Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Book 1, Graceling Realm)

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Changing up my book reviews.  No spoilers, individual reviews for books in a series, etc.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Summary:

Katsa, niece to the king of the Middluns, is not an ordinary lady.  Ever since the king realized that she was born with a Grace, a special talent, for killing, the king has sent her across the seven kingdoms to do his dirty work; punishing those whom the king wishes her to punish. One day, Katsa meets Prince Po, and they become friends.  Together, they search for clues relating to the the people behind the kidnapping of Po's grandfather.

What I Liked:
I read this book because of the awesome cover, it's really cool.  Anyways, there were lots of things I liked about this book.  One of these things was the main character, Katsa. Like in the cover, Katsa is pretty kick-ass.  She can use knives, daggers, swords, bows and probably other things with skill and efficiency, and fights bare-handed just as well. She has an interesting enough personality; short-tempered, impulsive, capricious, stubborn.  She doesn't really joke around, but she can be nice to people, especially children.  She avoids hurting or killing people when she can.  I also liked most of the other characters, like Po, who's a good-natured fellow and quite different overall from Katsa.  Another thing I liked was that the romance was a side thing for most of the time, and filled the spaces where there was lack of action.  I also liked that many details were given about the land the book was set in, although noticeably less details on the exact environment.  That's pretty much what I liked about this book.

What I Disliked:
I wasn't bothered too much by this book, but others might think the pacing to be too slow.  The book had long stretches of time where not much action occurred.  And due to the pacing not a whole lot happened in the book.  Another thing I disliked was that there wasn't much information given about the main antagonist, but I'm hoping it will be answered in the next few books.  There is also a minor problem that I had with some of the sentences.  Some of them seemed to run awkwardly.  But it's a minor problem.  What I disliked most about this book is that I think the problem was resolved too quickly, and it was kind of anti climactic.  That sums up what I didn't like about this book.

Additional Notes:
There is not that much character development throughout the book; her views on marriage remain the same, she's still stubborn and fickle and short tempered.  Her views do change a bit after learning certain things, but not that much really.  I personally don't have much of a problem with this, since throughout the book her interaction with others was kept to a small circle of three people.

Final Remarks:
Definitely read this book if you are a fan of the fantasy and romance genres.  If you liked books such as Throne of Glass, chances are you'll like this book too.

Rating: 7 out of 10