What would you do if you were born with the ability to kill with your bare hands?  Katsa is a Graceling but didn’t discover what her Grace, or gift, was until she accidentally killed a man when she was only 8 years old. Her uncle, King Randa, allowed her to be trained to control her gift so that he could use her as an enforcer. Katsa eventually finds a better way to use her Grace without the King’s knowledge, but will she be able to stop her uncle from sending her to kill and intimidate those who oppose his will?  And if she is free, how can she find her way in a world that is suspicious of Gracelings and where many fear her name alone?

I enjoyed this fantasy book and found Katsa to be a very strong female character much like the wonderful characters in Tamora Pierce’s books.  The setting, in the land of the Seven Kingdoms, seems like a wonderful new world to create future stories surrounding different Gracelings, so I am hoping for this to become a series of books.  I also love the cover art and would have picked it up on that attribute alone!

To find out what it means to be a Graceling and if Katsa finds the true meaning of her own Grace, reserve Graceling by first-time author Kristin Cashore, to be released October 1st!

Powered By DT Author Box

Written by Beth

Beth is a Librarian at the Gaines Township branch of KDL. She really loves reading, especially all the wonderful teen books, but also enjoys genealogy and crafts!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Books & More, Teens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.