Hailing from the kingdom of Middluns, ruled by Randa, Graceling tells the story of a young lady named Kasta. With one eye a bright cerulean and the other as greens as the Middluns grasses, Kasta is bestowed with a unique skill. Any heterochromic person is said to be a Graceling, and has an unparalleled talent in fighting, swimming, strength, stealth or any other specialized skill; Lady Kasta has the deadly grace of killing.

“He lunged toward her. She ducked under his blade and whirled her foot out, clipping his temple. He dropped to the ground. She stepped over him and ran to the bars, squinting into the darkness of the cell. A shape huddled against the back wall, a person too tired or too cold to care about the fighting going on. Arms wrapped around legs, and head tucked between knees. He was shivering-she could hear his breath. She shifted, and the light glanced over his crouched form. His hair was white and cut lose to his head. She saw the glimmer of gold in his ears. Oll’s maps had served them well, for this man was Lienid. He was the one they were looking for.”

According to the LA Times ,“Graceling offers a fresh view of the process of learning self-mastery and has a knee -weakening romance that easily rivals that of Twilight.”

“Kasta hadn’t known what her grace was. Some graces took longer than others to surface. But even if she had known, she wouldn’t have cared to discuss it with this cousin. She’d scowled at the man and turned away. But when his hand had slid toward her leg, her hand had flown out and smashed him in the face. So hard and so fast that she pushed the bones of his noses into his brain. “I never meant to kill him, she said. ‘What happened?’ Kasta sent her mind back. ‘I felt like I was in danger. So I hit him.’”

Traveling from towns to kingdoms on horseback, sailing over roaring waters, to being chased into a forest in the middle of winter.  The author Kristin Cashore keeps her readers on their toes by the many obstacles Lady Kasta faces not only to figure out who kidnapped Prince Tealeaf from the Lienid Kingdom, but why she is so drawn to this Prince Greening (Po) from the Lienid Kingdom as well.

Albeit a fictional story, Graceling holds many lessons you have to have a keen eye to notice and a different way of thinking about life. It is truly a book you won’t want to put down and can enjoy reading it time and time again. If you like adventure, fantasy and a little romance the Graceling is the perfect book to pick up.