Gossip Time....Graceling

Graceling, written by Kristin Cashore, has been an excellent listen during my car rides into work. I've frequently glanced at the cover during my many Barnes and Noble visits, and each time I would tell myself, I should read that.

Graceling is a bit like Eragon, except the protagonist is a teenage female graced with the skills of deadly fighting. And there is no dragon. It's a bit like Tolkien's works, with a detailed, believable new land full of adventure, sprawling kingdoms, and landscapes.

Cashore's writing style is fluent, descriptive, and yet simple. She is very to the point and every word in her text belongs.

In the world Cashore creates there are people who are born with graces. A grace is an extraordinary ability, such as mind reading, predicting the weather, or the efficient ability to kill, as is with the main character Katsa. A person who is graced is marked by having two different color irises. And it's interesting to see how gracelings are treated in each of the seven different kingdoms.

Reading Graceling helped me with aspects of my own book. My novel, Product of an Illusion, (which is currently under revision) deals with a race of people with superhuman abilities. It was so cool seeing how Cashore built around this concept and constructed her plot and cast of characters. Secondly, it was very helpful to read a book written with an omniscient narrator since I will be writing this revision of Product of an Illusion with this type of point of view.

Since I was astounded by this book I did a little research about Kristen Cashore and discovered that she has a blog, This is My Secret, with a wealth of information. She's just someone with a life long passion of reading, who got a degree in children literature, and likes to spend most of her time in imagination land and writing.

I highly recommend this book. And just so you know, I was not paid to write this gossip time or will I receive any sort of kick back if you purchase this book. Happy reading and writing folks!