Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. (via Goodreads)

I’m using this as a TBT because Graceling was originally published in 2008, and it’s been on my TBR since then…but I just listened to the audiobook in September. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it, because this book was exactly up my alley.

It took me a few chapters to get into it, because I didn’t like Katsa at first, but as she grew to be truer to herself, I began to enjoy being in her head more. Po was absolutely wonderful and I loved Bitterblue’s snark. I’d love to see Bitterblue and Raffin interact at some point. I think they’d be great friends and enjoy sassing Katsa and Po together. Honestly, just give me more Raffin in future books, and I’ll be a happy camper.

I love the idea of Graces. I’d love to know more about how a Grace ‘settles’ in a person, why their eye colors change, whether a Grace can change over time…I need more information. I hope that this is something that will be explored in later books, especially since Raffin is so scientific.

I really look forward to reading the other two books in the series, because I want to see more in this world! I’d rate this a four star book! You can buy this book at Indiebound, Amazon or your other preferred bookseller!

Have you read it? What were your thoughts? I’d love to hear about it!

Kristin Cashore wrote the New York Times bestsellers Graceling, Fire, and most recently, Bitterblue, all of which have been named ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Graceling is the winner of the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature and Fire is the winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. The books are world travelers, currently scheduled to be published in thirty-three languages

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.