With how large of a genre fantasy is and given how themes and tropes often lead to similar stories sharing the limelight I cannot help but think about this book. Graceling by Kristin Cashore is something unique, standing its ground in an environment where inspiration and retellings have become commonplace. There’s just something about the narrative style, the protagonist’s voice, the themes and how they’re addressed throughout the book, the characters and the depths of their emotions and understanding of each other and themselves. I cannot put my finger on it, so humour me as I write a very long blogpost to explain why I find Graceling to be a one-of-a-kind among so many gems.

Narrative structure and style is key to making the story stand out to a reader. If your direction and voice feels generic you can lose some of that shine you bring to the table. Nothing is exactly unique these days but the way in which an author assembles their work, highlights specific ideas and themes, how their characters interact and react to situations and their thought processes during all this are what make certain authors stand out.

Katsa’s voice and personality carry such weight in this novel and her tenacity and emotions make her feel so authentic and real as a character. Similarly, Po has a calm but continual presence in this novel and the way the two adjust to each other and create this unit that feels genuine and full of understanding, not expectations or pressure, has solidified them as a top tier couple in my eyes. They fight but they don’t misunderstand each other. They disagree but they don’t try to hurt one another. They struggle but they will always help each other. There is communication (but some cute miscommunication too) and trust and love and it makes the events of this book so intense and heartbreaking because their relationship feels so right.

The political climate within this world really stands out to me even if we don’t get to take a dive into the workings of the nations. Things, again, feel authentic to the situations and motivations of those in power and those who think they have power. The whole Monsea portion of this novel really worked well given the expectations of communication and hearsay through travellers, traders and merchants moving through the nations. The naming of cities was an interesting one to me – I don’t think I’ve seen it done this way before and it strangely works.

Now let’s talk about the big reason why this novel stands out to me, and the Graceling Realm as a whole. Graces. The power or magic that these gifted people have. It’s so creative and interesting to see what possibilities there are, how they work, why they are useful or not, and how they play off each other. The power and influence that comes with some graces but not others too also brings to mind so many questions – good ones though. I don’t see anything wrong or obviously incorrect about this because there isn’t really a way to be wrong. Each nation treats Gracelings how they wish. Gracelings are identifiable by their unique heterochromia and depending on where they are or who they are they may have to hide their distinctive identity markers. This has been dabbled in across many genres, namely fantasy and sci-fi, but this is the first time where I have seen this kind of fantasy/magic element used in such a seamless way in book form. Things are so casual when it comes to Graces yet they still hold a big sway in the plot.

I do have a few hiccups with this novel that I will mention. This is my second read of it – my first read I gave it 5/5 but I revised my rating to 4.5/5 this time around – and I picked up a few things that I wasn’t so happy with. The description could have been a little more prominent, especially when it comes to Katsa travelling. Katsa hasn’t seen a lot of variety as she’s from a nation that is landlocked so I was hoping for a little more of a spark when it came to her perception of the world. She was also a little clammed up with her emotions. Things sometimes can across in a factual style when it came to Katsa experiencing things when there should have been more of an emotional response at the forefront of her outbursts. Aside from those minor things, this novel had my heart in a vice grip and I cannot stress enough how much I adore Po and Katsa together.