Graceling - Kristin Cashore

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*Possibly Spoilers*

I read this a few years ago so I don't remember everything in the right order. This review is a chopped up version of the one I posted on Goodreads.

Summary:

This book is a woman, Katsa, who lives in a world with people who have graces. She is, of course, one of these people.

[Her Grace frustrated her and kept her distanced from people around her because of what her uncle forced her to do with her Grace. When she was a child, to protect herself, she injured (and I believe killed if I remember correctly) her Uncle or someone who was trying to be a perv toward her. Her Uncle being the kind of man he was, saw this power and decided to use it as a way to force people to keep their deals with him or to force them to do things they did not want to do.

To help relieve her guilt from this life she formed this underground network to help people. Though this is only mentioned -- I wish it was elaborated more on, to have her friends developed on more, her personality better explored or rather, her personality developed further. She starts as a woman restricted by the task given to her by her Uncle, and through out the book she seems to hold onto this personality, like she is afraid to leave it or possibly the author was afraid to leave it.


Her and Po's Graces mesh very well, however, even though they have this closeness she is still locked up away from everyone. Even after sex, she wants to keep her independence entirely, not wanting to commit or settle down. Which is in her own right to want this especially being controlled by her Uncle the majority of her life doing things she didn't want to do, convinced that her Grace was something horrible thing.

After all this stuff she soon starts realizing that maybe her Grace is not murderous but in survival -- the strength to keep alive. Which is a giant relief to her and probably her guilt toward the world because of doing all her Uncles bad bidding. Which is a good thing she figures this out because she has to travel across dangerous mountains to get BitterBlue out from the bad guys!


The author may have tried to present us with an introvert Graceling who kicked ass and had shitty time getting attached to people because of how she was raised. It feels as if we were presented with a main character who did not develop through the course of her adventure -- and she could have because of being an introvert she would not physically show this very well . But, it would be best if the author could have written about it though.

The "She didn't want to get married to him EWEJrKSFJlKSDJfl" and every anti-femi rant on here. She was under the control over her Uncle all her life, why would she give up her independence just after she got it? It'd be like handing over your favorite cookie to someone after searching high and low through a ton of stores to get it. I get that the author did not show very well that women did not have much control unless they were gracelings -- but the fact that Katsa had to do what her Uncle wanted seems like a good enough guess at how others view women.

I like that she presented that a character can have sex with someone and not have to marry him right away! That they can develop as individuals first before it would ever happen -- if ever. Maybe this was a really good point for me because I am in a committed relationship and had no intentions of marrying -- by the laws anyway.

The villain was not really the ~main point of the journey. I think her realizing wtf her Grace really is, who she really was, was the point of the story. So, of course there was not going to be a huge development of him. Plus, I think this book was in first person so that would be kind of hard to do because she'd have to be there to do that. Her realizing who she was -- not a murderer for use but a woman with the ability to survive anything. It was not a Big OMG story but it was her journey, and it was the only development the character gained throughout the story.

What I Liked:

 I liked the whole group that came together to help people. I thought that was going to be the focus of the story. It was not.

She is also very oblivious to people being attracted to her. Which I thought was adorable -- mainly because Katsa seemed caught up in her own world that she probably never imagined something like that happening.  This happens. Some people are so caught up in the world they create around them they forget to acknowledge or pay attention to anyone else.

She discovers that it is not normal for women to readily defend their self in the real world -- unlike where she can. because she is unaware of a life like this instead of trying to understand it , she dislikes it and hates it -- which is pretty normal human reaction to things not understood.  

I like that she presented that a character can have sex with someone and not have to marry him right away! That they can develop as individuals first before it would ever happen -- if ever. Maybe this was a really good point for me because I am in a committed relationship and had no intentions of marrying -- by the laws anyway. 

Good:

 Involves self-discovery.

(repeat from above)
She is also very oblivious to people being attracted to her. Which I thought was adorable -- mainly because Katsa seemed caught up in her own world that she probably never imagined something like that happening.  This happens. Some people are so caught up in the world they create around them they forget to acknowledge or pay attention to anyone else. 

She doesn't like her gift because it is something being used terribly so she's more or less a shut-in. Her evil uncle has used her gifts for evil and she hates herself. Or, that's how I've interpreted everything because she tries to relieve the guilt with the friends who help the people.

Bad:

 There is a villain but he isn't the big bad that you expect him to be.

The network of people who help people wasn't the main story focus.

Her self-discovery becomes repetitive and boring to read about because it feels... so tired. 

I enjoyed the story and I gave it a four star rating on Goodreads. I did not finish the series because I was worried we'd go on another rambling tangent and a weak "evil villain". This series has got a lot of hate for it due to it feeling very feminist.