Graceling

Graceling is a 2008 young adult fantasy novel written by American author Kristin Cashore, her literary debut. The book earned a place on the Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year for 2008 and received generally favorable reviews. It was followed by a prequel companion book entitled Fire. A sequel companion, Bitterblue, which takes place eight years after the events in Graceling, was published on May 1, 2012, by Dial, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Plot Graceling takes place in a world in which people with special powers are knowns as Gracelings. Gracelings are identified when their eyes become two different colors. In the Middluns, Gracelings are put in the service of the king. Katsa is a young woman known for her Grace of killing. She has been in the service of her uncle, King Randa, since she was a child, tasked with executing or torturing those who oppose or displease him. She also runs the secret "Council", which aims for justice in the Seven Kingdoms. A Council mission to save an old Lienid grandfather from a prison unearths a mystery and an unexpected Graced Lienid man whose fighting skills match Katsa's. She renders him unconscious but lets him live, despite the fact that he recognized her. He later arrives at King Randa's court, introduces himself as Prince Greening or "Po", and claims to be seeking his grandfather. Katsa fights Po, but later reveals that they have rescued his grandfather in secret. The two become friends as well as sparring partners, though Katsa feels betrayed when she discovers that Po's Grace is not fighting, but secretly a form of mind reading. When commanded to dole out an unfair punishment, Katsa defies King Randa and sets out with Po to find the true kidnappers of the old Lienid. The two determine that Katsa's Grace is not killing, but survival.