Graceling

Author: Kristin Cashore

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a standalone fantasy. There are sequels following this book, but the story ends in Graceling such that there is no need to pick up the next book. In Graceling, certain people have Graces - special abilities, in a sense - and can be identified by their two colored eyes. We follow Katsa, who has a killing Grace, as she uncovers various secrets.

I was so shocked when I found out that this was published in 2008. This was so good!!! There are some books that were published later than 2008, around 2011-2012, and when I read them I could tell they were written a while back. Graceling was not one of those books. Admittedly, I liked the book much better around the 200 page mark, so it may take quite a while to immerse yourself into this world. The characters!!!! Po, ohmygod. The ending did seem a bit rushed, but after that there was a plot twist that shocked me. This won't be one of my favorite books, but it was so close to being one.