Review: Bitterblue

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3)
by Kristin Cashore,
ebook
437 pages
Published May 1st 2012
by The Penguin group

Summary from Goodreads:

Eight 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.

Thoughts:
Reading Bitterblue is kind of like visiting an old friend. You're happy to see them and tried to reminisce old times but when you discovered that people change as the years go by, deep down in your heart you feel sad that they do.

Bitterblue is like that. It has none of the intensity or grittiness of Graceling and Fire where the physically and mentally strong female heroine astounds you to no end instead it leads you into a maze of curious situations where people vanished into thin air and gargoyles are stolen in front of the Queen's very nose without her realising it. So what does it mean? It's not so much action fantasy as Bitterblue the young queen tried to navigate her way through the treacherous and mind boggling court politics of the Monsean castle. Her close advisors are lying to her face, she sneaks off and befriend a gang of misfits only to discover the ugly truth behind her late father's (King Leck) evil legacy.

Dislikes
The story can be so frustrating and confusing at times that you simply want to give up. Seriously, for a young adult read, parts of it are so dark I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate for young readers. Without giving anything away, let's just say if you've read Graceling (the first book by Kristin Cashore) then you only get a tiny glimpse of the sinister King Leck. In Bitterblue, the readers are exposed to the harsh truths behind King Leck's undoing. It just shows that even though he is dead, what he did certainly haunts the people of Monsea.

Likes

Fortunately, for fans of the Graceling world (like me) the appearance of Po and Katsa from Graceling are worth the wait. I just can't get enough of their banter with Bitterblue and how well the different characters were integrated smoothly in the Monsean Kingdom. Even Lady Fire from the book Fire made a surprise appearance towards the end. Without these well known characters, I'm not sure I will enjoy Bitterblue that much.

Recommended for: fans of epic fantasy
Verdict: 4 stars.

In my Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge 
Available on: Amazon