• Author: Kristin Cashore
• Illustrator: Ian Schoenherr
• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Dial
• ISBN-10: 0803734735
• ISBN-13: 978-0803734739

Synopsis: When Bitterblue’s father, King Leck, was murdered, she became Queen of Monsea at ten years old. Eight years later, Bitterblue is still learning how to rule the kingdom. The influence of Leck—a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities—lives on. When Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle to walk the streets of her own city, she meets two thieves who hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace, holds the key to her heart.

Kristin Cashore first hit the literary scene in 2008 with Graceling, a novel about a young woman named Katsa who is a Graceling, a person born with a one greatly advanced skill. For each graceling it’s different, and for Katsa her Grace is the ability to kill. After years of being subjugated by her cruel uncle who uses Katsa as an assassin, the young woman breaks free from her enslavement and sets in motion a plan to liberate the 7 kingdoms from the cruel monarchies that rule them.

Bitterblue takes place 8 years after the events of Graceling, in the Kingdom of Monsea. Queen Bitterblue, Katsa’s close friend, is now a young woman and is desperate to right the wrongs of her sadistic father, Leck. But Bitterblue is at a loss; she feels inadequate as a ruler, mostly because she still struggles to understand the extent of terrible atrocities Leck committed during his hellish reign. Bitterblue senses that, while Leck is dead, her kingdom has yet to wake up from its nightmare.

Bitterblue is just as sharp, just as entertaining as its companion novels Graceling and Fire. Author Kristin Cashore’s tight narrative style doesn’t mess around. Mystery, danger, and romance keep you engaged from the beginning. At the end of every chapter, the same question kept going through my mind that was going through Bitterblue’s: What the frak is going on here? Its themes are intelligent without being preachy. Bitterblue is a young adult novel that actually speaks to its audience like they’re adults.

If you’re a fan of the Graceling series, then you know what you’re getting into with Bitterblue, and you’ll love it. If you haven’t picked up this series, then you’re missing out. It’s only young adult fiction in the most technical sense, and a lot more sophisticated than many of its YA peers.

I give Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore Four Out of Five Stars.

Pick up your copy of Bitterblue from Amazon today!

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