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A review by skyfire
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
Quite frankly, I did not care for this book at all and only read the entirety of it as it had been sitting on my shelf for possibly 10 years and made it through multiple moves. Katsa is an unlikeable character, very annoying, has some Mary Sue tendencies going on, and doesn’t seem to care about anyone unless it benefits her. Not mention how she’s inconsistent, able to focus just on the mission one minute and crying and holding up the mission the next. Po was fine, a bit more balanced, and not near as nerve grating. They’re relationship thought was extremely annoying. Po seemed to actually care about her, but she wouldn’t marry him even though she “loved” him for some reason not truly explained. Sure, she says it’d take away her freedom to be married, but freedom to do what? Po would have let her go and do anything she liked. Not to mention how it felt like they jumped straight from “I can’t love you” to saying “I love you” and having sex. There wasn’t even a kiss before it to lead up to their growing relationship.
Finally, the world. The world and the other characters felt very flat and one dimensional, especially the main villain Leck. Sure, he has this great power and can do basically anything he wants, but why? Why does he do it? Even the characters asked that, but it never was explained. And I’m sure he wanted to do bad things to his daughter, but that was also very vague.
The writing was also a big factor for me. It was very hard to sink into as it seemed redundant at times and very passive and filtered. Yeah, we are seeing things through Katsa’s eyes, but I don’t want to be constantly reminded of it.
In short, you have an annoying heroine with a bad, unredeemable attitude, a love interest that Katsa can walk all over and even hit, events that happen RIGHT at the PERFECT moment (referring to the death of Ashen, Leck’s wife. Such perfect timing) two dimensional characters, and a world that could be interesting but just ends up basic and flat with misplaced descriptions (could have done more about the world like history, relations, and more than hunting geese, fish, rabbits, etc)
Oh, forgot to mention the animal cruelty that is not just a villain trait in the book. Poor horses…
Finally, the world. The world and the other characters felt very flat and one dimensional, especially the main villain Leck. Sure, he has this great power and can do basically anything he wants, but why? Why does he do it? Even the characters asked that, but it never was explained. And I’m sure he wanted to do bad things to his daughter, but that was also very vague.
The writing was also a big factor for me. It was very hard to sink into as it seemed redundant at times and very passive and filtered. Yeah, we are seeing things through Katsa’s eyes, but I don’t want to be constantly reminded of it.
In short, you have an annoying heroine with a bad, unredeemable attitude, a love interest that Katsa can walk all over and even hit, events that happen RIGHT at the PERFECT moment (referring to the death of Ashen, Leck’s wife. Such perfect timing) two dimensional characters, and a world that could be interesting but just ends up basic and flat with misplaced descriptions (could have done more about the world like history, relations, and more than hunting geese, fish, rabbits, etc)
Oh, forgot to mention the animal cruelty that is not just a villain trait in the book. Poor horses…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty