The Graceling

by: Kristin Cashore

Published by: Harcourt Inc.

Reviewed by Alex McGilvery

The Graceling is the extraordinary first novel by Kristin Cashore. It is being sold as young adult fiction, but this is a book for everyone.

Katsa is the heroine of the story and is Graced with the ability to kill. Grace has a magically exceptional ability in a particular area. The Graced are marked by eyes of two different colors. They are used and feared, and none of them more than Katsa. King Randa, her uncle, uses her to brutalize any who dare disagree with him. She feels trapped by her own violence.

In response she starts a Council whose task is to ameliorate the violence and injustice that rules the central five of the Seven Kingdoms. While she is rescuing someone from prison she meets Po, who is the first person outside of the Council who is neither afraid of her–nor interested in using her. Katsa struggles with her desire to be just herself and not the royal thug. She starts learning about herself and her Grace, discovering that it may just be more than killing that she is good at.

The Graceling is one of those rare books that I wanted to start over as soon as I had finished it. The characters are believable and grab our attention and sympathy. It is unusual to read a book with so many strong, complex people inhabiting its pages. At every point these people are learning and wrestling with who they are and what they are for.

It is Kristin Cashore’s first novel and it is the best first novel I have read in some time. She is bringing out another book set in the same milieu next year, and I will be waiting anxiously to read it. If you have teens, buy them this book, then borrow it and read it for yourself.

Armchair Interviews says: You won’t regret it.

Author’s Web site: http://www.KristinCashore.blogspot.com