to make it brief and suffuse it with impact.

It is impressive in the smooth, refined prose that Cashore perfects to set the scene. The elegance of the author's writing transcends the pages of the book and immerses the reader in Katsa's world. Kristin Cashore's world of graces and gracelings, of seven kingdoms full of culture and of superbly drawn characterisation, comes to life in her writing in a way that is so unique I could have believed the novel was written in that world.

Graceling provides a world that is complete and detailed, although I felt that its introduction were untimely and overwhelming. In the first few pages I struggled to connect what kingdom to which king, what relationship each had to whom, and other technicalities. However, this soon faded, and as with learning of any other world, grew familiar. By the end of the novel, I wished I had a grace of my own, two different eye colours and a princess in Po's Castle, preferably of Lienid and Middlun decent.

The characters - both primary and secondary - were each admirable and fascinating. Katsa and Po are especially enviable, drawn as real humans whom I found wearily magnetic. Their romance I found primal, but with politeness and comfortability that builds with mutual repect. Their bond is unique and natural; they were, simply put, perfect for each other.

The ending left me strangely empty. It was bittersweet, with the amount of sacrifice dealing with such complex character entails. Kristin Cashore's fantasy world is flawless in its creation and shared with sharp imagery and intelligent characters. I love it!

Five stars.