Title: Graceling.
Author: Kristin Cashore.
Year of Publication: 2008 (UK).
Publisher: Gollancz (UK).
Website: www.gracelingrealm.com kristincashore.blogspot.co.uk
Format: Available in paperback, an ebook, and an audiobook.
Cost for Paperback (RRP): £7.99 (UK).
Age Range: I suggest from about 14 up, if you’re younger than this I suggest asking your parents first.
This book is the first book in a series called Graceling Realm.
This is the story of Lady Kasta, the niece of King Randa of Middlun, and his most feared servant. In a world where a rare few have a ‘Grace’, or special gift, which can range in anything from signing to cooking, Kasta’s gift is killing.
Her uncle uses her as a powerful weapon to control his enemies, both those within his own kingdom, and those outside it. But Kasta has never been a girl to do as she’s told. She has set up a secret council to undermine her uncle with her closest friends, and soon discovers a new ally that will change the world forever.
Prince Po, a man who’s Grace seem eerily similar to Kasta’s appears on the scene, is looking for information on the disappearance of his grandfather. What they discover leads them right into the heart of danger, and the discovery of what is perhaps the most powerful Graceling in their world using his power to control a Kingdom.
After having no choice but to leave Po behind, Kasta must make a perilous journey across a snow peaked mountain range that has killed every other person who has attempted. But she won’t be alone, after rescuing a young princess from the clutches of King Leck, the powerful and “Graced’ enemy, to return her home.
The story ends with the beginnings of an even bigger story, rebuilding a kingdom.
The second book in the series is called Fire.
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Alan Kay.
Thestral.
