From Product Description:

From Amazon.com Review:

In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Unfortunately, I thought the first half of this book was a lot better than the second half. Kristin Cashore is a good enough writer, with good character development and excellent description of scenes; but I thought too much time was spent on describing harsh travel conditions instead of actually developing the main story. The love story was developed very nicely and I appreciate Kristin writing a strong female lead character (although there are still a lot of hints of sexism throughout), but I was definitely disappointed with the ending. The resolution seemed quick relative to all the time spent describing traveling through the mountains and across the sea. And, without ruining anything for those who haven't read it, I was really disappointed with Po's revelation in the end. Would I recommend this book? Probably, since much of it is interesting; but it wouldn't be a strong recommendation.

Occasionally a child is born who develops two different colored eyes. These children, the Graced, are immediately given to the king as his property, as each Graced child will exhibit a different talent or special gift. Those whose gifts are useful to the king will serve him for the rest of their lives. Those whose talents the king finds useless will be sent back to their homes. In either case, their eyes and their gifts set the Graced apart from the rest of the world. <br /> <br />Enter Katsa, a young lady graced with amazing survival skills. She has been serving the Middlun king as his henchman since she was a child. But Katsa begins to realize that her Grace will allow her to do good as well, to fight the injustice in the world. Little does Katsa know that an ordinary quest to save an old man will turn her world upside down, forcing her to choose between what is right and what is easy as she helps those closest to her. <br /> <br />This was an excellently written fantasy story. I enjoyed the fantastic elements of the story, and I appreciated the concept of people "graced" with abilities above and beyond that of the average human being. The plot twists genuinely surprised me at times. I could barely put the book down, and I finished the last page definitely hungry for more. <br /> <br />HOWEVER ... I have to add one caveat. The LA Times likens this book to the Twilight series, and they had good reason to do so. The romantic subplot of the story is a necessary evil I may not prefer, but am willing to endure for the sake of the main storyline. However, every author or producer knows that it is possible to "shut the door," so to speak, on a particular scene and leave out any graphic details. Readers are not stupid people, and they can generally figure out what has happened once the curtain falls or the lights dim. <br /> <br />Sadly, on at least one occaion Cashore fails to do this. Just because teenagers are interested in, are thinking about, or are actively involved in sexual activity does not mean that the adults around them should expose them to such thoughts. This would have been an excellent book, a book to put on my classroom shelf, without that one scene. If only there were someone out there who would write clean, good fiction for teens, something not preachy, but with a good worldview.

omg i really loved this book! i only wish she would write another that continues from the ending :)

This book is all about action, fighting, and drama...and the cool thing, is that the main character is a girl. Awesome action book with the female empowerment aspect. Great read and detail to fight scenes. Trailed off near the end...but you are enticed by the main character that you continue. Cool concept of humans with abilities.

Cashore's debut novel has a really interesting and exciting concept. I was excited to read this because it sounded unique. However there are a few flaws. I felt that I was reading a rough draft to what could be a really great novel. <br /> <br />There was too much page time given to moments that contributed little to the plot and not enough time given to the development of Katsa and Po's relationship. Or almost any relationship for that matter. Cashore pretty much just tells you instead of showing you what's going on, which cheats the reader out of really emotionally investing in the characters. <br /> <br />One thing that I thought was kind of annoying was how major plot points were simply and abruptly stumbled upon, as if in all Cashore's writing of tedious traveling and eating, she remembered to advance the plot. <br /> <br />Also, I think Po's name shouldn't have survived whoever edited this book, because I just flashback to Mulan and "Let's get down to business....." In fact, I liked his given name Greening better. <br /> <br />Katsa's character has signs of Mary Sue. The fact that she's so powerful and skilled and people disliking and fearing her for it is an MS cliche, but perhaps forgivable for the amount of emotional flaws she has. <br /> <br />That being said, I really, really, really wanted to fall head over heels for this book, especially because it features older teens in a multi-genre setting. It's not a bad book; not a terrific book, but it's worth the time in reading it.