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attackfishI took Graceling with me Law School scouting last summer. No, seriously, I looked at my to-do list, and saw “Write Graceling review” and felt a little ashamed of myself. So, anyway...
Kasta was born with a grace, the supernatural gift of killing. Ever since she was a child, she has been able to kill anyone as quickly or as slowly as her king wishes. Kasta hates her grace, and hates being the king’s hitwoman. But with a mysterious danger rising in the seven kingdoms, and a prince from another kingdom with his own lethal grace arriving in her home, everything is about to change.
I liked Graceling even better than I liked Fire. The plot was tighter, the pacing more even, and the adventure was as important as the romance. Plus, I have a thing for abrasive heroines.
Kasta is fierce. It’s not just that she is physically terrifying and a trained killer. She’s prickly, irascible, and honestly bad with people. She’s stubborn, determined, and not all that certain she cares about anyone getting in her way. She’s dissatisfied with the way things are, but has no idea how to change them. She’s quick to anger, and quick to stamp out emotion. She’s a wonderful, damaged, troubled and troubling heroine.
The casual mention of torture and the vivid descriptions of Kasta’s actions as she carries out the king’s orders creates a sense of discomfort with her as a heroine, and it’s not hard to sympathize with the courtiers who are afraid of her. It’s easy to empathize with her, but it’s no less easy to empathize with the people keeping her isolated. The beginning of Graceling has the feel of a twisted spy novel where none of the sides are in the right, and everybody’s willing to torture to get the information they want. Her job tells a lot about the world around her. Finding out what her grace actually is makes the whole situation all the more tragic.
There was less politics than I might have hoped for after Fire, but that probably doesn’t matter to any of you, Dear Readers, unless you’re rabid politics junkies like I am. Besides, I wasn’t promised politics. I was promised adventure, and Graceling has plenty of that. Because I listened to Fire first, which takes place earlier, but was published later, I knew who the main villain was, which meant the sense of mystery meant to fill the first part of the novel was lost on me. Instead, a persistent heavy dread stole over me to serve the same purpose. It was a good dread. I don’t think I was supposed to know who the villain was until I met him in the story, which would have only added to his scariness, as part of what made him such an effective villain was his ability to hide in plain sight.
Graceling isn’t just an adventure novel. It’s a romance, and I don’t frequently like romances. It’s not that I have anything against the concept, it’s just I don’t generally like the guy, and if I don’t like the guy, I don’t like the romance. I liked Prince Po almost as much as I liked Kasta. He’s honestly sweet, he respects her, and is the opposite of overbearing. He doesn’t have to be better more skilled fighter to be worthy of her, which is what most often turns me off a romance. He’s a fighter, and Graced, but she’s the better fighter, and it doesn’t matter.
In the end, she gets to avert a war, but she also gets to rescue a little girl with Po, and finally rescue Po himself. They’re friends as much as they’re lovers, and they don’t need each other. They can stand on their own, but they want each other, and are happiest when they’re together. It’s those two things sold me on the romance, the adventure, and the novel.
The struggle in Graceling was the kind of struggle I like best. It wasn’t a struggle between squeaky-clean good and faceless evil. It was a struggle between the well-meaning, the utterly repugnant petty everyday evil, and the twisted, sadistic evil. In any other book, King Ronda, a thuggish warlord who uses his young niece as his executioner would be an excellent villain, but he pales in comparison to the true villain of the story. He’s a monster, like a dragon in the Medieval stories, there to be slain.
It’s mentioned a few times that it’s foolish for society to deny the segment of the population most vulnerable the permission to learn to fight, that banning this skill from women and girls other than Kasta makes women unsafe. From a purely practical standpoint, I agree, in fact I spent several years in martial arts classes, but the text treats it like a panacea, which it’s not. Also, it leaves all the women and girls who are unable to fight back no matter how much they train, disabled women, young girls, etc out in the cold. It grated on my nerves, and felt out of place and a bit preachy, especially since it ran so contrary to Kasta’s own experience, where legal and social forces kept her down in spite of her amazing lethal talents.
I also would have liked to have seen some of the sociological ramifications of the oppression and royal ownership of the Gracelings. It’s touched on, but not really explored. It’s like the X-men with castles, and I wanted more. Of course, there’s time for that in the upcoming Bitterblue and later, if Cashore writes other books in the same universe. And since it makes such a huge impact on Kasta’s life and is also what drove Larch over the mountains with his son, I would like to see some of its large scale social impact.
Graceling is a powerful, absorbing read and was just as wonderful the second time around as the first. Cashore’s worldbuilding sometimes falters, but her characterization and plotting keeps me from minding.
