Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #3)

Genres: Young Adult, High Fantasy, Romance
Publication Date: May 1st 2012
POV: Alternating - Third-person, Past tense
My Rating: 3 out of 5

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Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace.

But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.

Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart...

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I found this quite disappointing. This was more similar to Fire than Graceling, in that it was a court intrigue. Although, it returns to the world of Graceling, with Po and Katsa and several other familiar characters. I was pleasantly surprised to even see Fire again. Bitterblue is now queen. Nine years have passed since her father's death and she is 18.

The story was decently interesting, and I enjoyed seeing the worlds of Graceling and Fire brought together, but the intrigue was not as captivating as in Fire, and it is not for those who found Leck disturbing. I heard some couldn't enjoy Graceling because they found Leck so evil that they couldn't stomach it. Well, in Bitterblue Leck is explored in great detail. It is all about his kingdom trying to recover from his reign, and so many people who can't, who were permanently damaged by what he did to them. It is about Bitterblue's search for truth of what her father did in order to know how to help her people move on from it. Several of his most disturbing crimes are described.

Bitterblue is a decent character but nowhere near as kick-ass as Katsa or Fire. Po was in it a lot. He was a supporting character throughout. Katsa appeared on occasion but not as much as Po. Also Giddon, who I remember not liking in Graceling, but he has changed a lot since then and is now good friends with Po. I loved him in this and actually think he would have been a much better match for Bitterblue than Saf.

I was seriously disappointed by her love interest, Saf. They met near the beginning of the book, and things began to progress as I would have expected. But just as they were starting to show an interest in each other, Saf discovered that Bitterblue had been lying to him and stopped talking to her. A huge portion of the book took place without any appearance from Saf at all. Bitterblue continued to battle her court issues without him and the book as a whole dealt with these issues, not with any romance. Then, out-of-the-blue, Saf decides to forgive her and they have sex. They were just starting to like each other when their disagreement began, so they should have started where they left off, just being friends. Or even restart at the beginning, if Saf felt Bitterblue had to re-earn his trust. Instead, they jump ahead. It really did not feel like they were at that place in their relationship yet.

I am reminded of the casual way sex was dealt with in Fire, in regards to Archer and the multiple women he impregnated, the strong promotion of birth control, and also the promotion of sex without marriage in Graceling. I remembered a lot of people complaining about that, but it never bothered me since you rarely see characters marry in PNR anyway, which is what I usually read. And birth control in itself isn't a bad thing. If you are gonna do it, be smart about it. But now that I look back at the series as a whole, I feel like Kristin Cashore's message is too clear. Its as if she is trying to say "as long as you don't get pregnant, sleep with whoever you want." This is definitely not a message I would want to give teens.

The ending was also very disappointing. It felt incomplete. Bitterblue solved her court mystery, but she is still a very inexperienced queen with a kingdom that still has a lot of healing to do, and there might be new mysteries to solve. But she is alone. All of her friends, Katsa, Po, Giddon, Fire, even Saf, have moved on to new adventures in their lives, leaving Bitterblue in her castle alone. It is horribly sad. Like the ending of Inheritance.

“I hear you're supposed to be good at manipulating people. Try a little harder to make me like you, all right? I'm the queen. Your life will be nicer if I like you.”

Fire by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #2)

Genres: Young Adult, High Fantasy, Romance
Publication Date: September 24th 2009
POV: Alternating - Third-person, Past tense
My Rating: 5 out of 5

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It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her. Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised "Graceling" has an entirely new cast of characters, save for one person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don't need to have read "Graceling" to love "Fire." But if you haven't, you'll be dying to read it next.

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This was very nearly as good as Graceling. It has more intrigue than action, although there was still some action. Some great moments of action, in fact. But most of it was about politics, spies, and subterfuge. The story was very interesting and the writing style is still as clear and refreshing as ever.

I was at first disappointed to discover this was not a continuation of Katsa and Po's story, but a separate story set in the same world. Just think of it as a similar stand alone novel by the same author, so its still good. It is set to the east of the Seven Kingdoms, over the mountains, and is in fact set several years before Graceling.

Although Katsa was much more literally kick-ass than Fire, I think I may actually like Fire better as a heroine. Katsa was totally awesome and kick-ass, dont get me wrong. But Fire's lack of physical strength made her moments of strength more impressive. She may have had superior mental strength, and far superior beauty, but those are the things medieval and fantasy women usually have to depend on. While Katsa kicked-ass, chopped off her hair, and refused to wear dresses, Fire was a magnification of womanly strength. So, I enjoyed this new heroine who did not fight, but had so much courage.

When it comes to the issue of Prince Po or Prince Brigan, the choice is more difficult. They are both quite awesome, but different. Po the joker, Brigan the brooder. If I really had to choose I think I might go with Po because he was more fun. But I have no shortage of appreciation for Brigan as well. Funny thing is, for some reason I pictured Brigan as Paul Wesley pretty much from the beginning and I couldnt get that image out of my head. But I have no idea why since he doesnt really fit the description. He was described thus: "His eyes were clear and very light gray... He was little more than average height and build. He had his mother's fine mouth, but besides that and those pale crystal eyes, he was not handsome." But you cant blame me for trying. :P I really didnt like Archer though. I thought I liked him at first, until I realized what he was like. I dont know why Cashore felt like we needed his character in the book, especially a YA book. He added nothing to the story. The book would have been better, perfect, if his character didn't exist.

The romance in Fire was nothing like it was in Graceling. Po and Katsa were far more passionate, and it built quickly and they gave into their passion about halfway through the book. Many scenes were described in detail. In Fire, I was unsure in the beginning who would be the object of Fire's affection. I think I figured it out around the same time as the passage I used above for Brigan's description, because at the time he seemed the least fitting. Having a dramatic change in a character is always a good base for a romance. :P Although it was just a theory for some time, it eventually became clear. Their relationship development was very slow and subtle but sweet, and they didn't even kiss until nearly the end of the book. And when they did it was so vague, with no description that I almost missed it.

So, this turned into more of a comparison than a review, but if you liked Graceling than you can make a very informed choice as to whether or not you want to read this. My recommendation is yes.

“Brigan was saying her name, and he was sending her a feeling. It was courage and strength, and something else too, as if he were standing with her, as if he'd taken her within himself, letting her rest her entire body for a moment on his backbone, her mind in his mind, her heart in the fire of his.The fire of Brigan's heart was astounding. Fire understood, and almost could not believe, that the feeling he was sending her was love.”