Comments on: REVIEW: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

By: Kristin Cashore â€“ Graceling Â« Fyrefly's Book Blog

Kristin Cashore â€“ Graceling Â« Fyrefly's Book Blog — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:24:14 +0000

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By: Chrissy

Chrissy — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:50:11 +0000

I was glancing at this one yesterday simply because I liked the cover. Think I’m going to give it a try.

If nothing else at least it sounds more classical fantasy-ish than the constant parade of vampire teen romances I’m getting bored with.

By: Kristina Cook

Kristina Cook — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:41:41 +0000

I’m so glad I found this review, because I just started this book last week and am having SUCH a hard time getting into it. I had already sort of decided to just give up on it, but it sounds like maybe it’ll be worth it if I persevere, so I’ll give it one more shot. There’s just something about the style of prose that I’m having a hard time warming up to.

Here’s hoping it picks up soon!

By: Jia

Jia — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:59:21 +0000

@Steph: Maybe she is 18. I might have misremembered. @Tehani: Dare we ask what the Australian cover looks like? @Estara: You know, you're not the first person to recommend those books to me. I might have to check them out. Thanks!

By: MB

MB — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:09:50 +0000

I haven’t read it, so I can’t comment on “Graceling” but I have to mention that the plot sounds like it is strongly “influenced by” Robin Hobb’s “Assassin” series as well as Maria V. Snyder’s “Poison” series.

By: Estara

Estara — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:32:17 +0000

You know, you might like Joshua Palmatier’s first Throne of Armenkor volume – The Skewed Throne, if you haven’t read it yet – judging from what drew you to this book.
There’s a bit of a romance in the second half of that book but it’s squarely fantasy first and he doesn’t mince words when he has his girl child from the gutter made into a spy and assassin to survive her harsh world (basically it’s actually a kindness of a guard to train her like that) and, Lord, she has to survive some very heart-breaking things happening to her and what few people she cares for (which she doesn’t call caring, by the way) until she manages to win free from her former life and get a job as a bodyguard.

Spoiler: At the end of the first book she manages to have a talent (though no blood relationship) that predestines her as one who can inherit the throne of Armenkor, so she does become sort of royalty, but has to deal with the weird things that this throne does to the reigning monarch./ End Spoiler

It took me a long time to get through the first half of the book because I felt for the girl so much, but you don’t get cardboard villainy here, only hopeless and depraved villains and Machiavellian villains.

Amazon description:

“Power without control breeds a madness just as deadly as an empty stomach. That’s the key message in Palmatier’s intense fantasy debut set in the decadent, crumbling city of Amenkor. Palmatier succeeds admirably in passionate, if simplistic, prose to sketch a heartfelt portrait of Varis, a girl gifted with the supernatural ability to see innocence in gray and guilt in red after an unearthly fire sweeps through Amenkor for the second time, leaving insanity, illness and deadly change in its wake. Orphaned at six after her mother’s murder, Varis learns to survive by her wits in the Dredge, the market street outside Amenkor’s slums. As a young teen, she develops a knack for murder and thievery that attracts Erick, a royal guardsman who kills anyone the ruling Mistress wants eliminated. Due to her street smarts, Varis eventually escapes the Dredge to work as a bodyguard for a wealthy trader, only to realize that she can’t escape the mysterious destiny awaiting her within Amenkor’s “skewed throne.” This solid, earnest effort will especially appeal to young adults.”

By: Tehani

Tehani — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:33:04 +0000

I’m a little bit jealous. Your book cover is so much prettier than the one I got here in Australia…!

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:40:05 +0000

Actually – and this is a huge shock to me because I usually agree with both your and Trisha’s assessments of books – the beginning grabbed me. And I loved the worldbuilding, but that’s because I’m not initiated in fantasy, love the medieval time period, and wouldn’t have been able to handle it if things were very very otherworldly. (Which goes to say, I think people who don’t like straying too deeply into pure fantasy will appreciate it.)

That said, I wholeheartedly agree that the romance was mistimed. Sigh.

Haven’t finished this one yet, but like you guys, I’m finding something impeding my overall enjoyment of the book and I can’t pinpoint what! >.< Very timely review, in any rate :) I’ll finish the book and go back to see how much it correlates with my problematic points!

Steph

ETA: Isn’t Katsa 18? It says she was 8 when they figured out her Grace and then it took a decade of training for her to get where she is… Just wondering.

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:09:03 +0000

I really loved Graceling. It was one of the best books I’ve read this year. I found it slow in the beginning, too, but once I hit the big reveal, I couldn’t put it down, and I thought the romance was really original and gorgeously done.

I’m curious though, where you said Katsa was 16. Where does it say that? I ask because at one point she says that Po looks about her age, around 20, and that threw me a bit becuase it was a YA novel (here in the U.S., at least. I think it’s published adult in the UK.)

By: jennie

jennie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:09:31 +0000

Finally, someone else who doesn’t think Graceling is the best book ever! I liked it, but I also had problems with the characterization, and totally agree about the worldbuilding.

By: Jia

Jia — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:11:15 +0000

@trisha: I actually had a really hard time articulating why I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. The ones I included were the easiest to pinpoint but underneath it all, there's still something more that bothers me. It does have to do with Katsa's characterization, as you mentioned. I think it might have something to do with the fact that we're told she's this and that and so on and so on, but I never really felt like we were shown it. All in all, it felt very much like a first novel where the pieces are all there but not quite in the right mix and integration.

By: Jia

Jia — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:07:25 +0000

@orannia: Oh, that's right! Mira re-released Snyder's Study series as YA this month, didn't they? With new covers and everything too. (It wasn't originally.)

By: trisha

trisha — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:06:13 +0000

I also had a rather lukewarm reaction to this, and I’m not sure exactly why. I did think the villain was a bit over-the-top, but it didn’t bother me excessively. Nor did the other issues mentioned. Part of it, perhaps, is that I was expecting more of a moral struggle within Katsa, but her internal conflict in this book, as far as her Grace was concerned, had more to do with escaping her uncle. In a way, I think I would have enjoyed a story about the creation and early days of the Council more, though I don’t think this entirely explains why I didn’t love the story we did get.

That said, I can see why so many others–teens and adults–love Graceling, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of Tamora Pierce, especially. And I did find it intriguing enough to look forward to Bitterblue’s book, whenever that will be published.

By: orannia

orannia — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:03:06 +0000

Thank you Jia! I agree, the premise sounds very interesting. Hmmm…now I’m torn. To read, or not to read…. Well, my library has it, so I’ve kind of answered my own question :) And I’m kind of on a YA fantasy run at the moment – I’ve just started reading Poison Study (Maria V Snyder).