Book Crush: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

The funniest (and most annoying, I suppose) thing about my blog is that posts never go the way I plan them to be. Then again it’s not everyday I get a moment from a book like…. this.

 

Something everyone knows: I am enthusiastic about books. My attitude about them is forgiving. I read with an open mind, truly no judgment. I always want to be seduced: Hey look at me, here’s a willing victim here. So if a book doesn’t, well… that’s that.

Then every so often, it happens that a book stuns me. Hits me so hard that my mind is just…. overwhelmed, obsessed, and just keeps chanting read it again.

There are only a few books which have made me feel this way.

For the sake of space I’ll just narrow it down to the Young Adult genre. Though I like writing about YA and a number of writers I follow are from this genre, reading YA is always a gamble. For every 10 Young Adult books I read, about 4 manage to completely disappoint me, 3 passable, 2 awesome, and 1 that just…. nails it.

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead was obviously one, but it took three books for me to get hooked.

The Hunter Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which got me depressed for a few  days.

And now, Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

 

 

Here’s a book summary c/o Fully Booked Online:

In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her Uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to carry out his dirty work, punnishing and torturing anyone who displeases him. Breaking arms and cutting off fingers are her stock-in-trade. Finding life under his rule increasingly unbearable Katsa forms an underground Council, whose purpose is to combat the destructive behaviour of the seven kings – after all, the Middluns is only one of the Seven Kingdoms, each of them ruled by their own king and his personal agenda for power. When the Council hears that the King of Liend’s father has been kidnapped Katsa investigates . . . and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap him, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced fighter who challenged her fighting skills, for the first time, as she and the Council rushed the old man to saftey? Something dark and deadly is rising in the north and creeping across the continent, and behind it all lurks the shadowy figure of a one-eyed king . .

 

Naturally, after reading I immediately researched everything I can get from Kristin Cashore and her books online. I found reviews too. It’s interesting to see that readers either really hate it or really love it. The reviews were incredibly polar opposites. Well, I have made my stand.

Where do I even start.

Maybe let’s begin with the obvious: I love it.

Why do I love it? Explaining it fully would be making things too, um, personal–but anyone who reads this and knows me (hmm I think that is a short list) will understand why I was able to relate to the major themes of this book.

It follows along the lines of Hunger Games, with all its dark, gory, tyrannical, fanatical notions of freedom, independence and politics… but Graceling is a touch more humane. Not less intense–I daresay they have the same grimness and violence as the Hunger Game series. The concept of Grace and what it means is so… novel. I can’t wait to see how far the author can go with such a strong element.

Both worlds are gripping and sad. And so, the more fascinating.

Oh the complexity of the relationships in this book. Oh boy. I can talk about it all day. There are times when the narrator’s internal monologue lacks believable quality and it removes your from the story altogether, but this.. ahh it’s flawless. Katsa’s thoughts were perfectly flowing, flawed and real. Very real. The world of the Seven Kingdoms can’t be any more fictional, but the characters are almost flesh, you can touch them from the page. Family, friendship, enmity–they’re all brilliantly portrayed in this book. In fact, I can’t believe it all fit in one book without dragging the plot.

Katsa. I don’t think I have come across a character I have empathized more than her in the recent years. Oh I have my favorites.. Rose Hathaway, Katniss Everdeen… all strong heroines, but Katsa.. Katsa I understood. The same way I understand Fire (of the second book, to be reviewed) and her relationship with her father. I attribute this to the Kristin Cashore’s magic of course, but I digress. Katsa’s want of independence, her need of it, the humor, the loyalty to her friends, and the way she sees love… I have not read a book that handled it so eloquently, and again so true.

Katsa and Po. Oh dear. Honestly, it’s been so long since I saw real chemistry between two characters.

Hah, I know, I’m starting to think about them as real people. It’s just when you’ve read books for so very long… you begin to see the plot technique–the formula the writer or the editor is trying to pull off. You know, quiet girl, bad boy, vice-versa, some variation here and there… the predictability is just depressing, especially for the Young Adult genre.

This. I had the time of my life deciphering what the hell is going to happen next with them. And enjoyed every minute of it.

Katsa and Po’s relationship is something beautifully unexplored in this genre. Questionable even. I’ve heard that many online reader reviews accused Kristin Cashore of being anti-marriage. I will stand up for her and say that really isn’t so. Marriage is a happy, wonderful, meaningful, forever thing… also not for everyone. That fact doesn’t lessen Marriage’s trueness or purpose. It’s just that the book explores there are other ways to express your love and devotion to someone. The lack of marriage does not render love untrue or useless.

In the lighter side of things, I love the playful, almost unbearably sweetness/sadness of their relationship. True equals in any and every measure. I wish Kristin could write more of it.

The book was written with pretty, almost poetic words. Almost… Old World? Maybe I’m utterly enthralled because it’s a fresh air from the urban genre I’ve been reading lately. Then again, the way Cassandra Clare handled The Clockwork Prince‘s Old Victorian narrative wasn’t particularly impressive. I love how Kristin Cashore plays with words, never saying too much, never the obvious. It just unexpectedly whams you in the head–and you just stare open-mouthed on the page.

And the action! Exhilarating. The military tactics, swordfights, archery, military espionage, alliances… I fell in love with it all.

Well, it’s not all pretty. The violence is gruesome. So explicit that it rivals The Hunger Games in this aspect. There are times I can’t believe I’m reading a Young Adult book. I do believe that this is suited to the older teen readers (though I’m the one to talk; I started reading Anne Rice and all the incest, sex, blood-sucking glory in the ripe old age of thirteen). And it’s not just the bloodbath that’s horrible–the aftermath and consequences are the much harder parts to read.

The ending… yes, I’m a tad bit surprised when I was expecting more and I found the acknowledgements page. It’s not a tightly-wound ending, because it’s a trilogy. And you know that’s how I like it.

Yes, Kristin Cashore. I think you have found a devoted reader in me.

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[semi-spoiler]

Just to end this–because this is a terrible word vomit already–I want to say something about reviews I read that complain about Katsa not wanting to commit to Po until the end (of first book, that is).

There is a point in the story where Po said he was willing to risk unhappiness to be with her, because he knew that Katsa cannot be caged. He chose to be with her fully knowing this, as Katsa did. She wanted to give it, but all she knows was being controlled, hence her want to be free. Even from Po.

The happy-ending-guaranteed part was never on the table as option. But isn’t that part of being in a relationship? Even marriage? There is no guarantee in the gifts, promises, commitment–even time doesn’t guarantee you a happy ending. All relationships are an unhappy risk–because sometimes no matter what you do it just doesn’t work out.

And then suprise, surprise. There are times that it does.

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