Graceling (2008) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

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• Lady Katsa: Niece of King Randa of the Middluns. She is very brave and smart. A fierce and feisty heroine. She is Graced with killing, and therefore most people avoid her. Like all Gracelings, she has different colored eyes (one blue, one green).
• Greening Grandemalion: AKA Prince Greening Grandemalion. He is the seventh son of King Ror of Lienid. He is a friend of Katsa. Like Katsa, he is Graced. He has one golden eye and one silver eye.
• Princess Bitterblue: The princess of Monsea; daughter of King Leck and Queen Ashen. Approximately age ten. She is small, but very brave. She is the cousin of Prince Po.
• Lord Giddon: He is a member of the Council and one of Katsa's friends. He often acts as her protector during Council missions.
• Oll: Member of the Council while also being King Randa's spymaster. He is a good friend of Katsa, the closest thing to a father figure that she has.
• King Murgon: King of Sunder. Doesn't like to initiate trouble, but will help someone make trouble.
• King Randa: King of Middluns and Katsa's uncle. Like most kings, he takes those who are Graced and uses them for his own purposes. He uses Katsa as his personal thug, sending her off to hurt or kill people who have defied him in some way. He isn't necessarily unjust, nor does he go looking for trouble, but he isn't a kind king
• Prince Raffin: The son of King Randa, he is Katsa's cousin and closest friend. He is shown to possess an avid interest in medicinal experiments and remedies from an early age and spends most of his time in his workroom with his assistant Bann.
• Prince Tealiff: Father of King Ror and grandfather of Prince Po. Very close to Po. At the beginning of the novel, Tealiff has been kidnapped.
• King Thigpen: King of Estill.
• Bertol: Oll's wife. She is a member of the Council.
• King Drowden: King of Nander
• King Birn: King of Wester.
• King Ror: King of Lienid, and brother to Ashen, Queen of Monsea. He is a fair ruler who pays attention to his people rather than looks down on them. He is the father of seven sons, Po being one of them.
• Queen Ashen: Queen of Monsea. She has shut herself and her daughter away upon hearing of her father's kidnapping. Wife of King Leck of Monsea, sister of King Ror of Leinid (therefore Po's aunt) and Princess Bitterblue's mother.
• King Leck: King of Monsea, known for his kindness to injured animals and children. Has only one eye. Very powerful.
• Bann: Prince Raffin's assistant and friend. Enjoys making medicines with Raffin.
• Prince Skye: Sixth son of King Ror, prince of Lienid. Po's brother. He and Po are good friends.
• Bear, Jem, Red: Sailors, deckhands on Faun's ship
• Patch: First mate of Faun's ship.
• Captain Faun: Graced captain of a Lienid ship. Her Grace is the ability to forsee the weather. She has one gray eye and one blue eye
• Grandfather Tealiff: Add a description of this character.
• Lord Ellis
• Helda
• Lanie
• Lord Davit
• Kat

Quotes edit see section history

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• “If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face.”

  Lady Katsa

• “Katsa didn't think a person should thank her for not causing pain. Causing joy was worthy of thanks, and causing pain worthy of disgust. Causing neither was neither, it was nothing, and nothing didn't warrant thanks.”

• “Something caught in her throat at this second thanks, when she'd threatened him so brutally. When you're a monster, she thought, you are thanked and praised for not behaving like a monster. She would like to restrain from cruelty and receive no admiration for it.”

  Lady Katsa

• “What can be so funny to a prince who's turned his hair blue?”

  Lady Katsa

• “You look like you've been in a fight, for the first time in your life.”

  Raffin

• “It humbles me. But it doesn't humiliate me.”

  Prince Po

• “It’s no use if our rescue kills him.”

  Oll

• “"Wonderful," Po said. "It's quite boring really, that way you beat me to death with your hands and feet, Katsa. It'll be refreshing to have you coming at me with a knife."”

  Prince Po

• “And I suppose it never occurs to you to start small. If I told you my roof needed rebuilding, you'd start by knocking down the house.”

  Prince Po

• “I know a Graceling when I see one. Let me see the colors of your eyes, boy. I'll cut them out. Don't think I won't.”

• “You're more dear to my heart than I ever knew anyone could be. And I've made you cry; and there I'll stop.”

  Prince Po

• “Your brand of comfort bears some similarity to your tactical offense.”

  Prince Po

• “I should've taken greater care of her face.”

  Prince Po

• “"Katsa. Is it too much for you to understand that a man might be hungry after you've beaten him half to death?"”

  Prince Po

• “No one would even suspect, for who could suspect a Grace that controlled suspicions?”

• “"I'm going to name my firstborn child after you." Katsa laughed at that. "For the child's sake, wait for a girl. Or even better, wait until all your children are older and give my name to whichever is the most troublesome and obstinate."”

  Prince Skye and Lady Katsa

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• 'If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face.'

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• A monster that refused, sometimes, to behave like a monster. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?

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• 'I love you,' he said. 'You're more dear to my heart than I ever knew anyone could be. And I've made you cry; and there I'll stop.'

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• 'You're in fine temper,' Raffin said. 'Your hair is blue,' Katsa snapped back.

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• 'What can be so funny,' Katsa said, 'to a prince who's turned his hair blue?' 'You look like you've been in a fight,' he said, 'for the first time in your life.'

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• you're the most quarrelsome person I've ever met. And I really do worry about your horse.'

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• 'Does it bother you? You're welcome to do the hunting yourself. Perhaps I can stay by the fire and mend your socks, and scream if I hear any strange noises.'

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• you have more energy than anyone I've ever encountered, though I wonder if you aren't a bit hard on your horse.

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• In the end, Leck should have stuck to his lies. For it was the truth he almost told that killed him.

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• She cried like a person whose heart is broken and wondered how, when two people loved each other, there could be such a broken heart. She couldn't have him, and there was no mistaking it. She could never be his wife. She could not steal herself back from Randa only to give herself away again—belong to another person, be answerable to another person, build her very being around another person. No matter how she loved him.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Lienid
• Nander
• Wester
• Sunder
• Middluns
• Estill
• Monsea

Organizations edit see section history

• The Council: A secret group made up of various people who use their skills to solve crimes against the regular people and protect the weak throughout the seven kingdom. Katsa is the founder.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Graced: To have an unusual and exceptional power, talent or ability.
• Graceling: A person with two different colored eyes and an exceptional ability or skill. See Graced.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Having 2 different eye colors: Having mismatched eyes indicates that an individual is "Graced" and has some special power.

Errata edit see section history

On page 220 in my edition (near the end of Chapter 18 for those of you that don't have my edition), it says "He sat for a moment, quietly. 'I've wondered...it occurs to me recently...that he could be Graced.'" In the dialogue, it says "occurs," but it is written in past tense, so it should be "occurred."

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Fire.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Kristin Cashore (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (2009: Children's Literature)
• William C. Morris Debut Award (Finalist, 2009)
• Abraham Lincoln Award (Finalist, 2011: Teen Fiction)
• Andre Norton Award (Finalist, 2008: Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2009, #10)
• Texas Lone Star Reading List (2010)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.C26823 Gr 2008
• Dewey: Add the Dewey Classification.

Notes for Parents edit see section history

There is some fighting and a few scenes with premarital sex, though nothing is really explicit. Recommended for age +14.A mature middle schooler could handle this book.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Adventure & Thrillers
• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( C )
• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Being a Teen

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• This Is My Secret: The blog and website of writer Kristin Cashore.

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history