Students from 3e share their readings with you through book reviews :
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a best-selling
and award winning fantasy novel. It is set in a fictional world where seven
kingdoms are ruled by seven different kings. The genre of this book is
action/adventure and fiction with romantic overtones. When exactly the story
takes place is not clear but we know that it isn’t set in modern times as there
is no mention of technology whatsoever in the story, the kings reside in
castles and people travel by horseback.
The main character is Katsa who is the
niece of king Randa, the king of the Middluns. She is around eighteen at the
start of the story and is secretly the founder of an organisation that saves
people from being victimised by the seven kings. Katsa also happens to be one
of the rare people in that world that are “graced”. Being “graced” means that
you have special abilities in certain domains. For example, you can be a graced
swimmer or a graced cook. Most of the graced have mundane abilities, however
some have more interesting ones, such as fighting, killing or survival. In this
fictional world, the graced belong to the kings and are shunned by everyone
else due to fear and suspicion.
Katsa has been orphan from a very young
age but the king, her uncle, took her under his wing when he found out about
her grace. Soon enough, he starts using her for his dirty work as the court
thug because she has been graced in the art of killing. He uses her as an
assassin and doesn't respect her at all, treating her more like his prized
hunting dog than a person. As a result, Katsa grows to hate the king and almost
everyone at court, not only for the way people treat her but also for the
things she is forced to do such as torturing and killing those who cross the
king. While she constantly struggles emotionally and sometimes manages to
partially thwart the kings orders, in general she obeys her orders.
Graceling has all the elements of a
great fantasy novel however, the narrative structure and writing often let it
down. As a main character, Katsa has surprisingly limited emotional depth. With
limited exception, she is either angry, frightened or confused and in general
the reader is not always let in on why. For example, during numerous fights
where she murders tens of men, something she is supposed to abhor, in the
narrative she remains completely calm and at ease. It is also made clear that
Katsa is obsessed with not being controlled, “She could never be anyone’s but
her own.”, that thought in itself could be understandable if explained, but it
is not. She takes it to an extreme when she refuses to be her love interest’s
wife, thinking she would be his and he would control her completely. the reader
is let puzzled at the rationale for such an extreme decision. In summary, the
weak construction of Katsa’s character makes it very hard for the reader to
relate or empathise with her.
The author has a tendency to drag on
scenes which gets more accentuated as the reader advances. At the start of the
book, the reader is pulled through by the introduction of a new world and the
concepts that drive the plot. However, as the book advances, the scenes often
drag with superfluous description. This combined with the lack of interest in
Katsa’s character made page turning more and more difficult. A good
example of this is the treatment of the love interest. For the majority of the
novel, Katsa appears to have little interest in Po, who eventually does become
her lover. The author does build a sense of anticipation in the reader.
Instead, the plot twist of them coming together comes literally out of the blue
and loses effect as a result. Her feelings for him never feel real or justified
hence the plot twist feels flat and even slightly irritating.
The idea for this book is incredibly
creative, which is no doubt why many people appear to really like it. For me, the
only thing that saves this book from being pretty terrible, is a great
underlying idea. The great underlying story is hugely let down by a one
dimensional protagonist who is difficult to relate to and a slow moving plot
that often feels artificial. As the story progresses, many chapters feel
pointless and boring and it becomes more of a struggle to not put this book in
the bin. In view of these key elements, despite a great idea, I personally
would not recommend this book to anyone.
I would give this book 2/5 stars.
“I couldn't even finish it, that's how
bad it was.”
- Allison Linafelter
Angélique, 3e
