Graceling

Category: Book
By (author): Cashore, Kristin
Series: Graceling Realm Books
Subject:  YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Action & Adventure / General
  YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Fantasy / General
  YOUNG ADULT FICTION / General
  YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Girls & Women
Audience: young adult
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: August 2009
Format: Book-paperback
Pages: 480
Size: 8.17in x 5.54in x 1.21in
Our Price:
$ 18.99
Availability:
In stock

Additional Notes

From The Publisher*Kristin Cashore's best-selling, award-winning fantasy Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable yet strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful teenager who lives in a world where selected people are given a Grace, a special talent that can be anything from dancing to swimming. Katsa's is killing. As the king's niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his thug. Along the way, Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace . . . and how to put it to good use. A thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure (and steamy romance!) that will resonatedeeply with adolescents trying to find their way in the world. Awards: Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, winner of the SIBA Book Award/YA, Indies Choice Book Award Honor Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 2008 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, 2008 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Amazon.com's Best Books of 2008, 2008 Booklist Editors' Choice, Booklist's 2008 Top Ten First Novels for Youth, 2009 Amelia Bloomer List, BCCB 2009 Blue Ribbon List Don't miss the sequel Fire , also a New York Times bestseller and ALA Best Book for Young Adults, winner of the 2010 Cybil for YA Fantasy/Sci Fi and the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award.
From The Publisher*Romantic medieval fantasy from a debut author
From The Publisher*Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight shes a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the kings thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Pos friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. 
Review Quote*

"In this debut fantasy, Cashore treats readers to compelling and eminently likeable characters and a story that draws them in from the first paragraph. . . . This is gorgeous storytelling: exciting, stirring, and accessible. Fantasy and romance readers will be thrilled." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Intrigue, death, love, a little sex, and pitched battles create a sure winner for mature fantasy fans."--VOYA (4Q, 4P)

"With a butt-kicking but emotionally vulnerable heroine, [Graceling] should appeal to fans of recent girl-power urban fantasies, as well as readers who've graduated from Tamora Pierce's Tortall series."--Horn Book

"Cashore strikes a strong balance between adventure, drama and romance--bloody battles and sexual tension co-exist in equal measure--and Katsa's combination of pride in her unique talents and vulnerability in her self-doubts make her a strongly sympathetic character. Readers will identify closely with this young woman, whose coming of age also involves coming to terms with a talent that is both a blessing and a curse."--BookPage, November 2008

"Graceling is the wonderful new book by Kristin Cashore about a girl with grace, but who is no Audrey Hepburn. Katsa's extreme special skill, her ‘grace,' is that she's able to kill people with her bare hands (ouch). In a world of seven kingdoms, Katsa is certainly considered a bad-ass and is respectably feared. Ultimately though, the graceling ends up being shamelessly used by her own family to fight and torture their enemies... until she meets Po . . . There's been a ton of early praise about this debut novel -- so much so that I think it's safe to say there's an official buzz."--Ypulse

"However, as in every season, a few other titles have risen to the surface as potential hits, based on pre-pub buzz, online chatter and word-of-mouth. We've singled out four for particular notice: three are inventive fantasy novels, and one is a harrowing memoir. Publishers and booksellers alike believe these books have what it takes to cut through the noise of a very full season."--Publishers Weekly online

"The teenage characters in this novel, like those we may know in life, grow into their graces. They realize that their monstrous individuality is not so monstrous afterall."--The New York Times Book Review

"Discovering one's true identity and powers is a common theme in young adult literature, but Kristin Cashore, with compelling characters and an ease in combining genres--fantasy, mystery, adventure, romance--develops this theme with enormous freshness."--Newsday

" 'Graceling' offers a fresh view of the process of learning self-mastery and has a knee-weakening romance that easily rivals that of 'Twilight'."--LA Times

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Graceling:

 

"Here's a WOW of a book! Seeing half-wild Katsa learn humanity as she battles soldiers, storms, and her own obsessive nature-I HAD to know how it ended!" -Tamora Pierce

 

"Katsa and Po are wonderful: They make me want to cheer. Due to a strong heroine, a supportive hero, political intrigue, and action throughout, this is a book I'll share with my daughter." -Melissa Marr, author of Wicked Lovely

 

"I can't remember when I last was this impressed by a new fantasy. Kristin Cashore's voice is fresh and fluent...the end result is a story that you tear through so that you can immediately start again at the beginning and read it with the care it deserves. A truly spectacular novel." -Susan Hirschman, founder of Greenwillow Books

 

FROM THE AUTHOR:

 

"I've always been a daydreamer; as a child I always lived far from school, and distinctly remember cherishing the long drive, because it was good daydreaming time. Graceling grew from daydreams I had about a girl with extraordinary fighting powers who loved a boy with whom she was insurmountably incompatible." -Kristin Cashore

 

Review Quote*"Katsa and Po are wonderful: They make me want to cheer. Due to a strong heroine, a supportive hero, political intrigue, and action throughout, this is a book I'll share with my daughter." -Melissa Marr, author of Wicked Lovely
Review Quote*"A brilliant, unforgettable story. I consumed Graceling in one sitting, awed by its originality, breadth, and humanity. For a first novel - for any novel - this book is extraordinary."
-Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Dairy Queen
Review Quote*"I can't remember when I last was this impressed by a new fantasy.  Kristin Cashore's voice is fresh and fluent.  The characters are memorable, the plot filled with surprises-all of which are entirely plausible-and the end result is a story that you tear through so that you can immediately start again  at the beginning and read it with the care it deserves.  A truly spectacular novel."
-Susan Hirschman, Founder of Greenwillow Books
Review Quote*«"With this riveting debut, Cashore has set the bar exceedingly high."  --Publishers Weekly, starred review
Review Quote*«"Katsa is an ideal adolescent heroine, simultaneously confident of her strengths yet unsure of her place in the world. . . . In a tale filled with graphic violence and subtle heartbreak, gentle passion and savage kindness, matter-of-fact heroics and bleak beauty, no defeat is ever total and no triumph comes without cost. Grace-full, in every sense."  Kirkus Reviews, starred review ( 9/01/08)
Review Quote*«"An impressive first novel, this well crafted and rewarding fantasy will leave readers hoping for more." Booklist (starred review)