Graceling
Have you ever played the game where everyone had to name the "super-power" they would ask for if given the opportunity? What was yours? probably not the ability to literally kill anyone or anything and be fairly invulnerable to pain...
In Graceling author Kristine Cashore creates a world where a chosen few are born with "Graces" - these can be something as simple as the ability to catch fish with your bare hands, the ability to run swiftly, the ability to shoot an arrow quickly and true --- and then there is the Lady Katsa's Grace - the ability to kill.
This is full of really juicy adventure, hand to hand combat, archers, sword play, good kings and bad kings...but what sets this book apart from other offerings in this genre is it's look at the consequences of the use of these graces on those who wield them.
Katsa is a strong headed young woman who has always held a position of power - not many people argue with her so she is sure that what she knows are truths...until she meets another Graceling who shows her otherwise.
The really nice thing about the way Cashore has written the relationship between Po and Katsa is that there is enough romance for the girls and it doesn't get mushy so the boys think it's in the way.
I picked this book up to "look" at it at my Mom's and sat down and read it all the way through by the next morning - this story is destined to become a blockbuster movie!
In Graceling author Kristine Cashore creates a world where a chosen few are born with "Graces" - these can be something as simple as the ability to catch fish with your bare hands, the ability to run swiftly, the ability to shoot an arrow quickly and true --- and then there is the Lady Katsa's Grace - the ability to kill.
This is full of really juicy adventure, hand to hand combat, archers, sword play, good kings and bad kings...but what sets this book apart from other offerings in this genre is it's look at the consequences of the use of these graces on those who wield them.
Katsa is a strong headed young woman who has always held a position of power - not many people argue with her so she is sure that what she knows are truths...until she meets another Graceling who shows her otherwise.
The really nice thing about the way Cashore has written the relationship between Po and Katsa is that there is enough romance for the girls and it doesn't get mushy so the boys think it's in the way.
I picked this book up to "look" at it at my Mom's and sat down and read it all the way through by the next morning - this story is destined to become a blockbuster movie!
Product Description from Amazon
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s 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 king’s 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 Po’s 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.