Kristin Cashore can be found online at her blog, This is My Secret.
Kasta was born with a grace, the supernatural gift of killing. Ever since she was a child, she has been able to kill anyone as quickly or as slowly as her king wishes. Kasta hates her grace, and hates being the king’s hitwoman. But with a mysterious danger rising in the seven kingdoms, and a prince from another kingdom with his own lethal grace arriving in her home, everything is about to change.
I liked Graceling even better than I liked Fire. The plot was tighter, the pacing more even, and the adventure was as important as the romance. Plus, I have a thing for abrasive heroines.
Kasta is fierce. It’s not just that she is physically terrifying and a trained killer. She’s prickly, irascible, and honestly bad with people. She’s stubborn, determined, and not all that certain she cares about anyone getting in her way. She’s dissatisfied with the way things are, but has no idea how to change them. She’s quick to anger, and quick to stamp out emotion. She’s a wonderful, damaged, troubled and troubling heroine.
The casual mention of torture and the vivid descriptions of Kasta’s actions as she carries out the king’s orders creates a sense of discomfort with her as a heroine, and it’s not hard to sympathize with the courtiers who are afraid of her. It’s easy to empathize with her, but it’s no less easy to empathize with the people keeping her isolated. The beginning of Graceling has the feel of a twisted spy novel where none of the sides are in the right, and everybody’s willing to torture to get the information they want. Her job tells a lot about the world around her. Finding out what her grace actually is makes the whole situation all the more tragic.
There was less politics than I might have hoped for after Fire, but that probably doesn’t matter to any of you, Dear Readers, unless you’re rabid politics junkies like I am. Besides, I wasn’t promised politics. I was promised adventure, and Graceling has plenty of that. Because I listened to Fire first, which takes place earlier, but was published later, I knew who the main villain was, which meant the sense of mystery meant to fill the first part of the novel was lost on me. Instead, a persistent heavy dread stole over me to serve the same purpose. It was a good dread. I don’t think I was supposed to know who the villain was until I met him in the story, which would have only added to his scariness, as part of what made him such an effective villain was his ability to hide in plain sight.
Graceling isn’t just an adventure novel. It’s a romance, and I don’t frequently like romances. It’s not that I have anything against the concept, it’s just I don’t generally like the guy, and if I don’t like the guy, I don’t like the romance. I liked Prince Po almost as much as I liked Kasta. He’s honestly sweet, he respects her, and is the opposite of overbearing. He doesn’t have to be better more skilled fighter to be worthy of her, which is what most often turns me off a romance. He’s a fighter, and Graced, but she’s the better fighter, and it doesn’t matter.
In the end, she gets to avert a war, but she also gets to rescue a little girl with Po, and finally rescue Po himself. They’re friends as much as they’re lovers, and they don’t need each other. They can stand on their own, but they want each other, and are happiest when they’re together. It’s those two things sold me on the romance, the adventure, and the novel.
The struggle in Graceling was the kind of struggle I like best. It wasn’t a struggle between squeaky-clean good and faceless evil. It was a struggle between the well-meaning, the utterly repugnant petty everyday evil, and the twisted, sadistic evil. In any other book, King Ronda, a thuggish warlord who uses his young niece as his executioner would be an excellent villain, but he pales in comparison to the true villain of the story. He’s a monster, like a dragon in the Medieval stories, there to be slain.
It’s mentioned a few times that it’s foolish for society to deny the segment of the population most vulnerable the permission to learn to fight, that banning this skill from women and girls other than Kasta makes women unsafe. From a purely practical standpoint, I agree, in fact I spent several years in martial arts classes, but the text treats it like a panacea, which it’s not. Also, it leaves all the women and girls who are unable to fight back no matter how much they train, disabled women, young girls, etc out in the cold. It grated on my nerves, and felt out of place and a bit preachy, especially since it ran so contrary to Kasta’s own experience, where legal and social forces kept her down in spite of her amazing lethal talents.
I also would have liked to have seen some of the sociological ramifications of the oppression and royal ownership of the Gracelings. It’s touched on, but not really explored. It’s like the X-men with castles, and I wanted more. Of course, there’s time for that in the upcoming Bitterblue and later, if Cashore writes other books in the same universe. And since it makes such a huge impact on Kasta’s life and is also what drove Larch over the mountains with his son, I would like to see some of its large scale social impact.
Graceling is a powerful, absorbing read and was just as wonderful the second time around as the first. Cashore’s worldbuilding sometimes falters, but her characterization and plotting keeps me from minding.
Kristin Cashore can be found online at her blog, This is My Secret.
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Date: 2011-09-20 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 12:34 am (UTC)