Advisor - Mrs. Foran
aforan@sachem.edu

Friday, February 6, 2015

Book Review


Graceling by Kristen Cashore

As a New York Times Bestseller, I’d say that Kristen Cashore’s debut novel, Graceling, has done pretty well for itself. This book is full of adventure and action. Though it isn’t one of the main themes, there is a glimpse of romance in there as well.
Although my reading of this particular book was completely by chance, I have easily fallen in love with the characters and the storyline. The main character, 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 to 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. There are several different Graces, really one for anything you could think of as a skill. Cooking, hunting, fighting, and anything else. A Graceling is identified by their unusual eyes. One eye is a different color than the other. When Katsa first meet’s Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, she 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’s hidden far away in another kingdom.
I could not put the book down, and although this book has 471 pages, I finished it in two days. The number is formidable to some, but it is a good read and is highly recommended.