Graceling
Harcourt Children’s Books, 2008
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 015206396X
480 pages
Synopsis
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 of 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.
When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa 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 lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.
Critique
To be honest, I was expecting this to be another poorly written fantasy/romance about a teen girl with powers or who has fallen in love with a boy who has powers and is conflicted between having a normal life and pursuing love at the cost of leaving her previous life behind—the reluctant and conflicted main character…or even worse, narrator, and the highly predictable ending. I know that there are plenty of readers who long for exactly that kind of crap…I mean book…but not me.
All of that said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cashore’s debut novel is not that kind of novel at all, but is, instead, the story of a complex character, told in 1st person narrative about the inner struggle between our inner animal and violent instincts and our desire to be civilized and human, or rather, humane. It’s also an interesting commentary on the concept of meekness, which, in truth is not weakness but actually restrained strength. Katsa has to struggle with the ideology that just because one has the power to kill and maim, doesn’t mean that one should.
This applies as well to her thoughts regarding kings, that they should be for the people, not just men who abuse their state in life. Also, there is a parallel between Katsa’s Grace and her ability to tame it, and King Leck’s Grace and his malicious abuse of it that juxtaposes the two sides to the philosophy.
Lastly, Cashore ended the novel in the perfect place, rather than a quick drop from the pinnacle of the climax, where Katsa kills King Leck. She resolves some of the open elements left in the book and continues to create interesting developments with the characters. I recommend this to all readers 15+.
The other companion novel in this series so far is Fire (book 2).
Rating Rubric
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For the Classroom
Since this text operates in a parallel world with separate cultures, societal issues, natural laws and histories than our own, there’s not much to use as a classroom companion.
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