My Life in YA

The worldbuilding in this book is very good. It’s an interesting but probably common fantasy world. The Graces (talents) people have are unique and interesting to read about, especially since our main character is a girl graced with fighting skill! I felt that everything about this world was very well explained, without it getting boring or too much information at once. In my opinion the best thing about this book are the secondary characters. Cashore has made a great cast of characters and everyone had their own distinct personality or wants. I especially enjoyed reading about Raffin, Katsa’s cousin, and Bitterblue, the young crown princess of another country (Monsea). These two characters were what made this book for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t like to read about main character Katsa. She’s physically and mentally a tough girl, and that’s admirable, but I found her to be so arrogant! I didn’t like how she thought about and treated others, especially Giddon (what did he ever do to her, except love her?) and animals. She would tire horses out and couldn’t care less. I’m a huge animal lover, so I couldn’t stand that. Another thing I disliked was the romance aspect. She was so adamant not to marry/fall in love, and I didn’t feel their connection as strongly to understand why suddenly she did fall in love with someone. Although I mentioned earlier that the worldbuilding parts didn’t bore me, there were some parts that did. When you read about a girl graced with fighting skill I want action, not the actual ‘fight scenes’ that I got: practising fighting with Po, the other person ‘graced’ with fighting. There is also a lot of travelling and hunting. At least parts of those things in this book could have been left out to make it more exciting. Unfortunately some exciting aspects were resolved too easy and too soon, but the mystery aspect was great to read about! I’m giving Graceling 3.5 stars. It is a great fantasy with a mystery that doesn’t drag on for the entire book. In the end I cared so much for the secondary characters that I enjoyed reading Graceling and can’t wait for the sequels. I especially can’t wait to read more about Bitterblue in the third book.