Review for Graceling -Rebecca

Graceling
By: Kristin Cashore


   First off Graceling is nothing like I expected. It has action, romance, drama, suspense, all of it rolled into one. As a friend says its historical fantasy. A book I truly enjoyed reading when I wasn't busy.
  It starts off in a medieval type setting, telling you about a girl named Katsa that has a special ability, or as they call it a Grace. Her Grace is fighting, which means she is particularly skilled in this area. More so than anyone that does not have this grace. She could take on ten armed guards, beat them into oblivion and not break a sweat if that tell's you anything about her skill. There are other Grace's, cooking, blacksmithing, ect. You can always tell if someone has a Grace by their eyes, person's with a Grace have muli-colored eyes. For example one blue eye, the other green.
  Katsa's parents are both dead, her Uncle is her guardian. He also just happens to be one of the Kings in the Seven Kingdoms portrayed in the book. After they discover her Grace when she's a young girl her Uncle doesn't get rid of her like most people would, he keep's her as a weapon to use in the future. After accidently killing a man as a child Katsa slowly learns to take reign on her skill, to rope it in so to speak so that she won't lose control again. After she has mastered her skill as best she can with what she has to work with (She can't practice to her full capacity because she would kill anyone she went full out on) her Uncle starts using her as a killing machine.
  Things progress from there, out of fear Katsa does her Uncle's bidding until someone comes into her life and asks "Why". Po, another Graceling, listens as she rambles on about disliking doing her Uncles bidding. After she is done he plants a seed of why she just blindly obeys him. She's the one with a skill that could kill him in a heartbeat is she not? Why does she blindly obey him and do everything he says to do without question? Po introduces many things. He can fight just as well as Katsa, she assumes he has the fighting Grace just like she has. She's wrong, but you can read about that yourself.
  Eventually she breaks off from her Uncle and goes on an adventure with Po. Things happen and they end up with his very young, small cousin BitterBlue. Their new mission is to protect this young girl whose father is trying to kill her at all costs. Through thick and thin they keep her safe, but not without injury. Things happen, people get hurt, people change, Katsa and Po get seperated for a while. The end I will not tell you. You will have to figure it out for yourself.
  As you can see there is a lot of adventure, questions, suspense, action, and romance all rolled into one! In my opinion it keeps you guessing throughout on what will happen next. Near the end you get a surprise that will sadden you but makes the characters unique.
   I highly recommend this book with a 5 out of 5 stars! Hope you enjoy it as well.