vendredi 22 mai 2015

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