A review by ninjapants
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

3.0

Graceling was a booktok recommendation that exceeded my, admittedly very low,  expectations. Very few of the issues that often plague debut YA authors cropped up and the story was consistently, pleasantly engaging. 

This was an easy read, though very markedly YA. Katsa is ridiculously overpowered, as is Po. Their relationship develops quickly and easily (though thankfully with enough non-romantic plot that it doesn’t bring the story to a halt), all of their troubles are overcome quite easily, and resolution of the main conflict is both abrupt and anticlimactic which leaves some strange pacing at the very end. I thought that the reveal about Po’s true nature was an interesting and well done bit of plot twist, but I found Katsa’s deeper understanding of her own grace a bit clumsier. Good and evil was handled in a very black and white manner. The secondary cast was intriguing, but pretty surface-level. All of which are pretty common in the genre, and none of the flaws were egregious enough to do much harm. 

Ultimately a lightweight but decent enough read.