Absolutely loved this book! I kept putting it off to read but once I started I had to finish reading it. I loved that Katsa was so rough around the edges and she realized what her feelings were towards Po. He complimented her style and personality and accepted her for who and what she is. Such a good read!

I typically don't enjoy fantasy novels, but I couldn't put this down! Good strong female lead, but I also thought the other main characters were well developed. This book even made me cry a couple of times, and it's pretty rare to get a response like that out of me.

this book was great it had so much stuff packed in it, from romance to an exciting violence sceen it was so great i recomed this book to everyone! Like the next book in the seires "Fire" it has a staring female character. i loved this book so read it!!!

Excellent novel. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy. Cannot wait for the third one to come out.

Katsa was born a Graceling, a Graceling is one graced with two different-colored eyes to show they have some advanced ability. The ability can be anything from long-distance running to swimming. Katsa was graced with being a fighter. She is an orphan, sent to live her uncle Randa's castle. Katsa kills her cousin one night, when he tries to make advances at her. Her uncle utilizes her talents to dole out punishments upon those in his kingdom. She is basically a thug in the King's service. Which she routinely reminds you throughout the book that she is nothing more then a common killer. I would have given this book four stars, I loved the first half of this book where you finding about Katsa heroism in the face of having to be such a brute. Finding out she set-up a secret council to protect the people of the Seven Kingdom from the maundering and pillaging of the Kings and their minions, was something that made me love the character. The fact that she didn't want to be her uncle's killer, and how her emotions were expressed were quite beautiful and heartbreaking. I just wish it hadn't fallen off the wagon around the second and third half. Description is a big part of fantasy writing, but being overly descriptive writing of the most mundane just shows that you have nothing to write about. The ending should defiantly be rewritten, the way King Leck was killed was anti-climactic. There was no reasoning for his motives. They vaguely touched on him being a sociopath. Cashore should have worked more on developing her character development and story instead of spending hours on writing scenery. Sex is brought up once or twice in the book, nothing too graphic. It's written in as if she does it and takes birth control and that's it. Nothing really written of the experience or feeling going into it or the real emotions going into having sex with for the first time with someone Katsa cares about. I would like to also point out as a feminist, this in no way describes how feminist feel about men. Patriarchal society is a problem, but then again any type off regimented system that hinders the autonomy of the people is bad. Feminists (and I) don't hate men. We hate that we live in a society, in which we are told we are weaker then our counterparts. That we must be protected by men, so we won't be harassed by the others. That we must marry, because our pay-checks leaves us dependent upon them. Certain themes are touched on in this book. Themes of independence and self-reliance though can be found in any book, that has some type of female or male protagonist wanting to find her/his freedom, but lives in the conventions of people telling them they can't doesn't make it inherently feminist or chauvinist. Cashore was just trying to write a strong female lead that didn't have to lean on the shoulders of her male character, but was tough and resilient on her own. What agenda is that exactly?

Fantastic read, engaging story line. Gobbled it up in 2 days. Loved it, even as a 'teen' book. Meant for older teens.

Amazing read! Draws you in with the first sentence and keeps you in til the end.

Like in Fire, the female lead is strong and someone you can actually respect. The book touches on slightly adult theme but doesn't go to deeply into them which I liked. I would definitely read it again

Fascinating fantasy setting. Remarkable heroes of the "great power means great responsibilties" variety. A truly insidiously evil villain.

Everything was in this book, from intense to romance, from action to emotional moments. It was quite the read!!