Sunday, May 29, 2011

"Graceling," by Kristin Cashore

 
Katsa, niece to a king, is a Graceling, a person born with an extreme skill. In her case, she is capable of fighting an army of grown men without any harm to herself. This makes her invaluable to the king, who uses her as a thug to hurt people and keep them in line. She believes herself a monster, and it isn't until meeting a young man, Po, who appears to also be Graced with a fighting skill, that she realizes she may not be a bad person after all.

At 471 pages, this book was entirely too long. It's a book about journeys--physical, emotional, mental. There isn't much action at all, which made the plot drag a bit. My interest was kept by the characters and their growth through the novel, but it really wasn't the most exciting story I've ever read. It's not one that I could recommend to others because what could I say about it? "They travel here, then they travel there, then they go there, then back again ..." Still, I cared to find out what happened next. I just feel this could have used some direction from an editor.


3 stars

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