Graceling- Kristin Cashore
Hachette Livre Orion Gollancz, 2008
431 pages
RRP: AU$32.99
ISBN: 978-0-575-08462-9

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Kristin Cashore’s Katsa is a Graced killer – she has a talent for it that was discovered at the age of eight when she killed her cousin with one hit when he threatened her safety. As a result, she became an official bully for her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, a role she despises but cannot see any way out of. Then she meets Po, another Graced fighter from Liend whose friendship encourages Katsa to question her power.

Katsa herself is a bit of a contradictory heroine in terms of her internal struggles, but becomes more interesting and sympathetic for the reader as the story continues. Her initial submissive role towards Randa is irritating, as we can clearly see that Katsa has the sheer physical power, let alone the intestinal fortitude, to change her circumstances in an instant. Maybe it is just that we need to see more of Randa’s emotional power over Katsa to make sense of this.

The adventure of the novel was paced nicely. I was initially engaged by the idea of the noble girl as a killing machine, having enjoyed authors such as Tamora Pierce’s interpretation of similar ideas. Apart from that, the exposition took a while to really grab me as we bounced around between Katsa’s childhood and present, but once I’d immersed myself in the world, the novel took me with it. The one problem I had with the plot was that the seemingly invincible and utterly evil villain was vanquished a little too easily for me.

Graceling is a well-written fantasy novel. It is well suited to young adult readers, telling the story of Katsa, a late-teen herself, exploring her own identity and her role in the world. It has enough violence and harrowing ordeal to set it apart from the typical adventure/romance of the genre, while still providing enough of these traditional aspects to engage the fantasy fan. Apparently Cashore will be following Graceling up with two more in the trilogy. While I look forward to reading the next, Graceling does stand well enough on its own.