By: Kristin Cashore
Katsa lives in a world where gifted people are recognised by the two different colours of their eyes. These people are called Graced and they are both feared and exploited. Katsa is one of the ‘graced’ but her’s is a graace she despises for her’s is a grace of killing. This gifting means she is feared and an outcast, she has very few friends. Katsa knows she is a tool for her king and does his will, sometimes with great reluctance. She is defiant in her own way when she can be and is thankful for the existence of the secret Council, and their backing.
When on a secret rescue mission Katsa comes across a mystery she becomes determined to solve. This takes her further than she thought and as she continues to dig deeper into the intrigue she uncovers a terrible darkness originating from the kingdom of the One-eyed King. Some things turn from being a mystery to solve to a battle to survive and save the life of a young girl in the process. Katsa does what she believes she must and in the process discovers her grace is not what she always thought it was and that maybe someone could love her for who she is.
Cashore has penned a wonderful and detailed story. A technicolour world populated with amazing characters. The packaging surrounds an intriguing adventure woven through with a romance made all the more complicated by the situation the characters find themselves in. Katsa is a great character and is accompanied by other interesting and well developed companions. This story hooked me in and kept me reading eagerly till the last page.
This is not always considered a YA novel, sectioned often in the SF section of a store but in the US it is marketed that way and certainly the age of Katsa means it fits there quite well.
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Published: 01 July 2010
Format: Paperback 400 pages
Categories: Fantasy
ISBN 13: 9780575098145
TheKylieVerse 
Leave a Reply