Graceling by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
At the surface, this book may seem to have shades of Hunger Games and A Song of Ice and Fire—Exhibit A: Graceling's heroine Katsa's name sounds like a combination of Hunger Games' Katniss and A Song of Ice and Fire's Sansa. Katsa, like Katniss, is gifted with superior fighting skills (albeit in a more "fantastical" manner), and her story is set in a medieval fantasy world such as that described in the books of George R.R. Martin.
However, the comparison should stop there. Graceling is a class all of its own—the author does not waste any of her words; each word has its place in each mesmerizing sentence in each breathtaking chapter (going overboard with the adjectives here, but what the heck). The descriptions are so vivid—you can picture the seven kingdoms' hills, the seas, the castles, and the beautiful, mismatched eyes of the Graced like they were right in front of you. I have not really been a fan of the fantasy genre in the past, but this book made me reconsider this.
The characters were so well-developed, and nothing in Graceling was predictable and boring. I felt real terror when the book's main antagonist, who did not really materialize frequently in the book, suddenly appeared in one of the later chapters. That's how good Kristin Cashore is: her writing has that rare ability of making your heart pound when you encounter a sinister character who does not even show himself too much in the story. Great storytelling. Great writing.
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I remember when Graceling first came out, it was around the same time The Hunger Games was released. It made me happy that I enjoyed reading both books that year!
ReplyDeleteI loved The Hunger Games, too! I just read Graceling last month after coming across a review of Bitterblue on the Net. Just wrapping up a few books, then on to Fire :D
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