Graceling (Graceling Realm Books) - Softcover

Cashore, Kristin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0547258305 ISBN 13: 9780547258300

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2009

Synopsis

Discover the Graceling Realm in this unforgettable, award-winning novel from bestselling author Kristin Cashore

A New York Times bestseller
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner
Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and BCCB Best Book of the Year

"Rageful, exhilarating, wistful in turns" (The New York Times Book Review) with "a knee weakening romance" (LA Times). Graceling is a thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure that will resonate deeply with anyone trying to find their way in the world.

Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, who is smart and beautiful and lives in the Seven Kingdoms where selected people are born with a Grace, a special talent that can be anything at all. Katsa's Grace is killing. As the king's niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his brutal enforcer. Until the day she meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, and Katsa's life begins to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace--or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Awards: Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, winner of the SIBA Book Award/YA, Indies Choice Book Award Honor Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 2008 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, 2008 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Amazon.com's Best Books of 2008, 2008 Booklist Editors' Choice, Booklist's 2008 Top Ten First Novels for Youth, 2009 Amelia Bloomer List, BCCB 2009 Blue Ribbon List

And don't miss the sequel Fire and companion Bitterblue, both award-winning, New York Times bestsellers, and full of Kristin Cashore's elegant, evocative prose and unforgettable characters.

About this title

Review:

"Here's a WOW of a book! Seeing half-wild Katsa learn humanity as she battles soldiers, storms, and her own obsessive nature--I HAD to know how it ended!"--Tamora Pierce

"Katsa and Po are wonderful: They make me want to cheer. Due to a strong heroine, a supportive hero, political intrigue, and action throughout, this is a book I'll share with my daughter." -Melissa Marr, author of Wicked Lovely

"A brilliant, unforgettable story. I consumed Graceling in one sitting, awed by its originality, breadth, and humanity. For a first novel - for any novel - this book is extraordinary." -Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Dairy Queen

"I can't remember when I last was this impressed by a new fantasy. Kristin Cashore's voice is fresh and fluent. The characters are memorable, the plot filled with surprises-all of which are entirely plausible-and the end result is a story that you tear through so that you can immediately start again at the beginning and read it with the care it deserves. A truly spectacular novel." -Susan Hirschman, Founder of Greenwillow Books

"With this riveting debut, Cashore has set the bar exceedingly high." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An impressive first novel, this well crafted and rewarding fantasy will leave readers hoping for more." Booklist (starred review)

"Katsa is an ideal adolescent heroine, simultaneously confident of her strengths yet unsure of her place in the world. . . . In a tale filled with graphic violence and subtle heartbreak, gentle passion and savage kindness, matter-of-fact heroics and bleak beauty, no defeat is ever total and no triumph comes without cost. Grace-full, in every sense." Kirkus Reviews, starred review ( 9/01/08)

"With a butt-kicking but emotionally vulnerable heroine, [Graceling] should appeal to fans of recent girl-power urban fantasies. . . ."

"This is gorgeous storytelling: exciting, stirring, and accessible. Fantasy and romance readers will be thrilled." -School Library Journal (starred review)

"Cashore strikes a strong balance between adventure, drama and romance--bloody battles and sexual tension co-exist in equal measure--and Katsa''s combination of pride in her unique talents and vulnerability in her self-doubts make her a strongly sympathetic character. Readers will identify closely with this young woman, whose coming of age also involves coming to terms with a talent that is both a blessing and a curse."--BookPage, November 2008

Book Description:

A superb, critically acclaimed and already best-selling debut fantasy novel from a stunning new author.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0547258305
• ISBN 13: 9780547258300
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 477