The Graceling Realm
Bitterblue
Kristin Cashore is the author of one of my all time favorite books—GRACELING. Book 1 of the Graceling Realm series.
Graceling Realm Book 2
Not only is GRACELING beautifully written, but I absolutely love the heroine of the story. Katsa is everything a female protagonist should be: strong, smart and beautiful. In fact, I remember reading GRACELING shortly after I'd finished the Twilight series, and it was such a relief to find a strong female character to root for! (As I've mentioned many times, I enjoyed Twilight—but, oh, Bella was soooo annoying!)
FIRE is the second book in the trilogy—I take that back—FIRE is actually a companion to GRACELING. As I understand it, while companion books inhabit the same worlds, each book can stand alone (versus a true trilogy, such as The Lord Of The Rings, in which all three books are necessary to complete the story.) FIRE is very good; however, it didn't have quite the same impact on me.
Currently, I'm reading the third "companion" book, BITTERBLUE, and will have a review for you soon.
Graceling Realm Book 3
From Amazon:
The long-awaited companion to New York Times bestsellers Graceling and FireEight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.
Love this book so much! It’s my favourite of the Graceling Realm books.
So far, I feel a bit hot and cold about it, but it’s definitely not boring!